Belief vs. Truth

Farfour the mouse was a very loved children's TV character. His dying grandfather bequethed him with a deed to some land along with the key to the land. Grandfather warned Farfour that the terrorist Jews would try to get the deed and the key, but he made him promise to never give it to them. That's right. Farfour, known as Martyr Mouse, is a real Palestinian muslim children's show character. He is eventually interrogated and beaten by a hard-hearted Jew who wants the deed and key to the Palestinian land. But Farfour obeys his grandfather and doesn't give it to them. A young girl narrator then informs the viewers that Farfour died in prison a martyr. Throughout the show the Israelis and Jews are called terrorists.

There are brainwashed people all over the world that believe all sorts of strange things. Farfour stands out as a warning to all of us that it is very easy for people to believe something that is not the truth. It is okay to question what we are taught and to personally understand the meaning of the scriptures. Let me give you two examples.

1. The lie: God made homosexuals the way they are it is normal. The result: Some churches are letting them flaunt their lifestyle in the church, even ordaining homosexual priests. The Truth: Romans 1:26-27 "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due."
2. The lie: Keeping women out of the pulpit is wrong. The result: Men are giving up their leadership rolls to women and are becoming spineless, quiet and passive instead of spiritual leaders. The Truth: 1 Timothy 2:12-14 "And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression."

Now it doesn't matter what we believe if it is contrary to the word of God. The church has taught many bad things in the past to justify sinful behavior. In the 1400's it was that you could buy forgiveness from the church. In the mid-1800's it was to justify slavery of heathens.

Paul admonished us in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified."

Are you reading the Bible? Are you checking out what you are taught? Take a deep look inside yourself and ask the hard question, "Are the things I believe truth or lie." Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see any area in you that is false and to expose it to the light.

---Johnie