In a court of law the judge, attorney, and jury are seeking to get at the truth. Witnesses are sworn to tell the truth. Perjury is a criminal offense punishable by incarceration. Parents want their children to tell the truth. I think all would agree that "honesty IS the best policy." We want our automobile salesmen to be honest. We expect the bank teller to give us proper credit on our deposits. Dishonesty on the part of political figures is especially appalling. Why is it, then, that there is so little interest in BIBLICAL truth? And why is it that the typical "tele-evangelist" can get away with deceiving the multitudes and still maintain a following? Does that not seem rather incredible? It seems that the pursuit of truth on the part of the honest inquirer is sometimes treated as an offense by those being asked to investigate and examine what they believe or practice. I have been told on many an occasion, "It does not matter what you believe as long as you are sincere." Who do we think we are kidding? Does it make any difference how much you take of a doctor's prescription? Does sincerity negate the harmful effects of swallowing strychnine? Some years ago I read of a man who honesty thought he had perfected mind over matter. In order to prove his newly found power, he stood in front of an oncoming locomotive. His sincerity did not keep the authorities from having to peel him from the front of the train.
While it might be expected that the world would ignore or reject truth, it is an incredible fact that some of our own brethren willingly reject truth for a lie, and then expect us to believe that all the while they are trustworthy. But what a person does with the truth reflects to a large degree his attitude toward that truth. Some are so foolish as to buy into the lie that truth does not even exist. The arrogance of such individuals is apparent on the very surface of it. In 1995 Carl Garner made this astute observation regarding this matter: “The attitude a person maintains toward the existence of truth and of man’s capability to comprehend that truth is at the foundation of nearly every one of our attitudes toward the Bible and our willingness to submit to God. When one denies that God’s truth exists in a comprehensible form he must of necessity also deny the existence of absolutes in doctrine, in ethics, in matters of worship and fellowship, and in the distinctive marks of Christ’s church. It is therefore, no surprise to discover that some among us today are denying these very truths, their denial having its eventual source in a denial of the existence of truth and the need to defend it. You cannot very well defend that which does not exist” (Carl Garner, Fort Worth Lectures, 1995, page 241).
Soren Kierkegaard tells the story about a man who had escaped from an insane asylum. He feared that he might be recognized by someone so he determined to disguise his insanity by uttering some generally accepted truth that would prove to those about him that he was sane. So he would walk down the street telling each one that passed him by, "The earth is round, the earth is round..." As you may well guess, the man was soon apprehended and sent back to the hospital. The point Kierkegaard was trying to make was that the truth in the mouth of one who is not affected by truth is foolishness. To know the truth and refuse to apply it to life is really spiritual insanity; actually more like spiritual suicide. But friend, look around. Our nation is a living example of the rejection of truth. Political correctness has taken precedence over the search for truth. Medical professionals have taken an oath to preserve life and then they abort babies. In the religious realm there are entirely too many 'we-ought-to's' (if that is a word) and too little application of what truth we might know. How honest are our religious leaders who claim to love God, love the Bible, and love their fellow man but who disregard plain simple Bible teaching on matters concerning the church, salvation and sin?
Why is it that so many believe a lie (any lie) in the face of evidence to the contrary? When I was a young preacher I thought a good dose of the truth would inoculate anyone against error, and those infected by the viscous lies of false teachers would immediately turn there from and embrace the truth. I have learned after more than 40 years of preaching such is not the case. Some otherwise worldly men have recognized this fact when it comes to such things a politics and societal change. Consider these following quotes:
“No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as the truth.” (John F. Kennedy)
“If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. ” (Joseph Goebbels).
“Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it.” (Lysander Spooner).
“Propaganda is as powerful as heroin; it surreptitiously dissolves all capacity to think.” (Gil Courtemanche).
“It’s the unknown that draws people.” (E. A. Bucchianeri).
“The faster our lives spin, the more things tend to fly apart.” (Richard Paul Evans).
Perhaps one of the most humorous observations along this line was that attributed to Winston Churchill: “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”
To illustrate the point, lets reflect for just a moment on a tragic period in our world's history. The year was 1943. Our world was engaged in the bloodiest and most costly war in history. Germany was under the control of one of the most wicked men ever to live. Hitler's reign spelled death to millions. Some of those were put to death for no other reason than their nationality. When reports of concentration camps, gas chambers, and genocide became known, many refused to believe what they heard. Albert Speer, Hitler's minister of armaments was among that number. He confessed later, "I did not want to know what was happening." He was only one of hundreds, or thousands. Why did our world refuse to investigate? Why turn a deaf ear to the truth? For the simple reason that a knowledge of the truth demands responsibility. Many in the Third Reich would learn in the post war years that ignorance does not alleviate responsibility.
So it is with the truth contained in God's word. Ignorance does not excuse. One Day we will all give an account before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). The devil is deceiving many. Too much of what we hear today in religious circles is false, False, FALSE! Integrity demands investigation of the truth that can make you free!