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In 1957 William Sargent published
a significant book The Battle for the Mind (Pan
Books). Later a book followed this, The Battle
for the Soul, whose author and publisher escape
my memory. The second book was intended to correct statements
made in Sargent's book. Both books were of great value,
but I want us to look at present truth and error. We are
in an age soaked with deceit and error of all kinds, both
evil and charming, error seeming to be truth, so clever
is the seduction of lethal error.
The story of truth and deceit
begins for us in the garden of Eden, where the primal couple
lived in serenity and joy in the presence of their Creator.
The serpent-that wily one-set out to do what today we call
'spin doctoring', diverting from the truth by clever means
and putting forth another agenda than that of the truth.
Paul said that he deceived the woman, the Man knowing the
deceit and yet choosing to go along with it. The human
race was henceforth involved in deceit. In Scripture a
lot is spoken about deceit, especially that of false witness.
Satan is said to have deceived the nations. We are told
of human beings, that some use 'deceitful wiles', some
deceive their neighbours, some deceive themselves, sin
deceives Man, idolatry likewise deceives, human lusts are
deceitful, false prophets deceive-and so on. All this emphasises
the difference between God's truth and evil's deceit, the
latter being called 'error'. John speaks in his First Letter
of 'the spirit of truth and the spirit of error', and says
that 'the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is
the truth'.
It is imperative and urgent
that we know how to discern between deceit and truth. God
has always communicated the truth, Satan the lie. The final
and radical break into the human dilemma of knowing or
not knowing what is truth, and what is deceit or error,
came when the Word 'became flesh' and was 'full of grace
and truth'. 'The law', John said, 'was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ'. Christ, we
find, had much to say about truth. He said, 'If you continue
in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know
the truth, and the truth will make you free'. In Romans
1:18-25 Paul talks of the horrible change in hitherto innocent
Man when he 'exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped
and served the creature rather than the Creator'. Jesus
talks of the beautiful transformation which will come to
fallen Man when he comes to know the truth. James described
this, 'Of his own will he brought us forth by the word
of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his
creatures'. In John 14:6 Jesus described himself as the
way, the truth and the life. He meant he was the way to
the Father, the truth of the Father and the life of the
Father whom he called 'the only true God'. He told Pilate
that he had come into the world 'to bear witness to the
truth'. He added, 'Every one who is of the truth hears
my voice'.
In John 8:31-47 he said
many things in regard to the truth. He spent time exposing
Satan as a liar and a deceiver. 'He was a murderer from
the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because
there is no truth in him'. This alerts us to the horrifying
nature of Satan and the dangers of his deceiving works.
Jesus also told the Jews opposing him that they were of
their father the devil. How could they be so far deceived?
He told them, 'Because I tell you the truth, you do not
believe me.' Later he said that the Holy Spirit-the Spirit
of truth and true witness-would convict the world of sin,
'because they do not believe in me'. He said of himself
that he was 'a man who has told you the truth which I heard
from God', and, 'If I tell the truth, why do you not believe
me?'
On the last night Jesus
told his disciples that 'the Spirit of truth' was to come
to them, that the Spirit would bring remembrance to them
of everything Jesus had spoken, that he would teach them
all things, that he would lead them into all the truth,
and that he would glorify the Son and the Father. He also
pointed out that because he had told the truth the world
had hated him, and would likewise hate them. Also Jesus
told them that when the Spirit of truth came, then he would
bear witness to the truth to all who were against Jesus,
showing Christ to be the true One. 'You also', he said,
'will bear witness to me'.
It was clear that the disciples
had rarely understood what he taught them, though they
had confidence that he was the true One. 'To whom shall
we go? You have the words of eternal life.' They knew he
was of the truth, but despaired in knowing that truth.
Even so, three times Jesus told them they would bear witness
to him. In John 15:27, Luke 24:48 and Acts 1:8 he said
they would bear witness to him, that is, tell the truth
of him who is the truth. For this they would need the baptism
or outpouring of the Spirit upon them since the Spirit
is the witness to the truth and the Spirit is the truth.
Acts shows that at Pentecost when the Spirit was poured
out, the apostles and all other believers came to know
the truth. The whole book shows that once the truth came
to the new people of God-the church-then it so gripped
them that they could not but tell what they now knew so
vividly, so clearly and so powerfully. What Jesus had predicted
had clearly come to pass, 'You shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free'. They were a free people
because, 'Where the Spirit is, there is liberty'. Living
in the truth they proclaimed the truth effectively. We
see, then, that the way to fight the error and deceit of
Satan was-and is-to be filled with the Spirit and thus
with the truth. Just being critical of Satan, and seeking
to devise ways of unseating him are not the proper way
to combat evil. It is to tell the undeniable truth of the
gospel. The Apostle John had the following good advice
to offer. In I John 2:18-25 he wrote:
Children, it is the last
hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming,
so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that
it is the last hour . . . But you have been anointed by
the Holy One, and you all know. I write to you, not because
you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and
know that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he
who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist,
he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies
the Son has the Father. He who confesses the Son has the
Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide
in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in
you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.
And this is what he has promised us, eternal life.
How, then, shall we go about
'the battle for the truth'? Firstly we must recognise that
the battle has been won in Jesus Christ through his great
work of the incarnation, his ministry, his death on the
cross and his resurrection from the tomb, as also his ascension,
his present work of his enthronement at the right hand
of God, and the promise of his coming-his parousia, or
appearance. Men and women who are 'fervent in spirit',
'being filled in spirit', being 'led by the Spirit' and
'walking in the Spirit' are people filled with the truth,
knowing it and proclaiming it. By the Spirit they are in
Christ and Christ in them. This is the way of being 'valiant
for the truth'. We, then, are witnesses to the truth, the
very truth of God. Let us keep in mind the fact that the
forces of error-Satan and his hosts-are working day and
night to draw us into error of thinking, error of action,
error within the church, error within the world, and error
in our minds and hearts. The only defence against these
cunning wiles of the serpent, is the presence and power
of the Holy Spirit as he is always bringing us to the truth
of the Word of God-Christ himself as the Word, and the
Bible as the inscripturated word.
Geoffrey Bingham, Adelaide,
10th November 1998
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