Recognizing Truth!

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” John 8:42-47 NIV

POLITICS ALERT!
In an era in which people accept lies for truth and say truth is a lie, how on earth are we supposed to know truth when we see or hear it?

Jesus told us that truth will set us free in verse 32 of this same chapter. But whose truth? The truth of the masses who are willing to believe anything that is not proven or simply because of who said it? I think--if we're going to listen to people--especially other Christians--we must know what they say lines up with The Word!

The following excerpt was taken from an online article on November 1, 2016:

In an interview Tuesday morning on CNN, wealthy GOP donor Foster Friess explained why supporting Donald Trump — who has been married multiple times and has bragged about grabbing women by the genitals — is actually very compatible with Christian values. "I don't think [Christian voters] should be conflicted if they're really embracing their Christian values," said Friess, in a pitch to win over Christians shying away from supporting the Republican presidential candidate because of his controversial comments.

Friess argued that because "one of the gifts Jesus gave us was forgiveness," the Christian thing to do would actually be to forgive Trump for his past sins. "What value is our Christian faith if we don't forgive someone who's seeking to move forward?" Friess said, noting the "whole message of Christianity here is evident in Donald Trump's progress, where you look at where he was 10 years ago and where he is today, we have to be excited about that."

What's notable in what Friess says is that since "forgiveness" is a Christian value, why is it not extendable to Hillary who has exhibited knowledge of God?  The Republican Party has investigated the Clintons for decades and have yet to find anything prosecutable in anything they have done.
When both Bill and Hillary messed up, they apologized and sought forgiveness. Though they are not perfect--none of us are--they have exemplified more Christian values than Trump is even capable of knowing exists.

And Trump's progress is questionable to say the least. He is still promoting fear, hatred, and bigotry. He is yet disrespecting women and thinks nothing of his behavior. He is yet lying on a consistent basis and igniting hatred in the hearts of those who support him. He is yet promoting violence against Hillary.

There are those who say Trump loves this country. How has he demonstrated that love of country? His four deferments indicate he could care less about the security and safety of this country since he refused to join the military and yet--now claims that he can teach the Secretary of Defense military strategy! This is the same man who claimed to know more about ISIS than the Generals who have been involved in fighting them. But more importantly--he thinks he's smart not to pay taxes--taxes that are used to pay our military to help keep this country safe. Is that love of country?

Trump claims he's a smart businessman. How many smart businessmen end up filing bankruptcy multiple times and losing almost a billion dollars in one year?

Trump claims he respects women yet has no problem attempting to intimidate Hillary during a debate in then interrupting her at another to call her a "nasty woman" in the middle of her giving a response to the moderator. There's also his questionable obsession about his daughter's body, which borders being incestuous fantasy.

There has been no evidence in anything he says or does that Holy Spirit is guiding him in anything. There is no unconditional love for others and we know this since he fuels the chants of "lock her up!" His claim that she is "the devil" is fueled by hate mongers such as Alex Jones who admits he has said that President Obama and Hillary are the devil and "we can tell by the smell of sulfur on them." Now--whose truth is that? Sounds like that came straight from the pit to me. There is no joy and hope in what Trump says, only despair if he's not the one in charge! That's the narcissistic personality that reigns in his life. Remember, at his convention, "I know what's wrong and I am the only one who can fix it."

This person can't even discipline himself and has demonstrated he can't focus on anything for more than 30 minutes at a time, unless he's entertaining the masses at his rallies. There is no evidence of the fruit of the Spirit operating in his life and there is no truth than can be manufactured to even create the illusion of his being a Christian.

Perhaps, more importantly than anything else is the fact that Trump believes he has no reason to ask God for forgiveness since he has done nothing wrong. And that's the way he sees his life--he's never done anything wrong because he's a god that lives by his own rules. If we do not ask God to forgive us, there is no forgiveness to be had. And just asking to be forgiven without repentance is simply mouthing empty words.

In order for us to recognize truth that others pretend to speak, we must know that truth aligns with The Word in the context God intended, not how we selectively misuse it.

Now, I know there are people--Christians--who are concerned about who might be appointed to the Supreme Court. Is the concern because they do not trust God to be God and speak to the hearts of all involved? Or is that they simply don't want to see a woman in the White House? The other concern--supposedly--is they feel they must support the person who is pro-life. Well, here's a question for them. How is it that a pro-life group can support rights of life in the womb, but not rights of life outside the womb? There is more outrage about people having abortions than there is about people being killed--especially when it comes to the "Black Lives Matter" group. What happened to being "for life" in this situation?

Apparently, those who think being pro-choice is a sin and that's because they haven't developed a right relationship with God because God--the God of heaven--gives us choice in all we do and He has established the consequences of our choices and "never makes us do anything." And for the record, being pro-choice does not mean a person is "for abortions." It means we believe that a woman has the right to choose what she does and deal with the consequences of her choices. That's the way God does things--allows people to choose.

As for the 2nd Amendment argument--that Hillary is trying to take guns away from people--that is so much hogwash being perpetuated by the lies promoted by the haters. She wants to make sure that guns are kept out of the hands of those who would use them to commit murder. She has no problem with people owning guns to protect themselves. And please don't respond to me about "hunting rights." No one needs an automatic, rapid-fire weapon to kill a deer or anything else. The animal would be so shredded there would be no point in having killed it in the first place.

So, enough of the smokescreen about why people want Trump in office. He is a despicable, white man and people don't want to see a woman as President. There are people who would rather put political party affiliations before country and that should be a sin. God didn't create politics--men did--in their effort to ignore Him. Remember how Saul became a king--because other tribes had kings and did not honor God.

Now, why should anyone believe anything that's been said? They shouldn't without seeking God for themselves and praying for discernment to recognize truth--in all people, in all situations, at all times. Truth--regarding any situation--has already been addressed in God's Word and if we have a right relationship with Him, He will always guide us to truth in His Word and His Truth is applicable for all people.