The Truth About The Truth
By Gary Amirault
In my office I am surrounded by hundreds of Bible versions, dictionaries, encyclopedias, word study books, commentaries, etc. On my computer are several of the best Bible software programs that money can buy. Everyday my email inbox contains someone’s writings about the Bible. I buy a lot of used books on the subject of Christianity. It is amazing how many books have been written on the subjects contained in the Bible. In the grace of God I’ve been able to have time to read and study many of them.
But of all that I have read or heard about the things and people contained in the Bible, only a handful really stand out – only a handful have made a deep impression in my being. One of those was a part of an audio tape I received from Richard Wurmbrand who is now deceased. Richard was a Jew who was converted to Christ by the love of a German carpenter in Romania after WWII. He wrote many books, the most well-known of which is probably “Tortured For Christ.” He founded a missionary organization named “Jesus to the Communist Nations,” which later became “Voice of the Martyrs.” I’m going to paraphrase and embellish with my own understanding what I understood him to say on this tape.
With his strong Romanian accent, he said that ‘the Bible is the most wonderful book in the world. It is the truth about the Truth. But it is not THE Truth. And there have been many wonderful books written about the Bible, some of them very good, others very bad. The good ones are the truth about the truth about the Truth. But they are not THE Truth.’
There are many preachers who have preach thousands of sermons. They get many of their ideas from the many books that have been written about the Bible. These sermons are the truth about the truth about the truth about THE Truth. But they are not THE Truth.
Sometimes THE Truth is drowned in a multitude of words.
Jesus, THE TRUTH said it this way:
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify of Me; and you are unwilling to COME TO ME so that you may have life.” (John 5:39, NASB)
Apostle Paul spoke of those who “will act as if they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. You must stay away from people like that.” He said they “are forever following new teachings, but they never understand the truth.” (2 Tim. 3:5, 7, NLT)
The difference between knowing the truth about the truth and having an intimate relationship with THE Truth is the difference between life and death. I know people who have translated Bibles and do not have a personal relationship with the Truth of which the Bible speaks and about which they are writing.
Jesus said there was something that could make the very word of God of no effect in our lives – the “traditions of men.” Imagine something so powerful that it can negate the very words of life.
“Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’” (Matt. 15:6-9, NIV)
I know people (myself being one) who began their walk powerfully in the Spirit and then were seduced by religious traditionalists into swallowing buckets of creeds, articles of faith, rituals, ordinances, days, washings, and other things which “made the word of God of no effect” in their lives. That there are literally tens of thousands of different denominations dividing Christians from each other is evidence of the seducing power of the “traditions of men.” Paul earnestly warned the early believers how easily these things can cause us to “fall from grace” which is the very power of God unto salvation. (Gal. 5:1-9) What is so sad to me is that almost all who are seduced by these traditions and who have fallen from grace do not even know that it has happened. These traditions lull us to sleep. They gently kill us and we don’t even know it. It is like yeast – once a little is planted it eventually invisibly leavens the whole lump. We become blind and deaf to the Spirit of Truth and think it is supposed to be that way. We remember our honeymoon conversion, live a mediocre life waiting for the Lord to snatch us out of this miserable world when, in fact, He said that He came to fill us up daily with abundant love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He wanted to empower us with His very own power. He endowed His body with gifts of supernatural wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, giving, administration, helps, prophesying, mercy, exhortation, leadership, etc. These gifts were not exclusive to a certain part of the body of Christ or for only the first believers -- they were to be given to the entire body of Christ as the Spirit of God willed.
Are we walking in all that Jesus meant for us to walk in? Or have we been crippled by the “traditions of men?” Have we grieved or quenched the Holy Spirit in our lives thereby denying His power from flowing through us? (1 Th. 5:19; Eph. 4:30; Acts 7:51)
Would you like to know where you stand regarding this? With all the sincerity you can muster up, pray something like this: “Jesus, do I worship you in vain? Are there traditions I embrace that make your Word of no effect in my life? Is the power of your grace effective in my life? Or do I embrace things, thoughts and traditions that quench your Spirit, that inhibit you from having your way in me? Since the heart is desperately wicked, would you break through and bring me to honesty? Am I deceived and don’t know it? I truly want to know. I don’t want to deceive myself anymore. Please search every part of my being for anything that inhibits the power of your life in my being. As King David, a man after your own heart prayed, ‘Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.’ Even so King Jesus, I want You, THE Truth to have Your way and reign in me. And let Your Spirit of Truth lead me into all Truth even as You said. Let your all-consuming fire have its way in me. (John 16:12-16; Heb. 12:29) Amen.”