What Is Truth?

By Mark L. Long

This book offers a challenge to all who search for the truth as to why we do the things we do. It traces biblical history (which is designed to bless) against the backdrop of today's world and that which has plagued mankind throughout time. Within each chapter the truth bubbles to the surface and the reader is slowly introduced to the menacing power that has clandestinely guided many into making wrong decisions. Truly this book is a window of opportunity that offers a view into a much larger world, a world filled with truth, peace, love, and hope. By the end of the book, the reader will truly be able to answer the age-old question, "What is Truth?"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781648018268

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What Is Truth?

Mark L. Long

Copyright © 2020 Mark L. Long

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2020

ISBN 978-1-64801-825-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64801-826-8 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

I dedicate this book to the millions of fellow Christians that throughout time sacrificed their lives to keep the torch of truth burning, and for those precious individuals who have stayed the course, finished the race, and now await the prize. Also, to all Christians today that are traveling the narrow road that leads to salvation. This undertaking is intended to sharpen your sword of truth, to cut through the uncharted lands of uncertainty, and to unveil certain facts that have fogged the vision of so many for so long.

We all feel that we have a pretty good handle on what it means to be Christian. We have a belief system that we have built up over time that sustains us in times of trouble, a faith that we hold dear. However, belief is not enough, it takes faith that is backed up with truth, and the only way to gain truth is to devote oneself to the one who is truth. Now it is time to take the next step and prove what you have come to believe is in fact, true. But how on earth can anyone be expected to do that? The simple answer is, you can’t, unless time is taken to study and believe in yourself enough to prove that what you believe is worth believing in, otherwise you will remain uncertain, and therefore easily deceived. So in addition to the above-mentioned individuals, this book is dedicated to everyone today that is willing to take up the challenge, to come to the knowledge of God’s truth.

Foreword

Words—what do they convey? Do we accept, or do we reject them? They describe a great many things to be sure, but unless acted upon, they merely remain words, and end up dying a silent death. I am now faced with the fact that what is written in the pages below, if ignored, will die this same death, as many authors’ words have in the past. After all, why should anyone believe anything I have to say, I don’t claim any special gift that separates me from my fellow man, or the literary giants of the past. However, I am compelled to try—I must. Therefore, I offer what I have come to understand, with the hope that those that read this book will take time to investigate and be challenged to understand that there is far more to life than that which welcomes us very day we draw breath. So for your reading pleasure I offer this.

While standing on the bank of life’s river, he stood watching as his children were being swept by in the rushing current, frantically calling to them, Look out for the boulder on the right, and dodge the one on the left, but sadly he knew his words were falling on deaf ears. He was trying to be the best father he knew how to be. Trying desperately to protect his love ones, but at the same time knowing that he was helpless, helpless because he knew in his heart that they refused to listen to him as they always had. Especially when he gave warning about the dangers they would experience in life’s struggles and undertakings.

This metaphor touches on many realities that surround each of us every day. It tells us to watch out for the pitfalls that can and will happen to us unless we learn to listen to the Father. Our Father in heaven lovingly created us and gives us the warnings necessary for us to avoid the difficulties that we face every day. After all we are his children and His love will always abound toward us.

Warnings, the word warning has the power to change something bad into something good, but only if the recipients listen to what is being warned about, and only then if change is made to correct the behavior that is causing the problem. This book holds much of the same message as does this metaphor. For those that read this work, it is a warning about certain events that has taken place throughout time and left many condemned and lost. It is a work that not only investigates the past, but looks at today and tomorrows world, and through it all, continuously shows how the Father is desperately trying to save His children.

All that has gone before, all the problems that has been faced, and are being faced, could have been avoided, and all the recklessness that is going on in the world today can still be avoided. If we would just learn how to listen, listen to the prudent council of the creator of all things, then much could, and would be avoided. All the devastation that has been is because of stiff necked, stubborn ways, and that needs to stop.

There are lessons to learn, so that the consequences that happened back in the dusty pages of yesterday can be avoided in the future. You see those same consequences are still promised for those of today’s world if we continue to ignore them. What is at stake is far too great to evade. So my request is, please read this with an open heart and mind, and know that it is with the greatest love for my fellow man that I offer this.

Introduction

Every journey, as stated in history, begins with a single step, which involves study. The steps we are about to take, are steps leading to truth. During this journey, you will hear me hammer the words TRUTH and STUDY many times. This is not done to anger or be accusative. This truth and study that we must reach for is contrary to what many holds to be true today. These two words go against many of the ideas man embraces. Also, we have things called traditions that must be dealt with, such as Christmas, Easter, and Halloween, to name a few. So please be patience and all will become clear as we proceed.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3–4)

There is a spiritual war being waged, a war for the souls of every man, woman, and child. But how do we fight this war, and what weapons do we have? It’s not a war fought with conventional weapons, for this war is a spiritual war and is fought within each one of us as we pass through life, so how do we draw the line, how do we strategize to gain victory, how do we win? This war is found in every aspect of life, it’s found in the thoughts we think, the actions we take, the knowledge we take in, and in the very churches we visit. Unfortunately, only the faithful will survive this war.

We all strive for self-importance, all the while we unintentionally undermine the very answers we seek. We all observe various parts of life that surround us to one degree or another, and because of this we pass through our given period hoping to find some sort of meaning as to the reasons why we do the things we do. This observing can be labeled, a belief system. But whether we take notice of it or not, we are in fact participants in life, and at numerous times we will author many possibilities that will impact the world in which we live. Action always results in reaction (as history demonstrates) and the decisions we make today can and will create situations that result in consequences with far reaching implications, whether they be good or bad. They always have, and they always will. We may never know if what we decide to do today will be prudent and worthwhile to our wellbeing, or to others, unless we take the time to study the information (whatever it might be) to the extent that we gain enough quantifiable information needed to make the proper decisions for all concerned.

The premise for which I now undertake this work, is to lay bare certain facts that have transpired over vast oceans of time and has caused man to compromise what he has always known in his heart to be true, which is simply put; We want things done our way, and we struggle when truth breaks through our barriers of self-reliance. What has caused this condition is quite simple (not to be rude) man has allowed truth to be replaced with self-centeredness and man-made traditions. We are warned about this in Colossians 2:6–10, As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.

These traditions and vain deceits will be demonstrated in what is to follow, and hopefully by the end, some will take this serious enough to study the information for themselves, and therefore, come away with a better understanding of what lies ahead for all of us.

We all make choices based on many influences that contribute to the ideals we all hold dear, now, having said that, I have something for you the reader to ponder. What would you think if I were to tell you that I have come to understand and identify something this is going on in the world that is so damaging, so diabolical and dangerous that it could cost most everyone his or her life? Would you believe me? Probably not. What if I explained that this thing, is something that can be as subtle as a summer breeze, but at other times as blatant as a billboard sign, and yet is older than the Pyramids on the Giza Plateau in Egypt. Could you believe that? Again, probably not. Now, to add to the mix, what if I were to tell you that this thing, is as misleading as a thief, that it is a detrimental component (not unlike cancer) and has been afflicting society and life in general for most of recorded history. Hard to grasp? I mean; how can anyone be expected to react to (let alone believe) news like that, especially if it’s true. My guess is at first glance they would probably think, here’s another fanatic, a conspiracy theorist, or some religious freak that has nothing better to do than to ponder the unknown. I know, because that’s what I would have thought, that is before I became aware of this thing, that really does haunt all our lives. And the most disturbing thing I have come to be aware of is, most people aren’t even aware of it.

This may all sound extraordinary, even bizarre, but before you decide to think me half-baked, or color me a downright idiot, take the time needed to read what I offer here. For if you are willing to see this through till the end, and study the information that I propose, you might think differently. My prayer is that you do! One thing is certain, and that is (unless you decide to see me as just another dingbat) you will come to recognize a different and a much larger world in which to dwell. This world that I speak of is a world that all can share in, a world filled with boundless joy, love, peace, and happiness. And the best thing about this world is that it will last all eternity. But before we even begin there is something that I must make clear and understood right from the start, and that is, no matter what you read in the pages below, no matter how rough it may sound at times, you must understand that I have the greatest love and affection and hope for all mankind. I certainly wish no harm nor insult to anyone. Please understand that my prayer is, and always shall be to be blessed enough to see people as God sees them. I ceaselessly pray to be blessed with the ability to see people through His eyes.

Chapter 1

The Beginning

As I began to study, many years ago, after coming across some information that I read in a magazine, called, The Plain Truth I had to ask some thought-provoking questions. First off, I ask myself, should I question the things I learned? Over the years I heard so many conflicting accounts of history, that the prospect seemed a daunting task. Should I dig into the history of what it is that I think I know, or want to know? After much thought, the answer was obvious. If I wanted to have a thorough understanding of the subject in question (no matter what it was) then I would have to go the distance, even if the truth went against the conventional grain (so to speak).

This suggested that I may have to unlearn some of the things that I have always taken for granted. As confusing as that thought was in the beginning, I was coming face to face with a very large decision. I now found myself being forced to make a resolution to, 1) either stick with what I always believed, which was mostly traditional thought, or 2) change and now follow what I had learned and now know to be the truth? The answer might seem simple, but trust me, I went through some troubling times deciding. Quite well do I remember having to shake my head in disbelief and say, no way, when I came across some little tid-bit of information that didn’t square with the norm. As many of us can be quite stubborn, and tenacious, but if I wanted to know truth then in the end, I had to relent. After all, truth is truth, no matter what.

As we proceed, this will without doubt raise many eyebrows. But before we go to deep into this, I think it best to give some background as to how I came to study and learn that, what I thought I knew about Yahweh, Yahshua, and His Church was mostly wrong. This was because, just like everyone else I only had basic traditions to follow and believe in. That soon changed as I came to realize that I had the best source available, I had Christ to guide me. Yahshua made a statement in Mark 7:7–8, that fits exactly where I (as well as mankind) was to a T. He said, Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. Then I read verse 9, of that same chapter where He said, Full well you reject the commandment of God, that you keep your own tradition.

Christ knew what man was doing back then, and He knows quite well what man is doing today. We are still looking to man for acceptance from man, and tradition has always paved the way, and that has always led us away from Christ and not toward Him. What we should be striving for is acceptance from Yahweh and His Ever-loving Son Yahshua, who died for every one of us. Question: Are we going to go on blindly holding to man’s traditions in place of God’s truth that comes from His word, or will we turn to His word and be freed from the lies that man has created and firmly believes? I know that I am sounding cryptic, but trust me and read on, and all will be made clear.

It wasn’t so very long ago that I thought I had a decent understanding of Elohim’s word, that was until I learned that what I was taught about the Church and the Gospel was very much different than what the Bible teaches. But even before that, I began learning things that I thought I knew about secular education, that wasn’t exactly the way they were presented in school, or in our history classes, for that matter. There was a time that it seemed the more I learned the more I became frustrated. The series that could be listed about things we all learned in school that are very different than the facts about them, would make you question much. But I won’t disillusion you too much, at least not yet.

Anyway, sometime in 1982 or 1983 (hard to remember which) I came across a magazine called, The Plain Truth, in it I read many quotes from the Bible that I never heard before. Therefore, I began to inquire as to what these things could mean, so I filled out the request form in the magazine and started receiving literature from the Church of God, first out of Pasadena California, and then from Tyler Texas. The articles spoke about various things that Yahweh’s word said that I never heard in any church before. The more I read the more I became exasperated. I was beginning to learn that what I had been taking for granted most of my life was far removed from what the Bible really said about such things. At that point, I began to study more extensively than ever before, but the more I did the angrier I became. It got to the point that I didn’t know what to believe.

I am no different than anyone else, in that I too wanted to believe, believe in something bigger than myself. The problem was, I was living with a less than fundamental idea of what it even means to believe, but I didn’t even know that at the time. Soon I learned that I didn’t have a clue what the truth was at all, and all that I thought I knew about God, Jesus and the Bible was starting to unravel. All my time held beliefs were falling apart, so I thought, What am I supposed to do? About that same time, I started studying various history books that seemed to corroborate the things I was learning from the Bible. After that, a whole new exciting world began to open before my eyes. But none of this happened overnight, but in time, it did happen…

Maybe, I should explain how this all began. As I said before, I started studying and was becoming frustrated almost to the point of giving up. Well one day as I sat reading I got so mad and irritated that I literally threw the Bible across my living room, hitting the wall, and at the same time I yelled at God, If you are God, then you show me you, because I don’t know what to believe anymore. I learned something about that in the next few years. I learned that if you ever decide to challenge Elohim, you better get ready for an education that will change your life forever.

In my heart of hearts, I believe our Father in Heaven waits for us to cry out like that to Him. It’s like saying, the metal is now ready for the maker’s hands. I think it takes something like that to open our eyes and prepare us to receive His truth. To put it another way; it’s as though He waits for us to get to our lowest point before, we are ready to finally listen and truly hear His word. Jesus spoke of this in John 6:44 where He says, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day. And He further stated in verse 65, And He said, Therefore, said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father (emphasis mine). That tells us that our very faith comes from Him. Paul elaborated on this in Romans 10:17, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So it appears that God calls, we then answer and begin our quest to find faith that is formulated in the word of God and carries us through life.

Well, as time went by, I began to have a better understanding than before, I was hearing the plain truth of His word, from His word. I came across a passage that says, We have also a surer word of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19–21). Did you catch it? We cannot insist on our own interpretations of His word. We must believe Yahweh’s word and not what someone says it says, and that includes preachers. We must learn to let the Bible interpret the Bible, otherwise we end up changing His words for our own, and that path will only lead to deception, and besides that, there is a stark difference between the two.

In my quest, I started learning about various translations that are available, and how we got the Bible that we read today. I learned to look up words that were used thousands of years ago, and how they were written in their original language, which to the most part was Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew. Today there is a variety of translations to choose from, some good and some not so good, again we must be careful to check out what we read. We must ask, who wrote it, where did it come from, and does it square with the original?

Understanding that there is a substantial difference in translations that helped me to get a more rounded understanding of what I was reading. I found that having the tools needed to investigate as I proceeded made my journey less arduous (we will discuss what those tools are a bit later). Something else I learned having various translations, they gave me a sense of import, as the English language is a bit weak. I learned that punctuation didn’t come along until about the ninth century AD. That litter nugget of information changes many concepts that has corrupted Elohim’s word in various stories, parables, and doctrinal truths. Funny what you learn when you truly read it for yourself.

The path that we will take through this book will be difficult to navigate at times, but always remember, you’re worth it. As we proceed, we are going to cover several topics on our expedition that I pray will open people’s eyes to what the Spirit wants them to know. But for now, I think it best to get to what was, before we can get to what is!

Chapter 2

Would-Be Prophets

Throughout history there have been certain individuals, clans, cultures, and tribes that have written, spoken, or left us documents detailing their perspective about what has come to be known as, the end times, doomsday, or the end of days. These people have gone so far as to catalog their beliefs, pertaining to what they suppose the world will experience during the final days of man’s reign on planet earth. Basically, what these good-hearted individuals have done with their unprovable theories of understanding, is to try and give warning of the impending doom that they all believed mankind is headed for. People such as Nostradamus, who wrote during the fifteenth century.

Nostradamus, a renaissance man who wrote extensively about a variety of events that he believed would happen as we draw closer to the time of the end. He went so far as to describe three, Anti-Christs in his quatrains that he said will arise before the end comes. Those that study Nostradamus’s predictions believe that two of these three individuals have already come in the persons of Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. They also read in his predictions that the third guy will be worse than the two preceding ones put together. The problem that I have with his predictions (which in my opinion are as vague as you can imagine) is that his predictions can be read into so many different events that have taken place that it is difficult to determine what event belongs to what prediction.

He was a very educated man, of that there is no doubt, he also was a Roman Catholic and a physician, but unfortunately, he traveled deeply into the occult, which is a path that no one need take, but should be avoided at all cost. It has been said of him by most academic sources, as stated in a short biography that, the associations made between world events and Nostradamus’s (sic) quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretation or mistranslations (sometimes deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine predictive power. In other words, "don’t hold your breath waiting for his predictions to actually happen.

Next, we have the late Mystic, Edgar Casey, who wrote during the twentieth century some very vivid predictions of end time scenarios. These were his ideas that he believed will one day occur, in what he called, readings. Was he a good-hearted man? This is without doubt, and he may even have some validity to his predictions, should they come true, but that is yet to be seen. I personally doubt it, and in a few minutes, I will explain why I said that, but for now I can say unequivocally, no matter what various individual’s want to believe, there is only one test that proves if a person has a gift for seeing the future or not, and we will search that out as we proceed in our discourse. For now, I can only say that there is no way to know if what Edgar Casey said is true or not, other than to take him at his word.

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but when we look to man for the answers to life’s questions and not to the source of life, we will always come up short. The facts are clear on this, not one of these would-be prophets have (yet) been proven to be correct in any tangible way, nor have they detailed (when, where, or how) any of the events they predict are going to happen as we progress toward what they call the end.

The vast amount of information missing in their prediction’s is mind blowing to say the least. All of them have failed to be specific about how their predictions will shape our destiny. Having said that, there is one thing I know for sure, the world is winding down, and not winding up, so we are in fact moving closer to the time of the end, whenever that may be!

Moving on, we next come to the Bible Code. This is a bit more interesting to look at because it at least uses the Bible to support its conclusions. Many of its adherents look to this code as the key that’s needed to understand world events. In short, it is supposed to be a system of encoded letters that spell out prominent historical as well as future events by asking specific questions while using the pages of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). This code uses what is called, letter sequencing, basically what that is, is a system of counting spaces between letters, for instance, take the number seven, now start with the first letter of a word in a sentence and then count over seven letters or spaces, write down that letter and continue to do that until done with that sequence, at the end it supposedly spells out your answer. The problem with the Bible code is you must ask a specific question, and then see if the code delivers the answer. However, if you don’t know what to ask, how can you get any answer that is going to make sense? I will admit that the Bible Code has brought up some compelling answers to events that have taken place in the past, and the operative word here is, past. It has only offered answers to things that have already taken place. So for now at least, it is of little use for knowing what is yet to be!

Before proceeding further, as I stated earlier that I would give my reason why I don’t hold to any of these would-be prophets. It’s because not one of them gave the glory to God, nor did any of them use His word in their search for the truth about future events, leaving aside the Bible code.

I believe at this point it would be prudent for our study to explain what the biblical definition of a true prophet is. Not only is there a requirement and responsibility to adhere to when one presumes to be a prophet, but the fact that there is a punishment that will one day be administered (in the final judgment) to those that prove to be false. This alone should be enough to keep anyone from venturing into this to deeply unless he or she has been called to it.

The definition of a prophet is of course found in the Bible. So if you have one handy, take it out and turn to the Old Testament to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 18, where we find that definition. Starting at verse 17 we read the following passage: "And the Lord said unto me [Moses], they have well-spoken that which they have spoken I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. [Side Note: this is speaking of Jesus Christ.] And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him, but the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet will die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When the prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follows not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him."

For those that have claimed to be prophets (which is a frightening title, and not to be taken lightly), if they prove to be false, they shall die, but if they prove to be true, then what they prophesied to happen, will come to pass, and all that hears the message will be blessed.

Now, to finish with these not so profitable prophets. We come to the most intriguing group of those, supposed clairvoyant prognosticators that many have claimed to be, seers, of things to come. This group is of course the Mayans of southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, parts of Honduras, El Salvador, and the Yucatan Peninsula. Though their culture disappeared from history hundreds of years ago, because of many abuses, such as over population, drought, governmental interferences, and geography, they were in fact a very advanced civilization.

The Mayans lived