I love history. I study it. I learn from it. Especially in the lives of great men and women who lived exemplary lives. Their memoirs serve as a lesson to future generations. One of the things that I notice about them is the premium they place on truth: they are true to their words and principles. I have also seen that those who do not prioritize truth in word and deed do not succeed in life. Truth is what drives success. Lies always lead to failure.
America today is on the precipice of destruction because of lies we have believed as a nation. Many of those lies have been passed down to us from previous generations. We have believed in the lie of systemic racism, which is written on the soul of our nation through a Supreme Court decision entered in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). We have the brazen lie of sexual promiscuity that has transformed our conservative nation into a hedonistic one. We have the abominable lie of abortion, which has caused nearly 60 years of brutality to the unborn. Our national consciousness has been seared; we do not recognize truth. Even the Church, which is called to be "the pillar and ground of [] truth" (1 Tim. 3:15) in the earth, has had its conscience seared to the point that believers, including leaders, do not recognize the basic foundation stones of our faith.
When people no longer place a premium on truth, they are ripe for deception. Today, a great deception is taking place in our nation. It is not a subtle deception, as has happened in prior generations. No, there is a brazen attempt by numerous individuals who are seeking to deceive Americans into forsaking our national heritage. Big lies are being told by prominent people. Why are we so apt to believe them? Because we do not know the truth.
Truth is not a political faction; it is not Democrat or Republican. Rather, it is a person. Truth is embodied in Jesus Christ, for He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life". Jn 14:6. We must be reminded of this truth. As we must be reminded of this principle of truth as told by Jesus Christ, "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Jn. 8:32, World English Bible. Truth is vital. In an age of deception, truth holds great value. The question is: Do we value truth?
To value truth, you must discern it. To discern truth, you must know its source. The source of truth is a person. That person, Jesus Christ, has been an offense to those in positions of power from the moment of His birth. That offense still exists today. Tyrants are offended by the person of Christ. Why is that? Because they cannot control him. Tyrants want power and control. Tyranny hates truth. Whether in Hitler's Germany or Lenin's Russia or DeCastro's Cuba or Facebook's or YouTube's or Twitter's social media prison, truth offends the mind and reveals the heart.
Truth always reveals the heart of a matter. Truth also reveals tyranny. Tyrants hate truth; they seek to conceal it, obscure it and burn it. Tyrants will do anything they can to destroy truth, including butcher, maim, shame, and blame those who practice it. The Bible makes it clear:
everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God. Jn. 3:20, 21, Christian Standard Bible.
When I began my journey into the maze of the American legal system (not by choice), little did I know just how far that system had strayed from the truth. In fact, truth is not required in American courts. Judges lie. Lawyers lie. Even though prohibited by the Rules of Professional in every state, lies take place daily in courts across our country with impunity. Why should average Americans care about lawyers lying before courts? Why should we care if judges lie? Because their lies affect each of us.
Older generations of Americans understood this. Perry Mason, a Californian attorney, presented this understanding to Americans. To them, when anyone lied before a court, they were guilty of perjury. Today, not so much. Routinely, lawyers lie to courts. Notoriously, the Department of Justice (DOJ) lied to a Foreign Service Intelligence Agency ("FISA") Court for the DOJ could obtain wiretaps on former President Donald J. Trump. To obtain those wiretaps, the DOJ lied to the FISA court. But, to date, no one has been punished for lying to that court.
Ordinary Americans see this kind of hypocrisy and become infuriated by it. And rightly so, it does appear that we have a two-tiered system of justice. But what should trouble us more is how truth is being covered in a pile of lies. Perjury has become profitable. As I write this, the future of Kyle Rittenhouse hangs in the balance. I have watched some of Rittenhouse's trial. The lead prosecutor, Thomas Binger, has unabashedly lied. Binger's lies were so significant that he was rebuked by the judge, Bruce Schroeder. But that rebuke has been the extent of his punishment. Alarming?! Yes.
When an attorney is comfortable lying to a court, and a man's life hangs in the balance, and that attorney is not punished for lying before the court in front of the jury, what message does that send? Clearly, it sends a message. It's okay to lie, as long as you win your case. Justice is no longer the ends of America's legal system. Truth is no longer our means to obtain justice. Rather, lies can be told as a means of getting a win. Shouldn't that make us wince?
The scales of justice have fallen off the rail. But what has happened to Rittenhouse, as tragic as it is, pales in comparison to innocent men and women who have been knowingly railed by prosecutors in America's justice system. Instead of being a pillar of human achievement where justice is meted out based on reasonable factual evidence, fiction controls what happens in courtrooms across America. Fiction! Yes, pure fiction. Lawyers gain wins based on fables. Truth has been flung out the window.
What should we call this kind of justice system? Tyrannical. Yes, and worse. Stalin's gulags, as bad as they were, were known to be evil. America's courts are seen as being good and wins define the game. When tyranny appears good, truth becomes the enemy of that tyranny. That's where we stand today. America stands on the precipice of its own demise because it has thrown away those basic truths that differentiated it - life, liberty, and justice for all.
In that kind of nation, truth is dangerous. Truth destroys tyranny. Made more than 2000 years ago, Jesus's statement above is still true: "everyone who does evil hates the light". Truth is light to the soul and liberates the mind from the shackles of delusion and deception. Satan, the author and purveyor of confusion, delusion, and deception, delights in the darkness; that's where he lives. Jesus is the light of life. Liberty, light, and truth walk hand in hand, as do darkness, deception, and tyranny. The greatness of America is predicated on the idea that we decide which hand we hold - truth or tyranny.
Post a Comment