Saturday 22nd March

I find myself increasingly perplexed about the things I read or hear in the News.  Things which are presented as being factual and truthful but which I have a suspicion might only be one side of a story.  Stories which are presented as evidenced when they are really little more than speculation.  Items posted and reposted on social media which turn out to be hoaxes.......... so how do we know what is true?

I fear that in this media driven world the need for a good story and the desire to always have a soundbite is pushing the need for truth out of the picture.  It doesn't matter if the newspapers make a mistake - they can just print a retraction and an apology the next week and all is fine.   It doesn't matter if the photograph appears to show something which wasn't actually happening or if someones reputation is trashed as long as the headline is good and the readership or viewing figures hold up.   And meanwhile the average man/woman in the street is left trying to discern the good from the bad and the ugly.  Or worse, is left deceived.

Does it matter?   Does it really make any difference if we know the truth behind the news stories or not?  Is it even possible to know the truth?  Who cares anyway - its not stuff which really affects our day to day living.

I would contend that it does matter.  The Bible tells us that Satan is the father of lies  ( John 8.44)  so every lie which we tell and every lie which we receive and listen to and believe is accomplishing his work on the earth.   We believe so many lies.  We believe lies about what we should look like and what we should or shouldn't eat.  About how we should be living and the things to which we should aspire.   We believe lies about how our clothes are produced and who is making them.   We listen to the advertisers who tell us we need more of this or that and that we cannot be happy unless we have the other.  And its all rubbish - worse than rubbish, it is from the pit of hell.  And it does us no good at all.

Jesus says He has come to show us TRUTH.   He IS truth.  Truth is not a concept or an idea.  Truth is a person and that person is Jesus.  When you get to know the truth ( Jesus)  then you can be free from the tangled web of deceit in which we are all caught.  We can discern the right from the wrong.  We can ' know'  even when we cant possibly know

An example.....  in 2012 a news story broke that a woman and a baby had fallen overboard from the Belfast ferry in icy cold waters and that a search had located the woman alive but the the baby was missing presumed drowned.    Normally when I hear something like that on the news or radio my first reaction is to send up a quick prayer along the lines of ' Oh Lord please help them find that baby ' or ' please let the child be OK'  or whatever.   But on this occasion I felt absolutely nothing.  No compassion for the woman or concern for the child and certainly no desire to pray.  It was really odd.   It was so odd that I mentioned it to my friend Denise and she said that she had felt exactly the same.  We both felt rather mystified..... until.... a few days later it transpired that the woman had not had a baby at all and had made up the child - causing untold expense and distress to the emergency services who had spent hours and hours searching.   The missing baby was a lie.  And the Holy Spirit in me knew that and didn't want me wasting my time and emotional energy on praying for and wondering about a child who didn't exist.

A small and silly example really, but throughout my life I have felt the constant checking of the Holy Spirit when someone has said something which is untrue.  Or only partially true.  ( Its very handy when it comes to parenting :-) )  I am always keen to look for an alternative explanation or see behind the presented facts to another point of view.  And of course it means one cannot get away with telling a lie oneself.  Ever

Truth is a weapon.  It destroys lies.  It pushes back darkness and doubt.  Speaking the truth is absolutely crucial when talking to people who are tangled up in the lies the enemy loves to sow.  ' Im unloved'  Im ugly'  'Im stupid'  ' It's hopeless'  'It's my fault'   ' I deserve it'   ' I cant change'  ' nobody cares'  and on and on and on.   When I am talking to people and hear these things escape from their lips I am instantly in battle mode and I leap to do war with these lies.   Usually with the words ' that's not true'  followed by a complete negation of what they have just said and a statement of the truth of what God says;   'You say you are ugly but that's not true.  You are fearfully and wonderfully made.  God calls you the apple of His eye.  He rejoices over you with singing.  You are not ugly'   It is not my words which can set someone free, or even my prayers.  It is Truth.  Jesus speaking His creative words of truth right into someones heart and mind.   If we had any idea how powerful truth is we would speak a whole lot more of it.

So this Lent let us take on the lies.  In our own heads, in the lives of those around us, and even in our culture.  Take a stand for TRUTH.   Truth will set you free.