What is Truth

A message to the Bride by Robin Coleman, a close and respected friend of Tiffany Adkisson.

I was fully determined to say nothing, thinking it more beneficial to remain silent, since many are talking and few listening at the moment. Last year I found a few others with a similar mindset of “keep your head down and your mouth shut” in hopes of surviving till 2020 was over and things could get back to “normal”. As if a calendar date would change the state of the world or the hearts of people.

Within the first week of the new year, 2021, a shocking level of insanity was unleashed, sadly revealing the worst in many.

I’ll go ahead and say right now, this post is neither to discuss nor show support or opposition to recent events, political candidates, party views or theories. It is merely a call, laid heavy on my heart, to all of us, myself included, to lift our focus a lot higher.

The day things went down at the Capitol, I suddenly understood how it was possible for the Civil War to have taken place as I watched friends, neighbors, co-workers, family members and even complete strangers suddenly at war with one another on social media. Overnight people became experts of law and order, declaring as facts unconfirmed reports from biased media and news sources mere minutes after the incident occurred. Not one of them were eyewitnesses of the event. People were taking sides, shouting their “truths” with ears plugged all while demeaning and demoralizing any opposed. My FaceBook feed was inundated with such posts.

I had to get off for a while because it was truly sickening and troubling to see a whole other side to people I had known most of my life. I wondered, how could two professing Christians have such polar opposite views of the truth and stand there destroying one another verbally?

I am not taking the high ground here. I will admit, many posts had me fired up too, people and views which seemed to me as foolish, ignorant, small minded and biased, to use a few of the nicer terms people were attacking one another with. I certainly had my own thoughts on unfolding events.

It was tempting to get on social media like everyone else to enlighten everyone with my “truth”. But let’s face it, rarely is anyone listening to understand, to learn or to change their view. Hence my reservations to even begin writing this. But after recent conversations, my focus began to shift.

“No one wants to be deceived,” my friend stated yesterday. We were discussing the validity of some of the more radical views at the time. This statement got my attention. Because while no one would say they want to be deceived, sadly, many are and choosing to remain so because the lie brings more comfort than the truth.

“They traded the truth about God for a lie. So, they worshiped and served the creature instead of the Creator himself.” -Rom 1:25

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” -2 Peter 2:1-3

“But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” -2 Tim 3:13

“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” -Matt 24:24

“No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” -2 Cor 11:14

The Deceiver is amongst us. Not coming, but already here. Rising up leaders and powerful influencers, spreading false teaching, prophetic words and dreams, performing signs and wonders and even using you and I at times to bring further confusion. Not to say all these things are from Satan, but he is certainly mixing his own version of the truth amongst the genuine encounters and words from the Lord.

I do not want to be led astray by placing my hope or trust in the created over my Creator. No matter their spiritual, political or relational position. I do not want to mislead others by my interpretation of the truth. Nor do I want to ignore the fact that some truly are deceived.

So, I began praying and asking God, ‘what is my duty to my brothers and sisters in Christ at this critical time in history’? Then the answer became clear.

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” -2 Tim 4:1-5

He wanted to me to speak up. Not about what I believe to be truth regarding world events. But encouraging those who will still hear the truth that matters more than anything right now.

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” -Eph 4:1-7

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” -2 Cor 5:18-2

God wants His people to be unified and calls us, as His ambassadors, to the ministry of reconciling others to the truth.

But how can we be unified when we have totally opposing beliefs and views of what truth is, some of them quite terrifying? What is truth?

This question reminds me of Pontius Pilate who asked this while staring the very definition of truth in the face. The question is not “what is truth”, but who is truth. His name is Jesus. For those of us who believe because we have personally encountered and are walking in relationship with Him, this is extremely encouraging because we have a firm, unchanging, unquestionable, secure foundation which we can stand upon unflinchingly; a truth that unites rather than divides us. I write this to you whose hearts God has prepared in advance to receive.

For those who do not believe, I realize how this will seem like another lofty idea from someone out of touch with reality, declaring a “truth” that seems foolish. Until you personally experience Him yourself it will always seem so.

“When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart.” -Matt 13:19

“And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” -1 Cor. 2:14

“…the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” -John 14:17

So how, you might ask, does knowing Jesus help us determine the truth in current world events? How does it protect us from being deceived? And how does it solve the fact that my brother or sister in Christ is completely misinformed regarding the “truth”? Let me answer these questions in reverse.

Firstly, knowing Jesus unites us with those with strongly opposing, even distorted, views because it centers our focus on what matters more than our political, theological or personal take on life; Jesus and the Gospel. When we can agree on the very basis of the gospel, found in John 3:16, we have the most import truth in common. We become united in the One who is Truth.

While others are all declaring their way, their truth and planning their lives accordingly, we know that Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life (John 14:6) and HE is the one who directs our paths (Prov 16:9). He is in complete control over all that is going on in the world and has placed each of us here for “such a time as this” to play a part in HIS-story.

Jesus, the truth, is the Word of God made flesh.  So, we know that in order to find direction, answers, hope peace and clarity to all our questions, fears, concerns, responses, actions and reactions, we must look no further than His Word. When we are aligning our lives and views with the entirety of His gospel, we’ll find we are a lot more united on the things that matter most. We can be confident in what we stand upon when it is no longer “our truth” but HIS truth, one that is in complete agreement with the entirety of the Gospel and not just one scripture taken out of context to suit our stance.

In looking at current world events, God’s truth tells us that in this world we will have much trouble and things will only get worse until His return because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is no surprise. We have been told from the very beginning what to expect and that anyone who tells us “Peace, peace!” is a false prophet. Things are decaying around us because His return is drawing near.

“As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” -Matt 24:3-14

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” -John 16:33

His Word prepares and equips us with the truth of what is going on in our world and how we should respond. Not with fear and terror in our hearts, but with peace and courage, knowing what is to come and that He has already won the battle!

When we hear these rumors of war, see natural disasters and face tribulation, we can cling to Jesus, the firm hope and anchor for our souls, steadying us in the midst of these turbulent waters. He is the One who has overcome the world, saved us by His grace, sealed us with His Spirit- the same Spirit which unifies us and enables us to fulfill the commandment to love one another just as He has loved us.

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” -Phil 2:1-16

“They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception. Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” -1 John 4:5-7

Knowing Him does not make us immune to deception. That is true. But if we have received the Holy “Spirit of truth” and are rooted and grounded in His Word, actively loving God and others, we will be able to discern the spirit of truth and error.

Where we become vulnerable to deception is when we allow pride to blind and divide us, opening the door to our enemy by quarrelling amongst ourselves and cultivating a spirit of division within Christ’s body. It happens when we become easily provoked, taking and causing offense over differing opinions, holding on to unforgiveness and placing the importance of our “truth” above our fellow man. Our human values above human value.

A good indicator of whether we are defending God’s values or our own, is whether it leads us to demoralizing others, breaking them down to take the moral high ground or cutting them off because we think differently. If our “truth” is lacking grace, then no matter how loud we scream it, almost no one will hear or receive it. God’s values teach us to esteem others as better than ourselves, to love and treat them with the same respect, tolerance, patience and grace we would wish to receive, and to humble ourselves so that HE may defend and exalt us in due time.

“Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” -Eph 5:1 

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” -John 1:14

Those last three words are vital. Notice how John does not say Jesus came in a spirit of self-righteousness, war, vengeance, judgement, condemnation or mercilessly declaring the truth in a “if you don’t like this you can unfriend me” sort of way. Jesus came FULL of “grace and truth”.

Yes, he spoke some pretty uncomfortable truths and got fired up in the temple at the self-righteous, religious people who were proclaiming their truth as God’s, preventing and persecuting anyone who believed otherwise. But he sure gave a lot of love, grace, patience, mercy and forgiveness at the same time.

You cannot have truth without grace. We fail when we lean to one extreme or the other. There must be a balance of both. And I do not believe it is a coincidence that God lead John to put the word “grace” before “truth”. For without grace, we would not know the Truth.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” -Eph. 2:1-9

Knowing the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus, gives us insight into EVERYTHING going on in our world today. Because He reminds us that our battle is not with one another, our enemy is NOT flesh and blood and our weapons of warfare are not literal weapons or even our words. They are spiritual.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” -2 Cor. 10:3-5

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.” -Eph 6:12

We can take a firm stand when we know it is on the side of truth; God’s truth. I often hear people say God is on our side, but the truth is, He isn’t on anyone’s side. Yes, He is for us, meaning His plans are good for those who love Him and obey His Word and are called according to HIS purposes. However, that does not mean He is here to carry out our purposes, the agenda of our political party or to back what we believe is truth. His truth is not subject to ours. We either get on His side or fight a losing battle.

As Christians, we should all be on His side. There shouldn’t be your side and mine. We must all start fighting this spiritual battle together, waging warfare against the powers of darkness instead of allowing the enemy to continue masterfully distracting and playing us like pawns so we are so worn out fighting each other that we have no energy left to fight the real battle on our knees.

Now this is not to say there aren’t real, physical battles we must fight, truth that needs to be boldly declared and darkness that needs to be exposed. But we must be very careful that we are lead by the Spirit and not the flesh. We must never be too proud to be questioned by others and unwilling to go back and search the scriptures to see if these things are so or to inquire of the Lord one more time to confirm or reaffirm a word.

Often we get an initial prompt from the Lord and decide it means one thing and run head long into it without His guidance and somewhere along the way lose sight of the truth. What may have started with good intentions can so easily become misdirected. It is always wise to continually inquire of the Lord as David did.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.” -Ps 139:23-24

We do not want to be used by the enemy to bring a false word. It would be such a terrible thing to discover, in our zealous belief that God was on our side, we were actually persecuting His people and deceiving many.

A false word may come in many forms, often from someone you respect and trust, sounding so close to truth that only someone rooted and grounded in the Word and abiding in the Spirit would be able to discern.

“For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.” -Jeremiah 29:8-9

“They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, ‘The Lord declares,’ when the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘The Lord declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?”’” Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord God.” -Ezekiel 13:6-10

We must again, remember that the person themselves is not the enemy or Deceiver, or even necessarily a bad person or a false Christian. It simply means they, like us, are human, perhaps even well-intentioned, but in the moment, were not led by the Spirit. Just like Peter when Jesus told the disciples He was going to suffer.

“Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” -Matthew 16:23

I pray that our eyes would be enlightened to discern when the One who is Truth is speaking and when it is the voice of the Deceiver. Like Peter, many of our minds are consumed with the temporal things of men, not on the things of God. We let man become the voice of God to us, telling us what truth is rather than digging into the Word of God to determine if these things are so.

This is why it is vital for us to remain rooted and grounded in the Word of God and in prayer. We need to be awakened from our comfortable slumber to things that truly matter and remember that all these things are just a sign of the times. Christ’s return is coming at an hour we will not expect, and our job is to remain awake and watchful while preparing others. He may not return in our lifetime, but He would not have told His disciples He was returning soon and to keep watch if we were not to do the same.

In closing, many of us still struggle to look to the Word for direction for our every day decisions or as the lens through which we view current world events. It is easier to just react and make our own plans, turning to God for the really big things. But God’s word is “alive and active” and just as relevant today as it was then.

So when we begin hearing dreams and prophetic words and rumors of wars, famine, martial law, the end of times, people saying we need to arm ourselves and store up food and gas etc. we can turn to the Truth, God’s word, for direction.

For example, it says anything that is not of faith is sin (Rom 14:23). So, if we hear these reports and feel compelled to react in fear, we know that is not from God.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.” -2 Tim 1:7

If, however, you have received a confirming word from the Lord and feel lead to store provisions in faith, do so! Even if the source who initially prompted it proves to be questionable themselves, perhaps an unbeliever, we can still act upon it if we have truly sought the Lord and His word diligently and feel His peace. Just look at how God spoke to Joseph through a dream given to a pagan Pharaoh to store up provisions by faith for an event seven years in the future. Sometimes it is for our own preservation and many times it is for others who will turn to us as the light when all the world goes dark.

I experienced this personally earlier this year. After watching some alarming prophetic words sent to me from trusted sources, I began to feel an urge to store up provisions out of fear. Some of my friends had felt lead to so I thought maybe it would be wise if I did as well.

But God had already given me clear direction as to what He wanted me to focus on doing. Storing up provisions was not part of that. As I sought Him in prayer, bringing my fears before Him, He gently reminded me of this and asked me to trust Him, reminding me He is able to provide our daily bread just as He rained manna from heaven for the Israelites. It also occurred to me that at that time He clearly told them to gather only what they needed for that day.

As you can see, sometimes the same word can mean different things to different people, for one to store up and another to trust in faith for God to provide. Both can be right. It is up to us to pray it through till we have clear direction from the Lord. Anything that is not of faith is sin.

After God showed me this, He began to prove Himself in a very literal way for over a month by providing in astounding ways. There was the abundance of clothes and shoes from multiple sources who had no idea the kids and I were needing them. The multiple times I was going to be over budget no matter how I tried to cut things but then ended up having all that we needed somehow $20 under budget. One week when I realized I had miscalculated and wouldn’t have enough food to make it to the next paycheck without going over budget and my friend accidentally left enough sandwich food in our fridge to get us through. Another week WalMart accidentally gave me duplicates of multiple items in Pickup at no extra charge, allowing me to feed a family that came over for an unexpected dinner and an extra meal for my sister who was moving with plenty to spare. He even reminded me of His faithfulness in Papa John’s accidentally giving our order to the wrong person, giving us a full refund and free meal. He did all this and more for many of my physical and spiritual needs in such an obvious way. And, I am ashamed to say, without my ever having prayed or asked Him to because I already had a practical plan set in place, all of which failed and fell through. His plan prevailed and was beyond what I had even thought to ask. In this way, He reminded me again and again of the scripture He had used to bring my fearful heart peace.

“…your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” -Matt 6:8-15

This prayer really sums up everything we should be focused on right now; His kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven and walking in this reality in our relationships.

This earth is coming to an end. No political party, President or any other person will bring us true peace. God’s Truth tells us things will only get darker as time passes. But we have a Savior, a hope, an unshakeable truth and peace in Jesus. Others desperately need to hear this Truth.

We must really devote ourselves to the word of God and in prayer in the days ahead. And when His Spirit truly leads and His word supports in full, we can obediently and boldly speak the truth but always, ALWAYS with grace and love. We do not need to be afraid of being deceived if we are rooted and grounded in the Word of God and abiding in Him. The Spirit of Truth will lead you.

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” -Isaiah 30:21

“But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” -2 Thes 3:3

You can read more from Robin on her blog Inspiring Hope. https://robinccoleman.com/inspiring-hope/