Inoculation Against Falsehood

June 14, 2024

A quote often attributed to the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels says, “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.”  This seems to have become a motto for many in the world.  Our world is awash in lies, deception, and hypocrisy.  The lies that emanate from the lord of this world, the devil, are repeated over and over until people start to believe them.  Things that were once common sense and bedrock truths are now questioned by many.  This is especially true in human morality and behavior.  I’m sure you can think of some big, obvious lies that the masses are starting to believe.

Of course, we are not immune to falling for these lies ourselves.  Continuously repeated lies can seep into the church and pull us away from the truth.  We must be careful not to get sucked in.  What can we do to inoculate ourselves against the lies?

We must know the truth!  And where do we find the truth?  Jesus prayed to the Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:17 NASB95) The truth about mankind, our condition, what is right and what is wrong, and all matters of our eternal destination are found in the word of God.  We need to know the word and be grounded in it!

We must know the truth, and we must love the truth!  Those who do not love the truth are in great spiritual danger.  Paul warns the church at Thessalonica that one day “the man of lawlessness” will be revealed.  He will come with “all the deception of wickedness,” and people will perish, “… because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved…” (2 Thessalonians 2:10 NASB95) It is not enough to know the truth.  Even the devil knows the truth.  As children of God, we must continually cultivate a love for the truth. 

Finally, to inoculate ourselves against the lies of this world, we must remove what is false from our own lives.  As Peter wrote, “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.” (1 Peter 2:1 NASB95) Notice that we must put away deceit. This is more than just not telling lies. It means putting away any attempt to be crafty or cunning.  It means not doing things like leaving out critical information in order to bait people into believing something untrue.  Notice also that we are to put aside hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is putting on a mask to mislead people about your true purposes and motivations.  People who love truth will always strive to put away any kind of falsehood.  As we do so, we will prepare our hearts to accept the truth and to grow in salvation.

—Scott Colvin

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Posted by Scott Colvin

The Deceitfulness of Sin

July 29, 2022

“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:12-13 NASB)

Sin is deceitful. Sin promises pleasure and fun. Sin promises freedom and fulfillment. But Satan is the father of lies and he uses sin to lure souls into destruction. If we could only see more clearly the deceitfulness of it all! Sin may bring brief pleasure and fun, but in the end, it always brings ruin and death. Sin may promise freedom and fulfillment, but in reality, it always brings enslavement and spiritual poverty.

Not only does sin deceive, but it also hardens. Some may think that they can play around with sin, reap the temporary pleasures, and repent later. But this is a deadly game because sin hardens the heart and sears the conscience over time. Sin can harden the heart so much that a person no longer wants to listen to the word of God and no longer responds to it. Sin can make a person hostile to God and to the truth of His word.

Because of the great dangers of sin, we need to make sure that we are taking care of our hearts. We need to be very careful that our hearts don’t fall away from God. You and I can and should be helping one another with this. We need to be encouraging one another every day, urging one another to stay true to the Lord and to not be deceived by the temporary, deceitful pleasures of sin. We all could probably do a better job of this. It is an important job that each of us have from the Lord. We also need to make a commitment to be assembling with the saints on the Lord’s Day. We need to make that commitment for our own sakes as a way of strengthening our own hearts, and we need to make that commitment for our brothers and sisters. We need to encourage one another! And not just on the Lord’s Day, but every day!

Sin is deceitful. Sin hardens. Sin destroys. Would you reach out to someone today to encourage their heart? Would you reach out to give encouragement to your brethren throughout the week? Let’s strive to help one another in this way.

—Scott Colvin

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Posted by Russell Holden