The Truth No Matter the Cost
Hosea {4:1} 'Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.'
The Lord has a controversy with people.
Controversy.
I feel a dictionary definition coming on...
controversy (kòn´tre-vûr´sê) noun
plural controversies
1. A dispute, especially a public one, between sides holding opposing views. See synonyms at argument.
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A dispute between sides holding opposing views.
The Lord has a dispute with His chosen children, those inhabiting the land He gave to them.
So that means the Lord has one view point and His chosen another.
The verse goes on to say why He has a controversy--
'because there is no TRUTH, nor MERCY, nor KNOWLEDGE of GOD in the land.'
So here once again God's chosen people have turned from Him. If there is no truth then they are believing lies. If there is no mercy then they are being heartless. If there is no knowledge of God they are wallowing in their ignorance and are content to be so.
Good and evil, the greatest controversy of all, the root of all life's problems exist between good and evil.
Truth or lies.
Mercy or no mercy.
Knowledge or no knowledge.
We need the truth. More and more all the studying on truth emphasizing just how important it is to have the truth, to know it, to follow it when we know what is is.
The devil would have a believe that the truth doesn't matter, that we live in a world that accepts half truths, quarter truths, miniscule bits of truth and call that acceptable.
What's the oath people take when they're sworn in on the witness stand and such- 'I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God.' Something like that, and you know what, that's exactly how our lives should be led not just up there on the witness stand being sworn to do so. Yet we need that swearing in because people don't tell the truth the whole truth. We can't trust that anyone that isn't sworn in will tell the truth, and even then people don't always tell the truth, not even when they've sworn to do so.
And it's not just on the Bible people swear, God is being taken out of most thing civil so church and state are separate and so nowadays people can do this-
'What is "being sworn in"?
Before you give your evidence you will be asked to swear that you will tell the truth. This is being sworn in. You may be sworn in by taking a sacred oath that binds your conscience, for example by swearing on the Bible, or you may affirm or promise to tell the truth without religious belief. If you lie in court, you could be charged with a serious crime called perjury. The penalty for perjury can be as high as 14 years in jail.'
http://www.plea.org/freepubs/bwc/witness.htm
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Taking a sacred oath that binds your conscience- swearing on the Bible.
Or
Affirm/promise you will tell the truth.
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With or without the religious swearing, promising to tell the truth is something we use in our court system, something we use to try and compel the truth from people who might not want to give the truth, or simply wanting to make a strong statement from those who are more than willing to give the truth of a matter. We use this *truth* promise every day thousands of times a day in courts all over the nation, it's safe to say all over the world in various court systems the truth is something each court is supposed to be adamant about receiving before they can convict anyone of a crime.
The truth.
God wants the truth to be known by everyone. His truth. Jesus made disciples that would carry His truth on long after He was gone. Disciples, teachers, prophets, all of truth.
Hosea {4:1} 'Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.'
The Lord does have a controversy with those who won't accept His truth, with those who show no mercy, with those who refuse knowledge of Him.
The controversy is all wrapped up in the dispute between good and evil.
Regardless of what people have done to twist God into something evil over the years, regardless of the many deceptions that abound- simple deceptions that ease the conscience leaving us without the truth and blind to it because we don't really want the truth, regardless of all that, the truth lives on and will forever live on in Jesus Christ.
He is the truth.
Let us all strive to HEAR the word of the Lord and understand that we have to have truth, mercy, and knowledge of God if we don't want to have a controversy with the Lord. I know I don't want to be controversial with the Lord. I want to know His truth, to have mercy through Him, to know Him. It might not be something I like, something that will put a smile on my face every moment of every day, it might make it so I face the Lord's chastizing to guide me and correct my ways, but I need the truth in my life.
This is so much more than we fully understand, and sometimes seeking to understand takes us right out of our comfort zones and thrusts us into confusion and yet we need to try and understand- trusting that God will see us through no matter the price we pay in any way, so that we can follow Him and the truth in Him.
The battle is being waged and has been for a long time.
Whose side are you on?
Really think about that, take a few moments and really think about the answer remembering that Satan has a counterfeit side that looks very, very real. Let us pray for the whole truth, and for no deception, that our eyes may be opened, our hearts open to God and His truth no matter what it costs us.
In Jesus, by His mercy and His grace, His love.
Amen.
10/16/09
Revelation
Excerpts from --
Daniel and the Revelation by Uriah Smith
Rev. 18 Cont.
Verse 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
The voice coming from heaven denotes that it is a message of power attended with heavenly glory. How marked becomes the interposition of Heaven, and how the agents for the accomplishment of God's work multiply, as the great crisis approaches! This voice from heaven is called "another" voice, showing that a new agency is here introduced. We now have five celestial messengers expressly mentioned as engaged in this last religious reformation. These are the first, second, and third angels of Revelation 14; fourth, the angel of verse 1 of this chapter; and fifth, the agency indicated by the "voice" of verse 4, now before us. Three of these are already in operation. The second angel has joined the first, and the third has joined them. The first and second have not ceased. All three are now united in proclaiming a threefold message. The angel of verse 1 here enters upon his mission, as conditions call for his work. The divine call from heaven to come out of Babylon takes place in connection with his work.
"Come Out of Her, My People."--
Proof has already been offered to show that the message of verses 1 and 2 of this chapter is given in connection with the now current threefold message. An idea of its extent and power may be gathered from the description of the angel there given. The first angel's message is said to go with a "loud voice." The same is also said of the third message, but this angel, instead of simply flying "in the midst of heaven" like the others, is said to "come down" from heaven." He comes with a message more pointed and direct. He has "great power," and the earth is "lightened with his glory." No such description of a message from heaven to man is elsewhere to be found in all the Bible. This is the last, and as is meet, it comes with surpassing glory and unwonted power. It is an awful hour when a world's destiny is to be decided--a most solemn crisis when an entire contemporaneous generation of the human family is to pass the bounds of probation, as the last note of mercy is sounded.
In such a time, the world must not be left without warning. So amply must the great facts be heralded that none can plead a reasonable ignorance of the impending doom. Every excuse must be taken away. The justice and long-suffering and forbearance of God in delaying threatened vengeance until all have had an opportunity to receive a knowledge of His will, and time to repent, must be vindicated. An angel is sent forth panoplied with heavenly power. The light that encircles the throne enshrouds him. He comes to the earth. None but the spiritually dead--yea, "twice dead, and plucked up by the roots"--would fail to realize his presence. Light flashes everywhere. The dark places are lighted up. While his presence dispels the shadows, his voice in thunderous tones utters a warning. He cries "mightily." It is no parlor announcement, but a cry, a might cry with a strong voice.
The fatal defects in the profession of a worldly church are again pointed out. Their errors are once more, and for the last time, exposed. The inadequacy of the present standard of godliness to meet the final crisis is emphasized beyond all mistaking. The inevitable connection between their cherished errors and everlasting and irretrievable destruction is heralded until the earth resounds with the cry. Meanwhile, great Babylon's sins mount up to the heavens, and the remembrance of her iniquities comes up before God. The storm of vengeance gathers. Soon it will burst upon the great city of confusion, and proud Babylon will go down as a millstone sinks into the depths of the sea.
Suddenly another voice rings out from heaven, "Come out of her, My people!" The humble, sincere, devoted children of God, of whom there are some still left, and who sigh and cry over the abominations done in the land, heed the voice, wash their hands of her sins, separate from her communion, escape, and are saved, while Babylon becomes the victim of the just judgments of God. These are stirring times for the church. Let us be ready for the crisis.
The fact that God's people are called out so as not to be partakers of her sins, shows that it is not until a certain time that people become guilty by being connected with Babylon.
Verses 6 and 7 are a prophetic declaration that she will be rewarded or punished according to her works. Bear in mind that this testimony applies to that part of Babylon which is subject to a spiritual fall. As already pointed out, it must apply especially to the "daughters," the denominations who persist in clinging to the personal traits of the "mother," and keeping up the family resemblance. These, as pointed out previously, are to attempt a sweeping persecution against the truth and the people of God. By these the "image to the beast" is to be formed. These are to have what will be to them a new experience--the use of the civil arm to enforce their dogmas.
It is doubtless this first intoxication of power that leads this branch of Babylon to cherish in her heart the boast, "I sit a queen, and am no widow;" that is, I am no longer {GREEK CHARACTERS IN PRINTED TEXT}, chera, "one bereaved," or destitute of power, as I have been. She declares, Now I rule like a queen, and I shall see no sorrow. With blasphemy she boasts God is in the Constitution, the church is enthroned, and will henceforth bear sway. The expression, "Reward her even as she rewarded you," seems to show that the time for this message to reach its climax, and for the saints to be finally called out, will be when she begins to raise against them the arm of oppression. As she fills up the cup of persecution to the saints, so the angel of the Lord will persecute her. (Psalm 35: 6.) Judgments from on high will bring upon her a twofold degree ("double unto her double"), the evil which she thought to bring upon the humble servants of the Lord.
The day in which her plagues come, mentioned in verse 8, must be a prophetic day, or at least cannot be a literal day, for it would be impossible for famine to come in that length of time. The plagues of Babylon are without doubt the seven last plagues, which have already been examined. The plain inference from the languages of this verse in connection with Isaiah 34: 8, is that a year will be occupied in that terrible visitation.
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No one will be able to say they didn't have a chance. No one will be able to justly accuse God of wronging them in not providing them with a way to Him, to His love and care. Many will be caught up in the horrific events about to unfold and many think they are safe but they aren't. The truth is what matters most, the truth in Christ. Clinging to Christ to His righteousness and none of our own, relying on His grace, His mercy alone.
In Him may we be found fully.
Amen.
10/16/10
10/16/11