How do we survive a culture drowning in a sea of lies?
Tim Moore: To help us navigate through all of the lies our culture has been throwing at us, we've asked Jeff Kinley of the Prophecy Pros Podcast to help us answer this question. Jeff understands the priority of prophecy in the Last Days and why Bible prophecy matters now more than ever.
Jeff Kinley: The Bible and truth matter now more than ever because we are swimming in an ocean of lies. Our culture is inundated with falsities. Our culture suffers from a great delusion in terms of what is real and true versus what is fake and a lie.
The Greek word for truth — alitheia — to the ancient Greeks equaled reality. So, to them, truth was something that was to be equated with what is real.
But, what we are doing now in our culture is redefining truth and reality. And so, because of that, we are departing far away from what the Bible defines as truth. Therefore, we need to calibrate people's minds back to the Scriptures which reveal God's truth.
Nathan Jones: If you've ever watched the TV show Stranger Things, it presents this alternative realm, what the characters call the Upside-Down. The Upside-Down is a mirror universe, though a very dark version of our own. Well, just in the last ten years or so, I feel like our society now lives in the Upside-Down, where evil is called good and good is called evil. Men can become women and women can become men. Men can now supposedly give birth. Oh, we are living in such crazy times!
Jeff, what's Satan's strategy behind this cultural shift into darkness?
Jeff Kinley: A couple of things. Number one, what we are experiencing is the cause-and-effect relationship due to mankind rejecting God. We can read about this in Romans 1 where the passage reveals that if we reject the truth of God as the Creator and His right to rule in our lives, then the Scripture says that our thoughts will become futile in our speculations and our hearts will become darkened. So, there's this natural cause and effect when it comes to rejecting the truth.
And, secondly, it has always been Satan's ambition to be worshipped. He wants to rule the world. All the way back to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, Satan boasted about how he wanted to be worshipped. We know that he will accomplish much of that during the coming era of the Antichrist. In our day, we are living in an age of deception which will quickly devolve into Satan forcing people to accept his Antichrist through a strong delusion, one I believe that the world is currently just falling under.
Steeling our Minds
Tim Moore: How can we steel our minds to know exactly what truth is and so not fall into deception?
Jeff Kinley: We have to calibrate our understanding by God's truth. Truth and God are never separated. God's truth is a reflection of who He is and His perfect character.
So, when Christians say they really want to know God, and they wish to be connected to Him and be spiritually intimate with Him, they've first got to know God's truth. A clarion call needs to be made today in the Christian Church to get back into the Bible. Pulpits need to get back into the Bible. Christians need to get back into their Bibles.
According to Barna's research, only 14% of Christians are reading their Bibles every day. That's indicative of where we are as a Church. When you think about it, if we didn't eat every day, after a time we would become physically weak. Well, that is what is happening to us spiritually.
So, my advice would be, the number one thing we can do to avoid being deceived is to become an expert in the truth of the Bible. In that way, we can guard ourselves against the lies of our culture.
Nathan Jones: We discover the truth by reading our Bibles because our Bibles are inspired by the Holy Spirit as Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life," as John 14:6 describes.
Jeff Kinley: Absolutely! Discernment begins by reading the Bible. When we read the Bible, it reads us back. Go and study your Bible, because the deeper you dig, the more spiritual gold you are going to mine.
Encourage Each Other
Tim Moore: The prophet Jeremiah wrote to the exiles living in Babylon a message of encouragement. Likewise, how can we encourage believers in Christ to commit to the Word of God and the Christian worldview in this era of deception?
Jeff Kinley: One of the important things we have to do as Christians is to stay connected with one another. Hebrews 10:25 says, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Christians need to be encouraging each other. Sure, we can encourage our own hearts, for as King David in Psalm 130:5 said, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope." But, we also need the encouragement of others. Mutual encouragement goes a long way in living with hope during deceptive times.
It's also very encouraging to see other Christians taking a stand for Christ out there in the marketplace. They're living unapologetically for God, being bold, and being confident. Having a clear view of their own lives in Christ empowers the rest of us. It's almost like when you used to play sports. If you played with someone who performed a little bit better than you, that often made your game better. Being around Christians who are on fire for Christ can really up your A-game. Become that bold person. Be that kind of person who is living their A-game so that others will be attracted to Jesus Christ.
Tim Moore: As one of my favorite proverbs, Proverbs 27:17, concurs, "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."
Nathan Jones: To summarize what you advise then, Jeff, Christians need to stay connected with other believers. We need to be an encouragement to others and also let them encourage us back. There are to be no "lone wolf" Christians, so we should not forsake assembling together in church and in Bible studies and other fellowship groups. In doing so, we can best survive a culture drowning in a sea of lies.
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