Truth or Lies: What Is Your Lot?

Introduction

Knowing the Truth is most critical for the welfare and salvation of a person. If they are unsure—or even believe a lie—they will, sooner or later, pay the price, at times a very heavy one. The sooner someone resolves or settles this matter, the better for their soul. In an increasingly pluralistic and relative age, it can be difficult at times to tell one from the other. A clear, discerning mind is thus essential. In this discourse, we explore these two paths—truth or lies—leaving the ball in your court to decide your destiny, though we urge you to choose truth. Its benefits are immeasurably worth the pursuit.

Grave or Light Mistakes

In life, some mistakes can be committed with relatively few and light consequences. This is because they can be corrected or redone so that the ramifications are not as grave as one would imagine. There are, however, other mistakes with seriously forbidding repercussions. No amount of excuses, sorrow, regret, remorse, or explanation will suffice to remedy such errors. They have far-reaching, and perhaps uncorrectable, consequences into the future.

Among this class of grave mistakes is our eternal destiny. While we are alive here on earth, we may have the opportunity to toy with trivial mistakes; but should we die in an unregenerate state, we lose the privilege of entering eternal life. The repercussions and ramifications of such a terrible choice will land one in the lake of fire (John 3:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:9).

It is for this reason that Satan launches an attack specifically targeted at the mind. He is fully aware that if the "command" or "nerve" centre of our thought pattern is captivated, the chances are high of controlling every other area. Consequently, the evil one—and indeed the humanist or heretic—focuses on the mind. He will suggest all sorts of mind-deflecting ideas through books, movies, magazines, pictures, causes, cartoons, music, strange corrupting internet sites, social media, and a whole host of avenues—all targeted at the mind.

It is therefore essential not only to inoculate the mind with correct information, but also with the truth as it is in Jesus. The humanist, for instance, has mistakenly believed that if humanity is sufficiently educated, proficient in science, trained for duty, exposed, and rightly skilled, he or she can develop into a mature, better being—though it is claimed by pundits that humanity is essentially, intrinsically good already. For such thinking men and women, sin and depravity are outrightly denied as mere figments of imagination.

Thus the world progresses on that plane of relativity and egocentrism with an uncompromising belief that absolutes are not possible. Constructivist perception is what matters. Moreover, the worldly will attack any claim to absolute truth and standards. In their worldview, everything is relative—contingent on subjective opinions, not objective standards. "Truth" is what I make it to be, not what others think or impose. I am the measure of all things, subjectively determining what is truth or not. By that token, many "truths" exist.

The Biblical View

But the Scriptures demand and state that there is only one Truth, and any other is false and therefore worth rejecting. If one starts off with a humanistic mindset, then chances are high that they will reject the truth altogether—and vice versa. It is not a matter of opinion but of fact. For our purposes, we briefly investigate a number of passages in Scripture stating that only the Truth found in God's revealed will is the Truth—not "a" truth.

We kick-start this biblical excursion from John 8:31, 32, and 36, where the Lord Jesus speaks to those who believed in Him: if they abided in His word, they would know the truth—and the truth would set them free. A number of implications immediately come to the fore:

• To be a true disciple of Jesus, one needs to be in Jesus—that is, to be engrafted into Him, born again, and in communion with God. In other words, the person must be regenerated and have a living relationship with Christ as we have it in the mystical union.
• The Christian must know Christ, for to know Him is eternal life. No other knowledge can give eternal life except that special knowledge made manifest in special revelation.
• The person who truly abides in Christ will know the truth, and the truth shall set them free. This liberty comes about as divine truth is imbibed and made part of one's being and life. This saving knowledge of Christ results in liberty from all bondage, including sin and its consequences.
• There is a lie that is constantly being floated around by the Devil and his cohorts. Christ has come to set the Christian free.
• The Christian has nothing to fear, because being in Christ drives out all possible fear.

We may safely conclude that if a person has Christ, they should know the truth and thus expel the lie. This lie comes in various forms, including belief systems opposed to God's word.

The second passage we consider is John 8:44, which points to whom those not belonging to Christ actually belong. Jesus states that those who have not accepted Christ, and thus remain unregenerate, are children of the Devil and cannot obey the truth of God. A number of thoughts are implied in Christ's statements:

• Anyone who does not have Christ is spiritually impotent—blind, groping around in darkness—and thus cannot enter the Kingdom of God unless they turn to Christ.
• Those not in the Truth, as in Christ Jesus, cannot accept the words of Christ because they have another master: their father, the Devil. Anything to do with Christ does not stir them to obedience or warm their hearts.
• Those outside Christ are spiritually dead and thus cannot discern the things of the Spirit (Ephesians 2:1). They walk around in darkness and obey their master and father, the Devil.
• The Devil, by his essential nature, has been a liar and, in fact, the father of lies. He will therefore not submit to God nor allow any of his subjects to do so.

The third and final passage is 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12, where the apostle prophesies a great delusion in the last days. He states that a time would come when people would prefer to believe the lie, having received a spirit of stupor. They would rather obey and believe what man teaches than what God wants them to believe. This fearful verse has some hair-raising implications:

• The evil one in the last days will be so subtle that even the saints may be misled.
• There will be a system of thinking in the last days that shall develop inimical to the word of God. This may include all the theories and "isms" in the world that treasure human philosophical thinking away from God or His word.
• There is such a thing as "the Truth," distinct from all others. While men may boast about their theories and philosophies, none of them is Truth in the way the word of God is Truth.
• Truth liberates and drives out all fear (1 John 4:18). If we do not realise our rights in Christ, we will needlessly fear anything and everything. Truth also gives light, illuminating the path and way of life.

From the positions advanced above, it is critical that the Truth is first established and, secondly, internalised or believed. By believing it, we will be able to detect, identify, and subsequently reject the lie. If we do not have this discerning ability, then we stand in great danger of being misled or confused by the errors of the times.

Conclusion

We may conclude that the battle rages hotter as the years roll on. As we approach the end times, this attack on the mind—and the battle to establish or replace the truth with the lie—will continue. From every angle, the Christian is consistently bombarded by onslaughts from the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Eternal vigilance is called for against deadly toxic influences on the mind fostered by tricky movements like the New Age Movement, the occult, cults, or heretics. The saint is thus encouraged to be forearmed with the belt of truth, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Most of the troubles we presently experience will then be history.