There is truth, and there is lie. There is light, and there is darkness.
Jesus declared:
B1 About truth: John 14:6 WEL Jesus explains to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
B2 About lie: John 8:44 NIrV You belong to your father, the devil. You want to obey your father’s wishes. “From the beginning, the devil was a murderer. He has never obeyed the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his natural language. He does this because he is a liar. He is the father of lies.
B3 About light: John 8:12 NRSV Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.
B4 About darkness: John 1:5 WEL The light keeps on shining in the darkness, and the darkness can’t overcome it.
There are two kingdoms. One is light, the other is darkness. There are no other kingdoms, just different names and perhaps, different rituals. Christianity has no true rituals to gain power, etc.
B1 Kingdom of light
C1 The words associated with this kingdom are life, truth, love (
agape), the fruits of the Spirit, etc.
C2 The God of light is Yahweh. He has no darkness. See 1 John 1:5
C3 The Gospel is preached and has an effect. Acts 26:18 NRSV to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Compare Isaiah 9:2, John 12:46, and 1 Peter 2:9.
C4 There are warnings given by Yahweh. See Isaiah 5:20 and John 3:18.
C5 His followers love light. See John 8:12, Romans 13:11-14,
C6 His followers are to live as light. See Ephesians 5:8 and 1 Thessalonians 5:5.
C7 His word is light to us. See Psalm 119:105
C8 His followers are commanded to leave the ways of darkness. We are not to partner with them. See Ephesians 5:8 and 2 Corinthians 6:14.
B2 Kingdom of darkness
C1 The words associated with this kingdom are darkness, sex, death, pain, war, lie, conceal, etc. See Romans 1:18-32 and Galatians 5:19-21.
C2 The prince of this kingdom is the devil. See Ezekiel 28:2-19 and Isaiah 14:9-20.
C3 His followers love darkness. See John 3:19-20.
C4 He brings and keeps people in darkness. See 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.
C5 He confuses, twists, lies, and calls evil good. Compare Psalm 52:3. For Scripture twisting methods see
here.
There are two leaders of these kingdoms. One is Yahweh, and the other is the devil. Yahweh is the only one who is God. The other desires to be god.
B1 Yahweh
C1 He is God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. One God of one essence. God is three persons. They are equal in attributes. The Father is not the Son or the Spirit. The Son is not the Father or the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father or the Son. See
here.
C2 His leadership style is the Good Shepherd. See
here.
C3 His attributes are pure and holy. You can search for God’s attributes
here and
here.
C4 He will destroy darkness and death. Compare Colossians 1:13, Isaiah 2:12, Revelation 16:10, John 16:11, and Hebrews 2:14.
B2 devil
C1 Originally the Cherub that covers the throne of God. He was the greatest of all creation. He became proud and wanted the same worship as Yahweh. This is a warning for us to not become proud or want the masses to idolize us. God gives us grace to resist these temptations. See Ezekiel 28:13-18.
C2 He is at war with Yahweh to destroy anything that Yahweh approves us. Peace? The devil wants unrest and chaos. Love? The devil’s only love is self-love and love of pleasures. Meekness? Never, the devil wants to bully and push his way into all of life. Compassion is weakness.
C3 Some of his character traits are one who opposes (1 Thessalonians 1:18), accuser (Revelation 12:10), slander (1 Timothy 5:14), causes suffering (Revelation 2:10), blasphemer (Revelation 13:6), Belial (troublemaker (Compare 2 Corinthians 6:15 with Proverbs 6:12)), dragon (adversary as in Revelation 12:4, 13-14), cunning (a false or alternative wisdom as in Genesis 3:1-5, 13 and 2 Corinthians 11:3), proud (1 Timothy 3:6 and 2 Thessalonians 2:4 (speaking of satan’s christ)), and many others. It can be compacted to lying of all types, accusation of all types, and destruction of all types.
C4 He and his human agents can be “angels of light”. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 WEL This kind are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no surprise, for even Satan masquerades himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants are masquerading as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
C5 He and his angels will be in torment for ever and ever. See Revelation 20:10.
God, Yahweh, will judge darkness.
B1 There is nothing hidden from God. See Psalm 139:12, Daniel 2:22, and 1 Corinthians 4:5.
B2 He has given us a standard. See See Exodus 20, Matthew 6:24, 1 John 2:16, James 1:22, 1 John 3:4, Acts 5:29, Matthew 22:37-39, and Matthew 10:28. For example, we cannot hate another Christian. We may hate what they are doing and teaching but not the Christian. Here is discernment, for many who claim they are Christians, even leaders, great leaders, are fakes. Those we hate. See 1 John 2:8-9 and Matthew 7:15-20. The letter of 1 John is written for this person. I have written about this before.
B3 There is no darkness in God’s kingdom. See Revelation 21:25 and Revelation 22:5.
B4 God destroys, not annihilates, the devil. See Revelation 20:7-10.
B5 All evil is destroyed—evil people, evil conditions, and evil spirits. These are not termed eternal or everlasting death, for death implies cessation of existence. God’s judgment is eternal, never-ending existence. His judgment is termed—eternal condemnation/judgment (Mark 3:29), everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2), everlasting fire (Matthew 18:8), everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46), everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9), everlasting chains in darkness (Jude 1:6), doomed forever in blackest darkness (Jude 1:13), and torment forever (Revelation 20:10). He blinds people to the truth, steals the truth from them (blanks the mind or draws their attention to something else so all is forgotten), etc.
The only way Christians can be safe (or anyone for that matter) is God’s grace and God’s truth.
B1 Jesus Christ’s existence, life, words, deeds, etc. are most reasonable. His knowledge of people, the past, and the future can only be accomplished by Jesus Christ. He is authenticated and so is all His messages. Compare Matthew 4:4.
B2 His words and message (the Bible) MUST be interpreted in its plain, normal sense while looking at the culture, the persons receiving the message, idioms, grammar, etc. If it is interpreted spiritually, allegorically, symbolically, by spirit guides, by theology, etc., one will not have the truth. For help see
here.
B3 Reading, studying, pondering the words and thoughts will give us a standard to judge what is true and false. See Romans 12:2 and Psalm 119:27NLT.
B4 We need to be somewhat skeptical about everything. We can’t just believe anything and everything. See Acts 17:11, Proverbs 18:17, and Ephesians 4:14.
B5 Evil must be exposed (Ephesians 5:11). Jesus exposed the religious leaders (Matthew 12:34 and Matthew 23:33). Paul exposed and confronted Peter (Galatians 2:11-21).
His words need to remain in us, that is, known, assented to, remembered, believed, trusted in, and acted upon. John 15:7 WEL If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask what you want, and it will be done for you.
Human teachers are necessary, but we must all be ware. Jeremiah 17:5-7 NLT This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. 7 “But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.
God’s messages are eternal. Isaiah 40:8 NLT The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.
Remember God’s promise. Jude 1:24-25 NRSV Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Importance of truth, Truth, God and truth, devil and lies, Safety in truth
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