What is Truth? What did Jesus mean when He told the Samaritan woman at the well the following: CJB John 4:23 But the time is coming- indeed, it’s here now- when the true worshippers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping him.
(Joh 4:23 CJB) The King James Version reads as follows: KJV John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth : for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
(Joh 4:23 KJV)
225 ἀλήθεια aletheia {al-ay’-thi-a}
Meaning: 1) objectively 1a) what is true in any matter under consideration 1a1) truly, in truth, according to truth 1a2) of a truth, in reality, in fact, certainly 1b) what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth 1b1) in the greatest latitude 1b2) the true notions of God which are open to human reason without his supernatural intervention 1c) the truth as taught in the Christian religion, respecting God and the execution of his purposes through Christ, and respecting the duties of man, opposing alike to the superstitions of the Gentiles and the inventions of the Jews, and the corrupt opinions and precepts of false teachers even among Christians 2) subjectively 2a) truth as a personal excellence 2a1) that candour of mind which is free from affection, pretence, simulation, falsehood, deceit
The context of this passage is that famous interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar of Samaria. The only place this story is recorded in the Bible is in the Gospel of John. Michael Rood in his Chronological Gospels -The Life and Seventy Week Ministry of Messiah–comments that the Samaritans were gentiles who were placed in the region by Assyrian Emperor Shalmanezer. These people were planted there to replace the Israelites who had previously been dispersed to the 4-winds of the earth. A plague of lions in the land suggested to the emperor that these people may not be in sync with the “god” of that land and thus he brought in “government sponsored” priests who taught the people what Rood describes as “a politically correct version of Torah,” which documented as its 10th commandment, “Thou shalt worship on Mount Gerizim.” It should be mentioned that the priests the emperor imported were not of the Leviticial priesthood, thus they were not authorized by the Almighty to dispense Torah teaching. (This was recorded in II Kings 17:24-31.) Thus the Samaritan people were for all intents and purposes perpetrating a fraud–living lies–in the land of promise and to boot, they were being fed a religion of lies. The Hebrew population realized this and austricized the Samaritans, labelling them often as dogs, not just because they were brought in to the land to replace fellow Hebrews, but also because these people were practicing a false brand of the Hebrew Faith.
As the story goes, the Samaritan woman, through here exchange with Jesus, recognized that the Master was someone very special–she referred to Him as a prophet. She sought to take advantage of this opportunity by asking Jesus one of the Samaritan’s most challenging questions as it related to where they were to worship the Father–was it indeed on Mount Moreh-Yah or was it as the Samaritan Torah taught–on Mount Gerizim? It is to this critical question that Yeshua responded with the quote found in John 4: 23–“that they that worship [the Father] must worship Him in spirit and in “aletheia”–truth.
The concept of truth was the central theme in our fellowshipping with fellow believers this past weekend. We visited friends that we met in Rochester, N.Y. earlier this year.
We discussed quite extensively how lies have infiltrated Christianity and everday life and blinded the people of God to the truth, not only on matters pertaining to our Faith, but even as it pertains to how we perceive the world around us.
- 911 and the twin towers
- The Oklahoma City bombing
- Sandy Hook
- The Trinity
- The significance of Torah to the true Believer of Messiah
It’s not until we understand the truth in all its forms and applications that we can truly worship the Father. If we worship the Father based upon a system of lies and half-truths, then one must ask, are we truly worshipping the Father.
There is a popular belief among most Christians that it really doesn’t matter if we aren’t accurate or faithful in our worship and practice of the Faith, because God knows our heart. I was shown a film clip of Kirk Cameron, popular child actor of the 80’s who has adopted Christianity as his primary life’s work nowadays. Cameron, in this film clip, went to great lengths to discredit truth-seekers who held to the knowledge and understanding that Christmas is indeed a pagan holiday and should not be celebrated by believers as the birth of our Messiah. Cameron’s stance was that of (and I’m paraphrasing), “so what if Christmas is a pagan holiday? Christianity has taken the holiday and sanctified it by applying the focus of Christ to that day. Come on, don’t let those wet towels dampen your love of Christmas. Everyone loves Christmas. Come on, just celebrate the day and get over yourselves.” Cameron goes on to stress that it’s the intent behind Christmas today that must be understood. It’s a heart thing. God knows our heart and we need to get over feeling guilty of celebrating Christmas because of the knowledge of its pagan origin.
First off, indeed the Father does know and understand our hearts and He has revealed that the heart of man is desperately evil:
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: (Mat 15:19 KJV)
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jer 17:9 KJV)
Indeed, there is no doubt that millions of self-professing Christians sincerely believe they are worshipping the Father truthfully and correctly. But commonsense must rule the day: you’re either living your spirit life correctly or incorrectly; you’re either right or wrong…when it comes to the Faith once delivered to the first century saints (and I’m NOT applying Christianity to this equation), the Master said that we MUST worship the Father in spirit and truth. There is to be no goofy attempt at living our life and worshipping God as we feel is best or that fits our comfort zones or our likings or how someone else dictates we should go about it. These believers (mostly traditional-orthodox Christians) who go about their lives in error, as did the Samaritans, are sincere in their efforts, but they are also sincerely wrong and sincerely mistaken about many things as it relates to their worship of the Father and their walk with the Master. Regardless, we are held accountable for understanding and living our Faith accurately which means, in accordance to the word of the Lord. Obedience must be the primary driving force behind our profession, properly joined to an unshakeable faith. And please don’t pull the “we have freedom in Christ” card that so many millions of Christians like to rest their collective spiritual hats upon (KJV Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Gal 5:1 KJV)). That whole churchianity interpretation of “freedom in Christ” has become an abominable misinterpretation. Context, context, context! Scriptural soundbites will be the death (literally) of so many self-professing Christians. The context of this passage speaks to being in bondage, under the yoke of religion–within the context of those Judaizers who had come in to the Galatian assembly and attempted to foist upon the Galatian believers Judaism. One should read the entire passage here. Paul speaks passionately to the issue that was plaguing many of Paul’s followers and that had to do with the Orthodox Jewish believers in Messiah who were forcing Jewish Law and practices (not the Torah but Talmud) upon the new gentile converts to the Faith. Paul was addressing primarily the issue of adherence to Judaism first over faith in Jesus which seemed to fall second in importance. Many incorrectly ascertain that Paul was denouncing the Torah, but in reality Paul was denouncing Judaism and the insistance by the Jewish sect of the Faith that all converts must strictly adhere to Judaism first and foremost. Paul was informing all who would read or hear his message that anyone who would take up the mantle of the true Faith once delivered would not be subject to religion any longer. They were free from the burden of religion. We find very clear clues throughout the New Testament or renewed covenant that Judaism was a tremendous burden that was placed upon the people by the sages (primarily the Pharisees and the Sadducees) and the tenets of that religion were for all intents and purposes impossible to keep. The intent of the laws that would surround the Torah was to prevent the Jew from ever violating Torah. The intent, though seemingly well intended on the part of the sages, was actually a violation of the very Law that Judaism was designed to protect. Throughout Torah Yehovah clearly stated that His people were are not to add or subtract anything from that which He had given to the nation in terms of His laws, commandments and ordinances. Thus Judaism, for all intents and purposes was a lie as was the religion being followed by the Samaritans. Lies upon more lies.
The same goes with us today. Christianity is a religion, weakly built upon the True Faith once delivered to the first century saints. History clearly shows that men took the pure Faith and added to it that which would make it into a religion. Religion serves to control men. And that is what the early “church fathers” constructed for themselves in the name of God–a religion that they claim is true and the key to eternal life. Add to that the world and its governments and everyday life and the less-informed of us is in a world of hurt. Sadly, the less-informed of us numbers in the majority. That majority insists that none of this is important because the Christian has given over their life to Jesus Christ and has therefore been gifted eternal life and eternal life is guaranteed regardless what happens from the time of praying the sinners’ prayer to the pre-tribulation rapture. And why do the vast majority of 2-billion self-professing Christians believe all that I just mentioned? Because someone in authority told them it was so and because of their limited and myopic understanding of John 3:16.
So truth as it stands in the Greek term aletheia stands in opposition to anything that is ficticious or false. Sadly, I’ve come to the shocking conclusion that much of everything that we as believers in Jesus Christ deal with on a daily basis, be it in everyday life or in the realm of Christianity, is built upon lies. The god of this world maintains a tremendous foothold on the whole of the world’s population (3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2Co 4:3-4 KJV)) However, there are a few, a very precious few in the world, who have been permitted to see and perceive what the world truly is while the rest of mankind goes along with narry a care or inkling that there’s a problem. I’m reminded of that very popular movie trilogy from the early 2000’s called “The Matrix” in which a small band of intrepid warriors became knowledgeable of the fact that the world around them was controlled by machines and that humans only existed to serve the machines. In order to get people to serve them, the machines provided humans with a faux world facade that appeared to the average Joe living their lives in the world as fine and dandy. The only way to defeat and expose the evil of that system was to convince one individual who went by the name of Neo, that he was the long prophecied Messiah, and it was Neo who would ultimately defeat the machines and lead the world back to truth and life. Of course the machines fought tenaciously against that band of rebels and their leader Neo, but it was destined for the truth to get out one way or the other. It’s like a concrete city: there can be concrete buildings and cities all around with no plant life anywhere in sight. But sooner or later, if proper care is not taken, sprigs of grass with find a crack somewhere in that concrete world and bear itself. Life and truth can not be contained forever.
What then do we do with the information that we gain from the revelations that the Holy Spirit has placed within us? Many of us will have absolutely no idea what to do with it. Many of us will do nothing with it because we fear being rediculed and rejected by the establishment–be it secular society or the church. But I fear that we will be judged accordingly if we simply collect the information that is provided to us by the Father and simply hide it under a bussel. No sir, no ma’am, we’ve been called out from the masses to expose the falsehoods and lies of the enemy. How we each accomplish that is really between us individually and the Father. His Holy Spirit will not only help us bypass the fear ( 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2Ti 1:7 KJV)), but also provide us with instruction and direction on how we are to accomplish His will for our lives and to further His purpose and plan for man on the earth.
You want to know how deep the rabbit-hole goes (so to speak), then seek the leading of the Holy Spirit, obey God’s Word, and open your heart and mind to receive His Truth. You will be blown away at the level of lies that has infused every level of the world’s life and existence. Furthermore, keep coming back to this website as we will ensure that you receive the truth that will help you in your walk with the Savior. Be most blessed fellow Saints.
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