These lies kill!
For several weeks now here at One Hundred-Fold Ministries, the blog environment that we call Backyard Conversations (thinking “Let’s just sit on the back deck and have a conversation” – Sounds fun doesn’t it?) we have been exploring how paradigms tend to go unnoticed. These are values, preferences, and influences that are taken for granted and therefore go unseen. Sociologists might dismiss it as culture, but the consequence of failing to examine these attitudes and behaviors that we walk in every day can be deadly to our hearts and souls if they are based on a lie.
Let’s review just a bit before I get to one of the most important deadly paradigm realities in your life that you may never have taken seriously.
Let’s start with a brief review as this is a series that builds precept on precept. Previously here we spoke of the lies that the Evil One used to tempt Eve and Adam. We can read about them in Genesis 3 – the four saddest verses in all the Bible. It begins with Satan speaking to Eve:
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful, and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. (New Living Translation)
Here we see the age old formula of appealing to what looks like pleasure to have, a need to experience and for the hope to increase our power. The lies never change, they just mold to the moment in presentation.
And then, the last time we were together here, we spoke of a book by Richard Foster that exposed the three great lies of our American culture paradigm – that we can find ultimate hope and satisfaction in Money, Sex and Power (1985, HarperOne). We called them the Unholy Trinity.
Here is the especially important bottom line . . .We live in a World of Lies
For instance these are not the devil:
We don’t know what he looks like, but we know that Satan is present in our world and the consequences of his lies are corrupting and condemning our world. It has been said that the greatest lie that the Devil has ever floated is that he doesn’t really exist. We must remember that in our current world we live in, Satan is the Prince of the Power of the Air. We need to remember that he is the “Father of Lies,” and that “He has been a liar from the beginning,” and that “there is no truth in him.” And that, at least for a time, he is the temporary ruler of this world.
That means that we live in a world of lies. And these are not little white lies . . .These lies kill!
The trouble with our ‘paradigm’ is that the so-called ‘truths’ that money, sex, and power might save us from ourselves become invisible by the fact that they are always present. Like the air we breathe or the water fish swim in. If only the lies were visible! If only we had Divine Kingdom glasses fit with Truth Lenses. Then we could see that the air is filled with the greasy smoke of lies. We could see the oily, deadly stains of the consequences of these lies. If only we had a Book filled with truth that could expose the lies. If only we had a Person who understood these lies and could show us what real Truth looked like. Then we might stand a chance of living well!
To live in this world, we must battle back with the Truth. Only truth can defeat a lie. And just as Satan is personified lies, there is also personified Truth! Jesus said, “I am the Truth, and I am the Life!” That is a bold claim! The paradigm we live in wants to diminish or extinguish this claim. Jesus – did he really exist? Or is he really merely just one of the great moral philosophers? Or maybe he was just another would-be Messiah that ran afoul of the Romans and got himself killed?
Or . . .
Could it be that He was who he claimed to be? To die in our place, to lay down his life in our place – that surely is an Amazing Friend. To pay the ransom for our sins and offer us absolute forgiveness – that is a Wonderful Savior.
Still . . .
Add to these foundational realities that he rules and reigns along with the Father as Living Truth and Life – that is an Eternal King and Kingdom worth our allegiance!
This is Dave Scherrer from One Hundred-Fold Ministries. Next week in our podcast Kingdom Offerings, we will explore in real terms what happens when we give into these lies and how efficient the world of lies is at blinding us to the consequences. For now, peace! And please do connect with me at dave@100foldministries.org.
Let’s review just a bit before I get to one of the most important deadly paradigm realities in your life that you may never have taken seriously.
Let’s start with a brief review as this is a series that builds precept on precept. Previously here we spoke of the lies that the Evil One used to tempt Eve and Adam. We can read about them in Genesis 3 – the four saddest verses in all the Bible. It begins with Satan speaking to Eve:
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful, and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. (New Living Translation)
Here we see the age old formula of appealing to what looks like pleasure to have, a need to experience and for the hope to increase our power. The lies never change, they just mold to the moment in presentation.
And then, the last time we were together here, we spoke of a book by Richard Foster that exposed the three great lies of our American culture paradigm – that we can find ultimate hope and satisfaction in Money, Sex and Power (1985, HarperOne). We called them the Unholy Trinity.
Here is the especially important bottom line . . .We live in a World of Lies
For instance these are not the devil:
We don’t know what he looks like, but we know that Satan is present in our world and the consequences of his lies are corrupting and condemning our world. It has been said that the greatest lie that the Devil has ever floated is that he doesn’t really exist. We must remember that in our current world we live in, Satan is the Prince of the Power of the Air. We need to remember that he is the “Father of Lies,” and that “He has been a liar from the beginning,” and that “there is no truth in him.” And that, at least for a time, he is the temporary ruler of this world.That means that we live in a world of lies. And these are not little white lies . . .These lies kill!
The trouble with our ‘paradigm’ is that the so-called ‘truths’ that money, sex, and power might save us from ourselves become invisible by the fact that they are always present. Like the air we breathe or the water fish swim in. If only the lies were visible! If only we had Divine Kingdom glasses fit with Truth Lenses. Then we could see that the air is filled with the greasy smoke of lies. We could see the oily, deadly stains of the consequences of these lies. If only we had a Book filled with truth that could expose the lies. If only we had a Person who understood these lies and could show us what real Truth looked like. Then we might stand a chance of living well!
To live in this world, we must battle back with the Truth. Only truth can defeat a lie. And just as Satan is personified lies, there is also personified Truth! Jesus said, “I am the Truth, and I am the Life!” That is a bold claim! The paradigm we live in wants to diminish or extinguish this claim. Jesus – did he really exist? Or is he really merely just one of the great moral philosophers? Or maybe he was just another would-be Messiah that ran afoul of the Romans and got himself killed?
Or . . .
Could it be that He was who he claimed to be? To die in our place, to lay down his life in our place – that surely is an Amazing Friend. To pay the ransom for our sins and offer us absolute forgiveness – that is a Wonderful Savior.
Still . . .
Add to these foundational realities that he rules and reigns along with the Father as Living Truth and Life – that is an Eternal King and Kingdom worth our allegiance!
This is Dave Scherrer from One Hundred-Fold Ministries. Next week in our podcast Kingdom Offerings, we will explore in real terms what happens when we give into these lies and how efficient the world of lies is at blinding us to the consequences. For now, peace! And please do connect with me at dave@100foldministries.org.