The truth or warm fuzzies?



You're in a dangerous, yet bracing place. I commend your bravery for allowing yourself to read some truths. Warm fuzzies are available at Sesame Street.

Lies surround us everywhere. The Gospel of John describes Jesus as a man "full of Grace and Truth", qualities the scripture suggests should be balanced in equal proportion. Yet in America and the West, many people are drowning in a sea of lies and poisonous, licentious grace dispensed by pastors who should know better, and have discarded the anchor of truth.

President Bush distanced himself from General Jerry Boykin, who said America is fighting the devil in the war against terror, though the President called America's opponents an "axis of evil". President Bush knows there's no difference between the comments. Both confirm the spiritual battle. Yet while the general has been subjected to abuse, ridicule and character assassination, few have pointed to the President's contradiction. Confused observers are left with disquieting fuzzies about Islam instead of the truth. The kindest thing we can say is that President Bush is a saint compared to the moral sewage which preceded him, and is obliged to work within a flawed system.

Though the mainstream media have anesthetized America's Christian conscience, wise people know the propensity for deception and filter their news accordingly. Away from the media's nightly diet of lies, volleys of untruth attack us from the Marxist brainwashing centers which, with exceptions, the public schools in large cities have become. Few students were passing tests, so a solution has been proposed. Higher teaching standards? Not at all! The tests were made easier, so more pass, and the schools look better. Is that a truthful, honorable discharge of responsibility to students or a warm fuzzy recipe for disaster?

Is it truthful to keep pretending that Princess Diana died by accident? The subject has been in the news again after her butler released her handwritten letter predicting in detail the manner of her death. Just for show, the French even put a few photojournalists on trial for causing her death. It's the usual Hegelian dialectic, a choice between two lies: a drunk driver or journalists chasing her car. The public can cope with either lie, but not with the truth that Diana had become a nuisance to the dark powers of this world and was eliminated. The warm fuzzy messages are: stay away from drunk driving and beware of paparazzi. The truth: we are engaged in a spiritual battle against the dark powers of this world.

Is it truthful and honorable to keep pretending that an American Airlines Boeing 757 crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001? Here are two photos which suggest otherwise.

Two photos of a Boeing 757 crashing into The Pentagon
(What do you mean, you can't see it?
The problem is, nobody else can either.)

Moment of impact at The Pentagon

The same scene a short time later

But warm fuzzies are so much easier than the truth, which is too horrible to contemplate.

Is it truthful to keep on discussing Palestinians, when there are no such people? Palestine is a previous entity which has not existed since 1947, when it was divided between Jordan (an Arab state) and Israel (the Jewish state). It's one of three myths which inflame the area.

Suppose a small group of terrorists wanted part of Canada to house what they called "the former British North America" as a home for angry Englishmen who refused to acknowledge Canada's sovereignty. Suppose grave faces on the television and in the United Nations were biased towards a British reoccupation of part of Canada, ignoring the fact that Canada has been a sovereign nation since 1931? And suppose the avowed intention of the terrorists was not peaceful coexistence with Canada, but the total elimination of Canada, and its reconquest by the British? It's absurd, right? Yet that's exactly what's going on in Israel, which has been a sovereign nation since 1948.

Another myth is the Muslim claim on Jerusalem. It is widely accepted that Jerusalem is holy to Christians (true), Jews (true) and Muslims (false). Joseph Farah writes: "The Koran says nothing about Jerusalem. It mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions Jerusalem. With good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem. So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam? Muslims today cite a vague passage in the Koran, the seventeenth Sura, entitled "The Night Journey." It relates that in a dream or a vision Mohammed was carried by night "from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our signs." In the seventh century, some Muslims said the two temples mentioned in this verse were in Mecca and Jerusalem. And that's as close as Islam's connection with Jerusalem gets ­ myth, fantasy, wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Jews can trace their roots in Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham."

A third myth, as we wrote in March 2002, is that Israel is occupying the Palestinians' land, when the truth is precisely the opposite. "In this upside-down fantasy, Jewish villages are called settlements, to infer that they are not permanent, and Arab settlements, often no more than a collection of Bedouin tents, are called towns, to suggest permanency and that the land is really theirs." The warm fuzzy folks want you to think that the Israelis and Palestinians are equals and that it's all Israel's fault for existing. Israel, like Canada, is a sovereign nation, and if the Arabs don't like it, they have 99.5% of the Middle East and 100% of the region's oil with which to console themselves. And that's the truth.

Finally we come to the attacks on Mel Gibson's forthcoming movie, The Passion. After more than a quarter century practicing Judaism, it became clear to me that Jesus was the Messiah of the Jewish people. Judaism is a beautiful religion, with heartwarming traditions and a deep desire to seek God. Yet by declining to include the Messiah at the center of that search, and by offering only lame excuses as to why Jesus can't possibly be Him, they are seeking God in the wrong place, and are left with only warm fuzzies instead of the truth. I did not become a Christian 22 years ago because I sought an easy life nor because I felt like a change, and certainly not to endear myself to my family! I became a Christian for one reason only: because it is true!

The seeds of many of today's lies were sown in the liberal dawn of the 1960s, and nourished with the fertilizer of the Clinton years. Bill Clinton got away with lying under oath six times in premeditated acts of deception, perjury and obstruction of justice. Now the argument runs that, if he can do it with impunity, why can't everyone else? And it is the impossibility of answering that question that now challenges millions of parents and all who hold authority.

Yet with an unshaken vision of a free, great and truthful nation, and with courage and perseverance, America can emerge from its present darkness, though painful battles must be fought. Let us not shrink from them, even as new truths emerge.

Author Richard Bach wrote "Not being known doesn't stop the truth from being true." My role is not to offer you warm fuzzies but to respectfully and faithfully tell you the truth.

This weekend, we celebrate All Saints Day, as we reflect on the lives of great Christians of the past. You too can be a saint, sanctified to serve God. How? Discard and detest the lies and warm fuzzies, and embrace the truth. If Christians don't tell the truth, nobody will. We are not here to lie, negotiate or compromise. We do not have God's authority to negotiate away or compromise His word. And we are certainly not here to arrange a truce with the devil, but to recognize our triumph over him!

Thomas Paine said of his era, as we might say of ours: "These are the times that try men's souls." In our time of trial, will we fall for lies or stand for truth? Appearing before Pilate, Jesus said: "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." (John 18:37) And as the hymn says, "He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat."

Jesus said: You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32). One is conditional on the other. Liberty cannot flourish amidst lies, and until we know the truth, we shall not be free. I will therefore take the liberty of adding to a word to the Gospel: only the truth will set you free. Steve Myers © 2003, 2006