Truth's Disappearing Act

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!  The faithful have vanished from the earth!  Neighbors lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.  May the Lord cut off their flattering lips and silence their boastful tongues.  They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.  Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”  The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor.  Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.”  The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.  Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land.  Psalm 12:1-8

It's impossible to come to a conclusion that truth is hallowed in 21st century culture.  Rather, we would be forced to admit (if honest) that truth is seen as optional, if lying brings you the resuts you’re after.  More than half of school children admit to cheating on tests; the key word being admit.  It doesn’t help that some teachers are actually promoting test dishonesty.  In Florida a cheating on tests scandal was recently uncovered, where teachers were rigging the tests to make sure more of their students pass.  The motivation is that teachers get bonuses ($25-$50 per student) for passing grades.[1]  While this is certainly not the standard, it shades public perception of the integrity of teachers holding their careers to a higher ethical standard.  But it does give one pause to recall James Russell Lowell’s famous quote:  Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne.  Evil, as the Psalmist put it, is praised throughout the land.

There are plenty of examples of the prevaricating nature of our culture’s moral turpitude.  Election campaigns are battlegrounds no longer for presenting the genuine character of the candidates; they are all about pandering to the polls, and tickling ears.  It isn’t about presenting clearly an agenda of how the county will benefit from the course of action an aspiring office-holder will enact.  Rather, it’s a matter of hiding the true agenda, and how it will keep the candidate’s party in power, and line the pockets of those who got the candidate elected.  And if it takes a small white lie (or a big whopper) to get there, well, integrity is a little over-rated, and besides, the end will justify how we got there.

The Psalmist clearly states God’s agenda for that kind of forked-tongue, snakiness: 

The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor.  Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.”  

For You Today

It isn’t going far out on a limb to say that the only way our nation’s young will get it, that truth is important, is if they see it in the generation that’s raising them, even when it hurts.  No, make that, especially when it hurts!  That’s the time the truth will really set you free.[2]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Walk with Integrity and Truth, Whole Truth, Nothing BUT the Truth

[1] Images:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Teachers Caught in Test Cheating Scandal

[2] John 8:32

On the Right Side of History

 

Monday, January 25, 2021

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation.  I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.  I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.  All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”  Genesis 12:1-3

I’m old enough to have a history with experience.  My first vote in a presidential election was in 1968; in a total of 14 elections, I voted for the winner 8 times.  In Las Vegas, being right 57% of the time means you go home with full pockets.  But I’m not sure this applies; it’s just reporting the results like the newscasters.  “Winning” is so very temporary and having the most votes simply equates with popularity.

As each of those voting seasons came to an end, the “winning side” claimed a new era of peace, justice, and the American way, that the “other side” had been defeated, and now we can begin again to set things right.  And every time I heard one of those afterglow statements of victory, I always had an uneasiness about the certitude of the winner.  Depending on whether my vote had been for the victor, my feeling was either agreeably-uncertain, or disdainfully-uncertain.  I always had a sense of what-if, as in what-if-my-vote-was-on-the-wrong-side-of-history?

Now, before I lose you in thoughts of either gloating over winning, or sour-grapes for losing, this is about neither.  It has to do with choosing the right-side of history, which has nothing to do with which side may “win” or “lose”. 

Winston Churchill is often attributed for originating the phrase history is written by victors, however it is a phrase much older than World War II.  It is also suspect according to some:  One author has it that, [t]he more accurate quote would be, ‘History is temporarily twisted by people who’re going to profit from it in the short term.’[1] 

Whether it comes from the political right or left, I think this expediency motive may prove flawless.  It’s simply a matter of understanding that publicity matters when it comes to staying in power; when it comes to holding the high ground in public opinion, perception is its’ own reality.

Now, all of that is a matter of human relationships, political machinations, and intentions of those who would be the victor, not the vanquished.  The tides of popularity and so-called success are short-lived. 

So, what do we make of all this?  Is this just cynicism, or hyper-criticism?  Should we not participate in it at all…summarily trash everything?  Absolutely not!

So, what then?  What is the purpose in all of this?  Why even bring up the matter if there is no end to it? 

Well, I’m glad you asked.

Like the unknown cards in another’s hand, God stands behind the curtain of our ability to see.  And, as with Abraham, the Lord stands ready to bless or curse, depending on whether we intend to act with or against His will.  This is the nature of God in His complete Sovereignty.  Sovereign God is the ultimate winner in complete righteousness.  His will is immutable and irresistible.  And, therefore, it is God’s will which constructs, writes, and validates any “history”.

For You Today

If you want to be on the right side of history, it is a matter of surrendering one’s heart and life to God’s will. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on Genesis 12 see Yield - Part 2 and Leaving and Arriving      

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[1] Shubham Jain in “History Is Written By Victors” Is A Foolish Phrase

 

Truth Waiting for the Hangman

 

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

What can I say about you?  Who has ever seen such sorrow?  O daughter of Jerusalem, to what can I compare your anguish?  O virgin daughter of Zion, how can I comfort you?  For your wound is as deep as the sea.  Who can heal you?  Your prophets have said so many foolish things, false to the core.  They did not save you from exile by pointing out your sins.  Instead, they painted false pictures, filling you with false hope.  All who pass by jeer at you.  They scoff and insult beautiful Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city called ‘Most Beautiful in All the World’ and ‘Joy of All the Earth’?”  All your enemies mock you.  They scoff and snarl and say, “We have destroyed her at last!  We have long waited for this day, and it is finally here!”  But it is the Lord who did just as he planned.  He has fulfilled the promises of disaster he made long ago.  He has destroyed Jerusalem without mercy.  He has caused her enemies to gloat over her and has given them power over her.  Lamentations 2:13-17

The prophet Jeremiah is generally accepted to be the author of Lamentations.  His is not a message positivity thinkers would appreciate.  Truth be told, Jeremiah had little positive affirmation in his life.  Every time he opened his mouth to speak the Word of God to God’s people, he either developed a new enemy (or a few thousand) or got thrown in prison.  Church tradition suggests he was stoned to death for heresy by Jewish leaders in Egypt.  He spent a lot of time waiting for the hangman.

In that waiting Jeremiah saw clearly what national catastrophe looks like.  In the case of Jerusalem, the prophet predicted, and lived to see the day when that beautiful city of God set on a hill was defeated and destroyed, its citizens reduced to either slavery or starvation, or both.  And what the prophet said about it all must have been like salt rubbed in the wounds.  It wasn’t unfair; it wasn’t God abandoning His covenant, or somehow falling-down on the job.  It was God fulfilling His covenantal promises that, if Israel served God faithfully, His promises were of life, strength, and a never-ending sense of peace and joy.  On the other side of that coin of promise was a warning, that if they served other gods, they would experience the wrath of judgment.  It wasn’t hard for Jeremiah to connect the dots; Israel had wandered into the far country of idolatry and sin.

James Russell Lowell penned the famous words concerning truth and wrong, particularly in public life, and poignant for any nation:

Perhaps Lowell had Jeremiah’s day in mind when he wrote this, but it certainly looms larger over the next four years (or any moment in time) than any appraisal of the economy, international relations, poverty or justice, compared to what God is doing in plain sight to a nation so divided and angry. 

In America we are busy electing our governmental leaders for the next cycle.  As of this writing it’s unclear who will be president or control the Congress.  But one thing is clear – whoever sits in a Senator’s chair, or at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, that person will not be without sin.  The real question is whether the people who are ruled by the elected leaders will take truth off the scaffold and send the hangman to remove wrong from the throne.

Now, I am not suggesting a bloody revolution – indeed, just the opposite.  I am suggesting what another prophet (probably Ezra) wrote about the government of Israel and how they were falling into worshipping other gods, and the only true path the people can take to extricate themselves from impending judgment:

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14

For You Today

May I suggest that we spend a lot less time talking about how right (or wrong) the election’s outcome may be?  May we begin the process of placing truth back on the throne by humbling ourselves, praying, seeking God, and weeding out the sins in our own lives?  God responds to what His people do…whether evil or good.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title image:  via Wikimedia Rembrandt (in public domain)   W   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on 1 Peter 2:13-17 see:  An Honorable Life and Honorable Behavior - Part 2

 

The Light of Truth

 

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Declare me innocent, O God!  Defend me against these ungodly people.  Rescue me from these unjust liars.  For you are God, my only safe haven.  Why have you tossed me aside?  Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?  Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me.  Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live.  There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy.  I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!  Why am I discouraged?  Why is my heart so sad?  I will put my hope in God!  I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!  Psalm 43

Sometimes when you read Scripture it’s an easy mistake to read in a bubble of isolation.  That is, you see the Biblical characters as if their lives are somehow different from ours.  Technology and science aside, there is not a breathing human living on the planet at this moment who is any different from those who dwelt in caves or wrote on clay tablets (as opposed to iPads and PC’s).

King David’s life was not lived in a Wonderland-like rabbit hole; his ethereal “aura” had real rocks and streams, and the danger of enemies, both human, as well as ferocious bears and lions.  When armies went to war, real men died.  Disease took hold in pandemic waves, and the cancer of lies was just as caustic and devastating as today.  And when David (just as you and I) faced those human conditions he felt helpless and confused at times.

Hence his prayer recorded in the Psalms; it was the heartfelt cry of a needy, troubled soul, looking for the light of God’s truth to guide him into a right course of action to deal with the evil oppressors who lied their way into places of power, and were now unjustly attempting to overwhelm David’s life with their schemes.

Sometimes we imagine evil in others or are simply fooled by accusations, fabricated stories to make an evil person seem better than he is (that should be an easy call in an election year)!  But sometimes evil is so great it’s driven from below the surface, demonic, an evidence of the greater struggle between God and all that is unholy. 

That may seem surreal to the modern mind, but it’s merely evidence of something that existed long before you and me, or David, or even Adam and Eve.  Before the creation of earth and the universe there were seeds of doubt and pride, a canker ready to usurp the very throne of God.  These seeds became the fruit of rebellion, which is recorded in Isaiah’s prophecy as Lucifer, God’s beloved angel, thought to replace God Almighty, but was rejected, defeated, and consigned to eternity in Hell for his unfaithfulness:

“How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning!  You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world.  Isaiah 14:12

The seed of sin spread to Adam and Eve and multiplied in less than a full generation as one jealous son, Cain, killed his brother, Abel.  And it has been so ever since.

To listen to the news media, politicians, and fear mongers, it’s all about racism.  The problem with that is an attempt to point fingers at a single outcropping of an endemic, epic cause, while side-stepping the long-entrenched human condition, sin.  We look at what’s happening in today’s culture as if it is something new…or at least an outbreak of a problem about to be dealt a crusade-ish death blow.  Racism did not start in the 1620’s.  It is merely an evidence of a deeper human condition that surfaces in many different ways.  You cannot cure racism or any other social evil with an edict from Washington, or by building more churches, bigger churches, and more entertaining, culturally-fashionable churches and worship styles.  No politician has a legislative agenda to stem human evil.  And no movement claiming their space matters, or their 15 minutes of fame will make all the difference, is going to stem the tide of the pandemic of sin.

For that, there is only one cure, the blood of Jesus Christ!  When received, this blood works in the human heart as no other force in the universe:

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.  1 John 1:9

This is the light of God’s truth.  It is only the cleansing of the human heart by the forgiveness of God that leads to what David prayed, that God’s light and truth would set him on a true course, one that leads to joy.

For You Today

Course correction:  kneel at the cross…get up with truth and light as your guide.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title image:  Pixabay.com   W   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on Truth and Light see:  Walk With Integrity and Truth, Whole Truth, Nothing BUT the Truth

Following the Truth

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago.  All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground.  In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses.  All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water.  For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.  Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.  These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did.  As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”  And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.  Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites.  And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death.  These things happened to them as examples for us.  They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.  1 Corinthians 10:1-11

Jesus said the truth will set you free.[1]  This week I watched (yet another) broadcast warning about dangers of the Coronavirus, and the epidemiologist being interviewed was asked what one thing government could do to help stem the spread of this disease.  His answer was that our government must be totally transparent with the truth.  Perhaps this scientist was quoting Jesus.

Movements, like the Israelites following Moses out of Egypt, are faith-based, and can come unglued in a hurry; just ask any presidential candidate who never won the election.  But, what about those which appear to be successful?  What about the elections won?  What then?  I seem to recall President Bill Clinton uttering that storied phrase:  O’m’gosh…I’m president; what do I do now?  I’m sure he wasn’t the first president who sensed he was in way over his head.  On a personal note, I had that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I was chosen to serve in my first pastorate.  Mine was…Oh, man, what are these people thinking?  Do they really think I’m Moses?  What will they do when they find out I’m just like them…trying to find God’s will and serve, but clueless as to the next step?

The truth…as transparent as it comes…that’s what it’s like for God’s people who want to be obediently walking by faith.  To follow the truth you step out on a lot of thin air, not knowing, but believing that air is inhabited by God’s Spirit, and will hold you up.

The apostle Paul warned the Corinthian believers to remember Moses, the commands of God, and how the early followers of Yahweh messed it up with distractions like sexual perversity and cultural cravings.  There were a lot of bodies strewn all over the desert wilderness because of wavering faith and wanton disobedience.

What is most important in truth-following comes down to a settledness without stubbornness.  That means if you want to follow Jesus, the embodiment of truth and righteousness, you must choose like Joshua:

But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”  Joshua 24:15b

But there cannot be a stubborn cantankerousness about it all; God’s Spirit won’t hang with immovable, unfeeling, hardened hearts.  There are enough of those to go around; God wants willing, open, and vulnerable hearts.   

For You Today

Paul wrote that the mistakes of the early followers were written down for the benefit of current followers.  What’s the next generation going to say about you?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day! 

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on this topic see Living an Authentic Life

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[1] John 8:32

Praying for a President

[i]

Friday, December 2, 2016

Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son.  Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly.  May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful.  Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors.  May they fear you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains in the sky.  Yes, forever!  May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass, like the showers that water the earth.  May all the godly flourish during his reign.  May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more.

Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does such wonderful things.  Praise his glorious name forever!  Let the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and amen!  Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19^(NLT)

This Psalm may have been composed by David, anticipating the coronation of his son, Solomon.  It is a wonderful prayer for any ruler, because it’s hugely challenging for any ruler to live up to the high-bar goals this prayer holds forth.  It’s also exceedingly difficult for the people of any nation to choose a leader whose character matches this resume’.   

The two great pillars of character are justice and righteousness.  Justice is the rule of law, and that is a matter of the mind.  Righteousness is a condition of fairness and mercy tempering the harshness of rules, and that is only possible as compassion and love spring from the fountain of the heart.  It’s a thin line for any human to walk.

I have prayed for many presidents, from the 1950’s when Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower sat in the Oval Office, to the present day.  It is wisely said that, if you voted, but don’t pray for whomever sits in that seat, you have neglected the more important part of a citizen’s right and duty!

And this is the urgency I feel for the people of our divided country today.  We have just come through what is, in my lifetime, the most perplexing presidential election campaign…ever!  We are now facing uncharted waters in terms of the personality and volatility of the one who will become the 45^th President of the United States in January.  Many are already praying, indeed some, as the apostle Paul, never ceased praying.  Some are planning to leave the country; others are glad to see them go.

While there have always been differences between people (sharp differences) when it comes to political rubber and road, I do not believe I have ever seen a more shameful time when hatred and vitriol rule the day, as we now have from both sides of the aisles of both Washington and Wal-Mart.

Now, I don’t have time here for a sermon, but let me ask Methodist founder John Wesley to give us all a sermon-like reminder.  In Wesley’s day there was a brouhaha boiling over such things as baptism, church membership and how to administer the Lord’s Supper.  In Wesley’s rather well-known sermon A Catholic Spirit, after recounting the many differences held, he called for action that befits people of character:

Let all these smaller points stand aside. Let them never come into sight. "If your heart is as my heart," if you love God and all mankind, I ask no more: "give me your hand."[ii]

That’s the rub today – can those of you on the “right” side of the aisle take the hand of those on the “left” side?  Can we put aside the petty, and join together in prayer for the one who will occupy the hot seat in Washington?  Can we do this for the sake of our country and its leadership and duty around the world in a very troubled time?

There is a vast difference between loyal opposition and dividing dissenter among those who didn’t get their way in the election.  And there is also quite a difference between winning the White House as a prize, and rubbing it in the face of honest people who would hold the winner to a higher standard.  There is a nobler way that awaits us.

For You Today

Democrat, Republican, Green Party, Tea Party, or no party, I want us all to pray for the outgoing president, and the incoming president; will you give me your hand?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title image: By Projectprayerflag07 - Own work, via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] John Wesley, A Catholic Spirit, , The Voice

After the Voting is Done - Part 2

[i]

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven.  We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.  Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy, for we have had our fill of contempt.  We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud and the contempt of the arrogant.  Psalm 123:1-4^(NLT)

OK, so it’s been a long time…..a very, very long time since you didn’t snap on the TV and immediately get a snoot-full of politics.  And now, suddenly, the campaign season is over and the complain season is in full bloom. 

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy!

I’m being something of a prophet here, because I’m writing this on the morning of November 8^th and will send it out tomorrow early – so I don’t really know who the winner is as of this writing.  But I do know there will be a winner and a whiner! 

How could there not be?  After a year and a half of wrangling, public life, adoration of the crowds cheering, and a schedule that is non-stop talking points, interviews, rallies and strategy sessions…to have it all stop because it’s November 9^th and the final poll – the one that trumps^(NPI) all the other polls – is counted…well, it’s like, OK, time to put away the madness, we’ve been cured now. 

How will that work for either party?

For one candidate it will be instant gratification and even more adulation, as the title candidate gives way to president-elect.  And the beat will go on. 

For the other, the title will fade from “candidate” to runner-up, loser, wanna-be-but-won’t-be and never-was!  In a word, it will really stink!

To put it in perspective, our election process is in some ways like children rearranging their sandcastles on the beach.  Once the tide (vote) finally comes in, you would never know there was a fierce competition to build the biggest and best.  Or it will be like two 7 year old boys wrestling on the playground to get the attention of that pretty little girl that is in their class; in two days the boys will be back to playing video games together and both will have forgotten her name.

There is the old fable about two tear drops that met in the river.  When they told each other their life’s story they realized they had something in common.  One was the tears of the woman who lost in the fight for the heart of the man of her dreams; the other was from the one who won him.

Today we will do perhaps two things; three if we’re smart: 

1.     We will weep with and pray for the loser without whining about what could’ve or should’ve been, and…

2.     We will rejoice with the winner without gloating, while we weep in prayer for the task ahead of governing and the nearly impossible task of trying to pull-together a fractured American people, and…if we’re really smart…

3.     We will, with the Psalmist, keep our eyes on the Master. 

For You Today

Every now and then a Christian, who is obedient to the call of Christ to be an involved citizen of the Kingdom of God, by being an active citizen in the affairs of humanity, must also be reminded that our true Sovereign sits on a throne, and not at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title image: By Ceridwen (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons