There has been a trend recently when tragedy strikes such as mass shooting somewhere and there are prayer vigils and people will offer their thoughts and prayers. The normal response to that would be thankfulness. But there has been a more unusual response and that is for some to say they reject our prayers or criticize prayers or to claim they don’t work. I realize that some of this comes from frustration but to attack prayer seems to be a very unusual response. Unless you consider it one more result of a nation that is getting further away from God and becoming more comfortable with mocking religion and bolder in it attacks. IF the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom the lack of fear and reverence for God is the beginning of all foolishness.

The god of this age, Satan has truly blinded the minds of the unbeliever so they are callous toward the truth. They embrace and celebrate the lies that they have been told and really feel they are on the right side. They are unaware that they are part of a cosmic battle between light and darkness, good and evil being fought in the heavenly realms, a battle for souls. You and I are part of that battle. As believers in Christ.

Ephesians 6:10-13

Put on the armor of God- Each piece of armor illustrates an aspect of living the spiritual life in relation to warfare. Over the next three weeks, we will look into each of these “pieces of the armor in detail and their importance to how we live the Christian life.

Stand therefore with

The belt of truth- an important part of the armor that holds everything together-without it the armors flops around loosely. The same goes with the truth. If we don’t have a solid understanding of what Truth is that we are wandering aimlessly through this life. without truth we have nothing. The Biblical concept of truth is very different than the Postmodern Idea that we all make our own truth or put another way truth is what we perceive for ourselves.

1. Truth describes reality not as we choose to perceive it but as how things really are. - years ago Jim carry starred in a movie called the Truman Show. It tells the story of a baby that is born and grows up in a small town with loving parents and seems to have a pretty decent life. But one day he notices certain things out of place that challenge his perception of reality. What he doesn’t know is that he has been living in an artificial world that was created just for him, with actors and hidden cameras his entire life has been a television show. He finally decides to break through the deception and enters the real world. When we accept the truth and enter into a relationship with Jesus, he reveals to us a spiritual reality previously unseen or not believed in. the fact that God angels and demons, heaven and hell are not fiction but part of the real world.

(why is this important?)

2. The truth we embrace determines our eternal destination- Heaven is easy to accept but the reality of hell is a hard pill to swallow for many. But choosing to not believe such a place exists will not change the reality of it. Jesus was clear regarding access to heaven.

John 14:6 (ESV)

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Matthew 10:28 (ESV)

²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Truth is our first line of defense against the lies of the enemy- the devil lies and schemes to undermine us.

John 8:44 (ESV)

⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

 The lies the Devil tells us. There are many lies that we can fall for but if we go back to the third chapter of Genesis, we see the Devil in the form of a serpent telling three lies. These are what I would term root or core lies from which all other fabrications come from.

If they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they will die.

The devil said you won’t, die, you know good from evil and you’ll be as God. from this we get

1. God is not Good- It is so easy to blame God for evil and suffering but we are so unaware that much of the suffering is caused by the human race itself. If there was no selfishness, greed, vileness, and anger we would be better if we all thought about what is best for each other. Even physical suffering might be alleviated as there would be a far greater focus on getting medicine and nutrition to everyone without the worry of making a profit, we would feed the world without hindrance because warlords would not hinder aid, off but when we reject God, we also reject his goodness in our lives. And because of this evil in our world we suffer

You can be as God. you don’t need him. modern progressivism is just one of the ideologies of the left that embrace this lie. They see those who embrace the Bible as God’s Word and insist on raising their children to embrace Godly values as backward and simple. That defending the unborn is archaic and that physician-assisted suicide is a more compassionate position and that full unhindered sexual expression in all its forms is more of a cherished value that self-control and purity and holiness. In reality, all these so-called progressive ideas can be traced back to pre-Christian paganism going back several thousand years ago. It was Christianity and its values that allowed for the rapid expansion of western civilization, not ancient pagan ideas. Child Sacrifice to false gods, sexual immorality, and the lack of value of human life come from the past failed civilizations. Not only that but we have politicians who say that those who don’t believe in these new so-called progressive morals need to be dragged into the 21^st

1. There are no real consequences for sin- This idea that God will not call to account those who reject him or that somehow, we can continue to live in what the Bible terms as sin without any consequences are one of the biggest lies. The wages of sin is death and not just physical but the 2^nd death which is an assignment to hell. No one goes there that hasn’t chosen that destination.

  Truth defends us against an emotion-led populace- knowing the truth and holding to that truth will be a shelter for us in the storm of ignorance and emotions that sweep across our world. We can have understanding and wisdom guide us while the world jumps from one lie to the next and at the end, we will still be standing. We will be like the man who built his house on the rock foundation that withstood the storms. Hold true to the Word of God Let it be your armor