As for the real biblical Christians, those who are in the world and not of it, we know what Jesus said, that the night of this age is far spent, and because of that knowledge, we are to act differently. And with every passing stroke of the time clock, and with every grain of sand that falls through the hourglass' slender neck, the long awaited day of our Lord's return fast approaches, giving us all the more reason to watch! Not only are we to watch as the world falls deeper and deeper into a loving embrace with depravity, we are also to watch for the glorious day that we have been promised. The day when Jesus finally appears in the heavens with all of his resplendent glory, which will brilliantly light up the inky darkness; what a dramatic contrast his sun shaming appearance will be set against the diminished lights in the heavens!
Let's Meet The Authors
Almighty God
The surprise comes when we see that there are a lot of well meaning people that worship the wrong God even though they read the Bible, well, at least they say they read it. Some have even taken what is said about him in his own word and twisted it, and in that process they have made a false god. Some have made for themselves a Sugar Daddy God, one that never disciplines his children with war, famine, sickness, or wild animals, but only wants to bless them with health and wealth. Or some have shoehorned three separate co-equal, co-eternal persons into one God. Others insist that God will save you by your works, or no matter what you do, once you say a sinners prayer, no matter how much you sin, you won't go to hell. Still others have taken the lie in Genesis 3 to heart, and they have the audacity to claim they can become like God himself, with God's approval! Everyone of these ideals can't be right, because many of these beliefs refute one another. If all of these beliefs supposedly came from the Bible, the word of truth, then how can they be wrong? Simple. Ever play that game "Telephone"? That game shows that people are natural born exaggerators, i.e. liars. So if it were not for our conscience, or the Spirit of God that regenerates the human spirit through the washing of Jesus' blood, and a God given desire to want the absolute truth found in his word, then no one would know biblical truth -- ever!
So let us humble ourselves, and call upon the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, and ask him to reveal to us, to you dear reader, the knowledge of the truth in his word. Here are some Scriptures that address God telling and being the embodiment of the truth.
"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Numbers 23:19
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1,14
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17
so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. Hebrews 6:18
But if we are slow to hear, and love lies more than the truth, well, the Lord will have to get a little rough; like he did with King Saul, John the Baptist's father, and Saul of Tarsus. Therefore, based on biblical precedent, may I suggest that we develop a deep and abiding love for, and ready willingness to hear, the truth no matter how painful it may be? I promise that that humble attitude will go over much better for us than outright refusal, or even worse, lukewarm indifference, which will spell out certain doom for the rebel without a clue. Pharaoh, and the majority of the Children of Israel are good examples of those unfortunate scenarios.
Another sobering thought in regards to loving the truth with regards to any crime, if we do not report the crime to the authorities, then we will be found to be an accessory after the fact. In other words, according to Scripture, if we embrace a lie, then we will be found guilty of being a liar, because we believed the lies due to our hatred of the truth, or by extension, we are haters our Lord Jesus Christ. Dear reader, that carries a very heavy penalty-- eternal damnation! Whoa Lord, that's harsh! Is this subject that important? Yes! It most certainly is!
Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God? You who practice deceit, your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor. You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth. You love every harmful word, you deceitful tongue! Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Proverbs 52:1-5
and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
2 Thessalonians 2:10
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates. But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Revelation 22:14-15
Satan, The Father of Lies
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
This is what metaphors do for us in literature, they give us a word picture as a way of teaching us information. Don't we currently have the idiom of someone who speaks with a forked tongue, like that of a snake or other reptile, which means they are hypocrites, and duplicitous, or in short, a liar? Yes! That snake in the grass idiom is believed to come from the biblical metaphor found in Genesis 3. What have we learned from this small sentence in Scripture about the sneaky serpent that is about to trick Eve into disobeying God? We have learned that Satan is very good at misrepresenting God, even to those who have personally spent face time with God, one on one. Wow, he is some kind of really good liar, huh?
On a side note, I don't believe that Eve was seduced to disobey God the very same day she was created. Why? Because, Satan is not omniscient, so he needed time to size up his prey. How long did that take? I don't know, he's very wise, so probably not long.
Getting back on track: we can also gather from the serpent metaphor that Satan camouflaged his wicked intent, to tempt Adam through Eve to disobey God, with feigned concern for their physical, and spiritual well being. He even lied by telling them that they would not die as God had said. He wanted Eve to take his lie over God's truth. In order to pull off his heist of the turth, he may even have appeared to them as Lucifer, an angel of light, as Paul informs us he is capable of doing, in 2 Corinthians 11:14. I simply have a very hard time believing that Eve would take a literal snake's word over God's. But falling for the seemingly wise words of a beautiful angel of light all sparkling with jewels, that was there to maybe guard the tree, that's not so hard to believe.
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44
I don't know about you dear reader, but this luminous winged specimen would have my undivided attention compared to a talking snake that we see in all of the art that portrays the goings on at that infamous tree in Eden. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Talking snake, or shiny angel? Even though the animals were perfect before the temptation and subsequent fall, I would still not be swayed into rebellion by a talking snake. A glittering, handsome, and wise guarding cherub would be a much more cunning disguise for a slanderer than a scaly snake. We see this even today. There is many a depraved person that can twist the truth and get anyone to believe he/she is the victim of abuse, while the real victim, is treated like the bad |
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32