Light Shines in the Darkness - 240203

Hello, I'm Mike Browning, and welcome to let God speak. Today we're going to talk about spiritual light that shines in the darkness of error and superstition. So the question for every human being is, how do we find this light and how do we bring it into our lives? The Bible will answer these questions for us. Well, on our panel today, we have Cassie Sollano. Thank you, Cassie, for coming again. And Rosmary Malkiewycz. Thank you for being with us here today. We'd like to invite everyone to join us in prayer before we open the scripture. Father in heaven, we thank you so much for your amazing book and the truth that it contains. We pray for your spirit today to guide us as we share together from it. Please, in Jesus name, amen. Now, it's true that the world today is full of error and false teachings. Just full of it. But, Cassie, if it makes people happy to think the way they do, is that a problem? SPEAKER B I think it's definitely a problem. By definition, anything that's not true is a lie. And lies always matter. I don't think even the smallest lie has great consequences. So it's a mistake to think lies are benign. SPEAKER A Well, thank you for that. Can't help but agree with that. So we need to explore this a little bit further, Rosemary. Talk about why lies always matter. SPEAKER C Well, one of the things is that people act in harmony with their beliefs. And with some people, their false beliefs lead them into a violent type of behaviour because they don't believe that there's retribution or anything. And it's a matter of get what you want. Some people have false beliefs that lead them into doing a whole lot of unnecessary things in their lives to try to be saved or to try to get people to like them. Different things like that. And so we're going to look at a Bible verse in Matthew eight. Sorry, John eight and verse 32. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER C And Jesus said, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So it's the truth that gives us freedom. When we believe and know the truth, we will act in a way that is different because lies keep us captive. They drag us down. Whereas the truth sets us free from them. It sets us free from everything that is. Superstitious delusions, different things that people tell us that we know are harmful, but we do them because they tell us the truth, sets us free from all of them. SPEAKER A Perfect definition of futility, spending your life doing something that doesn't need to be done. Yes, that's a tragic thought when you think about it. Okay, so we're looking for and talking about truth today. Cassie, where are we going to find this truth? SPEAKER B I'd like to read John chapter 14, verse six. This says, jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. I think in this voice, in this verse, it's obvious Jesus is saying he is the truth and he's the embodiment of truth and he is the source. So that's where it comes from. SPEAKER A That's where we go to Jesus. SPEAKER B Yeah. SPEAKER A Who is the truth? The embodiment of truth. Yeah, thanks for that Cassie. Did you want to add something there? SPEAKER B I think Jesus life can be a demonstration to all the positive outcomes of truth. And we think liars have so many consequences that Jesus life is the opposite. SPEAKER A Yep, that's good. Thank you for that. So we need rosamy a reliable source of the truth about Jesus and truth we do. SPEAKER C If we turn to John 1717, this is a wonderful verse that's speaks volumes even though it's short. It says Jesus in prayer to his father in heaven. Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. So all truth comes from the Bible because it is from God who knows all truth. And so through the Bible he teaches us what truth is so we don't have to be confused. SPEAKER A It's interesting by the way that Jesus is referring to the Bible as the word of God. In this case. SPEAKER C Yes, the word of God. And one of the things, or some of the things that the Bible teaches us about is the origins of life and what we're doing on this planet, salvation that comes through Jesus. And the Bible teaches us about God himself. We wouldn't know about God, the true God if it wasn't for the Bible. But he also teaches us about the greatest problem of humanity which is sin and death. And then it goes on to tell us what happens after we die. So there's so much truth in the Bible that we need to know and God wants us to know. SPEAKER A He does. Okay, thank you for that. Now on the other side, Cassie, errors and lies, where do they originate? SPEAKER B Well this is interesting. I like to read John 844. It says, you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father. You want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it. SPEAKER A Wow. A strong word isn't it? SPEAKER B It is very strong wording, yes. Satan is also called Lucifer is the father of lies. You think about that. His goal is to convince the world of his lies and then lead people away from God, which is the opposite, where it's truth, and make them content with fables and false teachings. SPEAKER A Yep. Okay. Thank you for that. It's interesting that the Bible writers, especially the apostle Paul, were very concerned that false teachings would enter the christian church. And in acts, chapter 20, I'd like to read a couple of verses there that are very. Well, they're very troubling in many respects, but they're very important to get acts chapter 20, verse 29 and 30. And this is what the apostle Paul wrote in his day. For I know this, that after my departing, grievous wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Then he says, and this is alarming also from your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. So Paul is highlighting for us, Rosemary, where the worst errors would come from that would attack the christian faith. SPEAKER C That's right. He says that some will come in among the christians to bring in heresy, but there are people who are within the christian church who will come up with heretical ideas, things that are not the truth of the Bible. And most people in the church are not prepared for that. They don't expect that to happen, and they can be deluded. You have to know the Bible. SPEAKER A That's our safety, isn't it? That's where we get the truth that we need to withstand that. I'm going to read another scripture now from two Thessalonians, chapter two. And I'm going to read verses seven down to nine there, where Paul continues to talk on this particular theme. And he said this in verse seven. The mystery of iniquity does already work. He said, we can already see it even now. He's saying, only he who now lets it will let until he be taken out of the way. God is holding it back. But then he says, verse eight, that wicked will be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. In other words, it will continue this deception until the coming of Jesus at the end of history as we know it. Even him. Verse nine says, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. Now, there are a lot of things there. What is Paul saying? What's the main points here, Keith? SPEAKER B Well, the main point is Paul is giving a warning. This warning is for a specific apostasy apart from the truth. That was very interestingly in the future to his time, even though it had started. SPEAKER A Okay, thanks for that. What sort of people, rosemy, are going to accept these errors? Because clearly they wouldn't be a danger if there wasn't a possibility that some would accept them. SPEAKER C That's right. Very true. So if we go to two Thessalonians chapter two and verse ten, it says this leading on from what you were reading before, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. So those who do not receive the love of God, the love of the truth of God, are the ones who are setting themselves up for deception. If we believe, we have to believe in Jesus in our hearts, not just as a preference for our lives, but as a deep conviction. SPEAKER A Okay. And cos he is the truth. SPEAKER C Yes. And we have to be in love with Jesus. SPEAKER A Okay. Okay. That's something that grows as we come close to him. Yes, isn't it? SPEAKER C We grow more and more in love with him. SPEAKER A I think falling in love with the truth and the truth is very practical about all the areas of life that you mentioned a moment ago, Rosemary, so if you love those things, they're going to be precious enough to you to protect them, aren't they? Now that's good. Thanks for that. Okay, let's talk about some of the eras that did come into the christian church after the time of the apostle Paul. So specifically, Cassie, what eras came into the church then? SPEAKER B Well, some obvious ones were the worship of idols, which is against the second commandment. The day of the sun was also adopted as a holy day in the fourth century. There's immortality of the souls. Another one. Yes. And these are just a few of them, but I think they illustrate. These are huge issues. SPEAKER A They are huge issues. I mean, the first one you mentioned, worshipping idols. Think about that. You know, all through the Old Testament, Israel was in trouble because they kept on falling into the trap of worshipping idols. SPEAKER C I was actually doing a chart to show all the things that had come into the church through the early days which were not from the Bible. And I was surprised at how long I was making this list. SPEAKER A It's a long list. Tragically, it's a long list. Now, these ideas that we're talking about have pagan origins. That is, they're not biblically based at all. So why would the christian church fall for these things and adopt them? Rosemary? SPEAKER C Because during the fourth century they wanted to try and get harmony into the roman empire, so they incorporated pagan things into Christianity to include the pagans to get them to stop warring with the christians, to have harmony in the kingdom. And when they brought these pagan things in, it made it easier for the pagans to accept christians. SPEAKER A They were all right at home, didn't they? SPEAKER C Yeah, just rename the idols after people in the Christian, you know, in the Bible and then that would make it easier for the pagans to accept them. And a lot of their practises came in at that time. But if we look at John, chapter eight, verse 36, it says, therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. See, Satan still had the pagans captive, but also the christians who accepted these changes became his captives as well. But this verse tells us that it's Jesus the son who will make us free. And then we are totally free when we are in Jesus. So Jesus the son sets us free. SPEAKER A Okay. That's right. SPEAKER C Jesus is the truth. He says he is the way, the truth and the life. And therefore the truth sets us free from superstition and error, from being slaves to sin. SPEAKER A It does. And it does set you free. Truth about life and all the things that bother people that they can't understand. All right. Jesus himself was very concerned about his followers and their faith in the future. And he prayed the whole of John. Chapter 17 is his prayer. Most of it is his prayer to his father on our behalf, the behalf of people who would believe in him. We won't read the whole chapter, obviously. I'm going to read from verse 15 down to 17. And this is what Jesus actually said in his prayer. I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Jesus said then he said these very important words. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And you quoted that verse a while back, Rosemary? Yes. So can you summarise the main points of his prayer here for us, Cassie? Just a little. SPEAKER B Yeah, all bit. Right. Well, Jesus knew well of the deceptions his followers were going to need to resist. So he prays for God to keep them. It's what you've read that is to protect and guide them. The chief help in this work was to be the word which we've touched upon, which is, of course, the Bible. That's in verse 17. The Bible is the identifier of error and lies. It is the source of truth. SPEAKER A Okay. Okay. So that's where we go for it. There's no doubt about it. Now if the devil knows as he obviously does, that the Bible is our protection. Roshmi, it's pretty easy to see where his attacks will come from and where they will focus on, isn't it? SPEAKER C Yes, definitely. He will attack the word of God to try to keep it from the people or to stop them from believing it. In the Middle Ages, the dark ages, it was dark because of religious spiritual darkness. The Bible was chained in the churches and they would not use the vernacular of the people. It was written in Latin so the people could not understand it. And a lot of the priests did not either. But in revelation, chapter eleven, verse three, the Bible says, and I will give power to my two witnesses and they will prophesy 1260 days clothed in sackcloth. Now these two witnesses are the old and new Testaments of the Bible. And clothed in sackcloth means they were in mourning for this long time period of 1260 prophetic days or years in this case. Well, prophetic days means years. Yes. And so during this time, the Bible was not seen by the people. They weren't allowed to know what it said, only what they were taught. But today the devil is still attacking the Bible. He can attack it through people believing that it's just a lot of fairy. SPEAKER A Tales because the Bible is everywhere now. SPEAKER C Yes, anybody can own a Bible, basically, and most homes have got more than one. SPEAKER A That's true. That's true. SPEAKER C But he wraps it up in, you can't understand it or superstition or that it's been handwritten over the years and. SPEAKER A So full of errors, the devil wants people to think it's unreliable. SPEAKER C Totally. SPEAKER A How would he do this, Cassie? SPEAKER B Well, it's what you're touching upon. He's undermining the authority and saying, oh, well, you know, people wrote it. It's all made up, which is a great tragedy. When jesus made it clear how the Bible was actually written. This is Mark twelve. He quotes the scripture. He says, for David himself said, by the Holy Spirit, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. And that's the quote. So it's obvious there that it's written in spirit. SPEAKER A Yes. Jesus actually says that, doesn't he? Makes it very plain. So these are just not men with their own ideas here at all, but men moved on by the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, I'm going to read two. Peter, chapter one, verse 21, which touches on the same subject here, Cassie. It says, the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Spirit. So the Bible writers are clear throughout that that's the moving of God's spirit that brought about what we have here, the truth in the scripture. So it's very powerful stuff. How important is the fact that, I mean, we need to consider this, Roseni. How important is the fact that the Holy Spirit moved on these people as they wrote? How important is that? SPEAKER C The Bible is the word of God, the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit moved on people to write what God wanted us to know. And so the Bible is a unique book. It's not just another book. It is the Holy Bible. And we usually miss out the holy these days. And God himself speaks to us through it. If we look at one Peter 111, it says of the men of the Old Testament, the prophets, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. The people who wrote the Bible in the Old Testament times wished to see the day of the fulfilment of their words in the death of the Messiah that they were waiting for because he was going to save them as well as us. So they were moved by the Holy Spirit to be able to write these things. It is God's book. SPEAKER A Okay, thank you. Okay. So the devil is out to get people to distrust the Bible. What's his favourite tactic today to do that? Cassie? SPEAKER B Yeah. The devil loves to convince people that they can trust their own ability to reason out truth. Even though this is a grave mistake. People easily believe rumours and that sort of thing and they'll become adamant, oh, well, that's the truth. SPEAKER A It's true. SPEAKER C Yeah. SPEAKER B And the Bible reiterates this point. I like to read proverbs 1625. It says, there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Those are fairly strong words as well. Yeah. Truth we can't mistake. It is a matter of human opinion. It's just a matter of divine revelation. SPEAKER A So are we really saying here, rosemary, that we will never arrive at spiritual truth on our own? Is that what we're saying? SPEAKER C That is what we're saying. Let's look at Isaiah, chapter 53 and verse six. All we, like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him. That's Christ. The iniquity of us all. This is a description of how we think when we think on our own terms. The Bible is full of places where it says they did what was right in their own sight. And they did terribly horrible things to do. SPEAKER A Okay, so it didn't work very well at all. SPEAKER C No. SPEAKER A Cassie, what do you think of Eve's reasoning in Genesis, chapter three and verse six? A well known verse for a lot of people who read their scripture. But what was she thinking when she took this position? It's so interesting seeing. Actually, her thinking process is outlined for us. SPEAKER B It is. And it's clear from her reasoning she'd thought it through independently of God. And she has this logical process that I'm sure she was very kind, saying, oh, well, it's pleasant to the eyes, it's desirable, but she was totally unaware of the grave consequences that was going to have. And these are the types of conclusions that human reasoning will arrive at every time, if unaided. So we have to think, oh, we're not safe for a moment if we're not leaning on prayer in the Bible because our own perspectives on things aren't useful. SPEAKER A That's so true. When it comes to spiritual things, we just have not got the force. In fact, I know someone very well who, talking about what happens after death, said to me, I think that when whatever you think is going to happen is what's going to happen, and you can appreciate crazy it is. It's absolutely crazy to base your eternal future on what might be happening here between my ears. No, thank you. Okay, moving on. So are we saying here, Rosemary, that we don't have to think for ourselves? Is that what we're saying? That you just have blind faith? Is that what we're talking about? SPEAKER C No. No, not at all. When we look at the Bible, it tells us the truth. We have to know. When you go into a church, you don't leave your brain in the foyer, right? You have to think and you have to learn. And so God says to us in Isaiah 118, and I love this. This verse, he says, come now and let us reason together. Says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. God wants us to reason together. He wants to sit down with us as such. SPEAKER A He's inviting us to do that, isn't he? SPEAKER C He is. He wants to discuss his word with us. He wants us to intelligently understand it, and we will gain wisdom and intellect we never knew we had. SPEAKER A Okay, thank you for that. It's a powerful thing, truth, isn't it? Very powerful, indeed. I want to read a scripture for you now from the apostle Paul, again in two corinthians chapter four and verse three and four. This is what it says. If our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those that are lost in whom the God of this world, referring to Lucifer, the devil has blinded the minds of those who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them. So it says here, minds will be blinded. Question is, how are their minds blinded? SPEAKER B Well, it's Satan that's working to blind them. We can think of it. Oh, he's darkening the mind, which is, of course, keeping them away from the light. These are things that are opposed to each other, like truth and lies. Jesus is the light. That's when we're stumbling through the darkness. He'll provide a light for us that we need, or otherwise we'll just stumble and we'll fall down. It's as simple as that. SPEAKER A Okay, now I like that picture of stumbling through the darkness. When the light is shining, you can see where you're going. No, that's good. Thank you for that. Indeed. So let's. We've talked about a number of things the devil does to try and keep people away from the scripture, basically from the Bible. Is that all he does? What we've mentioned so far? SPEAKER C No. Satan is very good at attacking us in every way possible. Jesus warned in Luke 21 34 about suffiting and the cares of this life. Let me read that verse right now. Luke 21 34, Jesus said, but take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighted down with carousing, drunkenness and cares of this life and that day. Come on, you unexpectedly. So Satan is trying to keep us focused on other things, keep us distracted so that we don't even notice that we're not following on from God. The problems of life, the things we get involved in. We focus on sports or partying and these things. SPEAKER A Hard work, cares of this life. SPEAKER C Yes. He makes sure we've got no time, energy, or desire for the things of God. That's what he's trying to do. SPEAKER A All right. Thank you for that. So it's quite clear that he's putting snares in front of people, even good things, to focus them on anything and anywhere but Jesus himself. So thank you for that. Finally, Cassie, I want us to think about this question. If Jesus and truth are available to everyone, and it's clear that it is that's the case, why do so few people take it up? SPEAKER B It's quite a loaded question. So I'd like to read some scripture for that. I'll read John 12 35 36. These are Jesus words. Then Jesus said to them, a little while longer, the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. I think. Yeah, this is. You can think of it also as a warning. There's no excuse for ignoring Jesus in truth, when the light is in front of us. But the problem is that people are so comfortable in the darkness, they'll choose not to believe. They don't want to know because they're distracted by things of the life. Yeah. So we've got to make sure that light doesn't slip away from us. SPEAKER A Okay. Okay. And it could be saying to us too. Look, you'll have an opportunity, right? Don't mess it up. When the opportunity comes and the offer is made and decision times come, which it does to every person's life, the decision will come. Decision time to miss that. SPEAKER C Cassie said an important thing they don't want to know. SPEAKER A I think that often is the truth. In fact, Jesus said that in John chapter one, verse five, it says, the light. Talking of Jesus, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. SPEAKER C They didn't want to know. SPEAKER A Didn't want to know, which is very sad, isn't it? Very sad indeed. Well, I thank God that he's given us the opportunity of knowing it. We've shared it today. And all those folks out there, folks take it seriously because sadly, it is true that the majority of people would rather cling to their fables and their narratives. But the good news is, in Jesus own words, in John chapter one, verse twelve, as many as received him. To them, he gave the right to become the children of God. To those who believe in his name. Good news. Well, we're glad you joined us today on let God speak. This programme can be viewed again along with teacher's notes. You'll find these on our website. Three abinastralia.org dot au. You can email us also if you would prefer, and we'd invite you to join us again. God bless. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from.