--- How to use these Bible Meditations ---
or Daily Devotionals, provided by JustBibleTruth.com.
This is not a religion. It is, rather, an encouragement!
Dedicated to knowing Christ intimately!
May, 2022
Many people believe the most important decision of life is our dedication to subjugate selfish personal desires and follow Jesus Christ. In other words, to put the teachings of Jesus first in our lives. How, though, could any wise person seriously consider making such a drastic decision, without first knowing Christ intimately? How could we imagine we know Jesus without first listening to and understanding what he taught? This website is to help you know Christ, and, to know you know him; thus providing you knowledge to make a wise decision. (Deu 30:19‑20) To that end, the site is designed to be viewed and used on any web-surfing device; ranging from computers to smart-phones. Some devices, however, even some computers, don't handle all web files as they should.
So... To help users with internet devices that don't display certain file types properly, we have divided the website links using their background highlight color. Light blue highlighted links, and links without any highlighted background, should work properly on all devices that can access the internet. Yellow and other color highlighted links can be a little more complicated. To briefly summarize the reason for and content of this web page, then: If you have a device that doesn't display some webpages properly, stick to those links with light blue or no background highlight color...
If you wish to know more, allow me to explain why we would choose to use some files we know can be problematic on the devices of some users. It is because some webpages are designed so users can print them as paper booklets to share them with people who don't have internet access, or even computers. Webpages designed to be printed (the yellow highlighted .pdf files) are a bit more complicated for your device to display... Even though some devices don't handle .pdf files well, they are powerful tools for those who desire to print them out as paper booklets. Many of them have referenced scriptures included as footnotes right in the booklet. That makes Bible study easy for people who don't have a lot! More of us are falling into that group all the time.
I'm Murray Cummings and I am a plagiarist. The reason I warn that is so you will know most of what you see on this site, I learned from other people. But, I do my best to quote only people who direct me to Christ. In fact, I quote mostly only what Jesus himself taught. It seems the height of ignorance or even stupidity not to try and learn from others; but, that can also expose us to great danger! I'm 74 years old at this writing and have been interested in the Bible most of that time. I served a year in combat in my youth and came home more serious about knowing God. (Visit: VietnamJC.com - you might have to type http://www.vietnamjc.com into your web browser address bar.) My search for God led me, as with many others I'm sure, to a string of church associations. That actually left me discouraged beyond my ability to express. Not discouraged with God or the Bible, mind you, but discouraged at what the churches are teaching. What I found was that every single one of the religious groups I had the misfortune to be involved with, had motives other than learning and teaching the Bible. Churches have all kinds of motives, but mostly they just want to raise money, believing (or at least asserting) that enables them to do good works, or even that wealth and power influence is their good fruitage. (JustBibleTruth.com/Observations/IDBadAndGoodFruit.html) Every one of the churches (religious sects) I associated with (or even know about) share the one same glaring common error: They each one believe, and want me and you to publicly assert, they are the lone servants of the true God. They all believe their organization is in a special relationship with God. Then, they all want us to equate being pleasing to God with being approved by their sect. I could never share in that sectarian judgmental attitude; and so, would be asked to leave after some time spent learning what they really believe. My constantly growing Bible knowledge compelled me (by conscience) to share my thoughts on the scriptural validity of some our group's doctrine. Even with seeing so much hate surrounding religion, after all these years, I still have the exuberance of youth toward learning what our Creator's Word teaches.
One thing I discovered during my study of God's word is that computers are a phenomenal tool for learning and organizing what the Bible teaches. (1 Pet 3:15) It is impossible to make use of Bible knowledge, you understand, if you don't first own that knowledge. Since computer science is my background, I started doing my Bible studies using my computer. (What you are reading is just one of my personal Bible studies, albeit directed toward your understanding the purpose of the website. I go back and reread them often, and my current study [JustBibleTruth.com > Revelation] for a long time before I move on, to keep the scriptures my study uncovers fresh in mind.) Hyperlinks are a tool available on computers that allow the user to jump from a document he or she is reading, to another document and then return, exactly as when looking up a scripture. That is the "second" best way to study the Bible. The "first" best way, of course, is to pick up a Bible and read the words of Christ from one of the four Gospels. (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) It can be a benefit in trying to learn and understand what Jesus taught, however, to have a bit of background, so as to make sense of what you read. The Bible is a big book; covering one story that is 6000 years long! Selectively reading from one of the four Gospel recordings of Christ's life and teachings is, in essence, choosing to sit at the feet of Jesus. That is good fruitage. (Mark 3:31‑35) The intent of this website, then, is that the reader of any one of the meditations be given ability to very easily consider a document that links several supporting scriptures. They should quickly and nearly effortlessly be able to click to read those referenced scriptures, and then back; without loosing their chain of thought. Reading a paragraph that references 10 scriptures, while looking those scriptures up in a paper Bible, would tax most of us even to stay focused on the overall scriptural thought. The Bible is simple but it is also very complex (it has a lot of small and simple lights that get turned on as we read about them, all of them focussed to more and more brightly reveal our deliverance by God). (Mat 24:14; Pro 4:18; Psa 34:11; John 18:37; Isa 43:10‑13; Rev 7:9‑17)
Providing some background to help better and/or more easily understand what Christ taught is the purpose of JustBibleTruth.com. Trying to shield people from the bad religious experiences I have had is part of that goal. Please take special note it is not my encouragement that you follow me, just heed my warning not to be led by other men either. My only encouragement is to listen to Christ for yourself. That because I have come to realize what men believe the Bible teaches, often has little meaning or congruent connection with what the Bible actually does teach. Many or even most of them seem sincere and probably mean well! Jesus said good intentions don't really matter. (Mat 7:21‑23) The only thing that matters is what God says in his word. (Mat 17:5) Listening to Jesus, then, is what matters! (Mark 12:24) Becasue Jesus said there are so many people trying to misapply and abuse the scriptures to their own personal gain, (Mat 7:15‑20; 1 Tim 6:3‑16) and then my own terrible personal history with religion, (religion being very different from Christianity) that knowledge has burdened enlightened me with the need to sort through every single thing I have learned during all my life; to verify support from the Bible for every facet of my faith. So, while I am pleased to be a plagiarist, please know that only means I try to be certain everything I am repeating (plagiarizing) comes from the Bible (and/or from the lips of Jesus Christ). These short Bible Studies (or Devotionals) represent a lifetime of research; my lifetime of research. Fact is, they represent the lifetimes of many hundreds or thousands of men and women. (JustBibleTruth.com/DisplayScroll.html) Since I organized and selected final content of these documents, they represent my current state of personal study. They explain my faith. (1 Pet 3:15) I reread them often to keep fresh in mind what the Bible teaches. Publishing the website is my way of sharing my efforts in the scriptures with you. I have become convinced, you see, the Bible, and in particular the words of Jesus Christ, contain life. Not in some abstract way, but literally. We take in God's spirit of life by reading the words of Christ. (John 6:63) So, I do spend much of my time reading Christ's words from the Gospels. John 6:63 plus)
JustBibleTruth.com exists, then, to convey that simple Bible message: You must hear God's command to listen to his son (Mat 17:5) and then do that. To reach as many people as possible, we use two types of files to display/convey information. Dot_html (.html) and dot_pdf (.pdf) are two file type formats designed so someone like me can organize text and graphics and sounds and video to share that information with someone like you. While both the .pdf and .html formats are designed to accomplish that same task, they vary in their method. The .html format was designed for the internet. The .pdf format was designed to be universal. The .pdf format is much better for printing to paper. Because we encourage our readers to print out the booklets to share with people who don't have computer access, some of the website content is published in .pdf booklet format. Those booklets are much better for printing and many contain referenced scriptures as footnotes. Publishing booklets in .pdf format, however, does introduce the problem that some internet devices don't handle the hyperlinks to scriptures in .pdf files very well. (You certainly can print and share .html files as well.)
What you are now reading is being displayed from an .html file, but you wouldn't know that unless you look at the address bar in your web browser and note the filename ends with .html. The filename tells you computer where to find the file, and the extension (.pdf or .html) tells your browser how to display the information the file contains. Most M.S. Windows and Linux computers display .pdf files and handle the embedded links properly. It seems Apple products follow the links properly, but return to page one of the document you called the link from. In other words, if you're reading on page 30 of a booklet and link a referenced scripture, some devices return you to page one, forcing you to scroll back up to page 30 to continue reading. Unacceptable. (If manufacturers fix this problem, let me know: email support@justbibletruth.com) Just know if you have problems with some web pages displaying on your device, if you stick to the light blue and clear highlighted links, they should all work.
Best to all who love our Lord Christ Jesus. It doesn't seem you could love him if you don't first know him. Can you really believe you know him, however, if you haven't made the decision to immerse yourself in his sayings? What he taught will allow you to identify good and bad fruitage. (JustBibleTruth.com/Observations/IDBadGoodFruit.html) Make the choice to become a person producing good fruit: Direct everyone to listen to Christ for themselves!
These Devotionals or Meditations allow you to know Christ better anywhere and at any time. They don't require any membership, or faith in me, or meeting attendance. You should be cautious to verify everything you read using your Bible. This site's only encouragement is to listen to and put faith in Jesus Christ. Then, armed with your knowledge of what Jesus really taught, you should be moved to encourage others to listen to him as well. (Rom 10:11‑15) It would seem you must first know Christ before you can put real and true faith in him. Some Sunday morning emotional declaration of salvation, or symbolic water baptism might be good. (1 Pet 3:21) It's whether you are dedicated to spending your life listening to Christ that really matters.
Welcome, then, to: JustBibleTruth.com
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