The Unchanging Law

What place does the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) have in the Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka The New Testament)?

I have heard a lot of discussion about the place of the Law of Truth in the Renewed Covenant among the Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) lately.

Of course, I heard the usual extremes.  One extreme is, that the Law of Truth has been done away with in the Renewed Covenant, so nothing from the Original Covenant (Tanach aka The Old Testament) applies to us today.  Those, who espouse this view, will say, that we are not under the Law of Truth, so there is no need to obey any of the commandments of the Original Covenant to be saved.

The other extreme is, that the Law of Truth has not been done away with in the Renewed Covenant, so everything in the Original Covenant applies to us today.  Those, who espouse this view, will say, that we must obey every commandment in the Original Covenant to be saved.

Still for many of the Children of Truth neither of these extremes seem to be right.  The first view leads to complete lawlessness while the second one leads to complete hopelessness.  They intuitively know that the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) has not given them a license to kill in the Renewed Covenant.  They also intuitively know that keeping every commandment of the Original Covenant can never save them.

Many of them are genuinely concerned about what the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) wants them to do about the Law of Truth because they desire to live a life that is pleasing to him.  Yet when they ask five religious professionals this question they get ten conflicting answers.  This is because the religious professionals usually do not know the answer either.

Many religious professionals have been struggling with this question themselves.  For example, there is one pastor that comes up frequently when I turn on my television before I go to bed.  This is not really his area of expertise but he has been trying to address it in his sermons for almost a year now.  It is obviously a concern of his congregation that he simply does not really know how to the answer.

This is not a criticism of that pastor.  Like most people in most professions, religious professionals often reach a point where they have to specialize.  The Father of Truth has not burdened anyone with having to know everything but rather has the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) divide the work up among many people.  Like anyone in any other profession once someone start specializing in one area it takes away time from studying other things.  He has spent years studying other matters in the Book of Truth (The Bible) that were assigned to him by the Spirit of Truth and telling what he has learned to others.  He has been faithful to lead his congregation in following the Man of Truth to the best of his ability.  He simply has not had to time to study this question out because that would take away from his main assignment that the Spirit of Truth gave him.

Like in any other profession, he has probably tried to consult other religious professionals who claim to have studied this out more thoroughly.  He has probably found the same range of contradicting opinions as his congregants.  So he has done his best to understand and explain the place that the Law of Truth has in the Renewed Covenant.  Still it is obvious that while he has a general idea he is still fuzzy about the details.

Fortunately, this is not an unanswerable question.  Like everything, the Book of Truth tells us the truth about this.

The Spirit of Truth has been given to the Children of Truth to lead them into all truth (John 16:13).  The Father of Truth is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33).  We can find the answer to any question about living a life that is pleasing to Him by studying and rightly dividing the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15).  It is the work of the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan Aka The Devil) to create confusion (James 3:16).

The first thing to recognize is that the term "the law" has different meanings in the Book of Truth depending upon the context.  For example, the Original Covenant is composed of the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24:44).  ( The word "Tenakh" is an acronym for "Torah, Nevi'im, And K'tuvim" which literally means "Law, Prophets, And Writings".  The writings are often referred to as "the Psalms" because Psalms is the first book of the Writings in the original arrangement of the Original Covenant that is still used by Jews today.)  The Law portion contains the first five books of the Renewed Covenant including Genesis (Bereshit) because it contains the Law that the Father of Truth gave to Moses (1 Corinthians 9:9).  Yet the entire Original Covenant is sometimes referred to as the Law because the Law portion is the first portion of the Original Covenant just like all of the writings are called the Psalms because the book of Psalms is the first book in the writings (1 Corinthians 14:21).

So then what is the Law of Truth?

The Law of Truth is NOT the same thing as the Original Covenant nor is it the same thing as the Law that the Father of Truth gave to Moses.  Abraham (Abram) kept the Law of Truth (Genesis 26:3-5).  Abraham kept the Law of Truth because he loved the Father of Truth (Deuteronomy 11:1).  This was over four hundred years before the Father of Truth gave the Law to Moses (Moishe) on Mount Sinai (Galatians 3:16-18).  In fact, Gentiles who did not have the Law that the Father of Truth gave to Moses could still keep the Law of Truth because the Law that the Father of Truth gave to Moses contained the Law of Truth (Romans 2:14).  More than that the Law of Truth that defines the righteousness of the Law that the Father of Truth gave to Moses does not depend upon a Gentile becoming a Jew through circumcision (Romans 2:26).  So the Law of Truth is something different than the Original Covenant or the Law that the Father of Truth gave to Moses since both Abraham and Gentiles were able to keep without the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses or the Original Covenant.

So the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses contains the Law of Truth so that the children of Abraham would be able to love the Father of Truth in the same way as Abraham (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).  Yet the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses contains the Law of Truth plus other things just as the first five books of the Original Covenant contain the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses plus other things (1 Kings 2:3).   While all the commandments of the Law of Truth are included in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses, not every commandment in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses is part of the Law of Truth.  It is like the way that every rose is a flower but not ever flower is a rose.

So the Original Covenant contains the Law, the Law contains the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses and the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses contains the Law of Truth.

So which commandments in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses are the commandments of the Law of Truth?

The commandments of the Law of Truth are those that Abraham and Gentiles without the Law that the Father of Truth gave to Moses were able to keep.  The first place to begin is considering which of the over six hundred commandments in the Law that the Father of Truth gave to Moses that it was not possible for Abraham to keep.

The fact is that about four hundred of the commandments that the Father of Truth gave Moses deal with the Tabernacle (that was replaced later with the Temple) and the Levitical priesthood. 

The Tabernacle did not exist in the days of Abraham and was not even possible to construct until the Father of Truth showed Moses the pattern for building the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:9).  There could be no Tabernacle built before Moses was shown the pattern on Mount Sinai (Exodus 25:40).

There could be no Levitical priests without the Tabernacle (Exodus 29:44).   The Levitical priests could not carry out the rituals of the Tabernacle until after the Tabernacle was built (Leviticus 8:1-10).  The Levitical priest were descendents of Abraham who were born more than two hundred years after Abraham died (Hebrews 7:5).  Abraham could not have went to the Levitical priests to carry out the commandments of the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses concerning the rituals carried out by the Levitical priesthood since the entire tribe of Levi was still in his loins when Abraham was keeping the Law of Truth (Hebrews 7:9-10).

Even in the days of Moses the commandments concerning the Tabernacle and the Levitical priesthood could not be kept until the Tabernacle had been build and dedicated (Numbers 7:1-3).  The Tabernacle on Earth and the Levitical priesthood was only a copy of the Tabernacle in Heaven and the priesthood of the Man of Truth so they had to be revealed by the Father of Truth before the Tabernacle could be built and the Levitical priesthood could start operating in the Tabernacle (Hebrews 8:4-5).  So all of the commandments in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses concerning the Tabernacle and the Levitical Priesthood could not be part of the Law of Truth that Abraham kept.

The same is true for the commandments concerning the Feasts of Truth.  The very first Feast of Truth is Passover (Pesach) and it could only be observed as a memorial of the deliverance from Egypt after the descendants of Abraham were delivered from Egypt (Exodus 12:42-50).  The rest of the Feasts of Truth were added after the descendents of Abraham were in the wilderness (Leviticus 23:1-4).  Not only that but it is impossible to keep the Feasts of Truth in the way commanded in the Law that the Father of Truth gave to Moses without the Tabernacle and the Levitical priesthood (Leviticus 23:5-38).

In fact, the commandment concerning the men of Israel going up to meet The Father of Truth three times a year was only in effect when the descendents of Abraham were in the Promised Land so this commandment was not in effect during the entire lifetime of Moses (Exodus 34:18-24).  So all the commandments that the Father of Truth gave to Moses concerning the Feasts of Truth could not be part of the Law of Truth that Abraham kept.

More than that there were also various other commandments that only concerned the descendents of Abraham when they were in the Promised Land.  For example,  there were the commandments concerning the king that the Father of Truth would set over them after they took possession of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 17:14-20).  Abraham did not possess the Promised Land (Acts 7:2-5).  So all the commandments that the Father of Truth gave to Moses concerning possession of the Promised Land could not be part of the Law of Truth that Abraham kept.

So what about the remaining commandments of the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses?

The Sabbath had been given to Adam and Eve (Chavah) for a day of rest at the end of the very first week of the existence of this present world (Genesis 2:2-3).  The Father of Truth had already revealed to Noah (Noach) which animals were food and which were filth before people even began to eat meat (Genesis 7:1-3).  Abraham was already paying tithes to the Minister of Truth in his day (Genesis 14:18-20).  The commandment had already been given for a man to marry the widow of his brother if his brother had died childless hundreds of years before the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses was given on Mount Sinai (Genesis 38:8-10).

Not only that, but all of the commandments in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses that concern treating Him and other people with love are part of the Law of Truth.  These commandments written out in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses are just the details of fulfilling the commandment to love the Father of Truth will all of your being and to love other people as you love yourself (Matthew 22:36-40).  Those who keep the commandments written in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses concerning how to treat other people fulfill the commandment to love their neighbors as themselves (Romans 13:8-10).  Those who keep the commandments written in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses concerning how to how to treat Him fulfill the commandment to love Him with all their being (1 John 5:3).

You see the Law of Truth is the unchanging law because love is unchanging (1 Corinthians 13:8).

However the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses was never unchanging.  Different commandments have been in effect at different times and were even given at different times.  It was only those commandments written in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses that are part of the Law of Truth that are unchanging.

For example, as already noted, Passover was given first and then later the other Feasts of Truth were given.  The commandment to wear tzitzits (tassels with a blue thread) on the corner of the garments was given to help the Children of Truth remember to keep His commandments some time after the bulk of the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses was given at Mount Sinai (Numbers 15:37-40).  The commandment concerning the preservation of the inheritance of a man who had only daughters was given years later (Numbers 36:5-7).

Not only that but Jeremiah (Yeremayahu) the Prophet of Truth said by the Spirit of Truth that the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses was taken away when He destroyed the Tabernacle (Temple) (Lamentations 2:6-9).  When the Temple was rebuilt then those commandments in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses were back in effect (Ezra 6:15-22).  Even Paul the Jew (Shaul aka Saul aka the Apostle Paul) continued to keep these commandments as long as the Temple was still standing (Acts 21:26).

Yet the Man of Truth, THE PROPHET OF TRUTH, said that for a second time the means of worshiping the Father of Truth by keeping the commandments of the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses would be taken away (John 4:20-21).  So these commandments have no effect today.

Still when the Man of Truth rules the Earth an even larger Temple will be built and those same commandments will be back in effect (Ezekiel 41:1-3).  In fact, even the Gentile men from all nations will have to come to Jerusalem every year to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) (Zechariah 14:16-19).  The Man of Truth said that every commandment of the Law of Moses will be in effect until Heaven and Earth are replaced (Matthew 5:17-18).

Finally, these commandments concerning the Temple and the Levitical priesthood will no longer be in effect forever because there will be no Temple in the new Jerusalem when there is a new Heaven and a new Earth (Revelation 21:22).

So while the commandments of the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses will not change since the time they were first written, they are not always in effect.  However, the commandments of the Law of Truth are always in effect because love is always in effect.

Not only that but the entire Original Covenant has been replaced by the Renewed Covenant.  The Father of Truth said He would make the Renewed Covenant with the house of Israel because they did not keep the Original Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-32).  Since He found fault with them for not continuing to keep the Original Covenant then He had to replace the Original Covenant with the Renewed Covenant (Hebrews 8:8-9).  The Renewed Covenant completely obsoleted the Original Covenant when it came into effect (Hebrews 8:13). [The Greek word translated as "new" is "kainos" which is literally "renewed".  Strong's Concordance incorrectly and inconsistently translates it as "new" even though "ainos" means "new".  In the Septuagint the Greek word "kainos" is the translation of the Hebrew word "chadashah" which Strong's Concordance correctly translates as "renewed".  So both the Hebrew scriptures of the Original Covenant and the Greek scriptures of the Renewed Covenant call it the "Renewed Covenant" instead of the "New Covenant".]

It is worth noting that the commandments in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses that are part of the Law of Truth did not change when the Renewed Covenant came into effect.  The truth is that most of the commandments that carried the death penalty in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses still carry the death penalty in the Renewed Covenant (Romans 1:28-32).  The Law of Truth has never changed because it is the unchanging law.

Another example is that of cross dressing (dressing like the opposite sex).  This was forbidden in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses (Deuteronomy 22:5).  It is still forbidden in the Renewed Covenant (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). [The Greek word "malakos" translated as "effeminate" literally means "to be made soft to the touch". (malakos)  It was used in Ancient Greek literature of men who made themselves soft to the touch by dressing like a woman.  They were usually involved in homosexuality in some way which also listed in this same passage as keeping people out of the kingdom of the Father of Truth.]

You see the Man of Truth could not have changed the Law of Truth because he never changes (Hebrews 13:8).  The Father of Truth will not change the Law of Truth because He never changes (James 1:17).  The Law of Truth is the unchanging law.

So it is the exact same commandments concerning pretty much everything in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses except for those things that are only in effect part of the time, like the services of the Temple, that are continued in the Renewed Covenant.  There are less than two hundred commandments in the Law of Truth.  (By contrast the entirety of the Renewed Covenant has 1,050 commandments including those in the Law of Truth.)

It is worth noting that not even all of the commandments in the Law of Truth are equal.  The Man of Truth said that the commandments concerning judgement, mercy and faith were weightier matters of the Law of Truth than the commandment to pay tithes (Matthew 23:23).  It is important to make sure that we are careful to not be so focused on keeping the lessor matters of the Law  that we become hindered in taking care of the weightier matters of the Law.

For example, it does not matter if you know who changed the Sabbath and keep the Biblical Sabbath when you are not loving your neighbor as yourself.   Whose Sabbath are you keeping if you neglect showing love to other people?  It is taking care of other people that guarantees that you will never be bored on the Sabbath.

This is not to endorse ignoring any commandment of the Law of Truth for the Man of Truth said that we are not teach anyone ignore even the least of these commandments if we want to be great in his kingdom (Matthew 5:19).  The Children of Truth should be walking in truth in every area of life.

They should avoid using practices that come from idolatry when they worship their Father (Deuteronomy 12:2-4).  Their Father desires that they worship him in truth by the Spirit of Truth (John 4:23-24).   They should be seeking to rid their lives of everything that comes from the Father of Lies so they can enjoy everything that comes from their Father (Romans 13:11-13).  They should seek to have nothing to do with these useless works that come from the Father of Lies once they know the truth about them (Ephesians 5:8-12).  The Father of Truth still wants His Children to have absolutely nothing to do with those things that came from the practices of idol worship (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).  The Law of Truth is the unchanging law.

Therefore they should be like the Mensch who killed Christmas when it comes to every holiday and custom that comes from idolatry.  They need to be cleaning up the Christmas mess.  They should be avoiding every practice that comes from idolatry including all of the wickedness that is found in Ash Wednesday.

There is also no difference between the commandments of the Original Covenant and the Renewed Covenant about being careful about what's on your head to avoid idolatrous practices because the Law of Truth is the unchanging law.

The Children of Truth will be healthier when they avoid what the Father of Truth calls filth and only eat what He calls food when they decide what's for dinner.  They will never wonder "Does it matter what I eat?".  They will know that what the Law of Truth says about food is more than just food for thought.  The definition of food and filth never changed because the Law of Truth is the unchanging law.

The Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses is powerless to save because no one has ever kept it except for the Man of Truth (John 7:19).  The truth is that people can only come into the House of Truth by faith in the Man of Truth and no one can be justified by keeping the commandments of the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses (Acts 13:38-39).  The flesh of people keeps them from being able to keep the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses (Romans 8:3).  The Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses could only make people righteous if they obeyed every commandment of it all the time without fail (Romans 10:5).

It was the demand of the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses that we die for our sins that the Man of Truth nailed to the cross when he died in our place (Colossians 2:13-15).  The Children of Truth are not under the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses when the Spirit of Truth leads them into keeping the Law of Truth (Galatians 5:16-18).  The Renewed Covenant is the Father of Truth writing the same Law of Truth on the hearts of the Children of Truth that He wrote on stone in the Law that He gave to Moses (Hebrews 8:10-13). 

The Father of Truth gave the Spirit of Truth to the Children of Truth so they could keep the Law of Truth (Ezekiel 36:26-27).  The Children of Truth were delivered from the law of dying because they had sinned when they came under the law of the Spirit of Truth changing them to be like the Man of Truth (Romans 8:1-2).  The Children of Truth can keep the Law of Truth because the Spirit of Truth gives them the ability to do so (Romans 8:3-4). The Father of Truth writes the Law of Truth on the hearts of the Children of Truth to put an end to sin because the Law of Truth is the unchanging law (Hebrews 10:15-17).

So the Children of Truth are not given a license to kill and otherwise act lawlessly when they come into the House of Truth because the Law of Truth is the unchanging law.  Neither are the Children of Truth left with the hopelessly trying to keep the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses without the ability to do so.  The Children of Truth can keep the same Law of Truth that Abraham kept because it is the unchanging law.

The Children of Truth are under no obligation to keep anything in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses that is not part of the Law of Truth.  As it has already been shown that everything in the Law of Truth is part of the Renewed Covenant.

This does not mean that the Children of Truth cannot receive any benefit from observing what they can from the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses that is not part of the Law of Truth.

For example, it's not just a Jewish thing to keep the holidays that their Father has provided for them.  So even though they do not have to keep these holidays to be in the House of Truth they will never understand things like the Greatest Play Ever until they do.  They just need to remember that they cannot keep these holidays in every detail that is commanded in the Law that the Father of Truth gave Moses because without the Temple they are playing with broken toys.

No one can keep the Law of Truth until they come into the House of Truth by being born again (John 3:3).  The beginning of being able to keep the Law of Truth is surrendering control of your life to the Man of Truth because you believe that His Father raised him from the dead (Romans 10:8-10).  When you come into the House of Truth then you will start keeping the Law of Truth (1 Peter 2:9).  You will become like the Man of Truth when you come into the House of Truth so that you are keeping the unchanging law (1 John 4:15-17).

Come into the House of Truth.

A Resolution That You Can Keep

Would you like to make a resolution that you can keep this year?

Every New Year's Day millions of Americans make New Year's resolutions.  They resolve that something in their life is going to be different starting with this year than it was in prior years.  Many times these resolutions involve some area of their life where they would like to have more discipline than they had in the previous year.  So they make resolutions to do things like lose weight, get more exercise, save more money, spend more time with their family and less time at work, stop smoking and the like. These are among the most popular New Year's resolutions.

The problem with New Year's resolutions is that people are almost never able to keep them.  Studies show that on average people have already broken their New Year's resolutions within ten days of making them and that most New Year resolutions are completely abandoned by February first.

The reason for this is that the other changes in their lives necessary to carry out their resolutions rarely happen.  They still have the same issues to deal with on January 2 of the new year that they had on December 31 of the old year.  The calendar changing from one year to another on January 1 did not change anything significant in their lives.  They still have the same job that they had before. They still have the same friends that they had before.  They still have the same family that they had before.  They still have the problems that they had before.  They still have the same things that drive their behavior.

The fact is they often do not have the will power to change even if that was all that was needed.  When they face the same temptations they fall back into the same patterns of behavior.  Even if they push everything out of their lives that might tempt them they are still the same on the inside.  Once they find themselves in those same circumstances they end up making the same choices.  They are simply slaves that cannot free themselves no matter how much they want to be free.

Then there are all of those unexpected and unforeseeable things that prevent them from carrying out their resolutions even if they have the will power.  They get injured or fall ill so that they cannot exercise and consequently gain weight.  They are laid off through no fault of their own and no longer have money to save.  They survive a lay off (which is sometimes worse than being laid off) only to find that they are now expected to make up some of the work that was being performed by those that were laid off on top of their own work.  They suffer a calamity of some sort like an accident or serious illness that devours their money.  In other words, life happens to them.

So in short they cannot make the changes that they would like to make even if they have the will power to do so because will power alone is not enough to bring about those changes.  Everything in their life is not in their control no matter how much they wish it was so .  They are making resolutions that they cannot keep.

Would it not be better to make a resolution that you can keep instead of making one that is probably doomed to failure?

The good news is that there is a resolution that you can keep.  This resolution will bring about all kinds of changes in your life when you keep it.  When you keep this resolution then you will find that you will gain the power to keep those other resolutions.  When you keep this resolution then you will be set free from the prison that your habits have built.  When you keep this resolution then you will be able to rise above every circumstance that would otherwise prevent you from making the kinds of changes that you want in your life.

A resolution that you can keep is one that does not rely upon your will power and external circumstances to be kept.  You can keep this resolution long after other resolutions are abandoned because it deals with the root cause of those things that you want out of your life instead of just the symptoms.

A resolution that you can keep is total surrender to the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ). 

This resolution will bring about the resolution of the sin problem in your life.  All of those things that you want to change in your life are the result of only one root cause and that root cause is sin.

The first thing to understand about sin is that sin is a universal problem throughout the human race.  There is no one that has not sinned (1 Kings 8:46).  No one in the entire world is good (Psalm 14:2-3).  There is not one person that has enough understanding in their own strength to avoid sin (Romans 3:10-12).  Anyone that thinks that they have never sinned is self-deceived (1 John 1:8).

Before people can avoid sin they have to know what sin is.  People can sin without knowing that they are sinning (Numbers 15:29).  People can be so ignorant of what defines sin that it is like not knowing the difference between left and right (Jonah 4:11).

The Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) was given to Moses so that people could know what was sin (Romans 3:20).  The Law of Truth revealed the sin that had already existed before it was ever given (Romans 5:13).  Only no one knew what was sin until the Law of Truth was given (Romans 7:7).  Since the Law of Truth tells what sin is then doing anything that is contrary to what is commanded in the Law of Truth is sin (1 John 3:4).

However, knowing what is sin does not keep anyone from committing sin.  Those that have been given the Law of Truth so they could know what was sin have done no better at avoiding sin than those that did not have the Law of Truth (Romans 2:12).  The Jews are just as guilty as the Gentiles (Romans 3:9).

So the Law of Truth is not enough to keep people from sin.  The Law of Truth is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12).  The problem is that we are not (Romans 7:14-16).

We cannot be good on our own because sin lives in our bodies (Romans 7:17-18).  It is the sin that lives in our bodies which keeps us from making those changes that we want to make in our lives (Romans 7:19-21).  So no matter how much we want to change to live in line with the Law of Truth we end up breaking it anyways because we are slaves to sin (Romans 7:22-23).  We simply cannot live in line with the Law of Truth on our own strength due to the sin that lives in our bodies (Romans 8:6-8).

Even worse the sin that lives in our bodies always brings death.  Our bodies die because sin lives in them (Romans 5:12).  This why people still died before the Law of Truth was ever given to Moses (Romans 5:14).  This is why we continue in behavior that we know is self destructive and will lead us to death (Romans 7:5).  The Law of Truth was given so that we could see how terrible sin really is (Romans 7:13).

Since sin is universal, lives in our bodies and always results in death then we need someone to deliver us from our hopeless state (Romans 7:24).

The obedience to the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) by the Man of Truth has made him able to bring a resolution to our sin problem (Romans 5:19-21).  We have earned death with our actions that are the result from the sin that lives in our bodies but He has given us the gift of eternal life through the Man of Truth (Romans 6:23).

There is deliverance from slavery to sin when you submit in total surrender to the Man of Truth (Romans 7:25).  It is keeping your resolution of total surrender to the Man of Truth that sets you free from the sin that leads to death (Romans 8:1-2). 

Total surrender to the Man of Truth  is a resolution that you can keep because the Man of Truth has already done all of the heavy lifting. The Man of Truth died to pay for your sins and rose again so you could be counted as sinless (Romans 4:23-25).  When you had no ability to save yourself the Man of Truth died to resolve your sin problem (Romans 5:6).  The Man of Truth suffered the terrible brutality of the cross so you could be free from being controlled by the sin that lives in your body (1 Peter 4:1-2).

Total surrender to the Man of Truth is a resolution that you can keep because the Man of Truth will live in you to make you strong enough to keep this resolution.  If you will live in the Man of Truth then He will live in you so that you can keep this resolution (John 15:4-5).  He is strong enough to enable you to keep this resolution when he is living in you (Colossians 1:27-29).  If he is living you then you can live like he did, free from the sin, in this world (1 John 4:17).

Total surrender to the Man of Truth is a resolution that you can keep because of the Word of Truth will give you the ability to do so.  It is continuing to obey the Word of Truth that sets you free from the sin that lives in your body (John 8:31-32). When you live in the Man of Truth and the Word of Truth lives in you then you will be able to keep this resolution (John 15:7-8).  The Word of Truth will renew your mind so that you can keep this resolution (Romans 12:1-2).

Total surrender to the Man of Truth is a resolution that you can keep because the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) will help you to keep this resolution.  The Spirit of Truth is given to everyone that makes a resolution of total surrender to the Man of Truth (John 14:15-17).  The Spirit of Truth will guide you into all truth so that you know how to keep this resolution (John 16:13).  The Spirit of Truth will give you the strength to keep your resolution because you will not be relying on your own strength (Romans 8:3-5).

This resolution that you can keep begins when you are born again as a Child of Truth.  You must born again to keep this resolution (John 3:3-5).  Those that are born again are born as a spirit to the Spirit of Truth just as they were born as a body to a human mother (John 3:6-8).  The Spirit of Truth lives in everyone that is born again, just like they carry the DNA of their mother in their bodies when they were born the first time, so that they can keep this resolution (Romans 8:9-10).  The Spirit of Truth living on the inside makes total surrender to the Man of Truth to be a resolution that you can keep (Romans 8:12-14).  The Spirit of Truth will tell you on the inside that this is a resolution that you can keep (Romans 8:15-16).  The Spirit of Truth living on the inside of you will produce outside behavior that is pleasing to the Father of Truth as naturally as apple trees produce apples (Galatians 5:22-23).

When you are born again you are born as a baby.  It is like a riddle that I had in a set of riddle cards when I was seven years old.  Question : "How many big men were born in New York City?"  Answer: "None - just little babies were born there".  You start out as a baby Child of Truth and grow up from there.  It is a process whereby you become more and more like the Man of Truth day by day. 

Total surrender to the Man of Truth is a resolution that you can keep if you decide to make it because the Father of Truth will help you to keep it.  The Father of Truth has given other people that have made the same resolution to help you keep your resolution so that you can grow up to be like the Man of Truth (Ephesians 4:11-15).

Make no mistake I am not saying that you do not have to do anything and your life will get better overnight without any effort on your behalf.  This is the Father of Truth working with you to make changes in your life.  He has a part that He began when He sent the Man of Truth but you also have a part.  He sent the Man of Truth into this world so that He could work with you to keep this resolution (Matthew 1:22-23).

It is not all up to the Father of Truth.

You are the one that has to decide that you are going to obey the Man of Truth in total surrender to the best of your ability and understanding because you love him (John 15:9-11).  You are the one that has to decide that you are going to be the friend of the Man of Truth by making a resolution to submit to him in total surrender (John 15:14-15).  You are the one that has to reject what is evil and desire the Word of Truth like a baby desires milk so that you can grow up (1 Peter 2:1-3).

It is not all up to you either.

It is the Man of Truth and you working together that makes it possible for you to keep your resolution to submit to the Man of Truth in total surrender.  The Man of Truth began the process and he will finish it but it is up to you to look to him for strength as you run your leg of the race (Hebrews 12:1-3).   The Man of Truth did his part to help you overcome every obstacle when he shed his blood on the cross and you do your part when you learn to say the same thing as the Word of Truth about your situation (Revelation 12:11).  It is a partnership.

There are no circumstances that can prevent you from keeping this resolution. No one can pry you from the hand of the Father of Truth once you make this resolution (John 10:29).  There are no circumstances that can separate you from the love of the Man of Truth (Romans 8:35-37).  No one can separate you from the love of the Father of Truth (Romans 8:38-39).

What if you should slip in your resolve?  You can still keep your resolution by getting back up and keep trying again (Proverbs 24:16).  You can judge yourself and change your behavior or you will be chastised by the Father of Truth so that you will not continue to slip (1 Corinthians 11:31-32).  The Father of Truth will chastise you for your disobedience but you will still be His child (Hebrews 12:5-7).  He will chastise you so that you will learn to be like Him (Hebrews 12:8-10).

As you learn how to keep this resolution then you will learn how to avoid everything that is defined as sin in the Law of Truth (Romans 3:31).  This resolution is a long war that lasts for your entire life against everything that would lead you into sin (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).  When you keep this resolution and win this war you will become like the Man of Truth in every way (1 John 3:2).

Total surrender to the Man of Truth is a resolution that you can keep. The only way to lose this war is to quit fighting.  You have all the help you need to keep this resolution but you must stay in the House of Truth to do so (Matthew 24:13).  You must not leave the House of Truth like Judas did or you will also fail to keep your resolution (Acts 1:25).  You must not leave the House of Truth or you will fall from the grace that makes it possible to keep this resolution (Galatians 5:4-5).  You must not leave the House of Truth or you will fail to receive the help that you need to keep this resolution (Hebrews 12:14-16).  It would be better to never come into the House of Truth than to leave the House of Truth (2 Peter 2:20-22).

Total surrender to the Man of Truth is a resolution that you can keep.  You make this resolution when come into the House of Truth. You come into the House of Truth when call the Man of Truth the boss of every area of your life because you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:8-10). 

Come into the House of Truth.

How To Deal With A Bully

What is the best way to deal with a bully?

When I was six years old the bully in our neighborhood hit me.  I decided to deal with the bully in the same that I had seen my dad deal with bullies.  So I hit him back and made sure that he regretted hitting me.  It seemed like how to deal with a bully.

This set off a chain of events resulting in a sort of blood feud between his family and our family.  When the bully and his brothers ganged up on me and beat me up it set off a chain of events that ended with my mother moving us to the farm in Arkansas where her family lived and my parents getting divorced.

I hated my parents being divorced more than anything in the world.  I blamed myself for the divorce because I was not being tough enough to deal with those bullies so that they stopped bullying people.  I also blamed that family of bullies for what happened to my family and it made me angry ever time I thought about them.  I wanted to know how to deal with a bully.

My hero at the time was Batman because he beat up bullies and sent them to jail. No matter how big or how many bullies he had to fight at once he always managed to subdue them.  These bullies were always part of a sort family of criminals that was headed by a father figure that was the main villain (like Joker) and he always managed to take out that bully as well.  He protected others from bullies and never backed down from a bully.  Bullies were afraid of Batman.  Batman terrorized the bullies that terrorized other people.  Batman seemed to know how to deal with a bully.

As I read more and more Batman comics I started noticing a flaw in how Batman dealt with bullies.  He would hand the bullies over the police who when then incarcerate them - usually in Arkham for the main villains.  Then it all fell apart.  Sooner or later they would break out of Arkham or prison and be back to terrorizing innocent people.  It seemed that the authorities did not know how to deal with a bully.

I also found out in real life that going to the authorities in my school was often a useless way to deal with a bully. Whenever I got in a fight when a bully began picking on me at school I would get in trouble with the authorities for fighting.  When I told the authorities so they could handle things instead (as they had said that I should do) then they generally did nothing to stop the bullies from picking on anyone.  They basically did not want to upset the wrong people in the community.  So they wanted those that were picked on by the bullies to just take it without upsetting anyone else.  It seemed that they did not know how to deal with a bully.

Then one day I read a Human Target comic book.  This hero would either disguise himself to look like someone that a villain was trying to kill or he would draw their attention to him instead of their intended victim, so the intended victim could escape.  I started doing the same thing at school so that the bullies would pick on me instead of some of the smaller kids.

Eventually their harassment would set me off so much that I lost all control and either hurt someone or broke something in a fit of rage.  Usually this behavior would scare everyone in school and they would lay off bullying for a while after that.  However, I could not always protect everyone from every bully so this did not seem like how to deal with a bully.

I also became quite proficient at hurting these bullies back in other ways.  I became very mean with my mouth and knew how to say the most hurtful thing at just the right moment to cause them the most emotional pain possible.  I also would irritate them in front of their girlfriends.  They would usually react the same way that they always had.  Most of the time their girlfriends would stop feeling safe around them after that and break up with them.  I made good grades with great ease and made sure that they felt they were really stupid.   Still, no matter how much I hurt them back they still persisted in bullying me and other people.  This was not obviously not how to deal with a bully.

Then one day my Uncle Ken took us out to the ponds around the farm with some guns.  He told us that we were going to kill off as many water moccasins as possible.  We always had lots of water moccasins around our ponds but they never seemed to do any harm.  I loved snakes so I started to protest against killing the water moccasins.  I asked why we were killing the water moccasins.  He explained that they were poisonous and could bite someone.  I pointed out that anytime we got near them they took off like a rocket into the water to escape.  He said that they could bite one of the cows or calves and kill it.  I asked him if anyone he knew had ever had their livestock bitten and killed by a water moccasin.  He said that he had not known of this actually occurring but the only way to be sure to protect the cattle was to kill off the water moccasins.  I started to protest further but he was getting a little put out with my persistence.  So, he basically said that somethings just needed killing and that was the end of the discussion.  So we went around and shot all of the water moccasins we could find.

It seemed to me that if the best way to deal with water moccasins that might hurt innocent cattle was to kill them off, then perhaps the best way to deal with bullies that did hurt innocent people was to kill them off.  If Batman had killed them off then they would not be able to escape Arkham or prison to further terrorize people.  It seemed that some people just needed killing.

As time went on my anger at bullies in general was growing into hatred.  I tried not to hate bullies, because I knew that I was not supposed to hate people.  Then my grandfather died and things went really dark for me.  Grandpa was the pillar of our family and he kept the rest of us in line somehow.  Without his influence the family began to fall apart in so many ways.

I had fought against sudden uncontrollable fits of rage every since my parents had divorced.  I had already branched out into involvement with occult and the like but it seemed like Grandpa somehow restrained me in some manner.  Without his influence or council I started losing a lot of my restraint. I would find myself planning to kill certain bullies at various times.

Then I had read a spy novel where the hero would kill off bad guys by staging accidents.  That seemed like how to deal with a bully to me.  So sometimes when I would get angry at one of the bullies at our school I would plan some accident to kill them off with.  Sometimes I would even practice staging accidents on our farm with person shaped targets.  I'm sure this alarmed Uncle Ken and Granny.

Over time I began to have nightmares where I abducted some of these bullies, killed them in some horribly painful way and then buried them deep in the woods. I had learned enough from my father and the Boy Scouts that I could take nothing but a knife with me and camp in the woods for a week .  (My brother David did not even need to take a knife with him.  He could make one from flint.)  I had worked hard on the farm and was stronger than I looked.  If they had been too heavy to carry then I knew how to use an axe.

My anger had turned into full blown hatred by this time.  I not only wanted to kill certain bullies as painfully as possible but I also hoped that Hell was real so that their suffering would never end.

However there was one insurmountable obstacle to all of my plans - praying grandmothers.

Sometimes after being harassed enough and hearing of bullies harassing enough innocent people with no hope of relief from the authorities I would just decide that I had to take immediate action.  Whenever this would occur a  kind and gentle voice would talk me out of killing any bullies.  The kind and gentle voice would point out all of the innocent people that I would hurt like some of the sisters of the bullies who were always kind to me.  The kind and gentle voice would tell me that I would get caught and that I would bring shame to my family.  The kind and gentle voice said that this was not how to deal with a bully.

I especially remember being talked out of my plan to cause an accident when I learned that a group of bullies were going camping together on Deer Day.  Although they were allegedly hunting deer everyone knew that they were really just skipping a day of school to go out into the woods and get drunk.  This seemed almost too good to be true.  I knew where they were going and that there would be plenty of alcohol that could "accidentally" get knocked into the fire while they were stone cold drunk.  I figured that they would die in the infernal and all evidence of my involvement would burn up with them.

Then the kind and gentle voice reminded me that another guy was going with them who had stood between me and one of the bullies who had been minded to beat me up.  I certainly did not want him to get hurt so I decided against the whole plan.

There were a few times when I was taken over in a fit of rage so badly that the kind and gentle voice could not talk me out trying to go ahead and kill certain bullies.  However, talking was not the only way the one behind that voice had to keep me from doing what I saw as how to deal with a bully.

Sometimes my car would break down when I was in one of these fits of rage and just not start.  An hour later when I had cooled down and help had arrived my car would start without any explanation.  Then it would work fine for weeks until another episode occurred.

Then there was one bully at my job who threatened to beat me up after work.  There was a large chef knife that was being thrown away so I hid it behind a wall by the dumpster.  After work, I went out by the dumpster and place my left hand on the hilt of the knife behind the wall where it could not be seen.  I was waiting for the bully to hit me so I could claim that I grabbed the discarded knife and stabbed him in self-defense.  The bully started to walk towards me and then suddenly stopped.  His face turned white.  I could tell that he was scared even though he still trying to talk like he was real tough.  I do not know if he saw an angel behind me or he was warned by the kind and gentle voice to not come near me or he really did not want to actually get in a fight or what.  Whatever the reason the prayers of my grandmothers were answered once again.

The last time I went into such a fit of rage was against this same bully.  That time I was so engulfed in rage that I did not care if we both were killed.  When we got out of Farmington and onto the stretch of US 62 that went into Prairie Grove I started to speed up as if I was going to pass him on the highway.  My plan was get next to him and push him off the road preferably into a telephone pole or the Illinois River.  However, he just kept driving faster and faster so that I could not get my car next to his.  By the time we got near the city limits of Prairie Grove we were going about 100 miles an hour which was a fast as my car would go.  I suddenly came to my senses and asked myself what was I thinking.  I slowed way down and felt very embarrassed about the whole thing.  My praying grandmothers had prevailed once again.

That incident really scared me.  The weight of the guilt and pain of not being tough enough to keep those bullies from destroying my family just never ended.  The anger and hatred of bullies just never seem to stop growing.  I could see that sooner or later I was going to kill someone or myself or maybe both.   I hated what I had become.   I cried to God to make me different inside and to show me how to deal with a bully.

I knew I had to change.  So when someone gave me a Good News translation of the Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka New Testamenat) I read the whole thing in one marathon sitting.  Later I read it more slowly again over a period of several days.  I knew if there was any hope for me then it was in this book.

The Book of Truth (The Bible) was like a mirror and I did not like what I saw in it.  However, it also offered hope that I could become the good man that I wanted to be instead of the bad man that I seemed destined to become.  I saw the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) turn around people like Saul (Shaul aka Paul) from their hatred.  This book talked about his ability to deliver people from remaining as slaves to their sins (John 8:34-36). They would no more be able to continue in doing wrong than a good tree can bear bad fruit (Matthew 7:16-18).  In fact, it said that people who followed him would be slaves to doing what was right (Romans 6:18). 

This really got to me because I wanted to do what was right but always found myself doing the opposite.  I did not want to live the rest of my in fear of someday killing someone.  I wanted to forgive the bullies because otherwise the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) would not forgive me (Matthew 6:15).   I knew that I needed to change but I just did not have the ability to do so on my own strength (Romans 7:18).  So I went and asked the religious professionals to tell me what I needed to do so that the Man of Truth would change me like he changed Saul (Shaul aka Paul).

Things did not go like I had hoped they would. This idea that the Man of Truth would actually change someone today like he changed Saul (Shaul aka Paul) on the road to Damascus was very different than that what I had heard church people say for my whole life.   According to them Christians were just saved sinners that could not help but continuing in sin.   Yet I found many things in the Renewed Covenant that seemed to plainly say things the opposite of what I had been taught.

Whenever I asked the religious professionals about what I had read in those passages they always said that those passages meant something different than what was plainly written.  They just added to my confusion because they could not even agree on what those passages supposedly really meant instead of what was plainly written.  In short, I found a great conflict between the traditional views of the Baptist and Methodist churches that I grew up with and the contents of the Renewed Covenant.  The Book of Truth had warned me about religious professionals like them although I did not understand it at the time (1 Timothy 6:3-5).

Then I saw the Man of Truth alive and in action when he delivered my cousin from his sins.  I had always believed that he had died on a cross for me and that the Father of Truth had raised him from the dead.  I had went down to an altar when I eight years old in all sincerity to be saved from Hell. 

Yet it was very different when I saw the same Man of Truth that I had read about delivering people from sin in the Renewed Covenant deliver my cousin from his sin.  My mother had read me stories of the Man of Truth in the Children's Bible and I had read about him in the Renewed Covenant but this was different.  I had seen the Man of Truth when I was eight years old in a vision and a few times in my nightmares about the end times but this was different.  My suspicions that the Man of Truth was really still alive and active in the lives of people were suddenly confirmed in an undeniable way.

So I asked my cousin what was missing in my life that was preventing me from being delivered from my sins like he had been.  He said that it was not enough to believe that the Father of Truth was real because even the Spirits of Lies (devils aka demons aka gods aka unclean spirits) believe that (James 2:19).  He said that it was not enough to believe that the Man of Truth died on a cross and rose from the dead because even his enemies knew that (Matthew 28:5-11).  He said that I had to make the Man of Truth the Lord of my life by giving him control of every area of my life to be saved from Hell (Matthew 7:21-23).  He told me that if I did that then the Man of Truth would deliver me from my sins and not just the penalty of my sins (John 8:30-32).

The night that I decided to believe what was written in the Renewed Covenant instead of the religious traditions that many people in church believed was the night that everything changed.  The moment I surrendered control of everything in my life to the Man of Truth was the moment that all hatred for bullies left my life.  It was just like when The Man of Truth had turned Saul  (Shaul aka Paul) from his hatred of the Children of Truth (those who obey the Father of Truth because they love Him) to love for the Children of Truth after Saul (Shaul aka Paul) gave him control of his life (Acts 9:17-21).  The hatred for bullies was pushed out of my heart by the love that the Father of Truth has for bullies because He is love (1 John 4:8).  No one can hate people and also love Him (1 John 4:20).  I was now ready to learn how to deal with a bully.

I started reading the Book of Truth to learn the truth about everything.  The Book of Truth was a lot easier to understand once I had the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) living on the inside of me (1 Corinthians 3:16).  That same kind and gentle voice that talked me out of committing so much evil from the outside was now instructing me from the inside (John 14:26).  There could be no better teacher because I was being taught by the author (2 Peter 1:19-21).  As I read the Book of Truth the Spirit of Truth guided me through it and taught me how to deal with a bully (John 16:13).

I was to do all that I could to not take vengeance on a bully (Romans 12:18).  When I tried to take vengeance myself I was in effect trying to steal from the Father of Truth (Romans 12:19).   Instead I was to let the Father of Truth take vengeance because He has promised to repay every bully for what they have done (Hebrews 10:30).

The Father of Truth can pay them back for their evil in ways that I never could.  He can take away their wealth (2 Chronicles 21:12-14).  He can take away their health (2 Chronicles 21:18).  He can give them constant misery (2 Chronicles 21:15).  He can destroy their family (2 Chronicles 21:16-17).  He can kill off their children (Ezekiel 23:46-47).  He can kill them off (2 Chronicles 21:19).  He can cast them into Hell where their suffering will never end (Luke 12:5).  There is nothing that anyone can do to compete with what He can do.

A bully might escape me but he can never escape the Father of Truth (Psalm 139:8-12).  The bully can hurt me back but he is more powerless against Him than his victims were powerless against the bully (Isaiah 40:17).  The bully has nothing to look forward to except a fearful future (Hebrews 10:31).

However, the Father of Truth takes no delight in destroying bullies (Ezekiel 18:32).  His love for the people that became a bullies is so great that He sacrificed His only begotten Son to save them (John 3:16).  He did not send His Son into the world to destroy bullies but to save them (John 3:17).  He desires for the bullies to repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9).

In the same way I was to pray for those bullies to be saved (Matthew 5:44).  The Children of Truth are kind even to bullies because they are like their Father (Matthew 5:45).  The Children of Truth are to tell all people, even bullies, to repent so that they can be saved (Mark 16:15-16).

This is not to say that one should allow a bully to carry out their evil unopposed.  The strong are supposed to defend the weak so we should act when we see a bully attacking someone (Romans 15:1).  We can talk to the bully in a kind and gentle voice to diffuse the situation (Proverbs 15:1).  We can refuse to fight back even after the bully has hit us (Matthew 5:39).  The Man of Truth told us to get away from bullies instead of fighting when we can (Matthew 10:23).   We can avoid going where they are at just like he did (John 7:1).  The Father of Truth gave us authorities who are supposed to be a terror to bullies and we can always go to them if necessary (Romans 13:3-4).  In any case it is better to be wronged than to do what is wrong (1 Corinthians 6:6-8). It is one thing to defend yourself and others from a bully when you are backed into a corner but it is quite a different thing to seek to destroy the bullies afterwards.

So in short you show love to them instead of hate (Luke 6:27).  You do this by avoiding a fight with a bully if at all possible, giving the authorities a chance to rein in the bully, handing the bully over to the Father of Truth so He can deal with him as He sees fit and praying that the bully repents.  That is how to deal with a bully.

You might be wondering how dealing with bullies like this has worked out for me.  Most importantly it changed me into the good man that I always wanted to be (Galatians 5:22-23).  The truth is that I do not know what has happened to most of those bullies but I hope that they all come into the House of Truth.  I have been told by friends and family that live in the area where I grew up that several of those bullies died in accidents - actual accidents - while I was very far away.  I hope that they had came into the House of Truth before that happened.

If you are a bully then I am pleading with you to stop hurting yourself by bullying others.  You might not even live out half of your days (Psalm 55:23). You will be repaid for your bullying if you continue (Romans 2:5-6).

You might be a bully because you are burdened down with the heaviness of pain deep in your soul.  If so then come into the House of Truth by surrendering control of your life to the Man of Truth and you will find rest for your soul (Matthew 11:28-30).  He will not reject you if you come into the House of Truth (John 6:37).

If you hate bullies then I am pleading with you to stop doing so because you are hurting yourself.  Hatred of bullies will make you blind so that you cannot see the truth (1 John 2:11).  If you hate bullies then you are guilty of murder according to the Father of Truth and His life is not in you (1 John 3:15).  The Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan aka The Devil) is the father of every murderer (John 8:44).  You will not inherit the Kingdom of the Father of Truth in eternity if you do not let go of your hate (Galatians 5:19-21).  You will have your part in the Lake of Fire with the Father of Lies (Revelation 21:8).

So I am pleading with you to come into the House of Truth instead.  It is not about what someone else has done to you but rather what the Man of Truth did for you (1 Peter 3:18).  He will give you the strength to forgive the bullies if you will come into the House of Truth (Philippians 4:13).  He will fill your heart with love instead of hate when you come into the House of Truth (Romans 5:3-5).

This is not about anyone being strong enough to change on their own.  This is about the Man of Truth being strong enough to change you so you can come into the House of Truth (Romans 5:6-8).  He has not changed and still delivers those that come into the House of Truth from their sins (Hebrews 13:8).  Your part is to come into the House of Truth by submitting to him in total surrender because you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from dead (Romans 10:9).

Come into the House of Truth.

The Bully Across The Street

What is the heaviest thing that anyone can carry?

When I was six years old a bully lived across the street from us in Hazelwood, Missouri - a suburb of Saint Louis.  This bully relied on nobody fighting back.  He came over and hit me which was a mistake for him.  I hit him back hard as my dad had taught me which caught him off guard.   Then I also pushed him and he fell into our garbage can in a sitting position and could not get out.  So I pushed over the trash can and rolled it down the street with him in it.  It finally crashed into something and he got loose.  Then he went home crying to his mother.

His father came over after work and threatened me in front of my dad which was an even bigger mistake.  My dad went over to his house to tell him to keep his son out of our yard.  Then their dad did something really stupid - he tried to hit my dad to intimidate him.  The kids across the street were bullies because the apples had not fallen far from the tree.

My dad was not near as large as their dad but he could lick his weight in wild cats.  My dad had no tolerance for bullies and dealt with them the only way he knew how. When it was all said and done my dad came home and their dad went out for medical treatment.

That night my dad told my mom to go to the bus stop with me for the next few days just in case the bully thought about starting trouble.

The next morning my mom did not want the neighbors to see her until she looked her best so she sent me to the bus stop alone.  This time the bully was there with his two older brothers and they decided to take revenge.  The bully did not dare face me alone after his last encounter. So like the coward that he was he had his two older brothers each grab one of my arms while he proceeded to hit me in the stomach several times until the bus came around the corner.  I then threw up before getting on the bus.

When I got on the bus the bully sat between his two older brothers for protection.  I don't remember ever seeing him without one of his older brothers nearby after that.   After all, bullies are really just cowards.

When my father got home he heard from a neighbor about the entire incident and he was furious.  My mother and him got into a big fight because she had not went down to the bus stop with me like he had told her to do.

A few days later my mother pulled me out of class and before I knew it I was on my way to Arkansas.    I arrived at the farm in Arkansas where my Uncle Ken and my maternal grandparents lived. Soon my parents were divorced and I felt like it was all my fault.  I was angry at myself for not being tougher and allowing the family of bullies to beat me up.   But I was even more angry at that family of bullies.  It seemed to me that they had destroyed my family and that they needed to pay for doing so.

This was one wound that time could not heal for the pain of growing up divorced was a constant reminder.

While my father sent the money that the court had ordered in the divorce decree it was never enough to meet our needs.  My brothers and I worked hard just to help provide things like food and clothing while other kids were playing.  In so many ways much of our childhood was stolen from us.

My mother worked as a nurse, sometimes two shifts, for weeks at a time.  She would also work at a restaurant.  In many ways I had lost my mother as well as my father in the divorce.

Life was so incredibly hard at times that we just broke down and cried until we could cry no more.

The guilt I felt for letting myself getting beat up by the bully across the street was probably the only thing that was greater than the anger that I felt against the bully across the street for destroying my family and making us all so miserable.

Then things took some more turns for the worst.  My mother sued my father over missed child support payments that my stepmother had swore to him that she had sent but had really not sent.  My mother got some sort of protective order against him and he could not come into the state of Arkansas.  So I did not see him for three years.

During that time my grandfather died.  This was almost for me as bad as the divorce.  Once again, it seemed that my entire world was destroyed.  I just wanted to die sometimes but other times I only wanted to live so I could get revenge.  My anger at the bully across the street had grown into hatred.

I never forgot about the bully across the street who I blamed for destroying my family.  His name was etched in my mind because I planned to hunt down his entire family of bullies and turn his mother into a childless widow one day.  As far as I was concerned they were monsters that needed killing.

When I graduated high school I still remembered the bully that had lived across the street in Hazelwood.  I still hated him and wanted him to pay for what he had done to my family.  However I was too busy working sixty hour weeks while taking Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas to do much about it at that time.  Still he was at the top of my list of people that just needed killing.

The family of bullies across the street could not have known about my plans but if they had known them then still would have had nothing to worry about as long as my grandmothers kept praying.  Their prayers kept me from ever having the means and opportunity for revenge.

The thing is that I was terribly conflicted inside.  I really did not want to kill anyone because I had gone to church enough to know that killing people was wrong and I wanted to do what was right.  I knew that the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) wanted me to forgive him for what he had done to me.  I wanted to forgive the bully across the street in Hazelwood because a grudge is just too heavy to carry.   I knew that I needed to change but I just could not do it. 

Then someone gave me a Good News translation of the Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka New Testament) and I read it in one marathon sitting.  Later I read it more slowly again over a period of several days.  I almost never read a book twice because once is enough for me. However this book was different because this book was reading me back at the same time.

I could see myself as I really was in the pages of the Book of Truth (The Bible). I learned that in the eyes of the Father of Truth my hatred of the bully across the street was the same as murder (1 John 3:15).  I learned that He demanded that I turn completely from my hatred of the bully across the street if I wanted my sins to not be remembered (Acts 3:19).  I learned that I had serve the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) wholeheartedly everyday of my life and not just a few hours a week out of religious obligation (Revelation 3:14-16).

I had to quit carrying this grudge for it is the heaviest thing that anyone can carry.  If I did not forgive the bully across the street then the Father of Truth would not forgive me (Matthew 6:15).  The price of carrying a grudge is too high of a price to pay to ever be worth it.

The only trouble was that I did not know how to get the strength to let go of my hatred.  The churches I grew up in taught that a man could be forgiven for his sins but he could never be free from his sins.  I cried out for the Father of Truth to show me what to do.

Then I saw the Man of Truth do in the life of my cousin what I needed him to do in my life.  After verifying that this change was real and not just some act, I asked my cousin what happened to bring about this change in his life.

He said that he had given complete control of his life to the Man of Truth.  He told me that the only way to bring about this kind of change was for me to make the Man of Truth the Lord of my life by giving him control of every area of my life .  He told me that no one is strong enough to make these kind of changes on their own.  He told me, that it was not a matter of me being strong enough to change, but rather a matter of letting the Man of Truth change me, because he was strong enough to do so. 

A few days later I did the same thing that my cousin had done and I got the same results.  When I surrendered every bit of control of my life to the Man of Truth then my anger and hatred for the bully across the street came to an immediate end.  In fact, I wanted to hunt him down and tell him how he could also be saved from Hell but I did not know where he lived.

Then I started reading the Book of Truth every moment that I had an opportunity.  I was starved for the truth and I wanted to learn the truth about everything so I could grow in truth (1 Peter 2:2).  This time many more things in the Book of Truth made sense because I was being guided into all truth by the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13).  It was different once I had the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) living on the inside of me instead talking to me from the outside (Romans 8:9).

I learned the truth about my parents divorce.  It was learning the truth by continuing to read the Book of Truth that set me free from the pain caused by the divorce of my parents and the bully across the street (John 8:31-32).

The truth is that I was not responsible for my family being destroyed by divorce.  I was a six year old kid that did not have the training or strength to fight off another six year old kid along with his eight year old and ten year old brothers at the same time.  This lie that I was to blame had been told to me by a Spirit of Lies (devils aka demons aka gods aka unclean spirit) and I did not know any better than to just believe it.

I had also listened to their lies about the bully across the street in Hazelwood.  The truth is that the bully across the street was also just a six old kid.  He was not responsible for destroying my family with divorce.  That six year old kid did not mean to break my heart by taking my dad away from me, who was my entire world at the time.  That six year old kid was probably bullied all the time in his own house, considering that his dad and two older brothers were both bullies.  That six year old kid was undoubtedly acting the same way that he had seen his father act, when he hit me for no good reason, just as I was reacting to his actions in the same way that I had seen my father react to bullies.  He was not some monster that needed killing.  He was someone made in the image of the Father of Truth (Genesis 9:6).  The Man of Truth had died to save him from his sins just like me (Romans 5:8).

The truth is my parents were the responsible for their own actions and will have to answer to the Father of Truth for them (Romans 14:12).

My father, and the father of the kid across the street, should have worked out a peaceful solution instead of deciding to settle matters with their fists (Romans 12:18).  They should have showed me, and the kid across the street, how to live in peace with our neighbors, instead of starting some sort of blood feud like the Hatfields and McCoys (Hebrews 12:14).

My father could have given a soft answer and turned away the wrath of their father (Proverbs 15:1).  My father could have called the police, and let them handle it, instead of taking matters into his own hands, if their father hit him (Romans 13:3-5).  My father should not have lost his temper when he got home (Proverbs 29:22).  He should not have made my mother feel that she and her children were not safe in their own house (Ephesians 5:25).

My mother should not have put my father on edge all the time by nagging, and otherwise trying to manipulate him, to get her own way all the time (Proverbs 19:13).   My mother should have went down to the bus stop with me like my father said, because he was the head of the house (Ephesians 5:24).  She should have been less concerned with what the neighbors would think, and more concerned with obeying the Father of Truth (Proverbs 29:25). 

The truth is that they did not have any problems that they could not have worked out.  The Book of Truth said, that when they got divorced it was because they had dealt treacherously with each other (Jeremiah 3:20).  The Man of Truth said, that the only reason why my parents got a divorce instead of repenting and reconciling was the hardness of their hearts (Matthew 19:8).  Our lives had been made so hard because they had chose to live in rebellion to the commandments of the Father of Truth (Proverbs 13:15).

The truth is that my parents acted the way that they did for the same reasons that I acted the way that I had - they had never surrendered control of their lives to the Man of Truth.

My father got into some sort of stupid fight with some preacher before I was born, and decided to never go to church again.  He could not let go of his grudge, and it has cost him dearly.  He has suffered so many things that he could have avoided, if he had only surrendered to the Man of Truth, instead of being angry at all preachers, over what one preacher said or did.  I do not know what the fight was about, and he might not even remember, but the cost of keeping this grudge has been too high of a price to pay.

My mother went to church every Sunday morning but she did not base her decisions throughout the week on the teachings of the Man of Truth.  She called the Man of Truth her Lord, but she did not do the will of the Father of Truth (Matthew 7:21).  She called the Man of Truth her Lord, but she did not do what he said (Luke 6:46).  She believed in the Father of Truth, but so do the Spirits of Lies (James 2:19).

She might not have even known that she needed to submit to the Man of Truth in total surrender, if the religious professionals she asked to were like the ones who I asked.  They probably told her, that all she needed to do was admit that she was a sinner, and ask for forgiveness.  Asking the Man of Truth to fix your life without giving him complete control of your life, is like asking a mechanic to fix your car while you continue to drive it.

Since my parents, and the parents of the kid across the street in Hazelwood, had not surrendered control of their lives to the Man of Truth, then they could not have possibly raised us to walk in the ways of the Father of Truth.  Things would have been a lot different for all of us, if they had raised us up in the admonition of the Father of Truth (Ephesians 6:4).

 They could have taught us all of the time about how to live in line with the Word of Truth (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).  We would have not departed living in line with the Word of Truth, if they had done this (Proverbs 22:6).   

In the worst case, I and the kid across the street would have both gotten a whipping for fighting to drive this evil from our lives, and that would have been that (Proverbs 22:15).  The kid across the street and I might have even became best friends.

The Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan aka The Devil) was the one behind all the lies that caused so much misery, when we believed them (John 8:44). He came to steal the joy, that we could have known by living together in the House of Truth, to tempt me to kill the kid across the street, and to destroy my family (John 10:10).

The Father of Lies is the one who sent the Spirits of Lies to tempt me, the kid across the street, my parents, and his parents, into doing the wrong things (1 Corinthians 7:5).   He is the one who blinded all of us from seeing that we could been saved from all of this misery, by submitting to the Man of Truth in total surrender (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).  My parents, and the family of the kid across the street, were never the root cause of the misery that ensued (Ephesians 6:12).  

The Man of Truth is preparing a place of all who will come into the House of Truth, including the kid across the street (John 14:2).  Today, I hope that the kid across the street has come into the House of Truth through the saving knowledge of the Man of Truth (1 Timothy 2:3-5).

If the kid across the street is reading this, then I hope that you will come into the House of Truth by submitting to the Man of Truth in total surrender, because you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:8-11).  I would love for you to once again live across the street, not in Hazelwood, but in the city that the Father of Truth is building for those who come into the House of Truth (Hebrews 11:10).

Come into the House of Truth!