Category Archives: doctrine of Christ

How to know the Visitation of God?

The Case of the Visitation in the Time of John the Baptist

The theme of ‘visitation’, פָּקְדִי (ppakedi), is a theme as old as man himself, and is associated with the manifestation of God, in principle, to a community, a people or an entire nation. It should not be related to ‘appearence’, accidental וַיֵּרָא (yera), or deliberate הַנִּרְאֶה (han.nir’eh), for it is not the same thing. The nature of ‘visitation’ is of the group type, while the appearance can be both group and individual.

The apparition brings with it an evident presence, while the ‘visitation’ does not necessarily mean an evident presence of God. Rather, ‘visitation’ is an event that marks the difference in time between one season and another, with the purpose of emphasizing that the change is a decision of God over the community visited.

Although a visitation is determined by the Will of God, and it is He who decides when to provoke it, nevertheless, ‘visitations’ have very similar cause-signs among themselves, so that the manifestation of one of them is evident to those who have understanding in the times. On this occasion we want to study the case of the visitation of God that began with the birth of John the Baptist, referred to by the writer of the Gospel of Luke. Let us begin by studying the prophetic words of the priest Zechariah, precisely the father of John the Baptist:

67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, 69 and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;

Luke 1:67-69

A ‘visitation’ is intended to establish a time of redemption in the region where the visitation is taking place,

for He hath visited and redeemed His people,

verse 68

And as soon as this time of ‘redemption’ is inaugurated, a series of characteristic ‘evidences’ of the manifestation of God arise as a consequence. The writer describes several of them.

The first and most important being the presence of a ‘liberator’

and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,

verse 69

God’s work is established through men and women, and even children. This is a fundamental characteristic of the legitimate work of God. In the case where an angel of God has intervened, his participation is only as a messenger to make known about an event, or to give instructions about some action that people should take; but it is men or women who establish the work.

This operational form of God’s action is widely highlighted in the writings of the book of Judges :

18 And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. 19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

Judges 2:18-19

The second characteristic of a ‘visitation’ is the establishment of liberation throughout the land visited.

that we should be saved from our enemies,

verse 71a

The deliverance is not only about people but about places and regions over which a curse has fallen because of the satanic practices and invocations performed by its inhabitants, which means that the land comes to life, and produces as it did in the beginning, before the curse entered the region. The writer of Luke’s gospel, citing the words of the priest Zechariah, establishes this emphasis,

Deliverance is the strong evidence that the Kingdom of God has been established over a place and its inhabitants; the expulsion of demons from a person and from a place, is not an isolated and independent event, it is the visible evidence that the kingdom of darkness came to an end in that region; Jesus himself established it as the strong sign of the establishment of the Kingdom in an area,

But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

Matthew 12:28 (Luke 11:20)

A time of ‘visitation’ brings with it the exercise of expelling demons from places and liberating the inhabitants of the regions. There cannot be ‘visitation’ without a real manifestation of liberation. It is the very foundation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven;

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

1st. John 3:8

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Hebrews 2:14

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Philippians 2:9-10

Another characteristic of a ‘visitation’ from God is the recovery of the worthiness of God’s people in the eyes of the local people.

and from the hand of all that hate us;

verse 71b

As clear examples we have, first, the case of when the people of Israel were delivered from the hand of Pharaoh of Egypt: and the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.(Exodus 12:36); the second example is the case of when the people were delivered from the hand of Haman the son of Amadatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews: And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. (Exodus 12:36); the second example is the case of when the people were delivered from the hand of Haman the son of Amadatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews: And many of the people of the land became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them. (Esther 8:17); these two examples suffice to show how a manifestation of God causes those who walk according to the Truth and faith of Jesus to acquire a value of honor and respect in the eyes of their own community.

The cases cited are not isolated cases, it is the operating platform on which it operates every time a ‘visitation’ of God is performed.

The ‘visitation’ of God makes participate among those who live under the Lordship of Christ Jesus, the Revelation of the Eternal Covenants by which Israel was founded as God’s chosen nation;

to perform the mercy promised to our fathers,

verse 72a

during this time of ‘visitation’, the Gospel of the Kingdom discovers mysteries of Revelation that had not been seen in normal times, to establish by this form that the life of the Gospel of the Kingdom consists in living on earth by the principles of life in Heaven, as it is written in the epistle to the Ephesians:  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: (Ephesians 1:17).

A ‘visitation’ from God is a time of discovery of the Father’s mysteries. God validates the mercies given to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David, and activates them in favor of those who live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

This means that in a time of ‘visitation’, the mercy dispensed to all who avail themselves of it is a mercy magnified, like the mercy David received when he was in extreme distress; let us see how this applies:

O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.

2 Chronicles 6:42

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Isaiah 55:3

And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

Acts 13:34

A time of ‘visitation’ is a time of Revelation of the mysteries of the Almighty.

and to remember His holy covenant;

verse 72b

The holy covenant is the covenant to inherit the land. A time of ‘visitation’ is a time of taking over the places of the earth that God has given in inheritance to his people. It is not about opening churches, it is about establishing the Kingdom of God in the regions, and establishing spiritual government so that the people may walk in the light of the Gospel. Psalm 37 is the psalm that best describes the holy covenant.

Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, (v.3)…  For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. (v.9)…   For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. (v.10)… But the meek shall inherit the earth; (v.11)… The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be forever. (v.18)… But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away….   For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.(v.22)…  He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed (v.26)…  For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. 29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever. (v.28, 29)…  Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. (v.34)

Psalm 37

A time of ‘visitation’ activates God’s promise to Abraham

the oath which he sware to our father Abraham,

verse 73

God’s oath to Abraham is found in the book of Genesis,

17 that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Genesis 22:17-18

The promise has two emphases. The first is that of possessing the gates of his enemies, a promise that was validated to Peter on the same terms: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18).

The second emphasis of God’s promise to Abraham is the ordinance to establish and regulate the terms and conditions under which the nations of the earth will live: In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. It is not just a matter of ‘giving’ an extended benefit, of prosperity and blessing, to the nations of the earth; it is rather a matter of regulating the conditions under which the other nations will receive the blessing that will be dispensed to them in return. The prophet Isaiah presents this same theme but emphasizes that its application consists, above all, in a kind of spiritual covering that Israel imposes on those who walk in her light,  

And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

Isaiah 4:1

If we carefully review other prophetic texts, such as the blessing of Moses to the twelve tribes, for example, we will see that from ancient times it was prophesied about the regulating character that God’s people would have over the inhabitants of the earth:

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Genesis 49:10

Therefore, understanding and validating this Word, the cause of the moral, social, economic, and political debacle of any nation in the world does not consist in the multiplication of evil within it, only, but rather, and above all, because of the treatment given to the people of Israel, in the first place, and by extension, the treatment given to the people of faith in Jesus. 

Ignorance of these principles of faith has caused many communities of faith not to exercise the authority they should have in their regions, and therefore, they do not enjoy the life of faith based on the promises given to Abraham, our father in faith.

And now, let us note again the words of Zechariah as he concludes his prophecy. Since the people possess the gates of their enemies, they can now live in peace,

that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

verse 74 -75

Many men and women of God have been called as liberators, but because they are immersed in religious environments they do not know it; their ministry is not a pulpit ministry to pastor a local congregation, their ministry is a breaking ministry, to bring ‘visitation’ from God to the regions they inhabit, but they have wandered the path and are looking for pulpits and churches to work in, believing that this is the only way to ‘do’ ministry.

There are men and women already chosen in Venezuela, in Mexico, in Spain, in El Salvador, in China, in Iran, in Bolivia, in Europe, in many different places in the world, places that God has disposed to initiate ‘visitation’ on earth. They are men and women without a pulpit, without a church that recognizes them, without much ministerial prestige, some even unknown, some even children … but they are the deliverers who will bring God’s ‘visitation’ on earth in preparation for His coming.

In the last times God is also raising up men and women who are called to finance the ministry of these deliverers.

All biblical quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Pastor Pedro Montoya

Twitter: @pastormontoya

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Spiritual warfare, the resource to grow in faith

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle (ἡ πάλη: fight of strength) not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Ephesians 6:11-12

Spiritual warfare is seen in many Christian circles as an auxiliary knowledge of life in Christ Jesus, useful to know, but not necessary to reach salvation; therefore, many men and women of faith do not consider it a subject of transcendent study to grow in the life of faith; however, there are quite a few testimonies of the Spirit of Truth in the Scriptures that testify to the contrary; the most notable testimony is the one we find in the epistle of the apostle Paul to the community of faith in Ephesus: Put on the full armor of God, for we have a struggle (ἡ πάλη: struggle of strength) against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the world, the governors of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in the air.

The teaching that the apostle presents in the epistle on the ‘armor of God’ is not a study in spiritual warfare, that is not the task of the apostle in writing the epistle; the teaching is aimed at instructing those who have believed in Jesus on how to live the life of faith according to the Gospel of the proclamation of Peace.[1]  The apostle’s mission is to teach the Gentiles of Ephesus how to free themselves from the pagan way of life to which they were accustomed in the old way of living.[2]  Note, however, that in the teaching introduced by the epistle, the apostle links spiritual warfare with faith, as if both had the same function of forming life in the Gospel; that is, as if both exercises –spiritual warfare and faith– were the daily way of living life in Christ Jesus. This way of Paul presenting spiritual warfare and faith together under the same instruction on how to live the life in Christ Jesus leads us to establish, without a doubt, that a life of faith cannot be developed without taking into account that faith is to face the fiery darts of the evil one, which leads us to understand that faith is spiritual warfare, without discussion.

The basis of this teaching of Paul is the continuity of the work of proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom that the apostle established during his stay in the city of Ephesus.[3]

Thus, according to this teaching, life of faith and spiritual warfare are doctrines of character formation for those who have been born of the Spirit according to the Gospel of Jesus; in these, note, faith is defined as a “shield”,[4] not a weapon of attack but a weapon of defense, which leads us to the understanding that spiritual warfare is not solely about “rebuking” Satan, nor is it solely directed at waging battle against satanic possessions; spiritual warfare is the resistance that one who has believed in Jesus puts up against Satan to prevent him from continuing to use his life as an instrument of iniquity.[5]  Note that this teaching is not exclusive to Paul’s doctrinal theology; the apostle James writes in fairly similar terms, which shows us that this teaching was the general content of the doctrine of the gospel:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:7

Spiritual warfare is the faith resource developed in and by the Spirit of Truth to strengthen the spiritual growth of the man and woman who have believed in Jesus.[6]

The man and woman of faith become strong in the Spirit not behind a desk seeking information about the life of faith, they become strong in facing and resisting all the darts of the enemy, taking refuge in the Truth of Jesus’ teachings. He who submits himself to the Lordship of Christ but does not resist the devil, is equivalent to the soldier who does not carry his shield, at some time the darts of the enemy will strike him, and he will perish: taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

The life of faith does not consist in ‘attacking’ Satan, nor in destroying the kingdom of darkness, the life of faith consists in being ‘witnesses’ to the super-eminent greatness of God’s power that worked in Christ Jesus, raising him from the dead, and placing him at the right hand of the Father in heaven;[7] in doing this, as recorded in the teaching of Jesus, the gates of hell will not prevail against the advancement in faith of his saints.[8]  The kingdom of darkness is destroyed by the testimony of faith.[9] 

The life of faith in Jesus consists in establishing on earth the principles of Heaven, in the face of which there is no frontal attack great enough to bring down a man or woman of faith.[10]  The life in Christ Jesus is a life of faith.

Faith is spiritual warfare because, as the apostle Paul rightly stated, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.; but it is a warfare that is waged from resistance to all that seeks to lead man and woman to walk in opposition to the teachings of Jesus. This spiritual warfare consists of taking away from Satan all ‘legal rights’ that allow him to operate in the same environment of faith; a theology that teaches the believer to ‘rebuke’ the devil is useless if it does not first instruct him on how to cancel the actions that give Satan ‘rights’ to operate in their environment.

Faith is born of restored character in the image and likeness of Jesus Christ; the legal right that Satan uses to continue to operate in a faith environment is the same ambiguity of mind that still persists in the heart of the believer.[11]  Apostasy is precisely a double doctrinal position; in Jesus’ words, apostasy is the tares sown in a wheat field.[12]

Another testimony of the Spirit of Truth that spiritual warfare is the resource for growth in faith is found in Paul’s exhortation to Timothy: “fight the good fight of faith”.

Fight (ἀγωνίζου) the good fight (ἀγῶνα) of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

1st. Timothy 6:12

In this exhortation, the apostle is defining spiritual warfare as the conscious ‘effort’ to do God’s Will. Fight’ means ‘strive’ to establish the Will of God. The expression used by the apostle reflects an ‘agonizing’ effort, that is, an effort carried to the ultimate consequences.[13]  The good fight of faith, then, means the strength born of the knowledge of God’s call that is imposed on all spiritual resistance that seeks to stop the work of faith. According to this teaching, faith is born of the personal decision to go beyond the limits of sacrifice –state of agony, according to the term used by the apostle– until the work demanded of us by the Spirit is completed. Faith overcomes all resistance put up by the kingdom of darkness; faith is understanding that nothing and no one can stop the work of the Lord, but understanding, above all, that we are charged with watching over it. Faith is not just waiting for things to be fulfilled, faith demands active participation. In the epistle to the Hebrews we find this same exhortation in almost the same words.

3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

Hebrews 12:3-5

The apostle Paul’s exhortation to Timothy can be paraphrased as follows: “Sacrifice yourself to the point of agony in order to win this spiritual battle of faith; on it depends the Eternal Life for which you were called, having borne witness before many witnesses”. Faith is activated when man and woman enter into spiritual warfare. Faith is not to faint because of those who have piety for the sake of pomp,[14] faith is to continue proclaiming the virtues of the one who called us out of darkness into the wonderful Light even though we do not see the results of our action of faith.[15]

In the teachings established by the apostle Paul, spiritual warfare is not always referred to as a frontal fight against the forces of darkness, the apostle warns that the demons use alternate forms to hide so that they cannot be ‘rebuked’ for their actions; the apostle describes several forms of attack used by demons, the first of which is persecution, in his epistle to the Philippians, we read:

having the same conflict (ἀγῶνα) which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

Philippians 1:30

The reference that the apostle makes in this text from Philippians is with regard to the persecution he suffered during his stay in the city of Philippi,[16] persecution that he still suffers at the time of writing the epistle; the text can be paraphrased as follows: “having similar suffering to Christ, as you have seen when I was among you, and as you have been notified, that I still have“. Faith is the participation with the sufferings of Jesus Christ,[17] in others of his written faith is presented as perseverance and joy.[18]

Another way demons use to attack those who live a life of faith in Jesus is by the introduction of false doctrine, in the epistle to the Colossians we read about the sorrow in the apostle to learn of those who introduce false doctrine into the community of faith, and to be powerless to intervene personally:

For I would that ye knew what great conflict (ἀγῶνα) I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;

Colossians 2:1

What the apostle is facing can be understood in the following paraphrased translation that we have prepared: “I want you to know how great a conflict I have for not being with you, for those of Laodicea, and for all those I do not know personally. I would like to be with you to strengthen your hearts, and to lead you in love, that you may understand and not give up the riches of the revealed knowledge of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.”

The apostle is transmitting the sorrow that is in his heart because of the threat that is hanging over those communities –Laodicea and Colossae– false doctrinal threat that attempts to make them desist from the knowledge of the Gospel that they received through Epaphras, and that has made them stand out as communities of faith in Christ Jesus, and for the love that they show to all the saints that have visited the community.[19]

What Paul is manifesting is his powerlessness not to confront in person those who are introducing teachings that distort sound doctrine in the region. Paul has discovered that behind some of the teachings that the believers of Colosse and Laodicea have received in recent visits from Judaizing preachers, there are teachings that attempt to disrupt the knowledge of Truth, about God incarnate and manifested in Jesus. Spiritual warfare is present in the denunciation of every introduction of apostate doctrine, for not to denounce it means to allow it, which makes us participants in it, according to the apostle John.[20]  In this case the apostle confronted it through the epistles sent to both communities.[21]  Faith is the result of zeal for the work of God; spiritual warfare is aimed at combating all apostate doctrine.

Spiritual warfare is not waged only by ‘rebuking’ demons, as we have seen in the previous cases, there are situations that do not allow it, and not because of that one who has believed in Jesus must refrain from entering into spiritual warfare; spiritual warfare is waged on the basis of the testimony of faith, in the epistle to the Hebrews, we read:

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race (ἀγῶνα)  that is set before us,

Hebrews 12:1

The ‘race’ to which the apostle refers is the struggle against the spirit of sin that is present in the environments we frequent; the ‘weight of sin’ consists of the arguments of deception and falsehood on which the societies of the cities in which we live have been built, arguments of deception and falsehood that demand that we behave according to their philosophies of life. Faith is to reject every philosophy of life that cannot be explained according to the teachings of the Word of Truth.

In his final statement, late in his life, the apostle identified that spiritual warfare is in reality the ‘good’ battle of faith, thus making it clear that spiritual warfare is in reality the faith resource developed in and by the Spirit of Truth to strengthen the spiritual growth of the man and woman who have believed in Jesus. He who desists from entering into spiritual warfare, discards his faith growth.

I have fought (ἠγώνισμαι)  a good fight (ἀγῶνα), I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

2nd. Timothy 4:7

A third testimony to the value of spiritual warfare as a resource for growth in faith is the way the apostle describes the supernatural results obtained by those who entered into disproportionate battles to defeat all their adversaries, striving only on the promise God had given them, that through them great deliverance would be established on earth:

33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Hebrews 11:33-34

In the first verses of the chapter he emphasizes that without faith it is impossible to please God, and he defines under that very statement, that faith is the conviction that he who comes to God believes that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him, thus emphasizing that all they achieved was not on their own merit, but because they held fast to the knowledge they had of who God is,[22] and to the knowledge of the Truth of His Word.[23]  Faith is clinging to the knowledge of the Sovereignty of God, if God said it, He will do it, and we will carry it out.[24]

When a person who has begun a life of faith in Jesus does not know about spiritual warfare, every vicissitude he faces he will see in it, or a trial or a temptation, all depending on alternate knowledge he possesses, but he will hardly see in it the God-established way of growing and strengthening in faith; many people even, when faced with these types of setbacks, desist from continuing to develop in their spiritual growth.[25]

Spiritual warfare is not an auxiliary knowledge of life in Christ Jesus, spiritual warfare manifests itself in the opposition that the person suffers in all his daily and everyday activities, to lead him to desist from his decision to follow the teaching of Jesus; and he will be confronted, whether he wants to or not, whether he understands about it or not, because by being Light for Jesus he will represent a threat to the forces of darkness; the difference of knowing about the subject is that by becoming aware of the reality of the spiritual struggle, and what it represents for the faith, the person will face every situation with the joy of knowing that he is fighting the battles of Jehovah,[26] and his action against the spiritual hosts of evil will be with wisdom and much more forceful.

The faith that is built on the activity of spiritual warfare is the faith that moves mountains to the sea

Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

Matthew 21:21

All biblical quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Pastor Pedro Montoya

Twitter: @pastormontoya

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[1]     Ephesians 2:14-17: For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; …   17 and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

[2]     Ditto 4:21-24: 21 if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

[3]     Acts 19:9-12:  9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. 10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. 11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: 12 so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

[4]     Ephesians 6:16: above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

[5]     Romans 6:13-19: 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. …  19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

[6]     Ephesians 6:10: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 

[7]     Ditto 1:19-20

[8]     Mathew 16:18. See also Genesis 22:17: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

[9]     Revelation 12:11: And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

[10]   Mathew 7:24-25: 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

[11]   Luke 9:62: And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

[12]   Mathew 13:24-30

[13]   1st. Thessalonians 2:2: but even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention (ἀγῶνι).

[14]   Read the context of the chapter.

[15]   Isaiah 53:1: Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

[16]   Acts 16:12-40: 12 and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.…   19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, 20 and brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, 21 and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. 22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24 who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

[17]   Philippians 1:29: For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Philippians 3:10: that I may know him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

[18]   Romans 5:3: And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;   2 Corinthians 4:17: For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

[19]   Paul refers to a possible visit by Mark, Barnabas’ nephew: Colossians 4:10

[20]   2nd. John 9-11: 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

[21]   Colossians 4:16: And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.

[22]   Jeremiah 9:24: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

[23]   Titus 1:2: in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

[24]   Psalm 60:12: Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. Psalm 108:13: Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.

[25]   Mathew 13:20-22: 20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21 yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

[26]   Numbers 21:14; 2 Chronicles 32:8; Isaiah 30:32; Judges 3:1; 1 Samuel 18:17; 25:28

Faith or beliefs, how do we know what moves us to act?

And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

Numbers 14:11

Life in Christ Jesus is not a life of beliefs, no spiritual life is built from the beliefs a person holds; life in Christ Jesus is about ‘believing’, not having beliefs. Believe, and beliefs, are not the same, they do not converge on the same point; believe is the active part of the devotion and sincerity of the person born by the impact of the Spirit, beliefs is the passive part, the one that simply identifies the person and places him in a position with respect to others. Having beliefs does not necessarily lead a person to believe, beliefs can rather be a hindrance to a person believing what is in his or her best interest to believe; in fact, the greatest danger one who believes in Jesus can expose himself or herself to is building convictions on the basis of beliefs. Believe are born of Revelation and lead you to move toward God through Jesus; beliefs lead you to develop only ideals, nothing more.

Life in Christ Jesus is not a life of beliefs, no spiritual life is built from the beliefs a person holds; life in Christ Jesus is about ‘believing’, not having beliefs. Believe, and beliefs, are not the same, they do not converge on the same point; believe is the active part of the devotion and sincerity of the person born by the impact of the Spirit, beliefs is the passive part, the one that simply identifies the person and places him in a position with respect to others. Having beliefs does not necessarily lead a person to believe, beliefs can rather be a hindrance to a person believing what is in his or her best interest to believe; in fact, the greatest danger one who believes in Jesus can expose himself or herself to is building convictions on the basis of beliefs. Believe are born of Revelation and lead you to move toward God through Jesus; beliefs lead you to develop only ideals, nothing more.

Life in Christ Jesus is a life of faith, it means believing that in and through Jesus, and in His teaching, uniquely, we are capable of doing what we could not do because of human limitations; life in Christ Jesus means being empowered with spiritual virtues that develop the supernatural capacity to act in an environment of limitations.[1] However, it must be kept in mind that since faith is subject to the Lord’s Will, faith is not a passport to do what a person wants to do, or to obtain what he wants to obtain; faith is the resource in Jesus to supernaturally complete the deficiency of strength required for one to believe in Jesus to complete the work of testimony delegated to him by the Spirit of Truth.[2]

 The life of faith in Jesus Christ develops from voluntary exposure to the teachings of Jesus; it is the impact that the Words of Jesus provoke in the spirit of the one who believes in Jesus that moves him to do what the instruction of the teaching establishes; and when we say that it is the impact that the Words of Jesus cause the believer in Jesus to act, we are referring, to the Word contained in the Scriptures,[3] and to the Word that the Spirit of Truth imparts as a repository of Revelation in the spirit of the believer in Jesus; these are the only two forms that sustain the life of faith in Jesus Christ;[4] a prophetic word does not have the capacity to develop faith, faith is of an individual character, therefore the person has to receive it directly by the Spirit of Truth. The prophetic word is regarded as ‘exhortation’ by the Spirit.

Faith develops and builds spiritual life; it is spiritual life as only man can have communion with the Lord;[5] hence faith and spiritual life are two aspects that run parallel that make up the perfection of the one who believes in Jesus. If faith stops, the spiritual life stagnates,[6] hence the need to understand that faith is founded upon the permanent activity of the Spirit of Truth in the inner self of the believer in Jesus,[7] and that it is the responsibility of the believer in Jesus to guard the reservoir of Revelation which the Spirit of Truth has deposited in his inner self.

An action contrary to the operation of the Spirit by one who believes in Jesus can stop the movement of the Spirit of Truth; actions contrary to the operation of the Spirit are based on the use of the mores of the old way of living,[8] and on tolerance of heretical and apostate doctrines.[9]

The only responsibility of the one who has willingly believed in Jesus is to take care of his faith. How is faith taken care of? By persevering in what we have believed.[10]

What does it mean to ‘persevere’ to the end? To persevere to the end is the exhortation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven that he who has willingly believed in Jesus should stand firm in his conviction of faith in Jesus; it means not to make or allow changes to the instruction of the teaching he has received; it also means not to allow interpretation of the Word of Truth.[11]

The path of perseverance is an arduous one, not so much because of the external inconveniences that we have to overcome in order to continue moving forward, but more, and above all, because of the demand for perfection that the process of faith adjusts in the person in terms of changes in the Adamic nature. The path of perseverance is composed of three stages of faith perfection.[12]

Obedience to the instruction of the Word,

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Romans 6:16

Contrary to what religious philosophy establishes as the definition of faith, faith is not a feeling or a sensation of enthusiasm that takes hold of the person, faith is simply the capacity that the person develops to follow instructions, instructions from the Word, written or revealed, by the way.  A review of the cases where Jesus operated supernatural work among His followers shows us that the key to the completion of the work consisted in the ability to follow Jesus’ instructions by those who received them. Faith is built on the basis of ‘naive’ obedience, that is, on obedience that does not question why it has to be done in the way it is established. The apostle Paul presents this clearly when, in his epistle to the community of faith in Rome, he states that the principle of faith consists in obeying: you are servants of the one whom you obey, of obedience for righteousness.

Obedience is an act, faith then, is doing. Hence, no one should read the Bible, nor pray for guidance from the Spirit of Truth, unless he/she has first decided to follow the instructions contained in what he/she reads. The Bible and prayer are not an element to make devotions, they are the source to build faith.

It is not a matter of reading the whole Bible, it is not the task of the Spirit of Truth; one must choose portions, stories, short teachings, specific books, and stay in them by reading them for long enough, weeks, months, over and over again, without consulting outside sources, until we have fully penetrated the story and are able almost to recite them. In order to what? until we are able to…

Understand the spirit of the Word,

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

1 Kings 18:21

In order for us to understand what is the ‘spirit’ of the Word we are reading; the teaching purpose upon which the Word we are reading was built is precisely the instruction we are going to follow, that is, the instruction upon which we are going to build faith.[13] Let’s look at the following example to establish the teaching of faith.

In Deuteronomy 21:21, we read: “And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear“. The instruction apparently aims at ‘stoning’ the offender with stones until he dies, but that instruction is not the ‘spirit’ of this commandment; the ‘spirit’ of this Word consists in “so shalt thou put evil away from among you”, this is the purpose of teaching upon which this Word was built; therefore now we can understand with certainty of faith why Jesus did not permit nor join with those who were about to stone the woman found in the act of adultery;[14] the purpose was not to stone, the purpose was to ‘put away evil from among the people’.

A Word executed without understanding reproduces a blind action, without any spiritual fruit. There are many people who are apparently following God, but in reality are servants of Baal.

Discern the motivations of the heart,

But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

Luke 9:55

A person is true not because he speaks Truth, but because he acts Truth; Truth does not consist in the things that are said, but in being consistent with the things that are believed. Truth is not a concept, it is the substance of which persons are made; Truth is fidelity, it is perseverance, it is consistency, it is firmness; Truth has to do with the reality of persons, that is, with what a person is in reality; a person is defined not by appearance nor by outward behavior, a person is defined by the motivation of his impulses, outward behavior is a facade which hides his true motivations.

We must not confuse motivations with intentions, intentions do not define a person, in fact, intentions are a distraction that tarnish a person’s true existence, deep down, a person’s intentions only serve to evade responsibility before his very conscience. Intentions are an alter ego that a person builds to morally disguise his or her misconduct.

Faith is not a hundred percent believing, nor does it consist one hundred percent in obeying, they are only the starting point, until the one who has believed in Jesus adjusts to submission to the Lordship of Christ, but from there, the one who has believed in Jesus must show how worthy he is to be ‘called’ a child of God, and how faithful he is to maintain such a great salvation.[15]  

Faith consists in the capacity that he who has believed in Jesus can develop to discern his own motivations, which means, the truth of the person to walk according to the doctrine of the Gospel, not serving the eye, as those who please men, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God in the spirit.[16]

Incorrect motivations reproduce a deformed faith. In the teaching of Jesus contained in the writing of Matthew, Jesus stated as part of His Gospel, that a person’s motivations can be as strong as the action itself, and that even if the person does not achieve the action, the motivation per se is considered to be the reality of the essence as the person is defined before God. The examples Jesus proposed; As for killing, anyone who gets mad at his brother, anyone who says, ‘You fool, you imbecile, etc.,’ and even anyone who says, ‘You fool,’ is equivalent to ‘killing,’ and for whose motivation-action he will be blamed for the judgment (5:22). As for adultery, anyone who looks at a woman to covet her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (5:28).

The motivation of the person is his or her definition before God (1 Samuel 16:7), or what is equivalent, God knows the person not by his or her actions but by his or her motivations; hence, in order for the man and woman of faith to walk in perfection before the Lord, Jesus recommended, do not repudiate your wife by seeking a legal excuse to do so, you cause her to commit adultery and it will be accounted to you (5: 32); swear not at all (5:34), but let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for that which is more than this is of evil (5:37); resist not evil: but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also (5: 39-42); and in addition to this, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who abuse you and persecute you (5:44-45).

Jesus’ teaching is addressed to men and women of faith who seek to walk in perfection; perfection is achieved when men and women purify their motivations: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (5:45).

Discerning one’s own motivations means that each person becomes a judge of himself, and each person determines when to act, when not to act, and under what circumstances to act. We have a clear example in the words of the apostle Paul about how to judge the priority of things: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not“.[17] What do his words mean? Though all things are lawful for me, yet not all things are expedient, nor all things edifying; so faith is to do according to that which is expedient, and according to that which edifies; in another section of the same epistle he added, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient: all things are lawful for me, but  I will not be brought under the power of any“.[18] Faith consists in discerning the motivations for not getting under the power of anything or anyone.

As you can see, faith is not a launching pad to do and/or to acquire what you want to obtain; faith is the ‘correction’ resource to advance in the spiritual life, in order to reach that for which we were reached by the Grace of Jesus.[19]

To recapitulate, life in Christ Jesus is not a life of beliefs, no spiritual life is built from the beliefs that the person holds; life in Christ Jesus is a life of faith, it means believing that in and through Jesus, and in His teaching, uniquely, we can do what we are unable to do because of human limitations; all this for what? That we may have the ability and power to establish a testimony on earth that there is salvation only in Christ Jesus, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.[20]

Where are we headed? We get the answer by answering another question, What moves us to act? It is shocking to discover how many people who have believed in Jesus live in a state of simple-mindedness and religiosity, accumulating beliefs, dogmas and doctrines, but not knowing what to do with them. I have learned from the Revelation of the Spirit of Truth that in the years to come we will face many more pandemics, many more shortages, and many more chaos than we have faced this year 2020; if with one pandemic which paralyzed all the nations of the world and disrupted even systems of government, many men and women of faith could not answer for their faith in Jesus, and were confused as to whether this came from the devil, or from God, how much more so will it come later?

We need to start readjusting the fundamentals of the Gospel we have believed in, faith or belief?

All biblical quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Pastor Pedro Montoya

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Twitter: @pastormontoya

[1]     Ephesians 1:17-20: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

[2]     Isaiah 40:31:  but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

[3]     Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

[4]     John 16:13-15:  13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

[5]     Ditto 4:24: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

[6]     James 2:17-26: Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone…   20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?…   26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

[7]     1st. Corinthians 6:19: What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

[8]     Ephesians 4:29-31: 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

[9]     2nd. John 9-11: 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

[10]   Matthew 24:13: But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Mark 13:13; Luke 1:4; 1 John 2:27)

[11]   1st. Timothy 1:4: neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. Titus 3:9: But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

[12]   Matthew 7:14: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

[13]   James 1:25: But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

[14]   John 8:5: Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

[15]   Acts 17:11: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

[16]   Ephesians 6:6

[17]   1st. Corinthians 10:23

[18]   Ditto 6:12

[19]   Philippians 3:12

[20]   Acts 4:12

Everyone who is of the Truth hears my voice…

37 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. 38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

John 18:37-38

Hearing the voice of the Lord is not only a matter of spiritual sensitivity, it is heard by those who act according to Truth. Although Truth is a quality of the spiritual-angelic environment, and also an attribute of Jehovah God, in one of the Psalms of David we discover that Truth is a teachable spiritual knowledge,

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Psalm 25:5

Truth definitely has nothing to do with ‘speaking’ according to verifiable facts and/or with information held to be valid by two or more witnesses; if David demands the intervention of Jehovah-God, and asks Him to lead him into His Truth, it is because Truth then enjoys the very essence of Jehovah-God’s nature, He does not teach about matters inferior to His divinity.

The Truth is then not only a characteristic of life built on integrity, but above all, the necessary requirement to approach the Lord, and hear His Voice. He who does not walk in Truth does not have ‘fellowship’ with the Lord.[1]   With all that is written above we can realize the importance of knowing about the subject.

In terms of the righteousness of the Kingdom of Heaven, what is Truth? How is it defined? How is it obtained?

The Truth, אֶמֶת (e-meth) in Hebrew, and αληθεια (alithia) in Greek, is the consciousness that is awakened in a person about the existence of a knowledge-law that regulates the development of the natural order of things initiated by man’s intervention. The Truth does not exist outside of man, the Truth is spiritual support of validation to make the activity of man transcendent.

The best example to illustrate this process is found in the story of when the apostle Peter was sent by the Lord to the house of Cornelius,[2] a Roman centurion, a Gentile for the purposes of the Bible, and therefore a man unpleasant to the Jews; Peter admitted during the meeting with them, from the knowledge which Jehovah-God had communicated to him the day before, that God is no respecter of persons, a truth which to Peter was hitherto unknown; the admission of such knowledge-law opened the door for the Gentiles to become partakers of the Grace of Salvation.

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

Acts 10:34

This conception is not a section attached to the Gospel as it may seem, there are evidences that the biblical writers had this knowledge, one of those cases is the one referred by the apostle Paul when in his epistle to the community of faith in Rome he discovers how those people who do not have access to the Law of Moses are evaluated by Jehovah-God,

14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 16 in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Romans 2:14-16

Thus, we verify, that Truth is the recognition in the conscience of man that there is a natural order that regulates the development of all actions; each action has its own disposition, the observation of them leads the person to build a life of straightness and justice. By virtue of this, Truth is the ‘power’ of optimal functioning; actions performed with Truth are prospered,

hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.

Ezekiel 18:9

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

Habakkuk 1:4

Truth establishes a natural order of priority over all things that man/woman does under the sun,

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

The Words of Jesus before Pilate, …To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth, are the key to understanding how to walk in the Truth; the first thing we must understand is that Truth is pre-existent to the material Creation, that is, Truth is not a part of this world, it is a quality of the spiritual-angelical environment introduced into this world to give support and validity to all human activity; and the second thing, Truth has life in itself, and gives life to him who walks in it.[3]

Let’s go to the Words of Jesus again. Note well, if Jesus came to ‘bear witness’ to it, that is, to validate the transcendence of Truth, it is because it has the very nature of the essence of Jehovah-God; otherwise, why should there be so much effort if its value were inconsequential and/or less than the very nature of Jesus? How can one ‘bear witness’ to Truth if it is an abstract concept? Can one claim something that does not exist?

Truth is not only the attribute of the Sovereignty and Omnipotence of Jehovah-God, it is above all, the very essence of the environment in which He moves. Jehovah-God is Truth,[4] and all that He does, He does with Truth, so Truth is the establishment of wisdom upon which the universe was built,

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. 4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

Job 38:1-6

Operationally speaking, Truth is introduced and established in this world by/with the Word with which Jehovah-God certified that His work is true: the expression, “and God saw that it was good”,[5] the expression with which He concluded the work of each of the first six days of Creation, means not only that His work is Perfect and Adequate in itself, but above all, that it established the Truth of the reality of things for which He had created it, that is, that each of the elements of Creation would have a definite purpose and action, to break that purpose and that action would provoke an environment of lie.

He confirmed the knowledge that He Himself knew beforehand to be good, and He did so in every one of the days of His Creation until its conclusion, thereby showing that Truth is established upon the foundation that what Jehovah-God does is good, His work is not harmful to man, even though in human eyes it may be an inconvenience.

21 and said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Job 1:21-22

The expression, “and God saw that it was good“, shows that everything that is not of the Truth is opposed to the principle of Creation established by the Lord. The work of darkness establishes ‘rebellion’ to what Jehovah-God does. Truth is absolute.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

Truth is associated with counsel, wisdom, intelligence, and the fear of the Lord.

He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.

Job 12:20

Truth is discovered when a person moves according to the recommendation of Jehovah-God’s Word, Truth has life (Ζῶν) in itself, and it energizes (ἐνεργὴς) all that where it is established;

For the word of God is quick (Ζῶν: zon), and powerful (ἐνεργὴς: energis), and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

Faith is founded on the basis of Truth, hence for faith to prosper, it is not enough just to believe,[6] it is necessary for the person to move in Truth,

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

James 2:17 (20; 26)

Truth belongs to Jehovah-God, however, today’s civilizations are civilizations in crisis, in their quest to be progressive societies they have ‘manufactured’ fictional truths that far from turning them into societies of Truth, have led them to be pagan societies that simply feed the ego, greed, and covetousness; is the condition also of many Christian communities, the doctrinal deficiency of what the Truth of the Gospel means,[7] has led many to build a philosophical and scientific faith, where the value of the life of faith consists in what God can, and should, do for the believer, and not in what God demands from the believer to establish his faith as a bond of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven; at first glance the problem is not really serious and does not risk anyone’s salvation, however, when we review the doctrine of the Gospel and compare it with what is preached as the Gospel, we will see that in reality it is about winds of apostasy that have already swept many communities of faith. So, the main task of anyone who is interested in knowing about the Truth of the Righteousness of the Kingdom of Heaven is to remove the obstacles that stand in its way.

The first stumbling block we must overcome is the stumbling block of philosophical definition; Truth is not an abstract concept, it is not a relative concept, much less, a concept subordinated to the circumstances and/or situations of the events, all of them attributes that have usually served to impact its definition, at least in the West.

The second stumbling block we must overcome is the stumbling block of moral definition; Truth is not synonymous with good, nor is lie synonymous with evil; Truth does not depend even on the intentions/motivations of people’s hearts; Truth is not a moral concept, does not originate from any of its basic postulates, nor does it receive any input from them.

As for the doctrine of the Gospel, how does one learn to know the Truth?

Truth is the essence of nature that constitutes a person: God is true, man is a liar

God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Romans 3:4

Truth is the essence of the nature of Jehovah- God. Surely we have read how the apostle John defines Jehovah-God: “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love“;[8] in his definition, John recognizes that the ‘essence’ of the nature of God is love; in the same way, when Jesus expressed: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father except through me“,[9] He was affirming that the ‘essence’ of his nature is Truth; man was also formed with the attribution of being true, but disobedience to the Word of the Lord degraded him and made him a ‘lying’ being. The presence of Jesus on earth is so that man/woman may find the way to constitute themselves again in truth, and cease to live by the lie,

For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Luke 6:43 (see also Matthew 7:16)

Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

Matthew 12:33

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Ephesians 4:25

Hence, when Jesus stated, “and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“,[10]  His purpose was to show that Truth does not consist only in knowledge which is learned, but in Revelation of purpose so that by it we acquire the transformation of nature by faith in Jesus.

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:3-6

The only way to acquire the Truth is by faith in Jesus, there is no other way; it is obtained by the transformation that the Spirit of Truth operates in the person when he or she submits to the Lordship of Jesus established in/by the teachings of the Gospel.

Man cannot change by himself, woman cannot change by herself; everyone is born in a state of sin and his/her nature is a lie, man/woman lies by nature, not by habit or manners; in order for there to be transformation man/woman has to subject his/her attitude, intention, motivation, thought and decision to the doctrine of the Gospel; transformation is achieved when the person disposes not to be double-hearted, nor to take personal advantage of situations,

for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee;
but his heart is not with thee.

Proverbs 23:7

But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7

The different situations to which both men and women are exposed daily are intended to bring out the essence of their nature;

21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Matthew 5:21-22

27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Matthew 5:27-28

It is not a matter of ethics, as presented by religious philosophy, but of understanding that man is a liar by nature, and that the only way to be true is to allow the Spirit of Truth to transform his nature.

Truth is not a matter of verification of facts: a person is true not because he ‘speaks’ Truth, but because he ‘acts’ Truth

A situation is not Truth just because the references fit the reality of how the events unfolded, Truth is the ability to stand in the original line of the Lord’s work. The teaching is established by the case when Samuel goes up to Bethlehem to anoint David as the chosen one of Jehovah-God to substitute Saul; Samuel says that he went up to “offer sacrifice”, which was not necessarily true, he went up to anoint David as Saul’s successor,

4 And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? 5 And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

1 Samuel 16:4-5

Verse one of the same chapter clearly states that Samuel’s purpose was to anoint David;

And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

1 Samuel 16:1

The teaching here states that a person is true not because he speaks Truth but because he acts Truth; to act Truth means to stand in continuity with the original work of Jehovah-God according to the operation that the Spirit has initiated in a place, and/or with a person. Samuel saw Saul grow and develop as a king, and it grieved him deeply when Jehovah-God repented of making him king, and he cast him off, yet his appreciation of Saul did not prevent him from continuing with the work which the Lord had entrusted to him of anointing David as Saul’s successor. Truth is established not with/by words, but by actions consistent with the line toward which the Lord’s work is conducted.

Another example that illustrates this is the case of the apostle Peter when he expresses that Jesus is the Christ.[11] Notice how Jesus recognizes that Peter has received from the Father the Revelation that He is the Christ, however, a few verses later in the same story we find Jesus rebuking Peter’s behavior, and treating him as Satan, Why? Peter lost continuity of the Spirit’s operation; Peter was not true to his relationship with Jesus, his duality leading him to deny Him on three consecutive occasions the night he was taken prisoner in Gethsemane. A person exposes the ‘lie’ in which he lives when he acts in double-minded behavior and is inconstant in the actions he initiates.

A person is true not because his words conform to the truthfulness of the information, or of the facts, but because he stands firm acting according to the disposition of Jehovah-God has determined for that fact.

and thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Deuteronomy 28:14

Truth is the understanding that Jehovah-God continues to operate even above the ‘falls’ of man;

In David’s experience when he fled from Saul, David expresses a fact that is not true, yet his words do not detract from the work that Jehovah-God was establishing upon him.

Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? 2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know anything of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place.

1 Samuel 21:1-2

The other case of David that runs parallel with this one, is the case when David incurs in the act of giving orders over Uriah the Hittite, to expose him to death; his act according to the Mosaic Law is considered a sin of death,[12] however, David’s sin was remitted without the mediation of a lamb sacrifice,[13] and eventually, from the union with Bethzabé, Solomon was born,[14]  and Nathan,[15] the latter, from whom the genealogy of Jesus comes.[16]

The knowledge of Truth makes us understand how Jehovah-God judges all things, and how He establishes His Truth among the peoples.

Truth is not measured by how societies define it, it is measured by the Righteousness of the Kingdom of Heaven; the Righteousness of the Kingdom is established by the ‘spirit’ of the Law,

A person may have eliminated lying from his/her vocabulary, however this is not necessarily evidence that the person is true; Truth is measured according to the ‘spirit’ of the Law that promotes the Righteousness of the Kingdom of Heaven. Joseph’s decision not to infame Mary when he knew she was pregnant is a case that contradicts the way Jewish society had established as correct; although this traditional way of acting was based on the Law of Moses, the biblical text in reference says that Joseph was ‘just man’, how can a man who acts contrary to the Law of Moses continue to be ‘just man’?

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

Matthew 1:19

The Law of Moses required that the bridegroom with her denounce her and stone her,

20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: 21 then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.

Deuteronomy 22:20-21

How to understand this situation? The ‘spirit’ of the Law stated that the purpose of the Law was not only to punish the offender, but to remove the evil from their midst.[17]

Let’s look at another case. The Bible itself establishes the support of Jehovah God over the civil laws of the peoples, even exhorting to observe and respect them;[18]  yet the apostle Paul denounces that it is not right to bring the cause of the saints before the unbelievers;[19] thus establishing that human laws cannot be imposed upon the Truth of the Gospel, nor upon any operation that the Holy Spirit Has initiated within the Kingdom.  In another section of his writings, Paul states that if a brother has an ‘unbelieving wife’ and she consents to dwell with him, he should not put her away;[20] ‘put her away’ here is synonymous with divorce; the apostle Paul establishes with this instruction that divorce is permitted in the Gospel because one of them is not compatible with faith in Christ Jesus, yet no civil law has it considered as a permissible ground for divorce.

The laws of men, nor their customs, cannot impose actions upon the decisions of the Kingdom, nor impose upon any man of faith labels of offender just because he does not act according to them; everything that the man of faith does in obedience to civil laws, but which contradicts the guidance of the Spirit, is considered a ‘lie’, and the man of faith is a ‘liar’.

He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.

Luke 11:23

Truth is a subject of Revelation, only he who lives by it is a man/woman of Truth. The lie consists in living by the discretion dictated by religious formation.

Falsehood should not be tolerated because it establishes a lie. If you realize that something is not right, that is to say, that something is not walking in accordance with the stipulation, and you do nothing to correct it, then you constitute yourself as tolerant of falsehood, and thereby establish falsehood. He who establishes falsehood, or gets used to tolerating it, is a liar.

Why so much falsehood? Why so many lies? There are many people who live in an environment of lies, and they allow it, and in doing so they themselves are turned into lies. To each one comes just what he sowed, or what he tolerated.

who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Romans 1:25

Truth is a daily exercise, only he or she who exercises himself or herself in his or her deeds can reach it; remember, it is not true who ‘speaks’ Truth, but he or she who ‘acts’ Truth. Each of us writes a new lesson of Truth every day, as we discover within ourselves the nature of lie in which we have lived, and eradicate it.

that which I see not teach thou me:
if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.

Job 34:32

Truth does not rely on the feelings or emotions a person may feel about something, or even the thoughts he may have; in fact, the best way to identify the ‘degree’ of Truth a person has attained is to evaluate the levels of ‘reaction’ to attacks on him; the liar takes things personally, and reacts with vengeance; the true one does not react at all.

All biblical quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Pastor Pedro Montoya

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Twitter: @pastormontoya

[1] Deuteronomy 13:4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. Deuteronomy 15:5 only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. Psalm 85:8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will  speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. Jeremiah 6:17  Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. Ezekiel 2:5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. Amos 5:23  Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

[2] Acts 10:19-20

[3] 1st. John 5:20: And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

[4] Deuteronomy 32:4: He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. Compare this with the words of Jesus in John 14:6: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

[5] Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31

[6] James 2:19: Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

[7] Galatians 2:5; 14; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5

[8] 1st. John 4:8, 16

[9] John 14:6

[10] Ditto 8:32

[11] Ditto 16:17

[12] Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 21:22; 1st. John 5:16

[13] 2 Samuel 12:13: And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

[14] Ditto 12:24: And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the Lord loved him.

[15] Ditto 5:14: And these be the names of those that were born unto him in Jerusalem; Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,

[16] Luke 3:31: which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David,

[17] Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7; 21:21; 22:21-24

[18] Romans 13:1-7

[19] 1st. Corinthians 6:1-6

[20] Ditto 7:12-14

You are the Light of the world…

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Matthew 5:14
<p class="has-drop-cap" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">Light is not a quality proper to the existence of this material world, we know it perfectly because we use its properties; however, Light is a spiritual quality that was introduced into this material world as an appendix of life when in Creation Jehovah- God 'spoke' so that it would be established as a natural element of this material creation.Light is not a quality proper to the existence of this material world, we know it perfectly because we use its properties; however, Light is a spiritual quality that was introduced into this material world as an appendix of life when in Creation Jehovah- God ‘spoke’ so that it would be established as a natural element of this material creation.

This is understandable when we verify that, indeed, the Light was introduced on the first day of Creation, while the great luminaries, those that feed the firmament with light, were created until the fourth day,

3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light …  5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Genesis 1:3-5

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Genesis 1:16-19

So, the Light referred to in the creation story of the first day was not a product of something emanating from it, that is, it was not a light created for the benefit of this material system, but Light entered from the environment of Eternity to delimit by it a space within which the Almighty would establish His field of action and Creation; the above has Truth and meaning from the use of the Word that Jehovah- God uses to ‘open’ that space of Eternity for the entry of Light, He says: יְהִ֣י (yehí: be), and the term used here is the same as Jehovah-God uses to reveal Himself to Moses as I am that I am (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה: eh-yeh); so then, יְהִ֣י (yehí: let there be) and (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה: eh-yeh: I am), from the Hebrew root היה ( ha-ya: to be), is a term that denotes ‘Eternity’ whose true meaning is, in the case of the name of Jehovah-God, I was-I am-I will be.[1] Light is the essence of Eternity where Jehovah- God moves, therefore it is the very manifestation of His Glory.

So, when Jehovah-God said, let there be light (וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר), He was with it, additionally, establishing ‘Eternity’ within Creation, and space also for angelic beings to cohabit within all of creation; Light is the very substance of the essence of spiritual life. Spiritual and angelic beings emanate Light, it is their natural state; the psalmist David recognizes the essence of Light that comes from Jehovah- God,

For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

Psalm 36:9

In the story of Job we find the testimony that everything that belongs to Eternity, its environment is Light,

2Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places. 3Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?

Job 25:2-3

We can now understand what it means that Jehovah-God imprisoned in chains of darkness the angels who had sinned, simply deprived them of the strength of His Presence and exposed them to material creation.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

2 Peter 2:4

Light was established on this world as the basis of existence of all forms of life that were created. The natural light of the great luminaries of the fourth day was not introduced as a substitute for the Light of Eternity established on the first day, the natural light of the great luminaries was established only to mark cycles of life,

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Genesis 1:14

So, the Light of the first day is still in force, and remains active, only very few can see it, for the eyes of men are forbidden to see it. The apostle John writes in his gospel and gives testimony of His Presence among us, John defines it as the Principle of restoration and vivification of those who ‘hear’ the Voice of the Lord,

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not (has not overcome it: NIV).

John 1:5

The account speaks of the Presence of Jesus on earth, without discussion; however, the account also contains the testimony that in Adam, men despised that environment of Light in which Jehovah-God had placed them, and loved more the proposal of darkness, in deterioration of the Word of the Lord.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John 3:19

Thus, when Jesus said, “you are the Light of the world”, in principle, His statement was a re-creation of the process of Creation initiated when Light was brought in as the platform of all that was created; now, His statement was to “establish” the doctrinal teaching that in this new age of Revelation, Light would be brought by and through those who walk in the environment of light, i.e., those who walk according to the faith of Jesus,

Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

John 12:35

“You are the Light of the world” means to open windows of Revelation within the environments of darkness, and once done, to give life to those who are dead; darkness means death;[2] so then, re-phrasing the Words of Jesus according to their meaning, you are the Light of the world means: ‘you are the givers of life‘. Light is synonymous with Life,

or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

Job 3:16

Giving life is synonymous with ‘putting people free’.[3]  Giving life is a consequence of walking by the faith of Jesus, not a commission; this means that no one has to ‘strive’ to do, to say, to carry; there is not even a need to rebuke the spiritual hosts, the very presence of one who walks by the faith of Jesus establishes life and establishes liberation. Were not the sick healed when the shadow of the apostle Peter touched them?[4] Were not the sick and possessed at a distance healed when the apostle Paul prayed for cloths and shrouds that belonged to those in bed?[5]

During the violent incident that formed in Thessalonica because of the teachings of the Apostle Paul, there was a word that the main inhabitants of the city wanted to establish as an argument to attack the Apostle, the word was: These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;[6] however, if the reader reviews carefully the reading of the fact, he will see that it was not a great company, they were scarcely 3 or 4 men; in chapter 16 Timothy,[7] Silas[8] is mentioned, and if Luke accompanied them, they were in total together with Paul four people, however, the inhabitants of Thessalonica expressed themselves as: These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also, as if it were a great company that had come to trouble the city. What do you think? The above only confirms what Moses had established about those who walk in the light of the teachings,

29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! 30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

Deuteronomio 32:29-31

To walk according to the faith of Jesus does not consist of ‘adopting’ a lifestyle, but of being a link from Heaven on earth so that through the Revelation we receive as an Inheritance of Glory,[9] we can initiate a generation of the living –God is not God of the dead, but of the living– through our words: the Light was introduced by the Word, the Light responds to the Word.

“you are the light of the world” means to bring forth from the darkness and give life to the dead, and to initiate a new generation, a generation that lives according to the instructions of Jesus in conformity to the prophetic times in which we live; a generation that understands what Jehovah-God is doing, and where He is leading us.

A clear example is this time of pandemic we have lived. God closed churches, however many did not understand it that way, but they moved their services to the social pages and turned them into virtual services, is that what God wanted? Was that what God demanded that they do? No, nothing like that, but not understanding how Jehovah-God is moving in these times prevents us from moving the way He does, is this walking according to the faith of Jesus?

Not understanding the ways of the Lord has led many to engage in even apostasy, and not realize it.

To be the Light of the world is to react and respond immediately to the Word of Jesus given to His Church, the Spirit is moving not through the concepts of tradition according to which we have acted, the Spirit is “speaking” and giving instructions for us to act in unconventional ways, to establish the Kingdom not by preaching but by executions of faith; Jesus presented it in this way: A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, which means a commitment to live by the principles of Jesus’ teachings, even knowing that to live by them it may die. That is the commitment of the life of faith in Jesus.

You are the Light of the world is the greatest teaching that Jesus could have given to His saints; but it is wise that we should understand what it means, for if we do not, ignorance, naivety, and unawareness expose us to being trampled upon and taken hostage by darkness.

A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden, it discovers a commitment to the Word, to the Gospel, and to Jesus to live by faith in His name, and according to His teachings; but beware, the expression is also a warning that the light on the mountain exposes the city to those who seek to steal and do evil.

Never teach others what you have not established for your own life.

pastor Montoya

All biblical quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Pastor Pedro Montoya

Twitter: @pastormontoya

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[1] Revelation 1:8: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

[2] Psalm 23:4: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

[3] Isaiah 61; see also Luke 4:16-21

[4] Acts 5:15

[5] Idem 9:12

[6] Idem 17:6

[7] Idem 16:1-3

[8] Idem 16:19

[9] Ephesians 1:18: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,