I know we have touched on this recently, but I want again to touch on the importance of “truth” versus falsehood. This all because I ran across a wonderful quote from Frederick Douglass, a truly great American; “there is no such thing as new truth, error might be old or new, but truth is as old as the universe.”[1] Indeed truth is not new, but part of God’s very nature, part of everything from creation to the coming of Immanuel, the “Savior of the world.” Truth just is! It never changes! It is error, or let us just say it; lies that seem to change. Falsehood will change the meaning of words, misrepresent reality, and always try to confuse.
We are now living in a time where truth is called misinformation, and lies are now the truth. It reminds one of Isaiah’s words; “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of their rights” (Isa.5:20-23)!
Isaiah’s prophesy would portend God’s judgment, which would mean the demise of the Judean nation, for they had polluted their land, defiled their faith, and broken the covenant, and with it God’s heart. Surely, we can see that as a people we have done the same. Yet, it is clearly not all of us. If one looks close, and set aside those cities and counties that have embraced these distortions, we find things are much as they have always been. There are few murders, thefts, assaults, or other felonies. In fact in vast regions of our nations these dysfunctional and distopian activities are rare, and if they do occur are seen as bizarre and unacceptable. It’s the theme of the surprising hit song; “Try that in a small town.” But it’s more than small towns; it’s where ever people care for one another, gather in friendly diners for coffee, and where churches remain vital and cherished. Our societies are still largely healthy, stable, and have rejected the poison that seems endemic and contagious in small parts of our world. Most of us have not participated or contributed to this peculiar twisting of truth, just the opposite.
However, it is maddening that after all the blood and treasure to end slavery over 150 years ago, that human slavery still exist. That with all the efforts to expose the fraud of false gods, the “Baals” of the world have only multiply. And with centuries of trying to lift humanity from the chaos of barbarity, lawlessness remains all too close. God is not seen as the source of truth, love, justice, meaning, or purpose. Instead the fools seek this vainly anywhere but with God. We are seemingly hopelessly divided between we who worship the one true God, and those who bow to the “Baals.”
It is like Elijah on Mount Carmel (1 Kg.18:20-40). There were 9,000 who as yet had not bowed to Baal, but the leadership had. So at God’s word there would be no dew or rain. It would come down to a contest on the Mount, where the God that answered by fire, would be the one true God. We must know that ‘divine fire’ never answers to lies. Only when one rejects the false, ridicules the new gods and goddesses that are deceiving too many, laugh at the newest “existential crisis” that will end the world in twenty years, knowingly smile at the propaganda that masquerades as news, will the divine fire bring and end to this.
We must be like Elijah and boldly proclaim the truth, a truth that has existed since before creation. Stand immovable for the goodness and justice that is our God, then, and only then will the fire fall. And “the fire we need!” We need, Elijah’s faith, and strength to challenge the lies, mock the false gods they worship, that we might experience the “divine fire’ as it burns the dross and pollution of our world. We can see it by standing firm in our Lord, speaking the truth to the evil, even laughing at the idiocy that is their current fad. Yes, let Him fire our hearts for the moving of the Spirit, as we are seeing even now on multiple campuses across this land, a spiritual fire that will burn this satanic effort.
May we be truly ready for what God will do,
Thomas R. Wyatt
