I was reading about a new report concerning the Benghazi attacks that killed Ambassador Stephens this morning. The article stated that according to an investigative final report soon to be released that the report will show that a lie was concocted to blame the attack on an anti-Muslim video by then Secretary of State Clinton and others in the Obama administration. They fabricated the lie in order to divert attention away from their inept handling of the situation.
The Republicans comprise the majority of the investigatory committee and the Democrats the minority. Of course the report will be lauded or vilified along partisan lines. And someone will be telling the truth and another a lie. The Republicans will for sure hail the report as proof positive that devious lies and cover-ups took place. The Democrats will heavily criticize it and blow it off as a smear tactic designed to win political favor.
In politics they have a word for how to represent a situation like this one and not surprisingly they don’t use words like truth or lie. No, they prefer to call it “spin”.
Our country has digressed to the point whereby a member of both parties has to be on a news show to represent their respective party’s spin on any issue in order to appear to be “fair and balanced”. The other popular phrase is “talking points” which puts the spin into writing to make it easy for the morons and ensure consistency party wide. Each side has their talking points which refer to what the party line is on most any relevant situation. Truth is not the issue or even a consideration; party loyalty reigns supreme.
So we, the voters who put these people in office listen to two diametrically different accounts of practically any situation and try to discern the truth.
Good luck!
The bible mentions something called “spiritual warfare”. Usually when we think of war it seems like a distant thing, that is, until someone we know is killed or severely injured, and then all of a sudden it’s not so distant. In Ephesians we are told by the Apostle Paul that we are engaged in a very real spiritual battle between two opposing kingdoms ruled by God and Satan. As with conventional warfare there are casualties in spiritual warfare and in our war those least in the know are the first casualties.
Paul wanted believers to know how to fight this war and he told us to remain sober and vigilant and to put on the full armor of God in order to remain standing as we fight through this ever-present, unseen but raging spiritual battle.
There is only One who has remained undefeated when battling Satan and that is Jesus Christ. Paul educates us that Jesus equips us with everything that we need to win this war. His analogy was to use the armor of a Roman soldier as a model and he named six dimensions of spiritual armor that we should don:
- The belt of truth
- The breastplate of righteousness
- Gospel of peace for protection of our feet
- The shield of faith
- The helmet of salvation
- The sword of the Spirit – the word of God
Oftentimes people read this passage and are confused and think it is about them battling Satan alone. It is not. It is ALL about Jesus who is all of the above. In Romans 13:14 it clearly states this: Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.
It is He that is our truth, our righteousness, our peace, the object of our faith, the source of salvation, and is the “living” word of God. When we put Him on we are fully protected and Satan is vanquished, and in fact flees in terror as do his minions.
The sad reality of our world is that “spin” (or lies) rather than truth has become the norm. Victory in spiritual warfare begins with truth. In John 14:6 Jesus said “I am the truth”. Satan is the “Father of all lies” and when we hear lies we know where it originates. As we look around the world we see world leaders stand before us and lie with impunity. We see it in the workplace, education, media, even the church. Yes we sometimes engage in it ourselves.
When God told us how to protect ourselves the first thing He listed was truth. And the ULTIMATE TRUTH is that the war has already been won by Jesus Christ. Therefore there is no logical reason to fear Satan, because we are already victorious through Him who loves us.
Think about that this morning . . .
Selah . . .
Psalm 43:3
Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!
June 28 2016 – Click here to listen