So what is Truth?

We have an anchor

By Pricilla J. Owens, 1882

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift or firm remain?

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Stedfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love.

It is safely moored, 'twill the storm withstand,
For 'tis well secured by the Savior's hand;
And the cables passed from His heart to mine,
Can defy the blast, through strength divine. 

“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the Sons of God.”

Romans 8:14

I am bringing up a sensitive and seemly very dividing topic. The more time I’ve spent In Christ and in the Christian culture the more I’ve come to realize how big of a debate this topic is among Christians and even brothers and sisters in my own congregation. I, by no means have the final word on the subject, nor would I ever claim to. I also do not have the extensive knowledge or teachings of a seminary student, or the years of experience as a pastor, however, neither did Paul of Tarsus. The Holy Spirit spoke through the man for God's good purposes of getting the good news out into the world.

This debate stirs the question; what is truth? what is the good news? What precisely is the Gospel? Is it that we must submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ for salvation? Or is it that salvation is through faith alone- believing the work of Christ at Calvary alone that brings salvation... meaning no transformation, only belief?! 

I have gone back and forth over these two sides of the coin and I must conclude that; I don't know.

Maybe it's that I don't like the idea of putting a "label" on the works of The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, because I’ve seen foolish debates over these labels and they are a far cry from Christ. “But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.” Titus 3:9

It could also be that I haven't quite worked it out fully, but here is where I think I personally sit…

I think it's both and not entirely either or...  Let me explain;

I have a unique testimony, one not unfamiliar to many people I would suppose, but not as black and white as some. 
I wasn't brought up in a Christian home, where I was saturated in Christian culture where Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead was commonly known and talked about frequently.

I was also not completely in the opposite boat either to where I had no knowledge of Christianity or Jesus and had never even stepped foot inside a church. 

When I was 7 or 8 years old I went to church at Bethany Assembly in Everett WA and I remember as a little girl coming home and telling my sister that God was real and I had accepted Jesus as my Saviour. I went on to prove it by playing the very first Mario Bros game on the very first Nintendo gaming system and I had never beaten the game in its entirety before and this time I started it and ended it in one sitting, beating the whole game and telling my sister "See  God is real and Jesus is awesome!"  (This is where those who truly believe that salvation is through faith alone would say I was saved) I believe, I was a child and had true childlike faith here but was I saved? I don't know. 

As a family, we didn't go to church regularly nor do I remember ever reading the Bible together, however, my mom had taught us songs like Jesus Loves Me and This Little Light of Mine and she frequently read us Children Bible stories as we grew up. 

Now fast forward 5-6 years. 

I was 12 and 13 years old and our family was in the middle of a devastating divorce. I thought that at the time it was for the best because living with my father wasn't a walk in the park by any means but the family I had always known was being ripped apart and the stress and pain we all felt was palpable. 

During that time, I stayed at a lot of friends’ houses. One friend in my neighborhood had parents that were pretty open with being Christian and went to church regularly and read the Bible together and would literally spank my friend if she listened to secular music. That was a little shocking to me because I grew up listening to secular music however I saw how they worked as a family, albeit sometimes a dysfunctional one but they were more family then I was getting so I started joining them for sleepovers Saturday nights and going to church with them on Sundays. 

I started going to City of Refuge Christian church, the church falls under the umbrella of a non- denominational, charismatic, evangelical church that believes the regeneration work of the Holy Spirit in a person is essential to salvation. (Would this regenerative belief be under the umbrella of Lordship salvation?) 

And although I spent much time with my church family and was even baptized; I wasn't regenerated, at all. There was no change in my mind, heart or behavior. I was still blind to God and His truth.
I was into all the debauchery secular teenagers are into and it basically boils down to practicing lawlessness. I loved being rebellious and pushing all boundaries.  I was angry at my parents for getting a divorce and I let them know it through and through and although my church family was there for me, I was left alone quite a bit and to put it bluntly; I was out to raise hell.

I won’t go into all the details but you can ask my parents, any family members and lots of friends in those days of my childhood shenanigans. During these years is also when I started to get heavily into astrology and that continued into my late 20's.

Needless to say; I wasn't sanctified, I wasn't holy, and if I was saved, the Holy Spirit surely didn't convict me into thinking what I was doing was wrong, well sometimes I’d feel guilty but I would just justify my behavior with my anger to my parents. I also became a meth addict for a little over two years, age 18-20. That sure doesn’t “seem” Christian to me. Nor do I think anyone saw Jesus in me.

I did, however, have a yearning for a relationship with God but I had no idea how to incorporate Him into my life. I used the Bible like it was a fortune teller;  The ask a question, flip to an answer method and if I didn't like the answer, I would pray harder and flip again. 

I was just a confused and blind kid which made me the perfect prey to be taken captive and away from the faith. Which I was, by a book called Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsh and didn't even think of coming back to Christianity for over 10 years. (See my testimony for additional info during that period.) Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” – Yep, failed on that one.

But then- God called me.  1 Peter 5:10, 11 “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

Yes I had been searching for God in all the wrong places and yes I had dabbled in every other faith under the sun it seemed, but this time God called me.“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29:13

God found me dead in my sins and He opened my eyes to who He was and the work he did on the cross and that He and Jesus were one. The realization of Jesus being the second part of the 3part God head, aka the deity of Jesus never occurred to me before. No matter how many times people would tell me, through sermons and believers in general. I was deaf and blind to it. But then-- He covered me in His grace. I kept thinking over and over “I am in the center of Grace” and I felt so unworthy and more loved then I had ever felt or believed in my life. I knew Jesus was the Living God. The Holy Spirit also convicted me of truly being a sinner on my way to hell and in desperate need of a Saviour. 

Yes I believed in Jesus at age 7 or 8, but did I really know and understand what I believed? Yes I was immersed into a church community for a few years in my youth but did it really affect me? Maybe. 

The truth is, I didn't know I was saved, didn't act like I was saved and didn't feel freedom- until now. And I even completely walked away from the faith from the time I was 16 until I was 30 to boot! Thank the Lord I came to my senses like the prodigal son did while in the pigsty!

Some say that I was saved the whole time and this was ALL part of Gods plan, which I've pondered, many times.

Others may say I wasn't saved and once I made Jesus the Lord of my life is when I actually was.

I don't know...

I do know that believing in Jesus this time was one of the hardest parts. There was no "easy believism" for me as I was very liberal and into New Ageism, astrology, witchcraft, tarot and basically a self appointed Oracle, and so were all of my friends. I was embarrassed to even think about going back to Christ because I firmly believed God had taken me beyond that base belief system to a greater more truthful one. I was living in complete and utter sin and thinking I was enlightened and more spiritual then any Christian could ever hope to be. My pride was so thick and so strong that even now it's a little hard for me to believe God penetrated through it and got to me. But if anyone could have- He can. 

Since I've been a born again believer, and since He called me out darkness and into His marvelous, all-consuming light, I have bowed in awe and obedience to Him. I have been a majority of the time, in the center of His grace and I've made Jesus, The Lord of my life. All of this automatically happened at the point of belief for me this time and it has recently occurred to me that even the belief was God's gift.

I have now been converted from a non-regenerated, living-in-sin-person to a completely transformed-and-obedient-to-Christ-person. I hunger for God’s will and God’s Word. I feel completely out of reality when I’m not completely anchored in Christ. “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.”  Isaiah 55:6

I'm not saying I’ve been completely sinless, because I haven't. But an older woman of the faith, and pretty much my best friend now a days explains it like this, "It is one thing, my dear, to participate in lawlessness and quite another to fall into the traps satan sets for us; to fall into sin." 

I am inclined to agree with her. It is one thing fall into sin, it's inevitable, half of the time we don't even realize it until later and it's revealed by The Holy Spirit.  But to remain in sin, aka actively participating in sin, is quite another thing altogether.

I will continue to work out my salvation with fear and trembling, and when God says “Go” I will go and when God says “Stay” I will stay and when God says “Walk away from those that you love for now.” I will walk. I want only my Lords will. He gave His life for me, and gave me the power to do the same for Him… Why wouldn’t I want to with all of my heart?  I will abide; stay immersed in God’s word. The hunger I have for His sweet and filling word continues to shape and mold every step of me in the midst of this blessed assurance.“If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands.”  John 14:15 AMP

I don’t know if Lordship Salvation is the only way or if it is through faith alone, but I do know, I am not who I was and it’s all because of Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross of Calvary. He died and he rose from death three days later and defeated death and hell, and because I know/believe/have faith/feel gratitude about that that, it’s put my soul on fire. He’s made me to love and appreciate my life and He’s made me want to be obedient to Him and to His word and His will in my life and it’s made me want to know His character and have a relationship with Him daily.

If this wasn’t the case, I would take a really long hard look at my life to see if I was actually self-deceived and sadly on my way to hell thinking I was on the narrow road. If I didn’t know without a doubt of His assurance, I would seriously cry out “Help me, O LORD my God; save me in accordance with your love.” Psalm 109:26 and I would read the parable of the sower to see of which seed I fell;  

Matthew 13:1-23

The Parable of the Sower

“That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour with whom I'm madly in love. I know what it’s like to be in the center of grace and I know what it’s like to keep my Saviour’s commands.

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”John 1:9-13

  
^{{One thing I do know is you cannot have belief without faith and you cannot make Jesus your Lord without belief in Him, so it all has to work, together for Gods Glory.}}

My Savior, My God

By Aaron Shust

I am not skilled to understand

What God has willed, what God has planned

I only know at His right hand

Stands One who is my Savior

I take Him at His word and deed

Christ died to save me this I read

And in my heart I find a need

For Him to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high

And come for sinful man to die

You count it strange, so once did I

Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, my Savior lives

My Savior's always there for me

My God He was, my God He is

My God He's always gonna be

Yes, living, dying let me bring

My strength, my solace from this spring

That He who lives to be my King

Once died to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on High

And come for sinful men to die

You count it strange so once did I

Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, My Savior lives

My Savior's always there for me

My God He was, My God He is,

My God He's always gonna be

My Savior lives, My Savior loves

My Savior lives, My Savior loves