Doesn't it selectively assert that a certain group is wrong based upon the accusation, perhaps creating its own conspiracy. Knowing how much we all trust government and its officials, how could anyone think it is a conspiracy and propaganda to trust any select group of them??
Just a few heavily discussed events that had government involvement were Ruby Ridge (1992), Benghazi (2012), and Covid-19 (2019 through present). Much attention was given to the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting ...and less conspiracy, yet much discussion as to who was guilty in cases such as JonBenet Ramsey, O. J., Jeffrey Epstein, and Brian Laundrie (and his family).
Discussions always seem to involve what is reported and what is hidden, and what is the motivation behind what is reported or what is thought to be hidden. And is something intentional, or are things at times just the result of plain incompetence?? With all that goes on in the world, it is probably the result of some of each of what is believed, though maybe not in the particular situation one believes that it is.
Studying World War II, we should have learned that certain reports to calm the people and trust the government had disastrous results ...keeping them contained within the city with the claim that they were being kept safe from an enemy, then telling them they were going to safely transport them by trains to a job where they could earn money to provide for their families.
No, we shouldn't panic and insist that it is happening again ...but, we should call upon Congress to look at why solely one political group is being aggressively campaigned against as being a threat to the very foundations of our republic and the very soul of our country. And at the same time, social media is being censored, not because of hate speech or threats, but for their simple opinion. And when the Supreme Court decided that nine people should not decide, but the populace of the states should vote ...the comment repeated over & over again, was that democracy was being destroyed. In truth, wasn't democracy the very thing that was being called upon. And who is calling upon God ...wasn't there a vote whether to include God in the 2008 platform for one of the Presidential conventions??
And now, as part of the security for the United States, while drugs and criminals are coming over the southern border in droves ...one of the biggest threats supposedly necessitated a Disinformation Governance Board being revealed to the public in April of this year 2022, two months after it was already in operation. And I think the censorship that is already taking place should be closely monitored, or perhaps it should be considered whether that department should even exist.
But, all that aside, my concern is how there is much disinformation on social media in reference to the Bible ...and will it be governed like it was when it was removed from schools, voted on during the 2008 convention, and ruled through censorship as if it should be forbidden from our very mouths???
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I should perhaps be embarrassed to say that it was not Junior High, but High School where I did not like to read anything except mostly comic books ...and though I was mostly attentive in school, I still didn't read much. So, when a book report was due, I was a great procrastinator.
I remember being awakened by Mom, very early in the morning, and she said "Start writing!!"
I went to a study last evening ...a friend of mine, and our oldest son were leading the study. I had been given a book, and I was also given an assignment.
That old feeling came back. But, Mom had lost her struggle against cancer two years ago (yet she wasn't lost in reference to her faith), and since she's in Heaven, there's no way 'on earth' that she woke me up this morning. But, I was awakened ...and I began writing, not fully awake.
The problem is ...when I did get up, I looked at what I had written, and it looked something like Sanskrit.
Sanskrit ...has a derivation of at least part of the word, skriti, apparently meaning 'to hide'.
I don't want the truth to be hid from me ...and it is especially frustrating when we seem to get bits and pieces, and what is revealed perhaps again appears hidden. But, I did persevere ...not saying I had divine revelation, it's just that perhaps I could use the opportunity as help with completing my homework assignment.
This would be longer (certainly longer than the 3 minutes allowable for an oral answer in class), but you can be thankful that I am unable to decipher some of my notes ...so, it will not be as long. But, again, this is just my report, and not required reading ...so, you don't have to read any of it.
Why am I writing this??
Well, there wasn't enough room in the book or the handout we were given, and I already said my handwriting didn't work too well ...so, this is the easier way for me to do my assignment.
Why do some people hesitate to embrace the teaching of Jesus??
Well, the Bible is a thick book ---and some people think we are just thickheaded religious people who repeat the talking points from the Sunday service (sort of like most of the news outlets do every day of the week) ---and one day a week doesn't often leave as much of an impression as the everyday indoctrination.
And others often view our faith as of little substance. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." And Jesus told Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed." Yet, others may say that is providing an easy path for any con artist.
People often look at faith as a weakness, not a strength ...as believing without evidence is weak and dumb. And when we say, "You need to have faith!" ...well, we are saying that because we believe they need something they don't have, and if they don't have it, they can't have the understanding of that which they don't have. So, to merely preach that they need to have faith ...it may fall on deaf ears.
If we really believe Jesus is God, then also understanding that He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent ...then we should understand that He sees everything, and always has time for us; He knows all things, and in spite of us, Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified for us; and He is all-powerful, so we have a powerful and trustworthy truth that He will deliver on His promises for our future.
Most of our attitudes in life are based upon the 'meaning' we find in life, which naturally asks how we got here, and why?? Sadly, some people don't care about these things, while others ask "Why? Why? Why?"
If the "Why? Why? Why?" is an emotional expression merely seeking acknowledgement or validation, then I may never know any Whys, nor be wise. (I'd only be otherwise.)
Let's start with this 'why' ...Why should I believe the Bible has not been changed, especially the Old Testament??
For Jewish people, YHWH is the most holy Name of God. And many of the people even today don't say His Name aloud (so, it seems that would be the reason for no vowels ...no one could slip up). And the Torah is considered the most holy ...which is designated as the first five Books, written by Moses.
A trained scribe, or sofer, was to duplicate the Torah precisely, and considering how holy it was considered, the job was not hurried. It would take about a year and a half. That is one reason I trust the documents we have, as each translation can be checked with their revered copies. (Yes, I certainly trust those people more than a society such as the one I live in, where His Name is not only not considered holy, but is frequently used in anger while cussing and swearing.)
Another point that I trust is that I believe God is both righteous and loving. Second Peter 3: 9, states that it is not His will that any of us perish, but that we come to repentance ...that certainly is His loving desire. Yet, He will not allow Heaven to be like earth ...and in His righteousness, He will judge and direct that.
So, being that He loves us, yet, will judge us all ...it is my belief that nothing is more important to Him, than that we not be duped. His judgment will be fair ...and that is because He preserved the Old Testament, He had His disciples write about Him in letters comprising the New Testament, and He put dedicated people in position for the laborious painstaking task of copying documents. They often didn't even understand what they were copying, as they felt they needed others of more supreme holiness to interpret it, they just felt it was so holy that they could not make any mistakes.
Many people today say there are mistakes in the Bible, but I don't believe the slight inconsistencies stand out to corrupt the image of God. And I believe one of the first tasks of Jesus would have been to correct any major mistakes made ---to in any way lessen our act of glorifying the Father ---as Jesus said over & over again, that He and the Father are One. Jesus did point out the wrongs of those who were trying to point out His wrong ...and Jesus was the One who kept true to the Old Testament writings.
Jesus had issue with the chief priests and Pharisees ...but, not with the documents. Jesus quoted many of the documents, and corrected the way the religious leaders were depicting God's desired life for them.
Jesus also wanted to strengthen the beliefs of those who were to have important leadership roles ---and He took John, James, and Peter to the mountain with Him ---and allowed them to see Elijah and Moses. They were to understand the importance of the unity of the Old Testament and the New Testament that they were to share. John wrote (John 5: 46-47) that Jesus said, "If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me. But, since you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?"
The apostle that we read about as being one of the closest to Jesus, wrote that Jesus made that statement ...and that is good enough to verify the truth of it to me.
So, what did God want to build??
Foremost, He wanted to build a relationship ...and I see that a relationship was intended to be built with angels and us humans. I believe both are referred to as sons of God ...the angels being created to be the first to have a relationship with God.
I fully believe in love. I don't comprehend it at God's level, but I know that its substance has something to do with not containing itself. And back to Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The word translated 'substance' here, is taken from the Greek word 'hupostasis', meaning 'a substructure or foundation' ...and elsewhere it refers to 'confidence'. And it is certainly good to be able to have confidence in a foundation.
Speaking of building a relationship, what is the foundation for that??
We have to trust the One who set the foundation upon which we're supposed to build. And I would think there would be a foreman, and a crew designated to work together. But, a group of the angels decided to work against God ...and that doesn't work for good building.
A decision was made to 'Create' ...and if you look up the word in the concordance, it says 'to cut down'.
You can build a good foundation, and then do cost analysis ...taking shortcuts, and perhaps not using the best plans for building. You can put a flat tar roof on a building ...and you can't see it unless you go up there, then if you don't maintenance it, it can leak and cause more damage that you don't see until the entire roof caves in. At that point the decision would not likely be to renovate, but to demolish or 'tear down', and start over.
Two-thirds of the buildings were still good, but a third were working to sabotage and vandalize ...so, there was a reset, a cutting down ...a Creation.
There was policing, alarms set up, warnings posted ...to help prevent vandalism, but the humans still opted for shortcuts with building, and making unwise changes to the drafting of plans. At times, things could be renovated and fixed, but overall there was still much left in disrepair. And sadly, on occasion things had to be demolished before starting over.
Yes, the relationship God has with humans has not had a good track record, yet that is our fault, not His. The entire time God was trying to teach us how to build a relationship with Him, we could learn from our failures and still learn how to build better if we wanted to. There was plenty of experience behind us.
And with all that experience to build upon, God then was ready to lay out His ultimate plan, just at the right time. The new building project was still with God as the foundation, yet it was now built up with a plan for an entire kingdom, one that Jesus would usher in.
Where are we now with our building ...of the kingdom Jesus has directed us to help build??
In the movie, 'Field of Dreams', a popular quote is: "If you build it, they will come." But, it is not just a dream with Jesus.
There is a certain amount of deep truth described in a short novel entitled, 'Edgar Allan'. It is not a story about Mr. Poe ...as his middle name is spelled 'Allen' with an 'e', and his stories are mostly grim or ghastly macabre. The story I'm talking about is written by John Neufeld, and he writes a story about a twelve year old boy who was adopted by a pastor and his wife. And an interesting part in the beginning of the story mentions when Mom told her son some things about God, "...you can only hope to understand Him by seeing where He is, and where He isn't. She thinks that where he isn't is often more interesting, and tells us more about Him and His ways, than where He is."
No, we are often not that much different from those believers in the past ...as we often don't reflect His ways. But, we should certainly find it evident how different those areas of our lives are when He is mostly excluded ...and see how the freewill choices we make are highly problematic when we have little desire for Him to guide us.
Right now, His kingdom is being built in hearts, so though it may not be perceived as a threat to an unseeing world, it is an active battleground. And while there is 'good' working towards the good of us, other unseen forces also clearly see their opportunity to make us desperate. If we wait for what we perceive as a clear victory by the majority, the desired victory will not happen so easily within us. Jesus secured the victory for us ...and each and every one of us would be wise to know that it happens one individual at a time. And this is no trick or conspiracy ...it is a necessary reality.
Remember, God desires that none would perish ...but, our hope of Heaven, and that promised Kingdom does not permit the evil of this world. All evils can't be seen ---and often isn't seen until it gets out-of-hand ---and we often don't even realize how it first began.
There are forces working against God, which God wants to save us from. In the Garden of Eden, a voice said, "Did God really say ...?" The voice spoke through a serpent at that time, but today the voice speaks through whatever means available to promote the deception. I don't know if the serpent knew how it was being used ...and sometimes I think we don't know either.
