Compelled to Tell the Truth
Barbara Henderson
In today’s world the truth
and nothing but the truth seems to be only important to those attempting to
discredit, change, and ridicule the actual pure truth. Everywhere, from the highest authority to the
lowliest human being, the truth will always be ‘spun’ in a particular
direction. It is adjusted in a way to make someone look better than they are
and someone else look worse than they are.
It is frustrating to those who love the truth. Ultimately, the truth makes life simpler for
everyone. If the unvarnished truth is told in the first place there is no need
to revise statements or even remember anything except the truth. The truth is important to everyone, but it is
especially important to Christians.
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to God the father except through
Jesus Christ the Son. We are compelled
to speak this truth because:
1. People
are in danger of hell. If they don’t
hear the truth about the situation how will they come to understand their
danger? How will they come to understand that they personally have a choice. The
power to cast a soul into hell belongs to God Almighty alone. God has given His authority to no earthly
spokesperson, teaching, or so-called holy book.
Scripture is very clear on that matter.
The truth of the Bible is far more important than ‘getting along’ with those
who either reject the Bible and its teachings, those who wish to blend the
Bible teachings into other theologies, or those who have never heard the gospel
preached or taught. People are still in
danger of hell. The most compassionate thing for those who know the truth is to
tell the truth.
2. Telling
the truth reinforces the truth.
Those who know the truth need to hear it often.
3. There
is danger of error slipping in when Christians don’t know the truth. The danger is always with us because Satan
(or his followers) is always with us.
4. The
baton of faith must be passed on to the next generation. It begins in the family, but it is not
excluded to the family.
5. The
truth compels Christians to speak.
The mouth of a true believer will ultimately not be silenced.
6. God
requires us to speak the truth. Obedience demands that we speak up.
7. The
world is full of deceivers. They
speak lies boldly. Sometimes they speak
lies not only boldly, but also knowingly and willingly. The balance to their lies is for Christians
to tell the truth.
8. Unsound doctrine leads to unsound living. When even small things that offend God are
accepted as permissible in a church, then members of that church will
incorporate those things into their personal lives. When liberal lines are drawn between avoiding
certain things of the world and accepting others, people will take it seriously
and actually do what they want to believe is allowed. I won’t get into immodest clothing, gutter
language, or alcohol use, because I think these things stem at least in part
from unsound doctrine. Unsound doctrines
being taught currently include errors in the Bible, accepting traditions of man
above scripture, new ‘revelations’, and results prove success. I especially hate the ‘results prove success’
error because it leads people to believe that if a church is growing that it is
automatically doing the will of God and preaching the truth. The social gospel currently being preached by
so many churches sets transforming society above preaching the absolute truth
of scripture. I would ask these
so-called preachers of the gospel to please admit they are not working for
Jesus Christ and call themselves something else. Surely they could come up with
some sort of noble sounding name, get tax exemptions, and openly adore their
god of humanism without dragging Christianity through the sewer with them. Of course they aren’t going to do that
because they are undercover operatives for their father the devil. Their job is
to make their false gospel appealing to whatever people are wanting. For those who want earthly prosperity there
is the prosperity gospel. For those
seeking a path to God that doesn’t involve the work of Christ at Calvary, there
is the salvation by works gospel. Entrance
into heaven through rituals and traditions is offered in many varieties, so
people wanting to get to heaven that way have lots of choices in the actual
rituals or traditions from which to choose.
9. Error
builds on error. It is sort of like
fungus and mold growing on top of rotten vegetables. It is not trivial when you are trying to find
an edible potato, and there is no trivial error in doctrine.
Charles Spurgeon said,
‘Discernment is being able to tell the difference in right and almost right.’
(paraphrased).
10. Christians
should find themselves compelled to live the truth in addition to being
compelled to tell the truth. The
honest truth can be spoken continually, but it will have little effect when the
speaker is obviously not living according to what he/she is speaking. I have seen some people who are able to speak
the truth live utterly degenerate lives.
It is almost as though they believe they have the right to break a few
rules because of their ‘service’ to the Lord.
They are reprehensible, and the damage they do is incalculable. It is blasphemy to claim to be a Christian
and not act like a Christian!
The world in which we live
is becoming more and more anti-Christian/anti-Christ. I believe part of the nature of a practicing
Christian is to want peace. We want
peace with those around us. We want
world peace. Confrontation is hard,
because confrontation is definitely not peaceful! The Bible actually says, ‘Depart from evil,
and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.’ (Psalm 34:13) Christians need to remember that this is
speaking within the context of things allowed and dis-allowed in the
instructions given to us in the Bible.
Ezra 9:12 gives us
definite instructions when it comes to actually joining with those who are not
followers of God Almighty. It says, ‘Now therefore give not your daughters unto
their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace
or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land,
and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.’ The Bible could not be any clearer on this
subject. Christians are not to join with the ungodly even though they live
amongst them!
However, God understands
that we live in the world and in places that are certainly not considered
godly. In Jeremiah 29:7 we are told, ‘And
seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away
captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have
peace.’
We are not to become part
of the world. We are not to join
ourselves with the enemies of Christ in order to make peace or to do good or to
make our own lives easier. We are to
seek the peace of the place where we live, because when there is peace in our
land, we the people of the land are also at peace. The best possible way to seek peace where we
live is to pray that individuals including national leaders personally make
peace with God Almighty. We are also to
speak out regarding Jesus Christ and the peace that passes understanding
through Christ alone. Obviously, those
who reject Christ are not going to be peaceful with those who choose Him! However, peace between Christians and
non-Christians based on ‘mutual likes and things in common’ is not true
peace. It is a prelude to war.
Those who follow false
religions are always someone other than meets the eye. The leaders especially are going to talk one
way and live another way. You cannot
trust them. They do not love the
truth. They love their own way. To these people you should speak the truth
when the opportunity arises. However, it
is not your job to become associated with them in any way other than
evangelism. Don’t hang around with them in the hope of converting them. Don’t
listen to their counsel because they are not wise. Don’t join with them in ‘worthy causes’. In other words, we are not to attempt to find
common ground with false teachers and religions; because there is no common
ground. Finding common ground with
Christianity and false religions is an attempt to find commonalities between
heaven and hell. There are no
commonalities. It is also cowardly. Fear of peer censure is not an excuse to go
along with what God clearly states as wrong.
The desire to ‘get a job done’ or ‘make a difference’ on your own time
table is not a valid reason to join forces with someone attempting to accomplish
something that sounds like a good idea to you.
Never forget the first
book of Psalms. The blessed man does not
‘walk in the counsel of the ungodly’ – he doesn’t even go near enough to them
to pay attention to what they are saying.
If they are scorning God Almighty there is nothing worthwhile that they
can say. There is not ‘good in all
religions’. All people are not ‘going to
the same place’. The blessed man ‘does not stand in the same place as sinners’
– he doesn’t stop to chat with them. And
the blessed man never sits down with the scornful.’ He never gets comfortable with the enemies of
Christ!
Up to this point all of
history from creation to this very hour and second could be called a ‘prelude
to the final battle’. We are not going
to change the fact that Armageddon is coming, but when that mighty and horrible
day of battle arrives, there will be specific individuals on God’s side who are
there because specific Christians spoke honestly and freely when an opportunity
to tell the truth arose. Every soul is important to God. Every Christian is
important to God. The actions of every
individual believer matters to God and they matter to those they know, love,
and even those they only know causally.
How we behave matters. What we
say matters. We are compelled to tell
the truth because the truth matters.
Thank you for reading my
article.
Barbara
