Hello everyone!
The ancient Greek writer and playwright, Aeschylus, who lived from 524-456 B.C., once said, "In war, the first casualty is truth." Since then other famous politicians and identities have claimed credit for that quote – ironic, wouldn’t you say? But, he was the originator. Aeschylus’ quote, of course, is true in many regards. When war erupts, truth is the first casualty. Someone else also said (I forget exactly who) that “history is written by the winners.” That is true as well! The winners determine their version of the truth and this is not necessarily about the facts.
What I’m getting at here is that there is a battle going on right now for truth almost everywhere you look in our world. Daily it is a casualty of the hard fought war for control of public debate, or the terms of that debate, and truth is killed off. If it isn’t the Coates Enquiry trying to find the truth about the hotel quarantine matter amongst a parade of witnesses who can’t remember anything, it is the gigantic battle for the truth about the US election now being fought by news and media outlets around the world. The rising crescendo of voices has become a screaming match and all sorts of accusations and claims are being made by both sides of politics in the USA. Cries, of “without evidence” for some statements, and other cries of “censorship” at the hands of Facebook and Twitter by the other side are rife, too. Before that there was “fake news” and so on.
Who is telling the whole truth? I suspect no one is …
The truth is hard to come by these days. It is an increasingly scarce commodity.
And I think that’s true because the real issue here – generally speaking, not just with the Coates Enquiry or the US election – is not about truth at all, but control and power through influence. For now. There is a battle raging for the hearts and minds of the population. Those who can control the nature, the terms and the sheer volume of public discourse, or debate, or who can suppress or censor it, can exert enormous influence over an unsuspecting population. This is not conspiracy theory thinking – we’re seeing it happen before our very eyes.
History is replete with hundreds of such scenarios on massive scales. Standing back and listening to the shrill voices in the various media spheres at the moment my discern-o-meter needle is constantly jumping into the red – regardless of what I am hearing on the news, or reading in the paper, and from whom. I have never seen so much falsehood as I am seeing right now, but there is one significant difference today compared, to say, just five years ago, and that is how brazen the lies and falsehoods are. Spin? No! We don’t bother with spin any more, we fight it out with different variations of what we think is truth. Falsehoods and lies are now brazenly promoted everywhere – politics, education, economy, climate change, to name just a few.
Distrust is growing and the communities of the world are increasingly insecure – and becoming more and more rebellious every day as they take matters into their own hands. A spirit of rebellion and anarchy is rising. How do we know the truth when it is deliberately and brazenly obscured by lies? How do we know the truth when Christians are arguing over a lie that neither can substantiate? God’s people should not be doing this. How do we stop arguing over lies and know the truth instead? We need to be a people of truth.
FINAL WORD
How can we know the truth when a tsunami of lies and falsehood washes over us every day on multi-channels and soaks into us? There is a simple answer – and it is not a quick fix, slick solution. God’s Word is truth, yet so many Christians are more soaked with social media and news media rather than God’s truth.
Truth, that is, God’s truth is holy and righteous and true. And powerful! It has such holy quality and richness that when we soak in that truth more than we soak in the opinions and views of other voices and what they think is truth, we know the real truth, and it does set us free. Here’s the thing about divine or holy truth … when we soak in that, it sticks to our spirit, and our discernment capacity is exponentially increased – even after a relatively short time. How is it that a scruffy teenager, just an hour beforehand had been yanked out of prison, now stands before Pharaoh, who had been listening to every other kind of “truth” for several days now – dozens of expert voices - and hears truth in a single conversation and knows that everything else before had been lies? Every last lie was exposed by a single word of truth – and it was so highly respected, valued and appreciated that Joseph is made prime minister of Egypt! This amazes me.
The power of God’s truth.
Dear friends, in this world full of lies and deception for some strange reason so many Christians continue to soak in Google, YouTube and Facebook news – and every kind of preacher-teacher out there – never knowing what is true and false, and they argue so passionately about all that stuff. They become even more confused. They have so much time for this kind of soaking and spend so very little time soaking in God’s Word and filling up a reservoir of truth in their spirit that they have so little discernment left when they should be walking in discernment every day. Don’t be that kind of believer! Our job, one of them anyway, is to know the truth and truly be the light of the world, as Jesus said we were to be … helping people with the truth ...
Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.”
This is a very serious matter for the church in a day when even Christians don’t want to know the truth, or are even offended by God’s truth and choose their own truth instead. That is deceptive and momentary comfort that staves off the moment of truth – and the moment of truth surely comes. You cannot stop it. The key reason there is so much sin in the church right now is because the truth of God’s Word has been despised. The prophet once rebuked King David about this very issue …
2 Samuel 12:9 “Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight?”
May I encourage you to soak each day in God’s Word, and let its power and holy truth swell in you, and enlarge your ability to discern what is good, righteous and holy. Of course, the one not interested in truth or pursuing holiness will never have an interest in God’s Word, and will stumble and fall into error – and they’ll know the truth that way. Trust God’s Word. Soak in it. Feed on it. Walk in it …
Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
In the beginning was the word, and the word will still be there at the end. No one can change that no matter who and what shouts loudly to the contrary.
You are deeply, truly loved!
Ps Milton