When I decided to become a serious student of the Bible, I had already accepted the fact that it was God’s Word to mankind and, that it was to be in this Book alone that I would learn of the true nature and character of God. Little did I know however, that equally, I would learn in that Book of the true nature and character of human beings. My first lesson came from Genesis 3:4-6 where I read of the man and woman choosing to embrace lies instead of truth. I learned there, that these two people were not ignorant of truth, they just did not value truth.
When discovering this, it was not at all difficult for me to accept the Bible’s declaration that human beings are the offspring of those two people, based on my own love for lies and half-truths up until a few months beforehand. Not that I knew much truth before I met the Lord Jesus, but I knew enough to know that I was not living in truth and did not want to know about truth. Then I got to thinking about others around me whom I knew to be lovers of lies rather than lovers of truth. From there I began to think about society in general and how it too chooses to operate from lies and half-truths rather than truth.
In continuing Genesis studies, I noticed that it was the on-going choosing of lies over truth that eventually brought the downfall of individuals, families, societies and nations. For example: Cain was not ignorant of truth, he knew it was stupid to try and short-change God, but he embraced lies and did it anyway. The same with the murdering of his brother; he knew God’s truth about that. But again, he embraced lies and did it anyway. The same thing applies to the people we read about in Genesis 6:5-7. None of that generation were ignorant of truth. They chose evil thoughts, lies and behavior. They rejected truth and that’s what brought their downfall.
In Genesis 11:1-9 we learn that it was because of the people’s love for lies rather than truth that brought God to divinely intervene, confound their language and scatter them all over the earth. They knew about the God of truth, but just like their first parents in that garden, they embraced the lie that they could become their own gods. How about Sodom and Gomorrah? The people in Sodom had become so depraved that not even ten righteous people could be found among them. God told Abram that He would spare the city from His judgement of destruction if ten could be found. No lovers of truth there whatsoever – only lovers of lies – in both cities!
If the first 19-odd chapters in the book of Genesis were the only ones in all the Bible to show us that human beings are lovers of lies, it would be enough. But we see this truth revealed all the way through to its culmination at God’s Great White Throne Judgement, revealed in New Testament Revelation 20:11-15. No wonder the bulk of unredeemed humanity loathes and wants to do away with the books of Genesis and Revelation. The first tells us what we are and the second tells us where we end up if we do not humble ourselves before God and agree with Him that we are lovers of lies and despisers of truth. Not only does unredeemed humanity despise truth, it also despises God’s gift and means of mercy.
I saw a TV program recently, and the comment was made that although people are rejecting Christianity in large numbers, “there is still a deep yearning within people to believe in a world beyond this one, when they die.” Well, there are only two! God Himself tells us that one’s called heaven and the other is called hell. Not only that, but it is we who get to choose which one we’ll end up in. I know about this deep yearning within people. I have witnessed it in hundreds of them over many years. Many have shared with me the void within them and although some have listened and nodded as they heard me saying that the void is so shaped that only Jesus can fill it, they turned their backs on Him, seeking another way.
On that same program, a man was discussing his choice of embracing Buddhism over Christianity. He said he did not want to believe in a Being, “like God or Jesus Christ.” That’s exactly what I have found. It is not that people cannot believe in God and the Lord Jesus, it is that most will not believe. That’s what it comes down to. It is never really a matter of the mind struggling to understand, but rather, a matter of the will. And it is very easy for a self-willed person to justify why they don’t need a Savior. That’s what the Buddhist man did, which in his case made it much easier for him to choose to believe the lie that he could atone for his “short-comings” by campaigning for climate change!
The spirit of Paganism is rising exponentially all over the world. People are becoming attracted to it in droves – mainly because they see it as essentially a nature-loving religion. Its adherents believe that there is a supreme god or goddess or Great Spirit and that he or she exists in all things around us – that is, the plants and trees, the rocks and water, the air etc. The appeal for many to embrace Paganism has been the fact that whilst they can freely worship this god or goddess they know they’re not accountable to him or her – not now, not ever! A god that one is not accountable to has always had a far greater appeal than the One we are accountable to. Both Testaments of the Bible make that more than clear!
Whether people embrace Buddhism, Paganism, Spiritism or any other ism, they all have one common trait that they are completely oblivious of – and that is; although they believe themselves to be a free-spirited people, they are, in reality, a fear-driven people! Whether they know they have embraced lies or not, they place themselves under a spirit of bondage or slavery. No lie or half-truth ever brings freedom to the one who lives on them. It’s not possible. Why not? Because it’s only as we embrace truth are we enabled to be set free – spiritually, mentally, morally. Jesus won’t have it any other way John 8:32, 36. That means lovers of lies will pay the same price as those lovers of lies we read about in the book of Genesis – if they don’t respond to God’s mercy in Christ.
People who embrace isms have always been quick to denounce biblical Christians for holding to the gospel of Jesus Christ, accusing us of scare-mongering, bringing fear, doom and gloom by, “forcing your message” upon the world. They accuse us of being exclusive, arrogant and self-righteous etc. Yet, in recent years for example, how quick they have been to express exactly the same by embracing the message from the “evangelists” of global-warming-come-climate-change. The scare-mongering, fear, doom and gloom that these people have successfully spewed out across the world, make us look like choir boys by comparison. A more intimidating, manipulative, arrogant, self-righteous bunch one could never hope to encounter.
Lovers of lies work very hard at presenting themselves as sophisticated and intelligent people. That’s another reason why I accepted the Adam and Eve history in Genesis as truth. They bought the lie that they would become wise by rejecting God Genesis 3:6. That’s exactly how it is with those who hold to some sort of ism. As one who was a high-school dropout, I marvel at this. These certificated or “qualified” people don’t bother to question or look for evidence for what they believe, they just accept it, blindly following each other into some sort of Utopia that in reality, does not exist for them. How dumb is that?
Yet, they will not hesitate to arrogantly and self-righteously question and demand evidence for the existence of the One True God Who reveals Himself in Jesus Christ, through the pages of the Bible. They’re full of bluff of course, they don’t really mean it. Deep within the innermost being of all lovers of lies is the intuitive knowledge that they will find Him if they search for Him with all their heart Jeremiah 29:13. Most will never do that. They know that if they did so, they would then have to make themselves accountable to Him. Lovers of lies see themselves as accountable to nobody but themselves.
So, is there any hope at all for lovers of lies? Yes, plenty while they still draw breath. But it’s all conditional on truth. One must be willing to allow the God of truth to divinely intervene into his or her life and set them free from lies. That’s Jesus’ job – and He does a grand job! Having said that; from the book of Genesis, all the way through to the book of Revelation, we see that truth is not at all valued by most people. Those books tell us that the true nature and character of most human beings, continues to remain that of lovers of lies rather than lovers of truth. “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, and does not respect the proud nor such as turn aside to lies.” Psalm 40:4. “….no lie is of the truth.” 1 John 2:21.