Truth Manifested: I Am

By Tony Costa

Just one beggar telling another beggar where to find the bread! 

Editor's Foreword

Tony Costa transforms into this new book "Truth Manifested" some of his collected 150 PowerPoint-formatted Apologetics including adaptive lessons, small church group lectures, inspirational talks and other discourses

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Apr 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685561260

Tony Costa

"We are all dead men walking until the Holy Spirit quickens our spirit. It is the Word of God that activates the Holy Spirit."Tony Costa, Th.D.AUTHOR OF:Truth Manifested, I AmHis Holy Spirit: His Person, Power, WorksWHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? Conversations on Evangelism and Apologetics

Book preview

Truth Manifested

by Anthony H. Costa Jr.

Truth Manifested

Trilogy Christian Publishers A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2022 by Anthony H. Costa Jr.

Scripture quotations marked nlt are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked nkjv are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked tlb are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked web are taken from the World English Bible. Public domain. Scripture quotations marked kjv are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, CA 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-68556-125-3

E-ISBN: 978-1-68556-126-0

Dedication

To my precious family whom I love so very much and my friends in Jesus Christ.

Editor's Foreword

Tony Costa transforms into this new book "Truth Manifested" some of his collected 150 PowerPoint-formatted Apologetics including adaptive lessons, small church group lectures, inspirational talks and other discourses he participated in among Islam, Buddhist, atheist congregations. This first of a series is purposeful, renewing and Christ-centered.

His long-suffering life as a youth has distinctly evolved from hurtful past memories since childhood into what has become today his new redefined life with Christ. Tony’s passion for Christ, our Lord and Savior, began when his youthful years were hewn and repurposed from a tender age of 5 to his early teens-- an abusive setting, caught in the receding ebb of a son-father ill relationship, markedly bruised by an absence of Love and Peace in his family.

Nevertheless, as a boy, he sought for an understanding of human frailty and forgiveness, familial order, and the strength, comfort he hoped to find in the Bible. He found it.

Not only does his book hopes to strengthen one’s biblical knowledge but we as citizens of the almighty God should henceforward support Tony’s marching order to -- Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Amen. Manny St. Mary / Book Editor

Ode to a Soldier for Christ

You are a soldier for Christ.

I shout out your name!

And I feel inside my heart that you can hear me.

Soldier for Christ: Who are you really?

You are a chameleon who was sent here by God

to protect, secure, and fight for those

who cannot fight for themselves.

Soldier for Christ: You have been chosen to send the weak, the sick, and the frail back to His kingdom through the Word…and you may be the last person they will ever see or speak to ever again, here on earth.

Soldier for Christ: Out of the mouth of your very own babes, you discover, uncover, and yield to their needs.

Soldier for Christ: Your life has meaning. The journey has had its deserts and streams…as you have been, parched and completely dry…yet you have also been quenched and revived by moisture placed on your lips.

Soldier for Christ: God has just begun to use you. The mural of your life is only now being painted out before your eyes, and up to this very moment in time, it has all been a preparation for now.

Soldier for Christ: Do you know how blessed you are? To have seen so much already… And still, you are planted firmly in your steps, to serve at all cost.

Soldier for Christ: Indeed, you are the name, the Soldier that comes to the battlefield blindfolded but sees it all with his faith.

Soldier for Christ: Your soul is your beauty, your power, your strength…forever and ever. Amen.

Lesson 1

"My faith

is my hope…"

The book is not about me,

rather it is about the

truth of who Jesus Christ

really is according to the scriptures.

After much contemplation with a focused purpose, this book aims a format of being instructional as in "tochnit shiaor," a lesson plan developed about truth to guide the individual in learning as well as an educational source for those seeking some understandings of the Bible.

Topics and references are included to help guide you as you navigate for truth and life, life that leads into an eternal realm. A life of meaning and purpose. The book is not about me; rather, it is about the truth of who Jesus Christ really is according to the scriptures. The Absolute Truth about concerning our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I know so because I have personally experienced His omnipotent presence, unconditional love, mercy, and grace that abound as I need to share it with others. It is pitifully sad that a person finds existence and then dies devoid of any nobler purpose, leaving no legacy for loved ones for them to remember, cherish and hold on to.

Our brief lives on planet earth have been found wanting, useless, and of lesser value. Life’s goal must be purposeful. I encourage others to live life and refuse to just exist. Life has more to offer. So, jump in and enjoy the ride!

When you look in the mirror, do you like the face that you see staring back at you? What thoughts somehow rush through your mind as you reflect on the past days of your youth and the remaining days of your life? Are you living life, or are you just existing for another day?

It is not how you start out in life that matters; rather, it’s how your life ends up that will tell the tale. Only you can decidedly choose the answers because you are a free-willed being. You can determine the outcome and direction of your life.

There is faith, my hope. Look at the book of Romans, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1, "And Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

What an awesome and powerful God we serve.

Lesson 2

"What is my strength,

that I should hope?

and what is

mine end,

that I should

prolong my life?"

I also dedicate this book to those people who

will be born tomorrow so that they too can stumble

upon faith at home or in the streets.

This will be a book for the unborn children

who will seek life, and who will create newer tomorrows?

They will thrive possessing some inner

spiritual strengths, a repurposed new outlook

in life, better than the buried past.

Lying here in the warm breeze of a quiet summer night in July of 2020, I began to reminisce many years of childhood memories. They were good and bad, derisive and shameful; they were webbed formational pieces that designed the mosaic life of my person.

When once a child, it seemed to me that running away was the only choice. I could not just leave home without knowing where to live or even where to go. Being too young to move out, I was filled with shame and embarrassment to even talk about the situation at my prison-like home or why I wanted to escape by running away.

At home, there was always a false sense of security, though. Home was surrounded by an atmosphere of angry love filled with dread, uncertainties, cruelty, and abuse. Although this was my predicament while living with my parents, I had become complacent about life at home and made me decide not to run away; although I desired to do so, but fear held me back.

Just who decides what my life should be…and what did I ever do to deserve this cruelty? My life revealed no progression. Undoubtedly, it seemed I could not make any step forward. I ended taking many steps back.

Staying at home somehow provided me with a comforting knowledge that there was always the provision of food, clothing, and a roof over our heads. Occurrences are unpredictable in my hostile home environment. I could not find the urgency of being any different or the same from the rest of the kids around me or even being defiant to authority when I was too young to know any better.

I felt that there was no tomorrow. Only today matters, I remember saying. Because there really is no tomorrow. I begin each day without any direction of my thoughts, without fear of what tomorrow brings. Yet, I lived through distress each morning when I woke up. I trembled at night and hated the many long hours of uncertainty. I was young and naturally looked for supports, truth, and freedom from being emotionally and mentally oppressed by such an environment.

No one was there. At the tender age of four, I was put on medication for anxiety which turned into depression. My nightly cry was, Why, oh why? How do I live through this hell and torment? What can I do?

Now that I am older and the memories of the terrible past that I thought were wiped away have been at times still reared its ugly face to harass me. But I find peace and strength in my prayers through my heavenly Father.

In Luke 6:1–31, it reminds us that in death, there is also memory. God continues to strengthen me. Writing this book somehow, through time and His grace, has repeatedly given me many heavenly inspirations. Those who have doubts or have been misled in finding the truth in life can look up with hope. I did. Just as I have discovered truth and a purpose in my life. He has restored me as I stumbled upon Him. And with confidence and renewed purpose and meaning in life, I began to experience the wondrous, greater joys of living for Christ.

Some seek to find the answers and solutions among philosophers or even politicians. And much to their dismay, they are left abandoned, discouraged, and deceived by the likes of the P.T. Barnums of this world. Mankind is out of control; right is wrong, and wrong is right. Today’s world denies the existence of any absolute truth. I am here to proclaim that I have found the absolute truth in the person of Jesus Christ.

My quest for truth began early in life. I lived and experienced a troublesome and abusive childhood along with my four siblings, who have shared the same sorrows with me. While at the funeral, certain memories become privy only to siblings.

I remember vividly a statement that my father often said to me, Trust no one, not even your own father. I asked, If I could not fully trust my earthly father, is it possible to trust my heavenly father, who I cannot see? Psychiatrists tell us that the way we see our earthly father is the way we view God, our Heavenly Father. I lived in fear of physical and emotional punishment. I viewed my earthly father as a strict disciplinarian whom you cannot rationalize with. That means you always lose; you cannot win regardless of what is right or wrong. That is the way I viewed God if He really exists at all up until His manifestation to me.

The relationship and situation with my father were hurtful, and they wounded me daily as a child, which I learned to live with. I heard, saw, and felt his cruelties, and they lasted until my late teen years. They were bad and harsh memories. The cruel circumstances of my youthful life were stained with destruction, sudden anger, and most of the time, they were unwarranted. But I am strong even if I am a kid, I told my mother, and my spirit cannot be broken, I swore to protect my mother, my brothers and sister. I have lived and kept my promise to my mother.

The wounds took time to heal, even after I became a police officer. I was hurt, and it was overwhelming. The verse of Peter anchored my restlessness, 1 Peter 5:10, But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle [you]. I buried the horrible past and started to live for brighter sunsets and newer sunrises with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I asked for strength and yearned for this cruelty to end. My experiences of cruelty and abuse from my father have become intolerable as I was growing up. I turned to Job 6:11 to help me, What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?

We all need the assurance of hope to find and embrace an identifiable purpose in life, a nobler reason to live for. But I could not find any lingering purpose that is worthy. What is the sense in living for life’s sake when you do not see any tomorrows? With no tomorrow to even dream about, I was lost, unable to grasp what life is really all about. Somehow, I can’t understand how. But I continued to refuse to surrender. I knew I would not die to the flaws of life. I asked, is life much more purposeful if one can find reasons to live? I did not see any definition of a reasonable purpose in life except the abuse I saw daily.

When I became a teenager, I grappled with human frailty. I saw people whose reasons in life are the same causes they lived for…carefree eating, senseless dreaming, and languishing on endless cravings of the flesh. I need to connect to what life brings, even in my dark times. I cried, My God, please wipe away all my tears from my eyes. Stop sorrow or weeping and give me no more pain. Heal my broken heart and bind up my wounds and let me hide my pain and whole being inside your wounds. My God! Protect my mother, my siblings and strengthen me. Heal my father and let me live in a loving house. Let me experience the love of a father to a son. Tell me, how do I accomplish such a task?

I was encouraged to write this book after talking to my ministry companion Ron Costa, my biological brother, one Tuesday morning. He, too, experienced the same sadness of life in our younger years as his children.. I also had a dream on Wednesday about my two friends and business partners, Manny and Saiphin. The dream was troubling, but after prayers, I was given a deep sense of restful peace. I saw Manny lying on a gurney in white hospital clothes with his wife at his side. They were both smiling at me. This was confusing. After I saw them, I had peace that they were both safe and healthy.

On a Thursday brunch in a local restaurant, Manny shared his own dream about me that he had last night. He saw me standing with a book in my right hand, holding it high. It had to be a Bible or so! he exclaimed. We sat overlooking the Monongahela River, which connected to the Sandcastle waters in Pittsburgh. We shared our dreams with each other. I have tossed around the idea of writing a book. Now, I believe this is my season to write for Him. My breakthrough.

I want to write this book so that those children who lived in similar fear and under emotional or physical abuse will find new happiness and experience great joys in the redemptive love of Jesus Christ. Life is worth living.

This book is also dedicated to those people who will be born tomorrow so that they, too, can stumble upon faith at home or in the streets. This will be a book for the unborn children who will seek life and who will create newer tomorrows. They will thrive possessing some inner spiritual strengths, a repurposed new outlook in life, much better than mine.

But I must hurriedly write now to allow teenagers and adults to find time to heal their wounds, to pray and forgive, to thrive with life for Jesus, to renew a sustaining vigor of faith. Above all, to allow the hurting children to pass through the safe gate which glistens with pearls, to begin to roam the streets covered in gold and leave behind the sadness of the past filled with stories about the hurting children whose groaning and crying are not even heard in the colder nights. They can only hear themselves crying in the dark.

My life was changed dramatically when I had a personal encounter with the living Jesus Christ. And I am forever grateful that He loves me as my Heavenly Father.

I was able to incorporate my faith with renewed compassion in helping others, first in Law Enforcement Security, then as a hospice chaplain, then as Associate Pastor and Director of Evangelization. Our decision to start our own Home and Community Based Support provider company will only hone my acquired skills and past pains. After all, we will be supporting individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Autism.

I can honestly say that I have walked the good path being in the shoes of those who are often disregarded, having been misunderstood, or fallen to victimization, physically and verbally abused, and even forgotten. I know the hurt that people suffer and yet have to simply exist, for I, too, like David, walked through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4). Jesus settled the issue of who matters in (John 3:16–17) when He says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Truly, God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. To God, we all matter. We all need to accept, respect, and love one another. Life is temporary and eternity is forever.

The purpose of this book is not merely to arouse emotions or to speak about abuse verbatim but to help the suffering children and adults to be transformed into becoming spiritually stronger persons through the teachings and truths in the Bible concerning eternal salvation or one’s destiny.

After healing, abused people should be supported so that they can casually, if not formally, be reunited with their parents or trusted friends. Christian conversations with the help of an elder of the church or with a pastor are constructive and regenerating. In the end, the truth shall surpass all troubles and tears. The alliance can be forged to last longer than the sheen of a carat of silver or gold.

Yes, you. You can bring to the foot of the cross of Christ all the groanings of your past tumults, your tears, even your anger and disbelief. I pray and ask the Lord to show you how to do just that.

As for me and my house, I find deliverance in writing this book. You will also find the same joys which I find daily with the holy cross of Christ, which is being shared with you.

Second Corinthians 5:17 (KJV), Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Now, I am free; I met my Jesus. Now I rejoice! Jesus is the truth!

I am Tony, your brother in Christ.

Lesson 3

My Coming of Age.

I had to acknowledge the hurtful loss of

a father and son relationship.

My father’s favorite parable was the

Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32).

This became mine as well.

Born in the catholic faith, I was baptized at four weeks of age; I did not have a choice. Later in a Catholic school, while in second grade, I made my First Holy Communion. It wasn’t until my fifties did I submit to my Confirmation, carrying a confirmation name of John Paul II. His people’s charisma and strong advocacy for transformation in the heart of the Church was real inspiration. He became one of my spiritual heroes.

Reverend Harold G. Johnson of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church was my Bible teacher for five years. I studied with the Brethren Church in Pittsburgh, PA, with Russ Bixler, founder of channel 40 TV, also studied at The Greater Works Bible School in Monroeville, PA, and attended a Protestant Seminary where I discovered more about Faith, Protestantism, and Catholicism. I was a Hospice Chaplain for twelve years and was employed by the Diocese of Pittsburgh as Pastoral Associate and Director of Evangelization for nearly four years. A Regional Missionary with the St. Paul Street Apostolate, I also taught Evangelization and Apologetics for the parish teaching Catholics how to defend their Catholic Faith with the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

For over fifty years now, I have been studying religions and Christianity. It was while in the seminary and studying the Reformation; I began to read and study the church fathers. Listening and watching EWTN was enlightening, which made my journey good and particularly hearing conversion, personal testimonies for both Catholics and Protestants.

The thirty years in Law Enforcement and Security was a nexus to self-discovery considering the many changes in American policing, which have mirrored socio-cultural changes in society as integral layers of the constant social evolutions of the American society.

Years ago, the police institution needed to respond to political, economic, social, and cultural influences of the time. That same responsibility of police officers espoused in the early twenties still exists in 2021 and may flourish beyond. And it is that same breadth of social irresponsibility of policing that continues to permeate today’s society. It remains unchanged today—spawning civil protest, disobedience, violent protest, killing, looting, and even fragmenting the very basic fiber of the socio-cultural identity of our country.

Peacekeeping is not an orientation nor a perspective frame of mind. It is a way of repurposed thinking to act and to mitigate complaints, to understand the law and its guidelines, its protocol of lawful implementation, mitigation and infractions, positive transition recovery for law offenders. Policing can only act under a guideline of strict cultural and moral principles because the foundation of policing takes its beginning and roots from practices and wisdom teachings of earlier traditions such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Native American. As former law enforcement, this is my opinion for renewed policing.

Should policemen have functional faith in God? Yes. Life will certainly fail if we do not have faith. I believe that in every person, there is a God-shaped hole that only God can fill. Our heart is restless until it rests in you, writes Augustine.

And today’s social unrest over racial and political inequalities has spawned tumultuous chaos amidst the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. These troubles, I believe, as a retired police officer with a refreshed Christian world view should undertake a new shift toward a peacemaking philosophy contrary to the short-circuited mundane approach of simply fighting gang battles, civil violent protests, criminal arrest, and battling evil in the streets of Albuquerque in New Mexico, Manhattan in New York, Ann Arbor in Michigan, Fergusson