Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Wednesday, 26 June 2024 06:42

Knowing the Truth
by Joey Carroll Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

Truth is difficult to come by these days. For instance, no matter what side of the political spectrum you find yourself in, if you were willing to be honest, you would have to admit that truth is not the goal of either party anymore. Instead, the parties desire influence. It’s worth it to both sides to hide the truth, or color it a little, if it will tear down the opponent or build up your side. Others would go so far as to say truth doesn’t matter, or that truth is relative, but that kind of thinking is obviously void of any real depth or intelligence.
If we are going to have a conversation about truth, we would obviously have to agree on its source. For the follower of Christ, the source of all truth is the Word of God. In fact, it refers to itself as “the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). And our Lord refers to Himself as “the Truth” in John 14. But there has always been someone since Genesis 3 that has denied that truth; He is known as the father of lies or Satan (John 8:44).

The Liar has always been active in spreading disinformation about the One that all of Creation and the entire Bible points to, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Satan even tried to lie to our Lord in Luke 4, but he failed miserably. However, Satan’s attempts have been very successful among men. One of his most successful means to spread lies about our Savior is through what is known as false prophets. They were active all throughout the Bible, and they continue today. False prophets are men and women who promote themselves as those who speak on behalf of the Lord, but actually lie about the Lord and lead many astray. These individuals have many names in the Bible such as liars, deceivers, shepherds for hire, and wolves in sheep’s clothing. The Apostle Peter tells us that we will know these individuals by their fruit. They most often are found out by their love for money. They can be found on countless T.V. channels, radio, every single form of social media, and sadly standing behind many pulpits on Sunday morning. They have formed countless religions, denominations and cults. As the Apostle Paul says, they are more interested in you following them rather than you following the Truth.

During the writing of 1 John, it seems as though those false prophets were teaching that Jesus did not come in the flesh. In other words, when the eternal Son of God left behind glory to take on the flesh of man and be born as a man, He was not fully man or truly man. He came in some other form. A similar lie is repeated today among some that say that Jesus was not God in the flesh. Lies abound about the Christ, and if you are not careful, you too will be led astray like so many. How do you guard yourself from being lied to about Jesus? It really is not that difficult. You simply need to read. No, don’t look to anything I have written for the definitive truth – though my goal is to proclaim the truth about Jesus. It is not to read really anything written by people, but rather to read what God Himself has written concerning His Son in the Bible.

On one of his missionary journeys, the Apostle Paul writes something about a people group known as the Bereans that strikes the reader as amazing, but should really be a commonplace practice. “Now these [Bereans] were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so,” (Acts 17:11, NASB). Paul came across a group of people who measured what Paul said against what was written down in the pages of Scripture to ensure that what he was telling them was the truth. If we as professing Christians would pick up our Bible and spend regular time reading it and studying it, there would be far fewer religions, denominations, and cults around the world. There would be far fewer people led astray by lies, and many more people rejoicing in the truth of the Son of God.