Truth Vs. Lies

(Image courtesy of learnreligions.com.)

 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:10-12).

Paul wrote this to the church in Ephesus from prison. The humble apostle knew what it was to wage war against the powers of evil. He suffered while on earth, but was victorious through Christ in the end.

Paul was a good man by all accounts. He didn’t mistreat anyone or hate anyone or bully anyone after his conversion. Actually, Paul loved people. So, why was he beaten, whipped, thrown in prison? It was because he told the truth. Paul told the truth of Christ to people who hated Christ.

Thus, Paul’s problem was clearly a spiritual problem, as he so clearly expounds in the well-known passage from Ephesians 6. There’s no earthly reason why someone who has committed no crime and sought no harm against another would be hated and thrown in prison. While there’s no earthly rationale for this, there is a spiritual reason: the devil hates Christ and his Truth and his messengers of the Truth. He will stop at nothing to destroy them – and, thus, the works of Christ. (But he will never be successful!)

Recently, media outlets have picked up my story of being let go from the government school where I once taught because I refused to comply with district mandates stating I refer to transgender students by their preferred names. My defense won’t matter to those who are blinded by the god of this age (the devil), but I’ll state it anyway: to go along with the directive would effectively admit that God made a mistake when he created a person as male or female, which is simply not the case. Lying to anyone is not loving or morally safe.

To set the record straight, in my eleven years as a teacher, I have been let go three different times. At one school I spoke up against their gender-neutral bathroom policy (and I didn’t join the teacher’s union), so I was not welcomed back. At another school, a private school, after a new administrator came in, I was told that I no longer fit the vision for the school. This was a Christian school, mind you. I pushed back on their mask mandates as well as the new administrator’s push for a diversity committee. Race is not a biblical idea; it is anti-biblical, actually. God created one race – the human race – with varying shades of brown as their skin colors, but I digress. The straw that broke the camel’s back, however, was when I confronted a parent about her daughter’s rainbow pictures, desiring to make her aware of the sinful ideas she was touting. Her mother saw me as the problem instead and complained, so after five years I was let go from there as well.

The god of this world has found an effective tool to deceive the world: lies. That’s the way he’s operated since the beginning. When truth confronts lies, a battle ensues. As Christians, our ethic should be to always confront lies with truth, no matter the cost. More than this, we have the strength of the Lord to empower us in the fight.

I say all of this to illustrate the fact that the devil is the father of lies. He hates the truth. The Christian’s battle is, ultimately, with him. While I seek God’s will through his established, earthly means of justice in our legal system, I pray in the end that Christ would be glorified, that those lost in the darkness and confusion of sin would repent and believe Christ, and that my family’s faith would not waver.

I have prayed for years the following prayer: “Lord, glorify Thyself; whatever the cost, let me bear it.” Amen and amen.

O Christian, do not be afraid of the enemy, for, lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him! Our King still reigns! Let us be faithful to him, in the wrestling match of this life.