What is Truth?

by Terry Ivy
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Jesus stood before Pilate at his trial. What a scene it must have been. Here is the Son of God standing before the cowardly leader of men. Our Lord stood there, as a lamb led to the slaughter, being questioned about the nature of truth. This had been a long night as Jesus carried the weight and sin of the world upon his shoulders in the garden of Gethsemane. Then Judas, for thirty pieces of silver, had conspired with the Pharisees to bring them to the Lord's secret place of prayer. At last, the religious leaders of the day were getting their wish. They had this miracle worker, this lowly carpenter from Galilee in the hands of the Roman Empire. Consider the scene with all of its irony and tragedy as we read this passage from John's gospel account.

"Pilate therefore said unto him, 'Art thou a king then?' Jesus answered, 'Thou sayest that I am a king. to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.' Pilate saith unto him, 'What is truth?'..." (John 18:37-38) 

This same question haunts men of our age! With the continual promotion of postmodern thought from secular media and the modern church, we are asked this same question! So, what is the great difference between the world's philosophy and the christian worldview? It centers upon the answer to Pilate's question: What is Truth?

Thirty Pieces of Silver!

by Terry Ivy
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We all know the price. If we are familiar with the betrayal of Jesus the amount of money is burned into our minds. Thirty pieces of silver! That is the price Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for. Thirty man-made pieces of silver! Why did he do it? What did he gain? What did he give up? What is the end of the story? What about you and me?

The Scriptures teach us that the love for money is the root of all evil. (I Tim. 6:10) If you ever want to find the shady, cutthroat and underhanded reasons men do harm to others, just follow the trail of money. Jesus distilled the servitude of man down to two options: God or money. He taught that these two are mutually exclusive. It is an either/or option! One of these two options will master us!

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24)

The greek word for mammon literally means, "wealth or riches." This goes with the teaching of the Apostle Paul, where he used the term "the love for money." Having money or wealth is not, in and of itself, sin. However, when the drive for riches has us, it is sin! How do we know if it has us? When our life is a constant pursuit of stuff, stuff and more stuff, or money, money and more money, it has us! Most in our society are slaves to the 'almighty dollar.' Selling the spirtual health of their marriage, their children and their personal lives just to get another dollar. Why another dollar? So they can get more stuff. It is like feeding a fire in a wood burning stove; the flame never gets enough!