The Providential history of Liberty

 I will cover a lot history in this blog (From creation to modern day American Christianity) but I believe the things I will share are so important that this must be written down. The majority of what I am about to share comes from a series of lectures which Dr. Paul Jehle taught and are recorded on Sermon Audio.com and I will put a link to it at the bottom of this blog. Before I begin, I think I should give a definition of a few words. Providence basically means God’s active role in caring and superintendence over his creation in history/reality and not just sitting on the sidelines and impersonal. Deism is the opposite of Providence, which asserts the disbelief in Scripture and believes that God created everything and then let everything exist outside of His influence. Deism is said to have been the belief of our founding fathers, along with Atheism. While certainly their existed a few founders who may have had a weak faith or went contrary to Orthodox Christianity, even they would be considered radical to today’s Christians because of their care for liberty, the poor and the uneducated. As for them being deists or atheists, I’m not sure if even one of our founders could be considered deists, let alone atheists. Providential history shows how God used one event in history to bring about something else; cause and effect. God works through covenants with His people both individually as well as the entire group. The same is true with people outside of Christ. God wants us to have a generational perspective and that is one of the reasons why he shows us generations of people throughout the Scriptures. He is showing that what we do in this life, can affect the generations a thousand years in advance. We need to have a longer view then just this life or this moment; the founders of our country had a 500 year plan to advance the kingdom of God against the ruler of this world (Satan). Christ said that we must pray that God’s will in his Kingdom must be done on Earth as it is it heaven. That doesn’t mean that we make a utopia on Earth but we must subdue it, be fruitful, multiply and have dominion over everything on the Earth. The degree to which the culture, government and society obeys God’s will is the degree to which Christians and the church follow the will of God while they are on Earth. So if the culture is wicked, the government thoroughly corrupt and the society is on the brink of destruction, that should indicate that the church is not obeying God and there is almost no difference between non-believers and Christians. We must remember that all people will live eternally with God or condemned and the way to live this life is from Providential historical--perspective that keeps a relationship with Jesus Christ as the heart of the matter and a biblical worldview as how we think about everything.

 The fall of our first parents Adam and Eve into sin, most likely occurred around 4,000 BC. The idea of evolution and self-creation has been around far before Darwin synthesized many historical ideas together. The idea of self-creation, natural selection, survival of the fittest and that all life sprang from “mother earth”, has been around for over 2,000 years. The founding fathers of America all viewed the idea of evolution and self-creation as profoundly stupid and creationism as the Scriptures testify to be true. Moses led the Israelites out from the tyrant Pharaoh around 1,500 BC. These people lived under a type of communist leader and were uneducated slaves and although they patiently tried to petition for release from their slavery by the grace of God, their tyrant pharaoh refused to give God’s people their freedom. Therefore the Israelites rebelled against the tyrant pharaoh by disobeying his commands and obeying God’s command. Moses under the authority of God led the Israelites as their leader or president. The picture below illustrates the governance of Israel under Moses.

Clearly, this is an Israelite/Hebrew Republic. This is the clear model upon which our republican government is based. Exodus 18:21 states “Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.” Instead of having millions of people come before Moses, it made a lot more sense to have leaders over 10’s, 100’s and 1000’s, so that when someone had a problem they go to their local leader and then if that failed they would go up to the next leader—and if all else failed they would go before Moses and he would help them with their problem. The Israelites slowly moved away from God’s way and asked for a king, despite God’s telling them that they would be ruled over with a strong arm by their king but they still wanted it and so God gave them what they desired. However, the best form of government in this world was the “Hebrew republic.”

Jesus Christ was born around 3 BC and was both man and God. He cast off his divine powers while he remained on the Earth, so that he would be as fully human as everyone else, except for the instances in which he displayed his miraculous power. He suffered pain physically and emotionally and he would go on to suffer the wrath of God for the sins of the entire world and around 33 AD he died and was resurrected from the dead. Before he was taken up into heaven, he told his disciples to make more disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them not only to believe but also how to obey all that he had commanded them. The apostle Paul wrote Galatians around 50 AD and the church in Galatia (modern day Turkey) would go on a remarkable journey after they were corrected by Paul. Galatians is primarily concerned with law and grace. That the true gospel is not one of salvation by works but salvation by faith through Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Galatians were corrected and told that they cannot obtain favor by God through the law, because by the law no one will be saved or justified. Ancient sources record that the Galatian church was persecuted and providentially sent to Britain by God to proclaim the Gospel to the barbarian Celts. The British Isles had a large Christian population by the year 150 AD and had schools, next to churches teaching children and adults the way of Christ and educating the population and pastors were preaching the gospel in the common language of the people. Patrick who later became the basis for Saint Patrick’s day, evangelized Ireland which was still under the rule of barbarians but he converted the king and was made his counselor. Ireland was disorganized and without any real governmental structure and so Patrick wrote Liber Ex Lege Moisi (Book of the Law of Moses). 432 A.D. was the first time in history, in which an actual law book was written for an entire nation based upon the Scriptures. This brought a biblical republic of the Hebrews to England and Ireland. The Anglo-Saxons first entered Britain around 428 AD when the two brothers Hengist and Horsa with their relatives were invited and eventually took the island over and named it Anglo-land or Engel-land (today England). Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the churches in England were unified in local self-government and their nation was built off of the Ten Commandments. While the Celts were defeated militarily by the Saxons, the Celtic Christians would defeat the Saxons spiritually by their Christian faith and within 200 years had converted the Saxons to Christ. 

Alfred the Great was the first king to unite all of England from 871 to 899. Most of England had already been conquered by the Vikings from Denmark. God saw that Alfred overcame the invaders and when Alfred had conquered their army, he offered to give partial kingship to their leader, if the Vikings leader became a Christian along with thirty of his men. The Viking leader did. In peace, Alfred read Patrick’s Book of the Law of Moses and added as a preamble to it the grace of Christ, Golden Rule and the beatitudes. Therefore he sought emphasize that in order for a society to function, it must have the mercy and freedom of Christ, which is the inward transformation of the heart and the outward of the Law of Moses would be ineffective, because without an inward transformation there could be no outward freedom. Therefore, change must occur from the inside-out and bottom-up. Alfred’s uniform code of Laws was the origin of the Common Law, habeas corpus, trial by jury and it was derived from the Mosaic Law and Jesus’ golden rule. However the church became watered down and useless and the Norman Conquest in 1066 established a royal dynasty eradicating the rights of the people. Over the centuries the church in England would have multiple revivals including the rights of the people being respected with the Magna Charta and then the Reformation which would sweep across Europe.

 The Reformers sought to bring liberty to the captives under the Roman Catholic Church and the rest of the world and in England the Pilgrims sought to purify the church but they decided to totally separate off from England and the English Church and decided to go off on their own to proclaim liberty to the captives, who were the native inhabitants of America and once America had been won, they could go back and spread the Gospel to the rest of the world. In founding era America hearing sermons was equivalent to getting three college degrees. Similar to England, America was separated from nations by water but America’s border was an even greater defensive geography, than was England’s. Americans became a people of diverse backgrounds but would be from one people. During the Great Awakening, America was so filled with revival that this point in history perhaps has no parallel—because so many pastors, evangelists and Christians were being trained to proclaim “liberty throughout the land.” George Whitefield, who is probably ranked among the greatest evangelists who ever lived, spoke eloquently and his influence along with others made founding father Benjamin Franklin remark ““It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants.  From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if the whole world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro’ the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street. ” The Founding fathers of the Declaration and Constitution grew up under the greatest revival since the beginning of the church. Churches were teaching biblical worldview and discipling their people so much that even the poor were well educated and knew the Gospels of Jesus Christ. The churches during the founding era had set up special ministers who would go out and take a census of the poor in their community and those who needed help and when they knew who those people were the citizens of the church or town would contribute in any way they needed help. Benjamin Franklin said that the best way to help the poor was to make the uncomfortable in the poverty. Give the poor what they need to get on their feet but don’t let them take advantage of your charity. Thomas Jefferson once saw a woman as well as a man as who needed help as he passed them by, he wanted to help them but the woman he was courting told him to ignore them and as a result Jefferson told the woman that he could not marry her because of how she treated the poor. The founders thought that it was your duty as Christians to help the poor, widows and those who needed help. Almost every college in America up until the late 19^th century was created by churches for Christians to become pastors and evangelists. In order to get into many colleges you had to be fluent in Greek and Latin. It was common for Christians to finish their college degree by the time they were 15 years old. America was the best educated and had the highest literacy rate in all human history—many of the founding fathers recognized that it was almost impossible to find someone who was illiterate and especially someone was biblically illiterate. The literacy rate was almost 100%. The American church in the 19^th century saw perhaps the greatest sending off of evangelists that had ever occurred in history besides the early church—Christians began to take the Gospel to the most remote places in the world. In one year there was not one recorded crime in America. During the founding era and up to the 20^th century, Americans used to carry their guns with them at all times and if you didn’t have a gun, you would be given one by the government and you received a fine, if you didn’t carry a gun with you to church, government buildings or anywhere. 

Everyone in America seemed to be in church. Alexis de Tocqueville a French man who came to America reported such things as these and that there was very few taxes and every year you could expect to get more money and pay less for goods so Americans became the best savers in the history of the world because of the prosperity of the biblical worldview which permeated American society on every level. The whole world wanted to copy or come to America and they called it the Panacea. The world failed to copy America because the American Republic was built not by men and the external but the biblical law and grace which transformed the internal in the citizen to become more like their creator and follow His will on Earth. People immigrating to America had to not be a drunk, adulterer and take a test on the biblical foundation of our republic to get into America. Nevertheless, I do not mean to say that America was a perfect Christian nation because no Christian or nation is perfect but simply to show the side of America which few people know today and is neglected from most history books. Indeed, there were problems in America and they were starting to grow as the 19^th century moved further away from the founding fathers generation. 

 

The first Great Awakening was like Augustine theology and the second Great Awakening was like Thomas Aquinas theology. Augustine believed that the biblical God had the answer to everything, Aquinas believed that some things man had to figure out on his own—and so things like slavery and the treatment of the Indians began to divide the church in America. The church slowly let the weed grow and eventually false ideas like Unitarianism began to grow and the seeds of socialism began to grow and creep in from Europe. There was a utopian farm called Brook farm in America and the famous author Nathaniel Hawthorne went there because as he described “nobody owned any private property, it's Utopia--it's all jointly owned and nobody makes any money. It's such a quiet restful place and it will be a nice place to write novels” he left that place in about 9 to 10 months, because he said it was chaotic, it was anarchistic, because it was built on socialism and no private property (which is a biblical concept from the Ten Commandments and many other parts of Scripture speak to the fact that we are to have private property). These seeds began to be planted in America, so was America socialist in 1840? No, the seeds were just being planted. Jesus said that a good tree produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit and that a tree begins as a seed and if it is not cast upon good soil, it will die. You don't need to plant weeds, they come naturally, if the church doesn’t fight them back and since the church didn’t fight them back, they spread. It happened because we lost the theological roots which have produced the complex system of checks and balances and if you lose the roots of what makes America, then you can't even figure out why you need the government form we have. James Madison said that if the general welfare clause in the Constitution is not interpreted in its original meaning then the government may tax the labor or goods (which is the seed of socialism) and may tax the land (which is the seed of communism).

Madison said if the Constitution is not interpreted in the original context in which it was written, the government may take the care of religion into their own hands, they may take into their own hands the the education of children, they may take into their hands than the regulation of all roads other than post roads--everything from the highest object of state legislation to the most minute policy would be thrown into the power of Congress and each of our three branches of government would grant themselves limitless powers over the people. You used to have to go to the post office to get your mail, because your address is private property and not subject to government knowledge so nobody should know where you live unless you give them that information. Today the national government owns your mailbox. The seeds were planted whether it was the toleration of the redefinition of words or anything else--it was small changes and people began to think “oh it could never happen” but it would happen--it would just take a few generations. The reason it is so hard to get through to today's generation, is because we have become so focused on the now that we can't think beyond lunch, let alone about grandchildren. In the beginning of the 20th century, evolution began to creep into everywhere, whether it was philosophy, psychology, education, and in government. The survival of the fittest and the philosophies of Nietzsche and others began to come over from Europe and corrupt the colleges and education in America. Russia used Pavlov psychology in their training manuals to brainwash people into atheism and communism. Pavlov is stimulus and response—outcome based education. Pavlov and Dewey’s Progressive approach to education began to infect the education system of future generations. Dewey’s progressivism sought to have children as the center of attention, rather than the bible and teacher. Dewey and others wanted to make education about social issues and make it about economics and politics only—wherein you made the children into whatever society needed. The bible which had been the chief teaching tool for teaching children in America for hundreds of years was slowly becoming neglected, until finally the government deemed that it should be taken out of schools. The bible had been what built American prosperity and liberty and the Constitution was built around it but suddenly it became unconstitutional for the bible to be taught in schools.

The church began to tolerate anti-biblical things and became intolerant of biblical things. The reason words like containment, appeasement and disarmament became popular between 1940 and 1980 was because of the Soviet Union. We hate you! We’re going to kill you!  The Soviet Union declared. The reason those words became popular was because the church didn't confront sin, it contained it. Wherever we have problems with our children--were going appease them—progressive/Pavlov educational psychology--were not going to discipline children. Now Joe Christian says to the devil, “If I don't fight you, will you not fight me?” And the devil says “sure.” Joe Christian says “Alright so I put down the sword, is that going to be okay with you?” and the devil says “oh yeah, that's really okay with me!” Because Christianity did that in the spiritual realm, we had that happen in the nation. The gradual downward slide of America didn’t begin when the Bible was removed from public schools that was more like the end of it—because if one generation thinks wrong biblically, the next few generations will begin to act wrong biblically.  There is always hope though. The individual Christian and the church can repent and turn back from where they have fallen. Christian revival started to happen in the late 70s, home school and Christian education used to be minimal and information about our biblical heritage used to be in only a few very hard to read primary source documents but not anymore. There are tons of books, DVD’s and audio dedicated to help train Christians about our Christian heritage as a country and a biblical worldview. Paul Jehle who I learned most of this from, suggests we get to know our neighbors and write down 10 of their names and pray for them.  We go to the police chief in town ask what are the top three needs that we need in our community and ask them “how do you think we could bless this town and serve you.” He also described a time when an unsaved city leader came up and said to him “somehow in my deepest heart I knew the church was there to bless the town but the only time we ever heard from Christians was when the government did something wrong.  Paul Jehle said “that convicted me.” He now says whenever you want to reprove a town for something; you have to have five times the amount of positive service for the one thing you want to reprove them for. The American church and America is not over, Christians are waking up but we must realize that if it is to survive, we have a lot of work to accomplish to turn back the tide. America and its church are on the brink of destruction and if America falls, it will be because the church allowed it to happen. We must put on the full armor of God, repent from our sins, understand the times in which we live and fight back against the spiritual war in which we are called to be Christ’s victorious soldiers.

References 

 http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Mr.^Paul^Jehle

Jesus, Truth, History and Worldview

I am increasingly becoming aware of how important it is for people to know history. I am persuaded by my faith, that if people do not know certain parts of history they will be both unable to distinguish truth and more importantly left without hope of eternal life with God. The apostle Paul, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit says in Romans 9:10

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

When Jesus Christ died on the cross 2,000 years ago, that was as much an event in history as the American Revolution was. There is enough evidence from the Bible and outside sources for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that it makes believing in him as Lord, Savior and Judge—both rational and reasonable. As those who are “In Christ,” we stand for truth in a world which loves darkness. We live in a world which loves to hear about God’s love but doesn’t like to be told they are in rebellion against the God of the universe. The world loves to boast and believe it knows better than God but it only is fooling itself. 

“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me. Luke 11:23

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.  For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.  And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.  They traded the truth about God for a lie…

 You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. Romans 1:18-2:5

Therefore God is revealed in both his special revelation (bible) and general revelation (history, world and universe). If people do not know who God is, how will they be able to discern right and wrong and obey the truth? Pilate declared “what is truth?” and so does the world when faced with the truth, because it would rather do what it wants rather than acknowledge, know and believe that the Truth (Jesus) is Lord. Satan knows exactly who is Jesus Christ (Truth), he knows the bible better than anyone and yet he is still in eternal rebellion against God. The Devil hates the truth and would rather serve himself then follow it. 

History includes both the bible and everything else that has ever happened or wrote down. 

History is awesome and it is important! The reason people do not like history anymore, is because over 50 years ago, we changed the way we teach history. People like stories, David and Goliath, George Washington crossing the Delaware or George Washington surviving as hundreds of his fellow soldiers die all around him. What an epic story is that of David and Goliath and Washington crossing the Delaware or how miraculous is it for Washington to have survived the battle of Monongahela, while hundreds died right next to him and how did he survive without a scratch?

History used to be taught by:

·         Biographical

·         Stories and consequences

·         Having a purpose

Today we teach dry uninteresting, sterile history by trying to remember names, dates and places. There is no purpose to history anymore. We are afraid of making any judgments made about the choices people make or considering the values which are upheld in our learning of history. This is why history is considered dull, while stories like Harry Potter, Twilight and other books are considered interesting. We have remembered the wrong things and for the wrong motives. You don’t remember history to remember history. You remember history to discern right course of action and right motives and to learn the true, beautiful and lovely things which can be learned from things and events which are relevant, real and much larger then ourselves.  History is made real when people are highlighted, rather than dates, names and places—especially when Providence is seen and God is made known. Purposeful history is when we find the point of it all, look at what it led to and examine the consequences and what is the result.

History is boring today because:

·         We don’t have stories

·         We don’t have purpose

·         We don’t have consequences

Jebediah Morris, founding father, one of top three educators in founding era and he described the office of a historian…

He said--a historian is supposed to do three things:

1.       He’s to record the progress of human affairs as directed by the providence of God

2.       He’s to exhibit the connection of events showing how an immense series has produced a cause and effect

3.        He’s to display the character of man and the character of God.

In people like Fredrick Douglas, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr and the vast majority of Western Civilization, their faith made up their purpose in life—in all the things they wanted to do in their life, faith was the driving force and reason. When history removes how someone’s faith impacted their life to please people that don’t like faith, they immediately tell a lie and make history dull and its purpose irrelevant--by not telling the truth.

So if Jesus transforms us and the Truth in history gives rational thought to people, then how should they then live? We should live a life centered on the Word of God and thus from that develop a worldview centered on the bible.  The bible should instruct us in how we live, beliefs, decisions and everything in our lives.  The founding fathers of America believed in this biblical worldview and they lived in a time when pastors taught a very practical Christianity from the pulpit. It was the pastors who taught the founding fathers to value freedom, liberty and that rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God. 

When Moses broke off from Pharaoh, he, along with his people, with the help of God rebelled against Egypt. Likewise, when the apostles were brought before the high priests, they obeyed God:

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. Acts 5:29

Politics was practiced by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. to help bring about civil rights for blacks in America. It was practiced when William Wilberforce worked to end the slave trade in England. It was also practiced when America adopted the Constitution as its supreme law of the land. The Constitution and the Declaration are biblical documents which reference the bible numerous times and the rights we derive through laws and our liberty is based upon biblical verses. 

Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. Exodus 18:21 – This is one of the verses which we should give thanks for our Republican form of government.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. Hosea 4:6

The whole counsel of God is left out of modern Christianity, because it has been forgotten. Like the reading of the Book of the Law of Moses in Ezra and Nehemiah we need to teach what was lost and proclaim from the roof tops that everything that Christ taught. For he says in Matthew 28 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Christ didn’t want us to just evangelize, he wanted us to teach all that he commanded (the whole bible) to those who are both of the Kingdom of God and those who are not. That is, Jesus wanted us to teach the whole counsel of God, not just give salvation speeches. It must not be forgotten that salvation is most important but that isn’t all that Christ taught. He taught about how to live among fellow believers and those who weren’t, how to humble yourself and how the greatest of you will serve and how we are saved by grace—through the gift of God and created to do good works. He taught about what types of taxes are bad (such as a tax which is partial to one group of people over another). He taught about the importance of family, love and life (traditional family, marriage and anti-abortion). He taught about how he created everything and how we were made in his image (anti-evolution, anti-materialism, anti-communism). 

These beliefs and ideas are just a small part of what it means to have a world view which is shaped by God and his Word, rather than the “philosophies of men.” Therefore God reveals his wisdom through a biblical worldview to a people that doesn’t lack “knowledge” of his historical death upon the Cross and believes in the Truth—that the Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus Christ; God, Savior and Judge.

What is truth and is it important?

The famous words of the Roman governor of Judea Pontius Pilate were “what is truth?” Jesus Christ, God in the flesh and the only person in the whole world who could have told Pilate what “truth” was told him that he had the truth but Pilate didn’t care and this was the greatest crime of all—because the one person who could have given him the truth was standing right before him. And like Pilate most people do not care about the truth but more importantly we have lost a sense of the absolute truth. Everyone believes what “they believe” is the truth but most do not use coherent arguments to understand if what they believe is logical.

So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”  Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”  Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” – John 18:33-38

When Jesus says “My kingdom is not of this world” He was showing Pilate that his kingdom and the people who would be in his kingdom do not belong to this world, because this world is going to die, along with everything in it. When Jesus comes back to this world, he will burn it and destroy it and there will be no America, Europe or nation left; because this world will pass away and be replaced with a new heaven and a new earth--which will never pass away, because it will be eternal. Pilate is confused by this statement because he is thinking in human terms; as if Jesus will rule as a political kingdom would.  Jesus then tells him that he was born to give witness to the truth and Pilate says “What is truth?” Jesus says everyone who listens to him knows the truth. What is truth? According to Webster’s Dictionary, truth is “conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be.” Truth is the most important question that anyone can ask, because without it you have only lies and the father of lies is the Devil.  Everyone who does not believe the truth belongs to the father of lies.

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. – John 8:34

Today we don’t like talking about the truth. In fact we came up with a way to completely disregard the truth in order not to offend anyone. This new way to disregard the truth and replace it with a lie which isn’t so offensive is called political correctness or PC. It is politically incorrect to suggest that Jesus ever said anything like:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. – John 14:6 

This is an absolute statement, that is, it makes a claim that if you do not follow “the way” of Jesus (Jesus is truth itself) than you will not go where Jesus is going but go to the place which was made for the “Devil and his angels.” Jesus is saying that he is the representation of truth itself and Buddha can’t save you, Krishna can’t save you, Allah can’t save you, not even your own good works can save you—only Jesus can save from people going to hell. Do you think that might be offensive? Yes to those who do not believe it, this is certainly offensive. The bible makes no claim to be politically correct, in fact it is the very opposite. The bible even says that its message is foolishness to those who do not believe the Truth. 

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. – 1 Corinthians 1:18

The Truth of Christianity is both inclusive and exclusive; it is exclusive because it claims to be the only Truth and that there is no other “way” and it is inclusive because no matter whom you are and what you have done, you will be accepted as equal in the body of Christ. Truth by definition excludes something, because something cannot be and not be in same sense and in the same relationship but I will come back to that in a moment. The reason why political correctness was invented was to muddle the truth.

What did the serpent say to Eve in the Garden of Eden? “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” The serpent (Devil) wants to confuse us and by failing to trust the Truth which is God, we make God out to be a liar. Jesus was found without sin; God does not lie.

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. – 1 Peter 2:22

Political Correctness was started by a group of Marxists around World War 2. The Communists discovered that in order for their ideology to flourish, they needed a better strategy and so they invented a way to go around the truth. Instead of using economics as Karl Marx had envisioned, they would use the culture. The Communists understood that their beliefs would never be accepted in society if they said what they believed outright—so they hid their beliefs behind a façade of lies and half-truths. Take for instance the feminist movement; they could attack western culture for its oppression against women but they would never mention how women were treated in ancient China or any other society—because the attack was never meant to bring out the truth (although for some people It was), it was to criticize western culture and ultimately destabilize society as a whole.

They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. – Romans 1:25

Truth is embodied in a person (Jesus) and people have the ability to think and it is this ability which is least used. As an example, let’s say someone says “how can God be truth and why can’t their be multiple ways to God?” The reason God is truth is because there is no other being which we can rationally think about which is “higher” than God. When I say “higher,” I mean more omnipotent and all-knowing as well as omnipresent. The reason is that God is God and there is nothing and no one which has his point of view; clarity, truth and understanding.  Whether you look to science, logic or morality, there is an absolute truth claim to ideas which can be known. Logical absolutes exist in science and we can understand logical absolutes in the coherence of an argument itself by looking to the three laws of logic. The three laws of logic are:

1. The Law of Identity
2. The Law of Non-Contradiction
3. The Law of Excluded Middle

The law of identity states that A is A. An Apple is an Apple. In other words, something is what it is. If something exists, it has a nature, an essence. For example, a book has a front and back cover with pages. A car has four wheels, seats, doors, windows, etc. A tree has branches, leaves, a trunk, and roots.  This also means that anything that exists has characteristics.  We recognize what something is by observing its characteristics.  You know that a tree is a tree because you see its branches, leaves, a trunk, etc. 
     Furthermore, if something has an identity, it has a single identity. It does not have more than one identity.  In other words, if something exists it has a set of attributes that are consistent with its own existence.  It does not have a set of attributes that are inconsistent with itself.  Therefore we can easily conclude that a cat is not a parachute. An Apple is not a race car. A tree is not a movie.
     The law of non-contradiction tells us that A cannot be both A and not A at the same time and in the same sense. In other words, something (a statement) cannot be both true and false at the same time and in the same way. We use the law of non-contradiction constantly in discussions and debates because we are naturally able to recognize when someone is contradicting himself.  If I were to tell you that yesterday I went shopping and then later I told you that yesterday I did not go shopping, you would be correct in saying there was a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when one statement excludes the possibility of another and yet both are claimed to be true. Since we know that both cannot be true, we see a contradiction.  From this principle we can conclude that truth is not self-contradictory. This is a very important concept. Let me repeat it. Truth is not self-contradictory.  
     The law of excluded middle says that a statement is either true or false. For example, my hair is brown. It is either true or false that my hair is brown. Another example: I am pregnant. The statement is either true or false. Since I am a male, it is not possible for me to be pregnant.  Therefore, the statement is false. If I were a female, it would be possible for me to be pregnant (given normal bodily conditions). A woman is not "kind-of" pregnant. She either is or is not pregnant - there is no middle position.  The law of excluded middle is important because it helps us deal in absolutes. This is particularly important in a society where relativism is promoted and truth statements are denied.

As people who have studied most religions know, they are not just different but fundamentally different and most claim to be the one “truth.” Therefore there is no such thing as all roads leading to God. It says in Acts that:

 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. – Acts 4:12 

That is an absolute claim and people who think morality can exist apart from God commit the same error. Morality must come from somewhere; otherwise it would only be someone’s opinion. C.S Lewis says in his book Mere Christianity “Isn't it amazing that even young children have a sense of right and wrong, even at an early age? This inherent morality seems to be already present at the earliest stages of childhood. Just watch any children play together and you'll hear, "That's not fair!", "You cheated". There is an innate sense of justice that adults also have. This internal morality is universal and is found in all cultures and nations and peoples groups. For example, most cultures universally believe it is wrong to kill innocent people. This is found in agnostics, atheist and all of the world's major religions, including Christianity. Where did this in-built sense of morality come from?” Lewis understood that without a moral absolute, such as “Thou shall not steal” than we are simply giving our own opinions. Now-a-days, most people think that tolerance is a far better road to drive on than truth. Tolerance is the cherished word today. Thou shall not judge is the most known bible verse in America today and for good reason. Yet we fail to realize that without judging, we wouldn’t even be able to understand that judging is wrong! When the Bible says do not judge, it means that you should not judge without first judging yourself and in another sense it means do not ever condemn someone—like saying “you are going to hell and there is nothing you can do about it!” This is evil, because it assumes that you know without a shadow of a doubt where that person is going after death but I digress, tolerance is made to be more important than truth and justice. However the truth is intolerant because it assumes something that is and something that isn’t. For instance murder is always wrong and that is intolerant towards murderers. Likewise God is intolerant of only one thing, sin. This is why absolute morality must take precedence over tolerance, because without it there can never truly be any authoritative good or evil, because morality would be left to individual people’s opinions. Some of the most famous philosophers and atheists understood this and our founding fathers understood that without Christianity, there could be no absolute morality or truth, because truth and morality depend upon something other than what individual people think; otherwise it is just mere opinion. Morality must have a moral lawgiver/God and so does truth.

In order to have a rational discussion there must be a coherent reality of truth and no illusion. There is no illusion which can sustain itself, because there must be something which gives life to the illusion. So what is truth? Truth is a person, who is called Jesus Christ. Jesus claimed to be “one” with the Father God. C.S. Lewis once made the argument that Jesus is either a liar, lunatic or Lord. Jesus made some incredible claims about himself; he claimed to be one with God, able to forgive sins, etc. Jesus is Lord and he is the way the Truth and the Life. The Truth is important, because without Him, nothing will ever make sense.

References -

Carm.org – Critical thinking school

Webster’s 1828 dictionary

Reformation Study Bible ESV

Bill Whittle – After burn

Ravi Zacharias

C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity