R U READY TO RUMBLE?
PUT ON THE BELT OF TRUTH
DR. JIM DIXON
EPHESIANS 6:10-17
AUGUST 3, 2008
The leading cause of death in the United States of America for people 44 years and younger is traffic accidents, car crashes. One out of every five motorists in America will have an automobile accident this year. We are told, indeed the government itself has announced, that 50% of the deaths in car crashes could be eliminated if people would just wear their seat belts, if people would just buckle up. James Madison University has conducted a study wherein they have found that while 90% of people in America believe that seat belts are good, only 17% of Americans wear seat belts consistently. It’s a statistic that I find hard to believe. So, “Buckle Up, It’s the Law. Click it or Ticket.” These are the kinds of reminders we’re given all the time here in the United States of America.
Today we look at buckling up but we’re speaking spiritually and not physically. We’re talking about putting on a belt but it’s The Belt of Truth. Today I have three teachings and the first one is a little bit different than perhaps what you might expect but I want us to begin by taking a look at the truth about America, the truth about our nation’s history.
Sometimes people ask me, “Jim, are you a ‘God and Country’ guy?” I think the answer is no although I do love God and I do love my country and I want God very much to bless America. But, you see, most “God and Country” people think of America as the new Israel as God once chose Israel amongst all nations. As the Israelites were the chosen people, they believe that America is now chosen of God, the new Israel, and that Americans are the chosen people. I don’t believe that. I do believe that God cares very much about our country. I also believe that God cares very much about all countries but I think sometimes people do fail to appreciate the Christian heritage that America has. I think there are people who refuse to accept the truth because the truth about America’s history is almost offensive to some people today.
We can go back in time, and we can look at our first President of the United States. We can look at George Washington. George Washington was a man of deep faith. When there was no chaplain available, George Washington himself served as chaplain to his soldiers because he wanted them to have someone to pray for them and he wanted them to have someone to bolster their faith in God. George Washington once wrote these words in his diary. “Let my heart, gracious God, be so affected with Your glory and majesty that I may fulfill the weighty duties which You require of me. Again, I’ve called on You for pardon and forgiveness of sins by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered on the cross for me. You gave Your Son to die for me. You’ve given me assurance of salvation.” He wrote those words in his diary and he could not have imagined that anybody would have seen those words because those were words written in his personal diary and they were found after his death.
He also wrote in his prayer journal – I have this brand-new book here called, “If My People” and it’s a wonderful 40-day prayer book for our country. In here there are some wonderful quotes from past American presidents. Here’s a quote from George Washington’s prayer journal. How many of you even have prayer journals? How many of us actually have prayer journals? George Washington did and in his prayer journal he wrote this:
“Eternal and everlasting God, increase my faith in the sweet promises of the Gospel. Give me repentance from dead works. Pardon my wanderings. Direct my thoughts unto Thyself, the God of my salvation. Teach me how to live in Thy fear and labor in Thy service and ever to run in the ways of Thy commandments. Make me always watchful over my heart that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of holy duties, the love of sin nor an unwillingness to depart this life may cast me into a spiritual slumber but daily frame me more and more into the likeness of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, that living in Thy fear and dying in Thy favor I may, in my appointed time, attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life. Bless my family, my friends and kindred.” He wrote that in his prayer journal.
I marvel today the number of teachers in high schools and professors in institutions of higher learning, colleges and universities who question whether George Washington was a spiritual man or whether he was a Christian. Sometimes you hear people classify George Washington as a deist as though he was the same as Jefferson or Franklin. The truth is he loved Christ and he was a committed Christian.
Fifty-two of the fifty-six who signed the Declaration of Independence thought just like George Washington. They were people of deep faith in Jesus Christ. What I’d like to do is go through some statements and proclamations made by the United States Congress through the years and made by the United States Supreme Court through the years. We begin in 1782, a statement made by the United States Congress, a proclamation to the American people.
“The Congress of the United States approves and recommends to the people the Holy Bible for us to use in all the schools.” The United States Congress, 1782. Understand this is simply the truth. If you’re going to wear the Belt of Truth this is simply the truth that the Congress of the United States recommended the Bible for all the schools and they had no concept of separation of church and state like we have today. The phrase, “separation of church and state” is not found in the United States Constitution nor is it found in the First Amendment which proclaims religious freedom and in fact after the approval of the First Amendment the very next day, the Congress of the United States proclaimed a National Day of Prayer because they saw no problem with the supporting and the enhancing of the faith community.
The United States Supreme Court, in the year1811 in People vs. Ruggles, made this statement. Understand Ruggles was a guy who in early America attacked the Bible and his case came to the United States Supreme Court. They did not prosecute him. He had freedom of speech but the United States Supreme Court made this statement: “You have attacked the Bible and in attacking the Bible you have attacked Jesus Christ. In attacking Jesus Christ, you have attacked the roots of our nation.” An amazing statement from the United States Supreme Court in the year 1811.
Then in 1844 the United States Supreme Court in Vita vs. Gerard. Gerard was a guy who taught in the public schools but he refused to use the Bible when teaching morals and ethics. People didn’t like that and the case came all the way to the Supreme Court. Again, they granted him his freedom of speech and they did not prosecute him but the United States Supreme Court made this statement in 1844: “Why not use the Bible and especially the New Testament to be read and taught as the divine revelation in the schools? Where can the purist principals of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament.?” U.S. Supreme Court, 1844.
Then the United States Congress in 1854. “At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the Amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged. In this age there could be no substitute for Christianity, that was the belief of the founders of the Republic and they expected it to remain the belief of their descendants. The great and vital element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” The United States Congress, 1854.
The United States Supreme Court, 1892. Now we’re beginning to approach the Dawn of the 20th century, 1892, the United States Supreme Court, Holy Trinity vs. the United States. “Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based on and embody the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible for it to be otherwise and in this sense and to this extent, our civilization and our institutions are distinctively Christian.” United States Supreme Court, 1892.
We can look as recently as 1931. In 1931 the United States Supreme Court issued this statement: “We are a Christian people and acknowledge with reverence the duty of obedience to the will of God.” U.S. Supreme Court, 1931.
But of course, how things have changed. In the beginning it was the will of the founders of our country that people be free to worship however they chose. People would be free to believe whatever they wanted to believe. There was religious freedom by the will of the founders but they also wanted to encourage Christianity and they wanted to encourage Judeo-Christian values. They saw no separation in this sense between church and state. In fact, the will of the founders and indeed the intent of the First Amendment was not to keep the church from influencing the state but to keep the state from influencing or controlling the church. They didn’t want to happen here what happened in England where the government controlled the Church of England. This is simply history, and it is simply truth.
Times have changed. The United States Supreme Court in 1947 DID declare separation of church and state. Of course, our son Drew, when he was in the Littleton School District, had some teachers who taught him that the absolute separation of church and state is established firmly in the United States Constitution and declared in the First Amendment. They told our son that but it’s just not true. He had some teachers in the Littleton School District who told him that it was the will of the founders that God never be mentioned in the halls of government or in the public arena and that’s simply not true.
I’m aware of the fact that there are some wonderful teachers in the Littleton School District and there are wonderful teachers in every one of our school districts but there are also some teachers who really don’t wear the Belt of Truth. Some of them participate in revisionist history and they are trying to impose their agenda on history. This is also true in many institutions of higher learning, colleges and universities and in many classrooms across America.
In 1962 the United States Supreme court banned prayer in public schools. In 1963 the United States Supreme Court banned Bible reading with endorsement in public schools. In 1980 the United States Supreme Court in Stone vs. Graham declared that the Ten Commandments could no longer be posted in public school classrooms. In conjunction with that decision, the United States Supreme Court issued this statement: “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce children to read them. If they read them, they may venerate them and perhaps obey them. This is not a permissible objective.”
I think many in America are kind of ignorant with regard to the truth of our history. I think for some it’s an inconvenient truth because they really just don’t want to acknowledge that we have a rich Christian heritage in America.
There’s a book that’s kind of a wonderful little book that Barb and I found in Barnes & Noble this week. The book is written by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth. They are well known in the media. They’ve written for the NEW YORK TIMES. They’ve written for the WALL STREET JOURNAL and you’ve probably seen Ben Stein on FOX News. They’re not writing as Christians. Ben Stein is Jewish but it’s a wonderful book that deals partly with the history of America. The title of the book is “How To Ruin The United States of America.” The first chapter is called, “Exile God From Public Life.” That’s how to ruin the United States of America, exile God from public life. It’s a wonderful chapter that describes the original intention of the Constitution and the founders of America and how it’s being distorted today and how Judeo-Christian values have always been affirmed in America and need to be affirmed today and how there was no original intention to remove God from the public square. Certainly, times have changed and a lot of people don’t wear The Belt of Truth but we turn now to an even more important subject and that’s the truth about Jesus.
If you will wear the Belt of Truth, understand the truth about Jesus. Jesus said “Ego Emi he Alethea.” “I Am the truth.” So, we come to understand that the truth is a person. That’s an incredible thought. That’s an amazing concept, the truth is a person, “Ego Emi he Alethea, I Am the truth.” Of course, Jesus was saying more than that He was the Truth. He was also saying that He was God. Most Bible scholars believe that all the Ego Emi statements of Jesus reflect the Tetragrammaton, the name of God, the divine name, Yahweh, He is the Great I AM. What is the meaning of Yahweh? “I AM. I AM that I AM.”
Of course, Jesus again and again and again began His statements by saying, “I AM, I AM, I AM, Ego Emi,” and they believe that He is reflecting the Tetragrammaton. So He is saying, “Ego Emi he Alethea, I Am the Truth.” He is also saying, “I am God and I Am the Truth.”
In the High Priestly prayer of Jesus in John chapter 17, Jesus prayed for His people, all of His people in every generation. In John 17 Jesus prays for us and even for this generation. In John 17:17, Jesus makes this prayer, this appeal, to the Father. “Father, sanctify them in the truth. Thy Word is Truth.” This has been the cry and the confession of the Church of Jesus Christ for the greater part of 2,000 years, “Thy Word is Truth.” When we think of the Word of God written, we think of the Bible. We think of the Word of God preached and proclaimed. We think of the Gospel and we think of the Word of God living and incarnate. Jesus Christ. So, in every sense, Thy Word is Truth. Thy Word written. Thy Word spoken. Thy Word living and incarnate. Jesus Christ, Son of God. Truth.
Of course, all of this is under attack today. It’s all under attack today and again in many public high schools with many teachers, certainly in many universities and colleges and many classrooms and many professors. They attack the credibility of the Bible, even the person of Jesus Christ who was the historical Jesus. They say, “Well, we could never know.” Of course, they attack the message of the Gospel. They oftentimes do this by trying to bring into question the four Gospels in the Bible and their testimony to Jesus. They want their students to think that the testimony of the four Gospels in the Bible about Jesus is unreliable. That’s what they want students to think, but the arguments they use are bogus. They try to confuse young minds by saying that the Gnostic Gospels are just as reliable as the four Gospels in the Bible or just as unreliable but there’s no difference. Again, that is so bogus.
The four Gospels in the Bible were all written in the second half of the 1st century. The latest of the four Gospels was probably John and it may have been written at the end or the close of the 1st century. But the Gnostic Gospels were written in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries, way later, and they have no credibility. The earliest of the Gnostic Gospels, by the account of most scholars, was the Gospel of Thomas. The Gospel of Thomas was written approximately 130 AD although nobody knows for sure. But if you read the Gospel of Thomas, it reads like a joke book. In its own time it was considered to be a joke. In the Gospel of Thomas, you have Jesus as a child playing and He’s playing in the mud. The Gospel of Thomas tells us that Jesus began to form clay pigeons out of the mud then some other kids came along and they kind of kicked mud in Jesus’ face and kind of broke apart His clay pigeons and then Jesus got all ticked and Jesus, in a rage, turned other kids into lumps of clay. That’s in the Gospel of Thomas
In the Gospel of Thomas, you have Jesus nursing at His mother’s breast and the infant thinks to Himself, “Wow! This milk is really great but what does Mom have?” And so, Jesus summons trees and they come and drop their branches and let the fruit fall into Mary’s lap. Nobody bought that stuff back when it was written. It’s hard to believe you could have university professors today comparing that kind of stuff with the four Gospels in the Bible.
Of course, the truth is that Gnosticism didn’t have anything to do with Christianity. It didn’t grow out of Christianity. It didn’t grow out of Judaism. Gnosticism was a Greek philosophical religion that combined with Asian religions there were some Gnostics who were enamored with Christ and Christianity so they created their own writings, their own gospels. They created their own beliefs and they were bogus. That’s simply the truth but, you see, today a lot of people delight in muddying the waters and they do this with intention because they have an agenda and the agenda is to discredit Christ and the testimony in the Bible to Christ. Everything is at stake.
This past week Barb and I had the privilege of watching a video. A Catholic friend came to my office and then also a Protestant who is a member of our church and received his PhD in radiochemistry from Harvard. They wanted me to see a video on the Shroud of Turin that has just been done with the new science that has been put into the Shroud of Turin. This is a video that will be produced for television but has only been seen by 20 people in America. So, Barb joined me and Dutch Franz came into my office and we watched it. It was a fascinating video and of course the Shroud of Turin is the alleged burial cloth of Jesus which bears the image of a crucified man. It was carbon dated not too long ago to the 14th century and therefore discredited. I mean how could it be the burial cloth of Jesus if it only dates back to the 14th century? And that’s the time period a piece of the Shroud was carbon dated to.
However, recent research, according to this video, shows that the Shroud that is currently exhibited was around in the 12th century and now they’ve found evidence that the Shroud was around in the 5th century exactly as it is today. If it was around in the 5th century, how could it carbon date only to the 14th century? They feel like it needs to be carbon dated again and they’re looking at reasons why the carbon dating or the radioactive dating might be distorted. It’s a fascinating deal. Frankly I hope they’re able to do more research. I hope this video is seen and it would be a fun deal if the Shroud turned out to be authentic. I think it would be great if that really is the burial cloth of Jesus and somehow He radiated His image into the cloth as He resurrected from the dead.
It would be really cool, but it’s not critical. It really doesn’t matter because it’s just a relic. What really matters is Jesus Himself. He’s the one who matters. He said, “Ego Emi he Alethea,” “I Am the Truth.” He said, “No one comes to the Father but by Me.” The Bible says of Him, “There’s no other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we may be saved.” I know that’s not politically correct in this pluralistic age, not politically correct in this syncretistic society, but of course those are the word of Jesus, “No one comes to the Father but by Me,” and it’s Jesus who died for the world, no one else. Buddha didn’t die for the world. Mohammed didn’t die for the world. Jesus died for the world. He died for the sins of the world. He can save whoever He wants to.
When we say, “No one comes to the Father but by Jesus”… When we say, “There’s no other name under heaven by which we may be saved,” we’re not judging people. We judge not. We’re just saying that Jesus is the Judge. He’s the Judge. He died for the sin of the world. He can save whoever He wants, but He promises this. If we believe in Him and we receive Him as Savior and Lord, we will be saved. That’s the truth so buckle up in this present darkness, in this spiritual battle, in this struggle for the souls of men and women and children. Buckle up with the Truth of Jesus Christ.
Many of you have heard of Cleopatra’s Needles. Cleopatra’s Needles are obelisks, kind of like the Washington Monument but very, very old. Cleopatra’s Needles are about 3,500 years old and built by the Egyptians 1,500 years before Christ. They were erected in Heliopolis near the Nile and they were placed before the Temple of Rah or the Temple of Aman Rah, the Temple of the Sun God in the city of Heliopolis, the City of the Sun. They were majestic as they rose into the sky and Pharaohs rode their chariots beside them and perhaps Moses came and studied the steps of the Temple of Rah. He may have. There was a great library there. We don’t know. But of course, we do know that in 1878, not very long ago, the Egyptian government gave those incredible monuments to the United States and Great Britain. One of Cleopatra’s Needles stands in New York City in Central Park and the other of Cleopatra’s Needles stands today in London by the River Thames.
It was 1878 when that Needle was erected by the Thames in London. In the base of the Needle, they placed a time capsule. I was reading this last week about what they put in the time capsule at the base of Cleopatra’s Needle in the city of London in 1878. What would they put into that time capsule? If someday England goes the way of ancient Egypt and people are rummaging through ruins and they find this obelisk and they look at this time capsule, what would they see? Inside that time capsule in 1878, they placed coins of the time. They placed toys that were used by their generation of kids. They placed photos of the twelve most beautiful women of the day. I did not know that in 1878 they were into stuff like that, but they placed photos of who they deemed to be the twelve most beautiful women of their time. They placed a razor in the time capsule because in 1878 they thought a razor was really a cool deal, cutting edge. They placed a verse from the Bible in that time capsule in 1878 and they wrote the verse out 215 times in 215 languages, one verse from the Bible, John 3:16. They wrote out John 3:16 in 215 languages, 215 times, they thought it so important.
Today in the city of London, not that many people believe anymore but it’s still the truth. John 3:16 is the truth. It always shall be. “For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” This is the truth, so buckle up! Put on the Belt of Truth and face the darkness and the enemy.
As we close, I want to mention the truth in one other context and that’s the truth about you and the truth about me. If we’re going to wear the Belt of Truth, we’re going to have to accept the truth about ourselves. The movie “A Few Good Men” is a quest for the truth. It’s a quest for the truth and there’s that famous line in the movie that Jack Nicholson shouts, “You can’t HANDLE the truth!” I think for most of us with regard to most things, we can handle the truth, but I think it’s very hard for most of us to accept the truth about ourselves. So when we’re criticized it’s really hard. I know it is for me and maybe it is for you. When people criticize you, how do you feel? Do you feel at least just a little bit defensive? Don’t you want to protect yourself, defend yourself, exonerate yourself? It’s hard to even explore the truth. I think people have a hard time going to counseling, particularly when counselors probe and ascertain truth. It’s hard for people to put on the Belt of Truth.
It was hard for King David. You can look in 2 Samuel, chapter 11, and you read about David’s great sin and his great fall, his lust after this woman Bathsheba and his adultery with her. You read about how David murdered Bathsheba’s husband Uriah but somehow David still thought well of himself. He just didn’t want to look at the truth, so he still felt good about himself until Nathan came to him, Nathan the Prophet, 2 Samuel, chapter 12. Nathan comes and tells the king about a little parable about a rich guy and a poor guy. The rich guy has all of these herds and flocks and he’s so wealthy and the poor guy has one little lamb. The rich guy discovers that company is coming. He doesn’t want to butcher one of his own sheep and so, he steals this poor guy’s land because the poor guy didn’t have the power to resist him. He uses that lamb to feed his guests.
David doesn’t even know that Nathan is telling a parable. He thinks this really happened and David said to Nathan, “Where is this guy? I’ll make him pay.” Nathan says, “You’re the guy. You’re the rich guy. You’re the rich man. You’ve taken a poor man’s wife. You’re not only an adulterer, you’re a murderer and you’re a thief.” David had to put on the Belt of Truth and he wept. It was hard for him.
You read in the Bible the great confession of David where he cries out to God in his tears and he says, “You desire truth in the inward being.” That’s what David discovered. “You desire truth in the innermost person.” So, how are we doing?
You read in 1 John, chapter 1, these words. “This is the message we’ve heard from the beginning. God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie, and we do not live according to the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
What’s that about? Is that about sinlessness? Does God expect us to be without sin? Is that what it means to walk in the light? Certainly not! God knows that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There’s none righteous. The very next verse in 1 John says, “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves.” So, what does it mean to come into the light? It means to put on the Belt of Truth, to no longer live a lie. Come out into the light. Confess to the Lord and be real with people. Don’t hide your stuff. So, that’s the Belt of Truth and it’s really necessary to live a goodly and a godly life. It’s necessary in the spiritual warfare where there’s this battle for the soul. It’s necessary really even to come to the cross, you have to first accept the truth about yourself. Then you come to the cross and you bask in His mercy and in His grace and His sacrifice and His love and His forgiveness and you live in the joy of that but you live in the light and hopefully grow in sanctification as we journey with Christ and we engage in this spiritual warfare.
It was Scott Peck who wrote that book “People of the Lie.” People of the lie are the people who pretend to be who they’re not. I think to an extent at times all of us are people of the lie. Let’s put on the Belt of Truth. Let’s put on the Belt of Truth and engage the enemy, remembering the words of Jesus, “Ego Emi he Alethea,” “I am the Truth.” So, He’s the hope of the world. Come to Him. Let Him be your belt and live in His light. Let’s close with a word of prayer.