Truth Matters
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Your Moment of Truth
Any "Moment of Truth" is a deciding instant; the moment when a test will reveal the truth.
In a practical sense, your moment of truth may come when you try to start the engine you have just rebuilt, or when you sit for that big test you have been slaving for. You have worked so hard to get there, but will the outcome stand the test?
Truth always conforms to fact, to an object reality. And in that sense it is 
the opposite of lies, be they ever so "small". Something that is not perfect is simply imperfect - no matter how much or how little it falls short of perfection. The same goes for truth.
And yet, unless you're on the game show The Moment of Truth, where your lie is exposed instantly by a lie detector, truth seems to be a more flexible these days. People seem to bend it without serious consequences, at least for the moment.
But one day things will be different. Then everyone will have to face the ultimate lie detector test. Each one of us will stand before an almighty God. We will have to give an account of everything we have done in this life because He created us. I can hear you objecting, but please read on...
"There is no such God," you may be thinking. Are you SURE there is NO God? If He does not exists, then you won't be held accountable. But what if He does?
If YOU were to die tonight, where would YOU spend eternity?
If there is no God, then there is no eternity and this question isn't important. But if there is, then this question becomes VERY important, and I would urge you to find the right answer!
The Bible has the answer. As God's word to humanity, it contains the key to life - a meaningful life right now here on earth and a marvellous life in the presence of God's love for all eternity.
"And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me," says God. (Jer.29:13)
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God [and is] able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ." (2 Timothy 3:15-16)
Consequences
God Has a Rescue Plan
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Watch God's Rescue Plan on YouTube instead: http://youtu.be/3UKr8Sn-Bsk.
GOD'S RESCUE PLAN - The God of the Bible has a rescue plan. He wants to save you from an eternity of torment in hell to give you eternal life. Who is this God? What is He like? Is there a need to fear God? How can you access God's free gift of salvation and everlasting life? Watch this slide presentation video and find out. [Henry Lepke]
From New Age Philosophies to the Living God
When I was nineteen, I met a young man from a far-away country and fell in love. We were Dr. Margaret married after two short months, and after another two years we left for his home in Australia. The Lutheran church and its ways had been completely discarded. Ten years passed, and life was good. At age thirty-one I had two small children, my husband had started a successful communication business, and I was practicing as a naturopath and clinical hypnotherapist. And then something happened: one day two lovely ladies from New Tribes Mission came to see me as clients and, being curious, I asked them about their faith. I had turned to New Age concepts and joined the Rosicrucian Order, but I was always interested in the beliefs of others.
One of these ladies produced a little black Bible and read to me this verse: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." I didn't object to a God of love but did not really understand what that verse meant. And then she continued with a verse about sin. She said that no one is righteous because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. "Stop right there," I responded, chafing against this accusation. "I’m not a sinner! I’m not a liar or a thief or a murderer – to the contrary, I try to help people and be nice to them!" Jan was wise and did not argue. Instead, she read from Isaiah chapter 53:6 that "all of us like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him (meaning Christ) the iniquity (sin) of us all."
The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge (understanding), but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
Thank God for His faithful servants! The Holy Spirit used this portion of Scripture to convict me of sin. I was a sinner because I had asserted my own will, gone my own way. I had rejected the God who had created me. And not only that, I had to admit to myself that I had taken things without returning them (e.g. pencils from work) - God calls it stealing; that I had lied (and not only the 'little white ones'), that I had hurt people instead of loving them, and that I had done things even against my own conscience. I felt so uncomfortable that I couldn't get rid 
of these women quickly enough. I tried to forget about the whole thing, but it didn't work. The thoughts about sin kept coming back, and I soon realised that sin was essentially SELF-WILL and therefore rebellion against God. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that I had a dilemma on my hands: if this God of the Bible was real, He would send me to Hell. So I wondered how I could know whether He really existed. Finally, I asked Him to show me, not knowing what to expect. I neither heard a voice nor did I have an ecstatic experience, but by the end of that evening I could no longer carry my burden of guilt. I fell on my knees and cried out to God, shedding tears of shame and tears of sorrow for causing Him so much pain. But there were also tears of joy because I realised that I had been forgiven, my debt was paid, and I was set free to live a new life in God. This is how I was born again and became His child on the evening of March 28, 1983.
Margaret can testify to the fact that TRUTH MATTERS.
From Buddhism to Baha'i to the Bible
I was born in Ipoh, Malaysia into a Buddhist or Taoist family, but I attended a Christian school. At school we had chapel service once a week and I enjoyed singing all the hymns...I was very impressed with the talk of an Australian speaker and had wanted to convert to Christianity at the time. However, my two older brothers talked me out of it and that was the end of it.
When I came to Australia to study in 1975, on looking back, I was really searching but didn’t realize it. I attended Overseas Christian Fellowship meetings on some Fridays and also attended the Swanston Street church where most attendees were Asian. I also attended Baha’i discussion groups at homes which they called ‘firesides’. I have to say, one influencing factor in my acceptance of the Baha’i Faith so readily was that it fitted my own philosophy. I fell into the “false philosophy” that Colossians 2:8 describes,
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)
I used to think that there are good and smart people in all religions, so all religions must be true and good. As Baha’i Faith accepts all religions as the truth, it sees no contradiction at all between different religions. In the Baha’i ‘Answers Book’, it was also Are all religions valid?written that Christ’s resurrection was symbolic. There was no reason for me to doubt what was written there as I have been told that there are Christians who converted to Baha’i Faith. Furthermore, one other Christian student who came to the Baha’i meeting confessed to be totally shaken by what was told to him. Well, that made it even more enticing to me that Baha’is must know what they are talking about since this supposedly devout Christian can be so shaken by what the Baha’is are saying. So, I became a Baha’i in 1976.
It wasn’t until 2005 when I was invited to a church meeting that my real journey to Christianity started...It was also then that I decided to read the Bible from start to end for myself. I wanted to be an informed enquirer. I had several sessions with the Pastor at church to answer my queries. That was fruitful. It was also then that I realized that Christ’s resurrection was not symbolic at all. Just before my conversion, I discovered that I had rejected Christ all this while due to two arrogant supposedly devout Christian girls at school...Hence, my conversion to Christ and baptism in 2007.
Yoke Peng Kong can testify to the fact that TRUTH MATTERS.
Read her whole story at http://creation.com/yoke-peng-kong-journey.
From Roman Catholicism to Biblical Christianity
Jacki's Testimony of Faith
This is an abridged version, although it's still pretty long:)
Jacki writes...
First, I want to say that I am not trying to "bash" Catholicism in any way - I am simply sharing my own personal story and how the Lord led me to dig deeper into the Bible to learn of its truths and of the great news of salvation through Jesus Christ! I believe there are many Catholics who are true believers, and I would never want to hurt anyone - however, I was once Catholic myself and was totally in the dark about salvation through grace, and that's why I feel the need to tell the story of my conversion...
I never doubted my faith because I was told to just believe everything the Church taught me without question...
I also remember many non-Catholic friends asking me about some of the doctrines, such as purgatory, confession, the Pope, Mary, etc. I always would tell them, "Oh - that's in the Bible!" but I had no idea where because we were never taught to read the Bible for ourselves, but rather to simply believe what we were told...
When I was 21 years old, I had a special friend (Creg) who was a non-Catholic. He asked me about my salvation, and again I convinced him I was saved. However, the Lord wasn't going to let me get away that easily this time! I had been reading a magazine from the "Last Days Ministries", led by Keith and Melody Green, and came across some pamphlets they were offering called "The Catholic Chronicle Series". I remember thinking, "Oh, great! Finally something about MY church!" I ordered them and was thrilled when they arrived. I thought this would be great to prove my church was okay to my non-Catholic friends.
You can also read all four of the Catholic Chronicles online at SoloChristo.com
I remember that evening so well... My best friend, Wanda (also Catholic), and I sat on my bed and started reading the pamphlets excitedly. After a few minutes, we both realized the pamphlets were not "for" the Catholic Church, but rather were explaining the differences between the teachings of the Catholic Church and the Bible. Our initial reaction was, "Oh - they don't know what they're talking about!" However, we got out our "Catholic Catechism" book (which contains the teachings of the 
Catholic Church to educate people interested in becomingQuestions Catholic) and my Bible and started to compare them. We took each of the Keith Green pamphlets and looked up every single Bible verse he quoted and then looked the doctrine up in the Catholic Catechism book. I started to feel my heart sink. Could this be true? Wanda got so nervous and upset that she decided to leave.
So all by myself, I spent the next several hours - until 1 or 2 in the morning - studying, reading, praying, crying, and being very confused. The next day I had planned to go with Creg to an out-of-town meeting about 2 hours away...Creg and I talked about...[the teachings of Catholicism and how they compare to what the Bible actually teaches] the whole trip and that evening when we got back to his house, he got his family together to help me understand "true" salvation doctrines. They got out their Bibles and went through everything with me - explaining how Christ's death at Calvary paid the price for my sins and that because of that, anyone who accepts Him as their Savior is immediately brought into the Christian family and can be assured they'll go to heaven. I was totally amazed!
The Catholic Church taught me that we can never be sure we're going to heaven - that it was a guessing game, depending on how good or bad we were, and whether we died "with sin on our souls" (meaning without having been to confession since sinning). They explained to me that when Christ died, He took ALL my sins away - past, present, and future - and that God wouldn't hold them against me any more. There was no way I'd die "with sin on my soul" - because Christ took them away! I was in shock, and quite upset about my Church's apparent errors, but I was also pretty excited and hopeful.
That whole weekend, I kept my nose in that Bible and read pretty much the whole New Testament. It was like a light-bulb had come on in my head. Words I'd heard many times before now made perfect sense - in this new light of salvation through grace. I felt light and happy and joyous - like I'd found the truth at last - something "real"! I called Creg a few days later and said, "Creg, this is amazing! I feel like a brand-new Christian!" He said, "Jacki, you are a brand-new Christian!"
I realized then that while I was following the doctrines of the Catholic Church, I had never really been a "Christian" in the true sense of the word - believing totally in Christ's sacrifice at Calvary to save me from my sins. I mean - I'd always heard from the Catholic Church that "Christ died for our sins". But it really had no meaning, if you think about it. If Christ died for our sins - then why were we forced to go to confession, do penance, attend church, follow the other sacraments, etc., etc. - in order to HOPE we were going to make it to heaven? And if Christ paid for our sins, why on earth would we still have to go to purgatory when we die to keep trying to make up for them? Where did Christ fit into that picture? In reality, His death did me no good according to the Catholic Church - I still had to try to earn my way.
But the truth was that His death did everything! There was nothing I could do to add to it. He paid the price in full. I could be assured of my salvation! The Bible even says, "I write these things unto you so that you may know you have eternal life." You can't get more plain than that! Something about this made me feel so FREE - and made me want to serve God with all my heart because of what He'd done for me.
Jacki can testify to the fact that TRUTH MATTERS.
Being a musician/composer, that day I wrote a song that expressed what I was feeling. Here are the lyrics:
"Lord, I'm Not Worthy"
Dear Lord, I'm not worthy of all You've done for me.
I'm just a lowly sinner, Lord, how can You care about me?
To gaze upon Your goodness, makes me want to hide my face.
On my own, I'm not worthy, but I'm made worthy by Your grace.
You lived a perfect life on earth - something I could never do.
You showed Your people how to live, and when Your days were through,
You showed the perfect love - You gave Your life upon that tree
Dear Lord, I'm not worthy, but with Your help I'll try to be...
More like You every day, pleasing to You in every way,
Loving You with all my heart, serving You - I'll try to do my part;
Praising You with every breath, living for You until my death,
Where on bended knee, I'll meet You face to face!
My Lord, I'm not worthy to stand before God's throne,
But through You, I am made worthy too; yes, now I'm one of God's own!
Like a father never leaves His child, I know You'll never leave me.
Dear Lord, I'm not worthy of all You've done for me.
Check out her songs and read Jacki's whole story (there's much more to it!) at Our Little Place. Praise God for leading her out of error into His glorious truth!
You can also read all four of the Catholic Chronicles online at SoloChristo.com
The World is Full of Interesting People
- Some simply deny that there is a God
- Others say, "I just don't know!"
- Some cling to a god or religion they think is true
- And others find peace and life through the God of the Bible
Those that believe in the God of the Bible call themselves Christians. They understand that they are sinners and that a holy and perfect God must judge sin.
But Christians also rejoice in the fact that they have been forgiven and no longer need to fear death because they will spend eternity with God after they leave this world. They have asked God to forgive them, and he has answered their prayer.
This forgiveness is available to every person who is alive today because God sent his Son to suffer the penalty that is duly theirs, since all of us have sinned and are guilty before a holy God. The Bible says it this way... (read more in the tract)
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