You Shall Know The Truth

Remind evey of the memorial service for Elizabeth Tormey, following the regular service. It starts at 1:00 pm.

Also, remind everyone of the Christmas dinner tonight (IF DEE HASN’T ALREADY DONE SO.)

PRAYER FOR PASTOR CLAUDIO AND FAMILY, DAN SHERRILL, JO EVANS, PERRY FAMILY (ALL AFFECTED WITH THE CORONAVIRUS)

I was talking with my sister on the phone this week about how things are going with her job and everything down in Chattanooga, which is where we are from. In the discussion, she mentioned of how much things have changed since we were kids growing up together in Chattanooga. I told her that she was so right and that I agreed with her wholeheartedly!

You know, I had another discussion with someone else this week dealing with the same thing and we both made the same declaration about how much things have changed over the past decades within in this nation. (And to be fair, around the world pretty much also. But I don't live in the other parts of the world and so my metric for how things are going, is pretty much gauged by the good old United States!)

I remember a time when you didn't have to worry about keeping your house locked up. When you could literally walk over to a neighbor’s house and just walk in and ask for something and everyone was fine with that. There was a genuine sincerity and a trust between you and your neighbors.

I remember that there was an assurance that if anything happened and you had an emergency, you could run out your back door and no more than 40 yards away in any direction, to a neighbor's house and someone would be there to help you.

It was a different time in this nation. People still stood outside every 4th of July and fired up their electric ice cream makers and they would share their homemade ice creams and talk, while the children all played. It was like some utopia that you read about in a novel nowadays, of some far away place. It was kind of like a Mayberry existence from the Andy Griffith Show. Except that ours was more of a typical suburban area and not as rural as Mayberry.

But there was a moral fiber that existed back then within communities, that I do not see today in most places today. At least not on a scale like there used to be. Kids could go out and play all day long and their parents wouldn’t worry about where they were, or who they were with. There existed within the community of people an understanding, there was a TRUTH that existed between the people. We were neighbors and we looked after one another and we could depend upon one another.

It was a time in this nation when more people still filled the church houses on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings and Wednesday evenings and they looked forward to the fellowship and to gathering together to worship and to hear the Word of God being taught! You see, as I just said a minute ago, there was a moral fiber that existed, there was a TRUTH.

Maybe not everyone embraced this TRUTH as others, but its presence was still very much there and felt and understood in the community and in this nation. And since we are now less than 2 weeks away from December 25 (hard to believe isn't it), which is the time that church observes and celebrates the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, I felt it only fitting today to talk with you about the subject matter of TRUTH in this nation and within the world as a whole. Since Jesus was and is and always will be the TRUTH of God and we are getting ready to recognize and celebrate the birth of the TRUTH, then today just seemed like the perfect time to talk with you about all TRUTH!

There is a bankruptcy of absolute moral truth in this nation today. We are, as I have shared with you before, as well as many other preachers all across this nation, living in a “post-truth” society. Some of you may remember, as I have shared this before, but it was just back in 2016, that the Oxford Dictionary announced their new “word of the year”, as being none other than, “POST-TRUTH”. It defined the word as referring to “circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”

Let me summarize the definition of that word for you. Basically, post-truth, simply means that no matter how much physical evidence is staring you in the face, no matter how plain the facts may be right in front of your view, you or I can still denounce those facts and say that what is true, is not true and is actually something else all together! And all based upon our individual thoughts and emotions and desires and personal beliefs!

In other words, in a “post-truth” society, one plus one, doesn't have to equal two any longer.

It doesn't matter if the facts and the laws of mathematics state that it is an inescapable absolute and that it MUST be so, because once there no longer exists “absolute truths”, and it is open to individual subjective wants and desires, then chaos ensues!

You see, when Jesus the Christ made the statement nearly 2,000 years ago, that He was the “way, the TRUTH and the LIFE” and that “no man could come to the Father, except by Him”, that was ABSOLUTE and unchangeable, and the enemy of God has been hard at work to alter that TRUTH ever since!

You read of it in the epistles, as Paul and the others were combatting the religious lies that the enemy was trying to subvert the gospel message with. and thus reduce the power of the gospel and its effective message.

So powerful was the TRUTH of that message, that these men and women were willing to forsake everything in this world and lay down their own lives to defend it and keep it moving forward!

And isn't that what Jesus called for His followers to do from the start, “If any man be willing to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.”

And what you will observe, is that down through the ages, there has been a constant fight as to what the “absolute truth” of the gospel message meant.

As I said, the enemy of God, has always been trying to minimize and change and reduce the authority and the power of the “absolute truth” of the gospel.

Because once you change the TRUTH of the gospel, the only MORAL TRUTH, and it is no longer ABSOLUTE, then, you can begin to redefine TRUTH at any level and make it “post-truth”.

AND HERE WE ARE!

What does “post-truth” look like today. How can I best explain it to everyone for clarity? Are there clear examples of it right in front of us in America today? Yes, most definitely. Let me explain.

Let’s say that there is a surgeon in this modern “post-truth” society that we live in today. And for clarity, let’s give further detail and say that this surgeon is a cardiac surgeon, OK?

Now, let’s say for this example that we find Mr Smith on the operating table and the surgeon makes the incision and uses the spreaders to open up the rib cage and there before the surgeon and the whole team in the operating room, is an organ that is pumping, right before their very eyes.

Now, we do not have to be a surgeon, or have any real medical knowledge, to know what that organ that I speak of is, do we?

What is the organ that would be found beating in the chest cavity?

Exactly, the human heart!

Now, back to our “post-truth”example. The surgeon looks in and observes the organ and its current state of function, and declares, “That is a beautiful liver!”

And with no rebuttal from the subordinate staff, the procedure goes forward.

And despite any cosmetic changes and tweaks and alterations that the surgeon and his/her team makes to the organ, after they have closed up the patient, that organ is still a human heart, right?

The human heart cannot, in any way, shape, form or fashion, perform the functionality of a liver. It is impossible.

And when medical doctors look at the heart, or the liver, or any other organ, or as far as that goes, any other limb or appendage, they declare with bold assurance what those specific body parts are!

BUT, that is not the case in the “post-truth” society.

In post-truth, down can be up and right can be left and wrong can most definitely be right!

Because it is no longer OBJECTIVE (that is, verifiable by known, observed facts), but rather it is SUBJECTIVE (determined by ones own thoughts and feelings and emotions!

And so, in our example of the modern “post-truth” society that we are living in, a human heart can be labeled and designated as a liver. Not based on facts, but rather on feelings and emotions!

Now, let’s take this example and give it a practical and “real world” application, shall we?

Today, in this country, when a baby is born, the parents and the doctor can look at the baby, observe its external genitalia and plainly see the sex of the baby and then turn right around and declare “unspecified” for the sex of the baby on the birth certificate!

Unspecified, because in this modern “post-truth” world, it is cruel and unfair to pre-determine the sex of the child, before the child states what they believe themself to be!

And so, what do they do to propagate and enhance the “post-truth” lie? They begin to administer to the growing child, before they start into puberty, hormone-blocking injections, that will retard and stop the bodies natural function of the hormones that should be produced.

They do this, because they know what the production of the hormones will do in the child, which is to complete the growth and development of that child’s natural sex.

And so, in the “post-truth” society, you simply ignore the objective truth and change it, or enhance it, to make it fit your own flavor or definition!

It doesn’t matter what the facts state and what they all line, or add up to mean. What matters, is that each person get to choose their own version of the TRUTH!

The same thing happens with the child while they are developing within the womb. In the “post-truth” world, it is not a child, unless you feel like it is!

If you FEEL like what is inside you is going to be a hindrance and a nuisance to your lifestyle, then instead of it being a child at 4-5 months, it is simply called some “tissue” that can be removed.

Despite the observable facts of limbs and organs and a heart beat, to verify that this is an actual living human being!

No, to the “post-truth” world it is what we say that it is! (What we feel like it is!)

Now, if the parents of the same child truly want a baby in their lives, then they and the doctor will change direction and verbiage and call the same mass of tissue, a baby!

The only thing that changed in this example, was the wants and emotional desires of the parents.

Listen to me carefully people, when you can ignore and alter the absolute truth and verified existence of a human being, which you can see and touch and hear, then what do you think that our “post-truth” world is doing and has done with the absolute TRUTH of the gospel and of a God, whom man cannot see, or hear or touch?

I have sat and watched and read, over the last couple of weeks, a lot of the news, (both the mainline garbage media, as well as some more reputable reporters), dealing with all of the presidential election mess.

And in doing so, I have witnessed a similar situation.

When you have legal proceedings taking place, of where men and women are bringing physical evidence into the room and presenting facts before the panels, in various states, then these facts must be looked at and decisions weighed upon, based on such facts.

Yet, what I keep seeing the mainline media doing, is boldly stating that there exists NO EVIDENCE at all of any mishandling of any votes.

Despite eye-witness testimonies (which is verified evidence in any court hearing), signed affidavits and numerous other reports flooding in. Despite analytical data that says that there is something wrong, when they look at the graphs of this election pattern, vs any other before.

Despite video footage showing something was not being handled correctly!

Despite all of this evidence, they keep saying, “there’s no real evidence!”

Now, I am not saying that this evidence that they have is enough to turn anything around and I am not saying that it 100% verifies fraud at this point (although it definitely looks suspicious), but what I am saying, is that our legal system is made up of the understanding that you take hard evidence and you weigh it out and then make a judicial call, based upon that evidence.

Not in a “post-truth” world though. You say that it doesn’t exist and keep going. Even when you are looking at facts before your very eyes!

And that is wrong, on any level!

I was reading in the gospels this week and I saw something in there very similar to what we are witnessing today. The complete removal of the TRUTH and the facts that verify the TRUTH and the embracing of a lie. Yes, even 2,000 years ago and even further back in the Bible, there existed the “post-truth” that we see today!

Throughout the gospels, we read about and see of how our Lord, Jesus, was going about and performing many great signs and wonders before the crowds of people and also before the very eyes of the religious zealots of His day and age on this earth, who were opposing Him at every turn.

And despite all that the crowds witnessed and the great works that Jesus was performing before them and the Pharisees and Sadducees, they still denied who He was and who He claimed to be!

They would come before Jesus and ask Him to disclose to them who He was and who He gained His authority and power from.

And Jesus would answer them and mention that the works that He was performing could come from no other than God, Himself, and yet they still would not listen to, or believe in Him.

In John 10:25,-26 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.”

Jesus would go around performing many, many miraculous signs and wonders, and then the religious leaders would come behind Him and spread lies and deception about Him.

And as long as there were non-believers and false prophets spreading lies and denouncing the TRUTH about Jesus, there would always be those who wavered in there faith in Him and of God.

The propaganda of the religious zealots of that time, served to derail and detract the people from seeing the TRUTH about who Jesus was.

That is what the devil did then and that is what he is still doing today.

Using propaganda to keep people’s minds occupied with lies and seemingly intelligent media materials!

The Russian grand chess master, Garry Kasparov, made the following statement, “The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, so as to annihilate truth.”

As long as the enemy can keep pushing out in front of you and I, continual propaganda and lies and as long as we feed on those lies, then he can and will succeed at annihilating the TRUTH in our lives!

The Word of God openly declares the TRUTH and who the TRUTH is and it tells us what we must do to be a part of the TRUTH.

But, unless you and I read and study the Word and keep that Word hidden inside of our hearts, then we are prone, by our natural/carnal nature, to begin to believe the propaganda and lies of the devil.

Just look at the modern church in America and of how whole denominations are being ing sacked and reduced to modern temples of the doctrine of Satan, himself!

For this reason, Jesus declared in Matthew 24:24, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”

And whenever you read of or witness a lie of the enemy and his propagated message of deception and you let any of that message inside of your heart and mind, it will begin to detract from your faith and lead you back into sin.

Jesus said to the people in John 8:31-32, 34-36 “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Abiding in His Word is absolutely crucial for knowing the TRUTH and holding fast to the TRUTH!

I read an article this morning dealing with Generation Z (those born between 1995-2010) and of how this new generation is no longer turning to the leaders of the church for answers and for help. Only 8% of this generation stated that they would go to a religious leader if they had need of something. Now I know that there are many factors that can go into this, but still something has happened to weaken and lessen the mindset of our youth and our nation into not trusting in the leaders of the Body of Christ.

This group, Gen Z, has been dubbed the “loneliest generation” and the “least religious” generation.

And this stems from the people walking away from the “ABSOLUTE TRUTH” of God’s Word!

As an example of how many in this generation view a walk with the Lord, one young lady said in the article interview, “I guess if you have to put a label on it, I’m Christian, but with everything in today’s world…I don’t know. I just think I’m spiritual, maybe?”

That is such a sad statement from a 23 year old young lady!

“I’m a Christian......or maybe I’m just religious”. This is the byproduct of a deviation from the absolute TRUTH of the gospel message!

And with the amazing job of “social distancing” that has come from the whole COVID-19, and more and more of these young people being pulled apart from churches and teachers of the Lord, Gen Zers are now saying that they are lonelier than ever......with 60% reporting that they feel very isolated and alone!

Folks this can't continue! I'm believing for Holy Spirit filled radical followers of Christ, to rise up and begin to teach and preach and to declare the absolute TRUTH of the gospel message to this generation and to the whole country and to whole world!

There must be absolute TRUTHs in our lives: doctors know it, scientists know it, mathematicians know it, bakers and chefs know it! Pretty much everyone in society recognizes the necessity of embracing absolute TRUTH in life!

Without absolute truths, nothing works!

And this applies even more so to the necessity of the absolute moral TRUTH of the Word of God in our country, in our homes, in our jobs and one million times over, within our churches!

When you remove the TRUTH of the Word of God from a culture and a society, there are major repercussions. Society begins to implode on itself and people exponentially start turning more and more to their carnal self and foolishness of sin. Which is what we are witnessing in this nation today!

But what does the Bible say about removing the TRUTH from a nation and from a society?

Let me read real quickly to you what the Word (THE TRUTH) says about this.

Romans 1: 18 tells us,

Romans 1:18 ESV

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

God’s wrath, His divine judgement is going to be poured out upon everyone who suppresses and denies the TRUTH about His Son and about His Word!

And that’s not a place that you want to find yourself!

CALL FOR PRAYER FOR STRENGTH IN THIS NATION IN THE COMING DAYS AND FOR OUR PRESIDENT AND FOR THE WORKS DONE IN DARKNESS TO BE BROUGHT INTO THE LIGHT AND BROUGHT UNDER THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH OF THE WORD OF GOD!