“Oh that my people had hearkened [listened] unto me…” Psalm 81:13

Our brains interpret what our eyes are looking at.  Many “situations” have been misjudged by what appeared to be the truth.  In courtrooms verdicts have been handed down in error because someone thought they saw or heard something that was actually totally different from their perception.

If you looked at this line ___________ and called it a straight line, I would have to disagree.  If I look at with my left eye, it is not straight, but wavy.  My eye has “wet macula” and requires an injection every few weeks to prevent further damage.  So you see, your concept would be different from mine.  What appears to be, may not be—like a mirage.

You might identify a sound and asked what I heard; you could get a different opinion.  I have a cochlear implant and hear things somewhat differently from someone who doesn’t have that device.  Just yesterday, I heard my cell phone and assumed my sister called me.  She didn’t; it was an alarm I had set to remind me of something!  I have different sounds for alarms set in my phone than for a call; but from another room, I couldn’t distinguish between the two.  It is all in the way my mind perceives sight and sound.

None of the myriad concepts of man can ever replace God nor cause Him to alter who He is in any atom of degree.  He said of Himself that He will “change not” (Malachi 3:6).

I don’t think I am remiss to say that the only absolutes are God’s!  He alone is totally Truth, totally Light.  This earth will pass away some day, but His Word will never change.  What He has spoken will be, and we cannot change those Truths.  We cannot produce a shadow to hide or diminish them.

Can you explain love?  Can you touch it physically, see it visually.  It can only be experienced with emotion as our mind conceives it.  It can be fickle; it can come; it can go.  We can be fooled by it if we perceive we are loved when we are only being used by someone.  Only God has “pure” Love!  He IS Love!  His Love is beyond our comprehension.  It reaches into eternity!

Do you remember the story from India, “The Six Blind Men and the Elephant”?  Wikipedia describes it this way:  “…six blind men were asked to determine what an elephant looked like by feeling different parts of the elephant's body. The blind man who feels a leg says the elephant is like a pillar; the one who feels the tail says the elephant is like a rope; the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like a tree branch; the one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a hand fan; the one who feels the belly says the elephant is like a wall; and the one who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe.”

No doubt each of the blind men was convinced that he had the correct concept of what an elephant was like.  It was a matter of what each mind perceived.

Are you getting the picture?  No wonder the Bible says we “walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7).  The first verse of the “faith chapter” defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11).

Can you see gravity, the wind?  Sight, hearing and physical sensations are not the basis for our faith; it has to be based on Truth.  Jesus is Truth; His Word is Truth.  Deviation from these evidences could result in a lie.  We can’t rely on what we think we see and hear and feel.  These things are unreliable proofs that what we are exposed to with our eyes and ears and experience is absolute Truth.

Cults and false religions may sound totally reasonable to the natural mind.  They might even produce a "tingling" sensation to the senses.

Do you want to be a god someday?  Who wouldn’t want to be so honored?

Wouldn’t it be nice to be so exclusive to God that you could be one of the 144,000?

The awesome earth and its contents—could they be god around us and in us?

What about a god that you can control yourself?  Make-it-yourself god!  You control what you want your god to be to you as you control your own life and destiny.

There are gods you can touch and feel with your hands and your mind.  You have control of what they demand and expect of you.

You know when you think about it, if we worship a god that we have designed, we are actually worshipping ourselves, aren't we?  If I designed it, it would be in my likeness, based on my personal preferences not Jehovah God's.  If a god created by someone else appealed to me and I chose it instead of our Creator, it would still represent me and what my human nature desired.  I would be a self-worshipper.  Think of that--WOW!

Ah, but these are fantasies!  Products of someone’s wishful imagination and propagated to others of like mind.  Satan has “scouts” on the lookout for vulnerable and culpable prospects to deceive into believing “reasonable” false religions.

Increased worldly knowledge, scientific discoveries and man’s curious search for truth will not bring us closer to our Creator.  He has given us His very Word to search (John 5:39) and His Holy Spirit to verify its veracity, and to reject it and/or replace it with man’s conclusions is heresy and will lead to confusion and destruction.  The litmus test of every doctrine about God is--does it agree with the Bible, God's Word.  Not God's Word plus something else, but God's Word alone. If that test fails, run away from the doctrine!

It is not mysterious nor is it past finding out.  Jesus said all that came to Him would be accepted (not cast out, John 6:37).  It is not hidden; it is “Light” itself.  Not only is Jesus “the Light,” but His followers will have that Light so that others may follow also.

In answer to Pilate’s question, Jesus replied that everyone that is of the truth heard His voice.  He had already testified, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Every person will stand before God without excuse.  We don’t have to learn mantras, go through earthly temples, or learn exercises of some sort to get God’s attention.  We just need to walk in the “Light that leads to Truth” and everlasting life.

“Jesus saith unto him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).  “…him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

What could be simpler and easier understood?  God wants us to know He is accessible and desirous of our approach.  He purposefully offers blessings, peace, joy, security; He seeks and enjoys fellowship with us.

May we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our minds always into the Truth and the Light and not be led astray and deceived by the perception of what we see and hear and feel, but “…be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23).

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

May the light of Christ always direct your path toward Him!

~~Delores~~