What is truth?

Jesus came to speak truth

John 18: 37-38 NIV

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” retorted Pilate.

John 14: 6

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Fast forward to the present

We have government officials that seek to cover up their activities with lies

Many voices make their pitch

The clear message is that the science is settled about climate change. Humanity faces a clear and major threat from global warming. Global warming is caused rising levels of CO2. CO2 levels are rising because of human activity in burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are burnt because they are a cheap source of energy to create power to drive the global economy. Cheap energy ignores the carbon cost and should have a carbon price that offsets its harm.

I do not agree with every aspect of Patrick Moore's worldview but the key point he makes about carbon being essential to life on earth is worth hearing.

William Happer Talks Climate Alarmism in a drought of CO2

A crisis explained in 10 charts

Polar bear crisis

Hockey stick graph story

Hockey stick illusion

Biggest scam in human history

An inconvenient truth

Just as Europe spread false reports about the Astra Zeneca vaccine the UK government abandoned a good French vaccine

The urgent case for Jesus in our world

Plastic waste is a real issue

What is truth?

The waters of public debate and education are being muddied. My purpose in writing this article is to consider that Jesus said that deception would be one of the great indicators of the end of the age, together with an increase in violence and the gospel being preached thoughout the world.

Matthew 24: 12-14 NIV

many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Signs at the end of time before Christ returns

deception
wickedness
gospel preached throughout world (internet preaching)

The New testament is very clear that there is in the human consciousness an inbuilt awareness of God that is externally evidenced by the natural world. In other words an understanding that the complexity and order of the natural world points to a Divine Architect. Therefore no-one can claim they did not know about God.

Romans 1: 18-21 The Passion Translation

For the wickedness of humanity deliberately smothers the truth and keeps people from acknowledging the truth about God. 19 In reality, the truth of God is known instinctively, for God has embedded this knowledge inside every human heart. 20 Opposition to truth cannot be excused on the basis of ignorance, because from the creation of the world, the invisible qualities of God’s nature have been made visible, such as his eternal power and transcendence. He has made his wonderful attributes easily perceived, for seeing the visible makes us understand the invisible. So then, this leaves everyone without excuse.

However, mankind has smothered the truth so God has allowed people to indulge themselves with a foolish mind-set and take foolishness to its logical absurdity.

Romans 1: 28

And because they thought it was worthless to embrace the true knowledge of God, God gave them over to a worthless mind-set, to break all rules of proper conduct.

Three sources of deception

There are three main ways for people today, as in the past, to express their spiritual dimension.

look for mystical knowledge or experience outside of God by pursuing nature, paranormal or occult worship type experiences
look to earn God's favour by following rules or practices that they consider pleasing to God
make the human mind their supreme authority or as the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras put it "Man is the measure of all things"

Each approach, though quite different in focus, has the idea that the individual will make their own determination about spiritual life while refusing to accept the Word of God as a single source of truth in these things.

I have been fascinated how people will refuse to take Covid-19 seriously or be vaccinated because they do not accept the authority of medical opinion and consider themselves to be exempt from risk. Some of these people would regard themselves as Christian and may base their anti-Covid stance on their faith. They are willing to risk death. Stephen Harmon, a member of the Hillsong megachurch, had been a vocal opponent of vaccines

Derek Prince Take Heed That You Are Not Deceived

1 Occult or New Age

Although formalised religious adherence has been on a decades long decline in western countries (but not in poorer nations or atheistic ones like China, North Korea or previously Russia) there has been a huge increase in informal spiritual practices. whether they are considered spiritual or not by practitioners. Yoga and mindfulness are two popular examples but also extremely popular are astrology and fortune telling, good luck type talismans such as wearing charms, tattoos, piercings and so on. This is very much the do-it-yourself type of religious practice where Judges 21 has a description for it.

Judges 21: 25

In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes

My interest is especially drawn to France with has more than two centuries of secularism as a state sponsored approach.

2 Islam and rule based communities

Islam as well as other rules based religions seek to win God's favour by following a path of actions that should not be questioned.

miscomprehension of the root cause of religious violence

Speaking on GB News this afternoon, Sohail Ahmed of the national security think tank The Henry Jackson Society said:

'When it comes to Islamist extremism in particular, I would say that the Islamist ideology creates this structure that funnels genuine grievances that people have and perhaps mental health issues into a particular direction, a direction towards violence. Extremism is far more prevalent than when I was in school.'

3 Atheism or Rationalism

The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 14:1)

Pew Research nones on the rise

Climate change a new religion

While atheism can seem influential in society it is a much weaker source of belief as it operates at a level that is contrary to human nature and (unbiased) reason

Trump Adviser William Happer Talks Climate Alarmism During COP25 in Madrid

Joanna Lumley calls for rationing

Another Warning

Hebrews 10: 26-28

For if we continue to persist in deliberate sin after we have known and received the truth, there is not another sacrifice for sin to be made for us. 27 But this would qualify one for the certain, terrifying expectation of judgment and the raging fire ready to burn up his enemies! Anyone who disobeyed Moses’ law died without mercy on the simple evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you suppose a person deserves to be judged who has contempt for God’s Son, and who scorns the blood of the new covenant that made him holy, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

Hebrews 6: 18-19

So it is impossible for God to lie for we know that his promise and his vow will never change! And now we have run into his heart to hide ourselves in his faithfulness. This is where we find his strength and comfort, for he empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time—an unshakable hope! We have this certain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold, and where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone in before us