IN SEARCH OF TRUTH

   Just over three years ago, I began a journey in search of truth. 
   To accomplish this task:
      1.  I went to the Bible.
      2.  I went to the internet.
   In so doing, I have made many interesting discoveries, two of which are these:
      1.  most of the history we have learned from schools is mostly wrong;
      2.  most of the beliefs we have been taught to believe as truth are mostly lies.
   So then, to ascertain truth, what must we do?
   Follow this simple outline and you will know truth:
      1.  Educate yourself.
      2.  Teach yourself.
      3.  Learn for yourself.
      4.  Study for yourself.
      5.  Conduct your own research and analysis to arrive at your own answers and your own  
            conclusions.
      6.  Do not expect to hear truth from rich and powerful people, for most of these accumulated
           their wealth and power by lies and deception.
      7.  Beware of people in fancy suits and priestly garments, knowing that people are not
           necessarily as they appear to be.
      8.  Get alone with Christ, asking Him for help, and He will give you revelation in the
           knowledge of Him.

PUPPETS ON STRINGS

   In general, people all over the world have never been to school for Bible lessons; consequently, people all over the world have little to no education in the knowledge of God.
   As a result for this lack of the knowledge of God, they are as puppets of religion, or puppets on strings.
   As such, they are unable to think for themselves, for they rely on puppet masters to tell them what to do, how to sit, when to stand, when to kneel and bow their heads, and when to arise and leave the building.
   Unable to feed themselves from the Word of the Lord, they rely on puppet masters to read to them, to tell them simple stories that will either delight their emotions, or imprison them with guilt.
   As a result for this lack of the knowledge of God, going to church or religious services is not much different than going to a theater to watch a show.  From week to week their behavior is about the same, and, from week to week, the show is about the same:  for they watch a repeat performance, time after time, and throughout their lives.
   As a matter of fact, people will never learn any more from a religion than they know today, and they will never know any more from a religion than they could have learned thirty, three hundred, or three thousand years ago; for all religion contains is the knowledge of men, which is no more than a production from the imaginations of men.
   For the only purpose of religion, created by evil men, is to deceive people from knowing God.
   Jesus of Nazareth is a real person. 
   Jesus of Nazareth is not an idol, a statue chiseled from stone, nor an image such as a painting or a photograph.
   Jesus is alive, living and breathing.  He is not a religion, and a religion does not contain Him, nor own Him, nor control Him.
   Jesus is not a puppet on a string.  And we who believe in Him are not puppets. 
   Therefore knowing Christ enables us to know the knowledge of God:  things past, things present, and things future.
   Religion can only be imagined to be real from within the imaginations of men.
   So what are you going to do today?  What are you going to believe?
   Do you really want to be a puppet on a string? 
   Give Christ a chance and you will be free from the slavery of religion.

A POCKETFUL OF MONEY

   Judas Iscariot went to church with Jesus for three years, only to sell his soul to the devil for thirty pieces of silver---or a pocketful of money.
   Judas walked and talked with Jesus.  He saw the miracles that Jesus performed and he heard the words that Jesus spoke.  But when money just fell out of the sky, Judas turned his back against Jesus and stepped into the darkness---from which he never returned.
      For the love of money is the root of all evil:  which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  (1st Timothy 6:10)
   By itself, money is not evil; but, when people fall in love with money, a great change happens in their minds and in their hearts. 
   The love of money produces envy, jealousy, greed, strife, contention, division, divorce, drugs, disobedience, prostitution, pornography, gambling, and also hypocrisy, suicides, murders, and assassinations. 
   When people love money, money becomes their idol, their god, and the object for all of their faith, devotion, affection, and worship:  for now they believe that money is the answer to all of their dreams and visions, the solution to all of their problems, and they perceive themselves as gods:  believing they can do all things because they are masters of the vault.  They see themselves as above the laws of man, but also above the laws of God, for they believe that money can buy anything, even their salvation at the store of religion. 
   There are many lessons to be learned from the life of Judas Iscariot, chief of which is the love of money.  Judas closed the door to heaven and went to hell because he turned his back against Jesus Christ the Lord, the only person who could save his soul from eternal damnation---for nothing more than a pocketful of money.
      For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?  (Mark 8: 36, 37)