At age 19, 30 yrs ago, I began my fight both mentally and spiritually for the TRUTH. I fought to understand and to know everything about the Bible there was to know so that I could eventually find rest because my mind continued to ask questions, have doubts, and be uncertain, about all kinds of things (due to OCD). My life centered around one thing, the truth. I did not search for power, wealth, or for human wisdom. I sought for the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And God’s Word gave me promises regarding this search. However, I realized the only way I could find the truth was if I were willing to be wrong about anything at all or change any view I had ever been taught or held through learning from Bible teachers or Bible study helps. I had to literally detach my emotions and convictions from my opinions and hopes. I had to come to the place where if I discovered there was no God, I would then adjust my life accordingly. This was me being completely honest without reservation no matter what I found through years of intense prayer and study, covering the Old Testament, Dead Sea scrolls, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Essene community, the New Testament, and history. However, through this painful process, God has burdened me to call the Church (Body-of-Christ) to separate truth from error. This journey took its toll on me for sure! But thankfully, now I can pass the truth along to those who want the truth at any cost. Even when it’s painful. I am not saying I “know” everything. I am saying I seek like a treasure for the truth, to separate it from the error because God’s Word is my truth, my food, and my life alone, being confirmed within me by the Spirit of Truth and through the knowledge of the Truth through honest study.
“About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity” (Heb. 5:11 – 6:1). So then, let us “… grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18, emphasis mine). Amen
Aletheia: Truth in the Darkness 