THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ETERNAL

 Truth Sleuth

By Ada Brownell

An excerpt from Swallowed by Life:

Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06 

Truth often is elusive, even when you have witnesses, testimony, and evidence. Courts wrestle with determining truth.

          Societies historically tried many methods to expose a lie. In China, they used to fill a suspect’s mouth with uncooked rice and he would be judged guilty if he could not easily and quickly spit the rice from his mouth. The test was based on the idea that people who are trying to avoid telling the truth don’t create saliva.

          Other ancient civilizations required a suspect to grab a white-hot metal rod and carry it to a certain point.[1] If the rod burned the person’s hands and they didn’t heal by a specific date, the person was ruled guilty and punished.

          Other cruel and inaccurate methods of determining truth also were used.

          More recently, truth serum, an anesthetic or hypnotic such as thiopental sodium or sodium pentothal, was believed to cause a person to speak only the truth. A similar serum was introduced in the 1920s by a Texas obstetrician, Dr. R. E. House. He believed a person under the influence of the drug scopolamine was unable to tell a lie.

          Today we have the polygraph, which supporters say is 90 percent accurate, yet often in courtrooms the results can’t be entered as evidence.[2]   

In the days when America was a Christian nation and witnesses swore an oath with their hand on the Bible to “tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God,” the swearing-in meant something. There was a day when Americans feared God. They trembled at telling a lie and knew they probably would not escape being held in contempt of court for not telling the truth. Today in many states, witnesses have the option of swearing an oath or making an affirmation to tell the truth to the best of their knowledge, without mentioning God or using a Bible.

          The best court cases depend on physical evidence and, hopefully, truthful eyewitnesses’ testimony.

I decided to go to eyewitnesses’ writings contained in the Bible to determine the truth about Jesus’s Resurrection, which is what gives Christians the hope of eternal life.

The Bible is an amazing book, written by forty different authors with varying occupations over a period of one thousand five hundred years, on three continents, and in three languages.  More historical manuscripts are available on the New Testament than any book of antiquity, and it’s difficult to doubt the divine inspiration of the Bible because the forty authors  all agree on hundreds of controversial subjects, although they were imperfect humans.

In contrast, the Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith and the Koran by Mohammad, with some additions by his followers.

I read through the New Testament and underlined every scripture pertaining to eternal life and resurrection.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:12–14).

          When Carolyn died, I had the advantage of having not only read and studied the Bible for years, but having taught classes from Josh McDowell’s Evidence That Demands a Verdict, a book that examines facts about the Christian faith. One significant part of McDowell’s work is to determine whether the Resurrection is historical fact or a mere hoax.[3]

          The author wrote, “After more than 700 hours of studying this subject, and thoroughly investigating its foundation, I have come to the conclusion that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the ‘most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, or it is the most fantastic fact of history.’”

          When a student asked McDowell why he couldn’t refute Christianity, the author answered, “For a very simple reason. I am not able to explain away an event in history--the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

 McDowell’s first two books were his attempts to refute Christianity. When he couldn’t, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and became a Christian.[4]

          I knew the Bible has several internal claims that it is the Word of God. For instance, 2 Peter 1:21 says the Bible was written by holy men of God as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost.

I’d already read the testimony of many witnesses, but I needed to read them again. I decided to look again at the Bible’s authenticity, at the divinity of Jesus, at His miracles, and at why we can believe He was dead but came out of the tomb alive.

Several biblical writers witnessed the dead raised to life and saw Jesus’ victory over the tomb.

          I noticed what John says: “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us” (1 John 1:1–3).

          Luke also pointed out he was an eyewitness: “Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses…” (Luke 1:2).

The Apostle Peter wrote: “We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).

Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead? "If you will confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9NLT).

Belief Jesus died for your sins and walked out of the tomb alive is necessary to have eternal life.

You might as well put your faith in the most amazing thing available to man. Every idea or theory you embrace about how you got here, why you're here and where you are going takes faith--even atheism. To deny God is there you have faith everything and all the wonder in your body just happened.

Why not decide to follow Jesus today? He'll hear you when you pray and speak to you through His Word (the Bible) and witnesses. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

-- Copyright 2002 Ada Brownell

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3 Eugene B. Block, Lie Detectors and Their Use (New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1977), page 12.

[3] Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Here’s Life Publishers,  (Campus Crusade for Christ, San Bernadino, Calif., 1979), Revised Edition, page 179.

[4]Ibid , page 365.

EVIDENCE WE'RE CREATED TO LIVE FOREVER

By Ada Brownell

                                               

 “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:26).

 Is the water that makes steam gone forever?

No, because the earth has only a certain amount of water, which is constantly in a precipitation and evaporation cycle. Clouds, which are nothing but water vapor like steam, hold water until they become so heavy it rains or snows.  Then the sun comes out, water evaporates into clouds, and the cycle continues.

Do you know the Bible says our lives are similar to vapor?  (James 4:14) But when we die, we are still somewhere, just as the water isn’t gone when it becomes steam.  We are made to live forever.

            Another amazing fact is we’re not walking around in the same bodies in which we were born, or the bodies we had last year. Our flesh developed from one cell and now each of us has about 75 trillion living cells, constantly dying, and being replaced.  Everything, except for the neurological system, has died numerous times in our , then replaced by new cells that knew exactly what to make, such as skin, blood, hair, bone and your inward parts. Our skin is estimated to be rebuilt every seven days.

 The birth and the death of cells is not the only way we know we are more than a body. For instance, we can lose weight and it doesn’t change who we are. We can have parts cut off, such as our tonsils, a wart or even a hand or leg, and still live. We can even live with someone else’s, kidney, liver or heart!

            The person you are, that God made you, is more than flesh and blood. But you also have a unique personality, and a spiritual side. When God’s powerful breath went into Adam’s nose, the eternal soul was born and every person born since then has a soul and spirit, which lives forever.

            Watchman Nee, author of The Spiritual Man,[1] said humans are a combination of spirit, soul and body.[2] A person’s spirit is where spiritual things happen.  That’s the part us where Jesus lives if we accepted Him as Savior and the Holy Spirit dwells.

Your soul is your mind, will and emotions.  That’s where you learn things, make decisions (I will or will not do something), and feel things such as love, joy, hate and jealousy.

Your body is where your soul and spirit live, and all three parts of you work together to make you the person we see and God loves.

The person you are will never die—whether you choose to give your heart and life to Jesus or choose to reject Him. God in His love, made you so you could live forever with Him, but it’s your choice.  Hell was made for Satan and the false prophets, but people who reject God also will be sent to that place of torment.

But God does love you. Jesus did die and He rose from the tomb—alive! Because He lives, we can live forever also.

©Ada Brownell

           

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[1] Christian Fellowship Publishers Inc., New York, 1968

[2]Ibid, Volume 1, pages 22 and 23

EASTER: IS IT POSSIBLE TO AVOID DEATH?

By Ada Brownell

EXCERPT FROM SWALLOWED BY LIFE:

MYSTERIES OF DEATH, RESURRECTION AND THE ETERNAL

Chapter One

An old gentleman leaned on his cane and peered into the cherry-red 1923 Model T Roadster. It glistened like a new car, but just a few years earlier had rested in decay almost forgotten.

          “This is just like the first car I ever had,” he said, a twinkle in his eyes.

          He and his son were examining four antique cars brought to a senior care center as part of the National Nursing Home Week celebration.

          The man, like the Model T, was almost an antique himself.

          Before the old car found redemption, from the front bumper down to the brown leather on the rumble seat, the old Ford stood waiting for one last trip—to the junkyard. Many vehicles like it have been retrieved from gullies, from behind the barn, and from buildings and junkyards, metal-consuming rust eating away at running boards, fenders, hoods, engines, and other vital parts.

           Rust is the reddish-orange coating of ferric hydroxide, the substance that causes oxidation of metal in the car’s body. When metal rusts, it breaks down until its elements disappear into the air and into the earth, leaving holes.

          Doctors tell us oxidation occurs in the human body, too, as we age and develop diseases. We aren’t eaten by rust, but oxidation causes cell damage, and that is why nutritionists recommend we consume foods rich in antioxidants, such as blueberries and green tea. In the human body, life-essential oxygen combusts and produces by-products referred to as oxygen free radicals, which cause aging.

          Oxidation is part of the second law of thermodynamics, a scientific term we seldom talk about but see all the time when there is a loss of electrons in an atom. Every barn you see with the roof caved in is an example of this law, which says in simple terms that everything eventually falls apart because energy becomes less organized with time.

          Our bodies do the same thing. As we age our sight grows dim, the ears less discerning of sounds. Our memory slows. Our muscles and joints don’t work as well. Our skin wrinkles. Our cardiovascular system becomes clogged or diseased. Our lungs and vocal cords exhibit wear and tear. The body’s defense weakens and diseases take up residence in us. Then, like an old automobile, one functioning organ goes, and then another, until the loss of a vital part is enough to kill.

Death for the human body is connected to the degradation of matter. Our mortal flesh isn’t designed to last forever. Unless taken by death prematurely, like the unrestored Model T covered in rust and with an engine that won’t run, the human body wears out or just quits.

As I explained before, I started studying about death and life after we lost our beautiful eldest daughter, Carolyn, to cancer in 1990. A born-again Christian who could quickly tell someone else what to believe, I found my faith challenged.

When I knew Carolyn was dying, over and over I prayed, tears streaming down my face, my insides feeling ripped out, “Where are you, God?”

My guts twisted with anger and doubt. Fear choked me as I wondered if what Jesus said about eternal life was really true.

I’d heard and read what the Bible has to say. It says at death we will immediately be with the Lord (Luke 23:43, Ecclesiastes 12:6–8) and at the resurrection, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, our flesh will be changed into an immortal body with all-new parts that never age, get sick, or die—even if that flesh has already turned to dust.

Probably because of my experiences and what I learned on the medical beat at the newspaper, I decided to investigate if there is evidence we are more than a mere body.

I knew a journalist’s assignment sometimes goes beyond the obvious. Facts aren’t material objects that can be felt or seen. Through testimony and evidence, truth can be learned. Interviewing witnesses, experts, and victims and making visits to the scene help a reporter present facts to the public.

          Yet, when the story is all told, newspaper readers or television viewers react differently. Some believe what is reported; others do not. Some doubt the reliability of the reporter. Others assume the media conspires to deceive the public. A few believe the persons interviewed are liars.

          Those who believe take the plunge into faith. I took that plunge and believe Jesus when He said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die" (John 11:26).

          No matter what you believe about life after death, it takes faith. But there is evidence, and the eyewitnesses' testimony is recorded in the Bible. It's your decision.

©Copyright Ada Brownell 2012

SWALLOWED BY LIFE: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal

                                          By Ada Brownell

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

Do you know evidence shows we’re more than a physical body? The author, a prolific religion writer and retired medical journalist, talks about the evidence; the wonder of life with all its electrical systems; the awesome truth about cell death and regeneration; mysteries surrounding the change from mortal to immortal; where we go when our body dies; resurrection; and a glimpse at what we will do in heaven. Questions and answers make this non-fiction inspirational book a great text for group study. It’s written for support groups, religion classes, people with chronic or terminal illness, individuals who fear death or are curious about it, the grieving, and those who give them counsel.

An excerpt from Swallowed by Life was featured in the June 2, 2013, “Reading for Spiritual Health” edition of The Pentecostal Evangel.

Where you can find Swallowed by Life:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/JnbKVL

Booksamillion.com http://ow.ly/cJmx8

And you can see reviews on GoodReads http://ow.ly/cJmMe

Christian Publishers Outlet also has the paperback

Ada Brownell bio

Ada Brownell has been writing for Christian publications since age 15 and spent much of her life as a daily newspaper reporter. She has a B.S. degree in Mass Communications and worked most of her career at The Pueblo Chieftain in Colo., where she spent the last seven years as a medical writer. After moving to Springfield, MO in her retirement, she continues to free lance for Christian publications and write non-fiction and fiction books. She is critique group leader of Ozarks Chapter of American Christian Writers.

She is author of Imagine the Future You, a Bible study; Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult, fiction released Jan. 15, 2013; Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, Bible study released Dec. 6, 2011; and Confessions of a Pentecostal, published by the Assemblies of God’s Gospel Publishing House in 1978, out- of-print but released in 2012 for Kindle. All the books are available in paper or for Kindle.

      Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/AdaBrownellWritingMinistries

     Twitter: @adellerella

     Blog: http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com Stick to Your Soul Encouragement

     Amazon Ada Brownell author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

DOES JESUS LIVE? RESURRECTION: EVIDENCE, OR PROOF?

By Ada Brownell

I imagine you’ve read or heard the true stories about someone taken to the morgue, and then a hand moves, an eye opens, or a leg lifts, and the person is alive.

Perhaps you were one of the hundreds who purchased Heaven is For Real, the story of a young boy who emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories about  heaven. The book about little Colton by Todd Burpo, a Nebraska pastor, has 7,781 reviews and now is a movie.

I attended a writers’ conference where the keynote speaker was Cecil Muriphey, who wrote 90 Minutes in Heaven with Don Piper, who lived again after declared dead at the scene of an accident where his car was crushed under the wheels of a truck .A pastor waiting at the scene 90 minutes later said God told him to pray for the dead man. He did, and Piper immediately breathed and came to life. The book is another best seller.

I tell in my book, Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, about Lynn Orr, a man I knew in Denver, who had a heart attack. He said one minute he lay in a hospital bed, and the next his bare feet stood on a smooth street paved with gold. In the distance, he saw a beautiful gate and a city. He smelled gorgeous flowers, and heard singing and rejoicing. He talked with Jesus. Then he was back in the bed, worrying his body wasn’t covered as medical personnel zapped his heart and brought him back.

I don’t remember how long Lynn was said  to be clinically dead, but he testified to the glories of heaven and a few weeks after I heard him speak, he went to be with Jesus. He said after seeing heaven, he no longer desired to live on earth.

To many people, these testimonies are proof of life after death. They are wonderful to hear. Yet, are they proof?

In Swallowed by Life, I present evidence from medical science that we are more a body.  I go into the miracles of cell death and rejuvenation, where our bodies die and are replaced one cell at a time until after seven years our whole body has died and been renewed except for the central nervous system, and some evidence shows even dead brain cells sometimes rejuvenate.

But the greatest evidence is before our eyes all the time. We begin life as a fertilized egg and we’re the person we became from the day God’s life burst into that egg. We grew in the womb and were born at seven pounds or so, and we’re still the same person.

I or you could lose weight, a part of our flesh, and we’re still me or you—whoever we were before.

We could lose a leg, an arm, an eye, have diseased  organs removed. A surgeon could even cut out our heart, kidneys, lungs and transplant someone else’s and we would still be who we are.

All the things I mention are evidence we are more than a body. A neurologist told me he believes the brain is the residence of the soul, so perhaps that’s why the neurological system doesn’t die and regenerate constantly as other parts do.

Yet, is that proof we aren’t as connected to our bodies as we thought? I think it’s great evidence, but still it’s not proof.

Why? Because resurrection and salvation are matters of faith. John tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

 Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever believes in me will never die” (John 10:25-26).

 St. Paul wrote to the Romans, “If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).

 The Romans and the Jews never found his body, at least 500 people saw him after the Resurrection, the soldiers testified he was dead, the disciples preached and wrote that they were eyewitnesses, some of them convinced when at first they didn't believe.

On the day of Pentecost, 40 days after the Resurrection, Peter preached in the public square that He'd risen from the dead and 3,000 people believed.

 No one would die for something they knew was a lie, and according the scripture and tradition, all the disciples gave their lives for the faith except Judas, who committed suicide after his betrayal of the Son of God, and John, who died imprisoned on Patmos.

Do you believe? That’s what you need to do, because no one will prove it, and you have to believe in Jesus to live forever. It won't any difference what your relatives print in your obituary about you being in heaven.

It’s your decision.

©Ada Brownell April 14, 2014

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Can What You Believe Change You?

By Ada Brownell

I went back to college to complete my degree when I was in my early 40s and from my vantage point of  maturity I watched high school graduates enter the university with strong differing views about religion, politics, morals, and life. They looked different, acted differently, their speech was unique, but when they completed their education they were like little toy marching soldiers, looking alike, acting similarly, using similar vocabulary. Moreover, for the most part their views of religion, politics, morals, and life made them seem as if they’d had their brains reprogrammed to the beliefs of their professors.

 Their parents’ and the church’s teachings were shoved aside.

These students’ lives were changed by what they were taught to think and believe. Yet, the young people would swear they chose to change their own way of thinking.

I was taught Logic in psychology and other classes. I suppose there is some truth to using those techniques, but also a whole lot of error. Often people who try to prove their point through argument start with a premise statement that can’t be proved.  For instance, evolution is taught as fact, but there is no solid evidence for it. It takes as much faith as believing in an Almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful God who is everywhere.

My idea is that argument doesn’t prove anything except who is the best at debate!

In my estimation, the only thing that can be trusted to be true is God’s Word, the Bible. After all, textbooks have to be replaced frequently because the information in them is outdated or discovered to be wrong.

We should guard our minds because future is tied to what we believe. Propaganda and brainwashing literally changed the Soviet Union and Communist China. 

Propaganda affects the way you live and who you are. But more important, so does the Word of God—the Bible. How?

The Apostle Paul said: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature….The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.-- “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:16—22).

In prohibition days when liquor couldn’t be sold legally in the United States, a couple of women preachers set up their tent in a small country city and began to pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit.

“Who is the wickedest man in town?” they asked.

People said the local bootlegger qualified. So the women raised their voices to God to save the man’s soul. Instead of accepting Jesus as Savior, the liquor maker was furious at his wife for attending the services, where she became a Christian. When she got home one night, he said, “I’m going to kill those preachers.”

Nevertheless, people filled the tent as the women evangelists sang, preached, and offered prayer for the sick.

A lady who had been ill for some time went forward for prayer and was instantly healed. She was the bootlegger’s wife.

The next night the fellow sat in the tent on one of the home-made benches and knelt in the sawdust at the end of the service, weeping at first and then getting pretty loud and excited about the joyful gift he received.

His name was Ennis Surratt, the father of one of our long-time pastors, Hubert Surratt, who pastored then in Lakewood, Colo.

  What Ennis believed definitely changed him.

©Ada Brownell April 2014

 Swallowed by Life http://amzn.com/1466200936

  

Do You Put Your Faith in Outdated Textbooks?

How is your faith walk? Do unbelievers affect your beliefs?

A psychology professor openly ridiculed Christians in one of my university classes with more than seventy students. As the instructor made sarcastic remarks about Christians in the news and preached his atheistic ideas, I wondered why no one challenged him. One day I raised my hand.

 “You said this textbook will be outdated in ten years,” I began. “So what you are saying today might not be true in ten years?”

The questions flowed.

“Can you prove evolution? Isn’t it true you accept it by faith? Are you aware that many scientists have thrown out missing links because they couldn’t find them? Did you know scientists are even putting forth the idea that man might have fallen from outer space?

“How did creation turn out so perfectly without a Designer? Why aren’t monkeys turning into humans now?”

He admitted that, yes, the textbooks and the theories and knowledge in them would soon be outdated; that he didn’t have all the answers; and, “Yes, we do accept some things by faith. But when something is universally accepted, we treat it as fact.”

I should have asked, “Then because the God of creation and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ are universally accepted, that should be treated as fact?”

A few weeks later, I asked a science teacher if the first and second laws of thermodynamics violated evolution. The teacher had opened the class on the environment by stating everything would be based on evolution.

No more than thirty-five pages into the text, Living in the Environment, by G. Tyler Miller Jr., the class was studying the law of energy degradation, also known as the second law of thermodynamics. The law states that matter, if left to itself and undergoing physical or chemical changes, will always change in the direction of decreased order and decreased energy content. The entire universe obeys this law, and this includes every chemical reaction.

In words plain and simple, the law means anything left to itself will slowly fall apart. Every old barn with the roof sagging and the walls falling in demonstrates this law. Despite galaxies thought to be expanding (are they expanding, or are we increasing our knowledge?), scientists will tell you the entire universe is slowing down, growing old, and, as the saying goes, is running out of steam.

The second energy law also tells us energy tends to flow or change spontaneously from a compact and ordered form to a dispersed and random, or disordered, form.

“No one has ever found a violation of this law,” Miller states.[1]

When the teacher read that, I put up my hand. “Isn’t evolution a violation of this law?”

In order for evolution to occur, many complex chemical changes must take place, and they must all be in the direction of increased order and energy to move from the simple to the com­plex.

The teacher paused a moment, cleared his throat, and said, “Well, evolution is the only violation.”

The theory of evolution also violates the first law of thermodynamics, which simply says energy (or matter) neither can be created nor destroyed.

A story goes that God and Satan were having a discussion.

“I can do anything you can,” Satan said, stretching his puny body so he looked taller.

God smiled. “OK. Make a man.”

Satan bent over and began scraping up dirt.

God grabbed his shoulder. “Use your own dirt.”

 

How we got here, why we are here, and where we are going are matters of faith. Each Individual decides what he will believe. Some do believe in evolution, with God starting the process. But we have to decide whether we accept the first verse in the Bible: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth: (Genesis 1:1).

 We're told in Hebrews 11:3, 6 "By faith we understand that athe worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible... But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him."

 

That's how we become confident of our future with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

AUTHOR BIO:

 

Ada Brownell, a devoted Bible student, has written for Christian publications since age 15 and spent much of her life as a daily newspaper reporter at The Pueblo Chieftain in Colo.   After moving to Springfield, MO in her retirement, she continues to free lance for Sunday school papers, Christian magazines and write books. She is author of three non-fiction works, one novel, and is critique group leader of Ozarks Chapter of American Christian Writers.

Among her books: Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult, released Jan. 15, 2013; Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, released Dec. 6, 2011; and

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[1] G. Tyler Miller Jr., Living in the Environment (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.), 34–43.

TRUTH OR SPIN?

  By Ada Brownell

Christian writers wary of preachiness often avoid a gospel message in their writing. Many, however, don’t know what “preachy” is. When I first noticed editors’ guidelines advising against it, I feared they didn’t even want to publish anything with a scripture in it, even in non-fiction.

Then a secular writer, Frank Luntz, author of Words that Work, explained how to avoid being preachy: “Tell the truth,” he said, “but don’t do it in a condescending manner.”[i]

How important is truth? Should we “spin” it so it will be accepted? “Spin,” used so often these days by politicians and others is actually “twisting the truth” or avoiding it.

 Sometimes telling the truth is difficult, in our writing and in life. We need to be dedicated to truth, even in the family.

I can’t imagine how Mary felt when she had to tell Joseph she was pregnant with the Messiah. She excitedly told her aunt Elizabeth, and rejoiced so much her words became the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). But Joseph considered breaking their engagement privately. Nice the angel also visited Joseph with the news of the Messiah, so he believed his virgin and quickly married her (Matthew 1:18-25).

The Apostle Paul usually offset hard truths by wonderful revelation: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

John, the disciple, who spoke continuously about love and penned John 3:16, didn’t hesitate to write hard truths: “If we say we have fellowship with him (Jesus), and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth (1John 1:6). But he adds, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Jesus certainly didn’t stumble at the truth, either. For example, “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matthew 25:41). But went on to add the contrast of hope, “And these shall go away to everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal (Matthew 25:46).

It might sound preachy, but it’s really not condescending. Truth is a light that can save a sinner from falling into the dark chasm of sin and eternal death.  Truth is water to the soul wandering in a dry desert of wickedness and unbelief.

The belt of truth is part of the armor God provides if we ask.

What is truth? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

The scriptures were “God breathed” and are the only effective pattern for living. The Word also is an example for our witness. So for me, I’ll write the truth and hope I don’t do it in a condescending manner.

©Ada Brownell October 2013

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[i] Hyperion, New York, 2007