TRADITIONS, LIES, and TRUTH – PART ONE
Saturday – January 19, 2019, Sh’vat 13, 5779
Greetings dear partners and friends and welcome to the first edition of a new Saturday series from The Three Minute Word titled “Traditions, Lies, and Truth”. You may not need the steel toed shoes, buckets of water, fire extinguishers, or shoes to stomp out of the room with today but you might in the weeks following. The only way to distinguish or recognize a lie or tradition is to know the Truth. This is a topic the Lord brings me back to very frequently and I have previously written on this extensively even publishing a Booklet under the title of “Another Gospel”. There will be no need to make that available since this series in time will cover all that was in the Booklet as well as additional information. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of traditions and outright lies being sung and preached in the Church today. The song service incorrectly called “praise and worship” (a misnomer) is rich (rampant) with corruption, so it is not the Truth at all. Remember the Scripture which says that the little foxes defile the vine?
Song of Songs 2:15 (PassionNTPsa)
15 You must catch the troubling foxes, those sly little foxes that hinder our relationship. For they raid our budding vineyard of love to ruin what I’ve planted within you. Will you catch them and remove them for me? We will do it together.
These little foxes, error in thought, doctrine, “hinder our relationship” with the Lord. They cause us to be ineffectual, powerless. Is there anything (other than the government) any more ineffectual today than the Church? I might add, however, that traditions and lies are not recognized as such by leadership or congregants alike due to a lack of study, diligence, tradition, and deceptions of the devil (lies). You may hear phrases like, “well that is what we have always believed” or “that is what Pastor or Doctor so and so preached”.
Today I will start by starting to lay a foundation for this series by first defining the words in the title and put forth a few Scriptures that are foundational to this study and in some ways are an expose. First, let’s take a look at the word ‘tradition’. According to the Oxford Dictionary a tradition is the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way. “every shade of color is fixed by tradition and governed by religious laws” synonyms historical convention, unwritten law, oral history, heritage, lore, folklore, old wives’ tales or a doctrine believed to have divine authority though not in the scriptures (Bold added by Dr. Wood). When we look at how the word ‘tradition’ is used in Scripture we see it as consistent with the above. In the Thesaurus we find synonyms as customs, conducts, behaviors, habits, rituals, practices, and beliefs. A tradition in and of itself may not be harmful except when it is rigid and precludes the freedom of Holy Spirit to move upon people according to the will of God. A modern tradition for example is the order of service in the Church which is generally good except if it hinders or precludes people from following the leadership of Holy Spirit. A doctrine is a body of belief that is taught as the Truth, as Scripture, but is not supported by the full counsel of Scripture. For example, a very pervasive, harmful, and even destructive lie is that “God is in control”. Maybe, you will need some sort of fire suppression.
I would think that all of us would have a common understanding of the word ‘lie’, what a lie is, for my guess is that all of us have lied in our lives. Oh my, here come the fire extinguishers again. According to the Oxford Dictionary a lie is an intentionally false statement. synonyms: untruth, falsehood, fib, fabrication, deception, made-up story, trumped-up story, fake news, invention, piece of fiction, fiction, falsification, falsity, fairy story/tale, cock and bull story, barefaced lie, (little) white lie, half-truth, exaggeration, prevarication, departure from the truth, alternative fact, yarn, story, red herring, fable, myth, flight of fancy, figment of the imagination, pretense, pretext, sham, misinformation, disinformation, perjury, dissimulation, mendacity, gossip, propaganda, tall story, tall tale, whopper, porky, pork pie, porky pie, or terminological inexactitude. Antonyms: truth, or fact. Notice in the following passage that lying is mentioned twice as a thing the LORD hates. Yet, it is in the Church, albeit I believe mostly by ignorance, however, at some point we will answer for our ignorance. The other downside of ignorance on purpose (failure to study and be diligent with the whole counsel of God) is an opening is provided for the devils to steal, kill, and destroy in our lives (think Job).
Proverbs 6:16-19 (KJV)
16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
I have dealt extensively with the definition of Scriptural Truth in the past but will cover it again today as we lay a good foundation for this study. First let’s look at a Scripture.
John 4:23-24 (KJV)
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.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Worship at its core is submission, in this case the Father desires people who are submitted to the Holy Spirit and are submitted to the Truth. I capitalize the word ‘Truth’ for it is denoting the divine as we will be reminded. I will pick up next Saturday with a discussion of Truth and then I will move into some foundational Scriptures for this study.
Until our next publication, as a Bible Teacher and Prophetic Voice I speak this blessing over each and every one of you, receive it by faith in Jesus name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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