How To Find Truth In A World of Lies

As I have been traveling through the Gospels each morning in my personal Bible study, it strikes me how much emphasis the Bible puts on truth. The opposite of truth is of course, the lie. On the surface, it seems black and white. Something is either true or it is false. But the world we live in is not that simple. There is another word that creates a blur in our quest for truth versus lie; it is the word deception.

Someone in the world is always trying to deceive us. Advertising is often an attempt to get us to purchase something, we don’t want or usually, don’t need. Politics, well, having just spent the last 3 months listening to the TV ads, have clearly become about each candidate spending more effort to make us see that the other guy is a terrible person who cannot be trusted, than it is about one declaring his own merits. It has become almost impossible to know what the truth is based on what we see on TV or read in our mail, about the different candidates. Social media has become the source many people get their information from, on just about every topic. And our culture continues to buy into the falsehoods that reside on the internet. Truth is hard to come by.

If you think about it, the Bible presents the battle of truth versus untruth, as one of the salient points of its history. The very fall of mankind, the entry of sin into the world, came about because of a battle for truth and that battle was fought with the weapon of deception.

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

The serpent, Satan himself, casts doubt on what Eve thought was the truth. Did God REALLY say that? Have you ever had someone do that to you? This is a subtle form of deception and falling into that trap pulls us away from the truth. Listen to Eve’s explanation to God after she disobeyed Him.

Genesis 3:13
Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The serpent deceived her. And the battle that we all wrestle with today is filled with the serpent’s work of deception. The Bible describes our enemy in Revelation 12:9 , “…that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world…”.

Jesus gives a stronger description of the devil here in John 8:44-45, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.”

Satan does not stand in truth. He is a liar and the father of lies. And the modern-day culture of the internet, has given him a world-wide platform to work his deception. I believe that since the advent of the smartphone giving us continual access to information, we are becoming conditioned to believe whatever we read. It simply too easy to assume what we read is true. Of course, as one who grew up in the sixties, I also was not always reading or being taught the truth. But we made attempts to research things. I was taught to question and to seek evidence before making decisions. My parents raised me to think for myself and I was not afraid to challenge authority if I had credible reason to do so.

Truth is hard to determine. Personally, unless I was an eyewitness to an event, I lean towards carrying some doubt as to the veracity of things I hear of. But what about our faith? Can we believe the things we hear in church? Can we trust our pastors, our Sunday school teachers, or any other Christian when they discuss the Christian faith?

The first step all Christians must take in their personal quest for truth is to not buy into the post-modern philosophy that truth is relative. It is not. There is a truth. There is a right and there is a wrong. If you say you are a follower of Christ, then you have no choice but to accept the Bible as the Word of God, because if you cast any doubt on what it says, you have no credible reason to even believe Jesus is who He says He is. The Bible is the only source for knowing who Jesus was or is. No other document from the ancient days is going to tell you He is the Messiah, He is the Son of God, and He is God. As Christians, we accept the Bible as God’s Word. There is also good news here; there is solid archeological evidence that we can study that give us reassurance of its being, what we believe it to be. If you are a young Christian who needs to get familiar with the Biblical evidence, there are many great resources to be found. Do the work.

The next step in the battle for truth is to read the scriptures and find out who God is, what He is like, and what He calls on His church to be. What you will learn is that Jesus is the truth. Jesus declares this Himself in John 14:6 saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Jesus is the truth.

If Jesus is the truth and Satan is the deceiver and father of lies, then the battleground is clear. We are fighting a war for truth. Anything that is not of Christ is a lie. Jesus warns us over and over in scripture to not be deceived. The end times spoken of in the Revelation, will be a time of deception. Paul spoke of this deception as well.

2 Corinthians 11:12-15
And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do.  For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.  So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

The warnings are clear, and they are scary. Satan masquerades as an angel of light. This means we cannot simply believe what anyone says, no matter how many Bible degrees they have. No, I am not saying you can never trust your pastor. I am saying you must be reading your own Bible and testing everything against scripture. Everything. This is not me speaking, it is what God’s Word commands us to do.

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21
Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.

Test everything. As I started this blog, I mentioned my current studies. As I read Jesus talk about the coming of the end times, when He returns, I cannot help but wonder if all this internet, fake news, and other stuff people fall for, is part of Satan’s preparatory battle plan to lure people into a state of deception. He seems to be molding the world into a place where the truth is so blurred, he thinks no one will believe God. Did God really say that?

We must become seekers of truth. Prepare for this battle by training in truth. Open your Bible every day. Then when the deceiver comes, you will be ready. Stand for truth. Stand for Jesus. This means we don’t believe things simply because someone says them. We don’t simply buy into what the internet tells us.

Stand for truth. Be a diligent seeker of facts. Start with God’s Word. The days are soon coming when the great deception will be upon us. Prepare yourselves and those under your personal authority. Look to Jesus in all things. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life.

Have a blessed day.

The Subtle Lies of Satan

In the Bible it is clear how God feels about lying. Proverbs 12:22 is but one of many admonitions against lying telling us that “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD” and the New Testament in Revelation 21:8 goes so far as to declare that “all liars” will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Lying is a serious thing.

“But I wasn’t really lying, I just held back a little of the truth.” Who of us has not done that in our lives? We have a thing we like to call a “white lie” and by that one word “white” we imply that though it’s a lie, it’s a pure one and for the best. Often we use that term when we have withheld the truth from someone in order to be polite or to be tactful. Maybe there are times when telling someone the truth has no value and it would be pointless to hurt them with something meaningless but the problem with that term is that the term itself is by nature a lie. The other problem is that we abuse that term when we describe our lies. More often than not our lies are just what the word says they are; lies.

 

We see an amazing dichotomy in scripture as we look at the difference between God and Satan.  Isaiah 65:16 calls our God, the God of truth. Titus 1:2 says God never lies and Hebrews 6:18 reminds us it is impossible for God to lie. In John 14:6 Jesus declares Himself to not only be true but says He is the truth.

Satan on the other hand is the very antithesis of God. Scripture is clear on who and what Satan is. John 8:44 tells us exactly who Satan is saying that “He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Scripture is also clear about what Satan wants to do to us. 1 Peter 5:8 warns us saying this, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  John 10:10 says the devil comes to steal and destroy. The Bible is clear; we have an enemy and it is him. Ephesians 6:12 spells it out, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The first lie of the devil is to tell you he doesn’t exist. God’s Word says differently. Your enemy is not man; it is a spiritual army of cosmic powers led by the fallen angel himself, Lucifer, otherwise known as Satan or the devil.

The reason I began this writing talking about the white lie is because we need to aware of the schemes of the devil. Certainly there are things in this world that are clearly lies of Satan. But as Christians, most of us can see those clearly. The warning this morning I feel called to give involves a specific word and that word is subtle. Satan will use subtle means to slip into our minds and trick us if we are not constantly vigilant. The very beginning of all sin came from Satan’s subtle twisting of God’s Word back in the Garden of Eden. We need to take time regularly to study that part of scripture. In Genesis chapter 3 we find Satan putting just a little question into Eve’s mind. Listen to how it works from Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"

Do you see how crafty he was? “Did God actually say…” he asks her. And from that one little deceptive question came the entire fall of mankind and sin and death entered into the world. And ever since that day Satan has been working on our minds to question everything God says.

Married people, have you ever been around a member of the opposite sex and felt just that little twinge of excitement when she(he) gives you that look or compliments you. You know deep down you are walking a dangerous path. But in that subtle little way of lying to ourselves we think “Oh this is harmless.” Then later there is a little harmless lunch and so goes the path to destruction. Then one day you wake up and realize you have fallen into a pit and there is no good way out. My friends this is how that word subtle will get you.

There is no end to the various ways Satan can lead you subtly down the wrong path. There is a great book and later a movie called A Simple Plan that demonstrates how a simple little plan to keep some unaccounted for drug money that three men find in the woods, ends up in betrayal and murder. It all seemed so simple.

We cannot be blind to the schemes of the devil. We cannot dabble around with sin no matter how minor it seems. It was just one piece of fruit that Eve took in the garden but it would have catastrophic ramifications for all time until Christ returns. The Apostle Paul reminds us being a Christian does not prevent us from falling into the traps of the devil saying this in 2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

But as always the word of God is filled with good news. Jesus defeated the devil at Calvary and we do not fight for victory but we fight from victory. If this very day you are stuck in that pit because you fell for the subtle lies of Satan there is hope. Lamentations 3:21-23 says, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” In Luke 15:11-32 is the story Jesus told about the prodigal son and in it we can know that no matter how far we have fallen into the pigpen our Father in Heaven is waiting for us to get up and come back to him. It really is that simple.

So this very day wherever you are you can cry out to God and He will come get you. Chapter 15 has two more parables about those who have fallen into sin.

Luke 15:3-10
So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

There is joy in heaven when we repent and are back in the arms of Jesus. But I don’t know about you but I am tiring of my own foolish nature leading me into these pits. The answer is to stay focused on Jesus. We must read His Word, we must listen to sermons that call us out on our sin, we must pray, pray, and pray that we will become more like Jesus every day. We do not have to keep falling down.

So wherever we are today it is time to be aware of the subtle schemes and lies of the devil. James 4:7-10 is good counsel. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

My prayer today is that we Christians ask God for the wisdom to see through these subtle lies. Then we can get back to the mission Jesus calls us to and take the Gospel to a lost and dying world. May God richly bless all who hear His Word.