Being...
Being True
Nobody ever sets out to believe a lie or to be deceived, each of us thinks we believe and know the truth – we are very good at deceiving ourselves! The very nature of a lie is to pose as the truth. It may even contain some truth, otherwise we wouldn’t be fooled into believing it.
Being true means being honest, real, factual, and truthful – it is the opposite of being deceitful, false, manipulating truth, and believing lies. But these days many seem to find it difficult to discern between what is true and what is false.
We all interpret what we see and hear through our own biases and beliefs. There is, however, One who speaks only what is true. It is only in personally knowing and following His voice, in knowing Him intimately, that we can be saved from lies, deception and delusion; HE is Truth.
It is helpful to see and hear truth from outside of ourselves, from a trusted, reliable source like the Bible, so what follows is a look at some of what the Bible teaches about Truth in the hope that it may help us to discern what is true and recognise what is false and misleading in our thinking, beliefs, and words in this time in which we live.
Being true, and embracing truth does come with a price, however. Not everybody wants the truth, it can be very costly. Truth can be painful and can expose what we would rather not see, hear, or believe. Truth can shatter our beliefs and mindsets, requiring humility to admit we were wrong. In spite of that, or maybe because of that, truth is very precious.
In the Scriptures we’re encouraged to grow up and mature in Christ so that: “We will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love and express truth in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly; growing in every way more and more like Christ… throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body” (Eph. 4:14,15,22-25).
Telling the Truth
I think most followers of Christ would agree that telling the truth, believing the truth, and living that truth is absolutely vital – not only in our personal lives, but also in our public lives at work and at home. But it has been disturbing to see some not only alter what is true to suit themselves and their own belief system, but also embrace what is clearly not true. It is as though some prefer darkness to light and prefer clever lies to simple truth!
Seeing clearly with our spiritual eyes, is vital. What we focus on is incredibly important as it can affect our whole being. Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body; so if your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive], your whole body will be full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]. So if the light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:22-23 AMP). That is a very solemn warning.
There is something Christians tend to focus on that seems to cause many to suffer from myopia and tunnel vision. This results in seeing the truth of only one thing while being blind about other equally important things. This “thing” that is focused on almost to the exclusion of all else, is abortion; something that can be described as “hands that shed innocent blood” or hands that kill the innocent. You can’t get more innocent blood than that of unborn babies and, of course, it is a horrific thing. However, it is a fact that even though the arrival of Jesus in this world meant the murder of many innocent babies (Matt. 2:16), we have no record of Jesus ever mentioning this fact, or looking for vengeance, or even protesting about it!
We must be honest and recognise that abortion is only ONE of the things in a list of things that God hates! That is the truth. Too many have been tricked into focusing on only that one thing that God hates, while either omitting or committing other things He also hates! Here is what the Bible says:
“These six things the Lord hates; indeed, seven are repulsive to Him:
- A proud look [the attitude that makes one overestimate oneself and discount others],
- a lying tongue,
- hands that shed innocent blood,
- a heart that creates wicked plans,
- feet that run swiftly to evil,
- a false witness who breathes out lies [even half-truths],
- and one who spreads discord (rumors) among brothers” (Prov. 6:16-19 AMP).
Four of those things deal with a lack of truth: not seeing the truth about yourself (pride), lying, saying something is true when it is not, and spreading rumours. I’ve seen these things done regularly by the very ones who claim they stand against abortion. According to the Bible, being arrogant, sharing rumours, lying, and testifying falsely are just as repulsive and as hateful in God’s eyes as someone who aborts an innocent life. This reveals how highly God values truth! The question is: are those things as repulsive to you as abortion is? If not, why not? Please stop and think about that.
Many of the rumours and lies that people share with others are hearsay or deliberately fabricated lies. People often don’t verify whether something is true before sharing it with others and so their lying tongue spreads rumours, sowing discord and suspicion, resulting in the shedding of innocent blood because words have consequences that can kill. Slander and lies very effectively kill an innocent person’s name and reputation. This can result in the abortion of good in a life, including the abortion of God’s own work in a person. It can turn people against one another and harden them against God Himself. That is pretty serious.
Anyone who is indignant and vocal about the issue of abortion, ought to be equally indignant about ALL of these things that God hates and certainly not do any of them.
Murder AND slander AND lying are things God hates. In one breath a person may proudly claim that they stand against abortion (it is murder), and yet in the next breath they will spread lies about someone they don’t even personally know, such as Bill Gates, for instance. That is also murder. It is murdering a person’s reputation through rumours and lies.
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to our people long ago, ‘You must not murder anyone. Any person who commits murder will be judged.’ But I tell you, don’t be angry with anyone. If you are angry with others, you will be judged. And if you insult someone, you will be judged by the high court. And if you call someone a fool, you will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matt. 5:21,22).
God takes our words and our attitudes that seriously, as seriously as many take up the issue of abortion. “Do not be deceived… neither revilers [whose words are used as weapons to abuse, insult, humiliate, intimidate, or slander], nor swindlers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:10). It is essential that we hold ourselves accountable to being true, to speaking truth, and living truly.
The Origin of Lies
We know exactly where lies come from. Jesus said, “Why do you misunderstand what I say? It is because you are unable to hear what I am saying. You are of your father, the devil, and it is your will to practice the lusts and gratify the desires which are characteristic of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and of all that is false. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me” (John 8:43-45). That makes it crystal clear where lies, deceit and falsehoods come from! The father of lies is also an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) who masquerades in false prophets to lead astray God’s chosen ones (Mark 13:22).
It is difficult to understand why followers of Jesus Christ would want to believe and spread the darkness of lies instead of believing and spreading the Light of truth. What is the purpose of sharing these awful things? It is as though some prefer evil to good, and want to live life being suspicious of everyone and everything! These ones believe the absolute worst, spreading their own mistrust like a virus that infects others. The fruit of their words is not good. They stir people up in a way that promotes fear, suspicion, division, schism, conflict, rebellion, hate, disruption, confusion, anarchy, chaos, and discord. In case it isn’t obvious: all these things are NOT from God.
Before we accept or share something, we must ask: Where is Christ/Truth in this? Is there any Good News in it? Does it contain God’s message of peace, joy, faith and kindness? Does it portray Christ and His love? Does it express gentleness and a tenderness of heart? Does it reveal trust in Him? Are people likely to be attracted to Him through this? If not, reject it, because this is what we’re told to do:
“Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad! Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise” (Phil. 4:4-8).
Sadly, I have seen many who call themselves followers of Christ exhibit the exact opposite of those words.
How can this be? How can so many believe lies to be true and even want to share them with others?
“The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, ‘Don’t call something a rebellious plot (conspiracy) just because they do, and don’t be afraid of something, just because they are. Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.’ Take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability” (Is. 8:11,12; 2 Pet. 3:17).
We have to be careful not to give conspiracies and lies any time of day! We must keep our eyes fixed on Christ Who is Truth and Who leads us into truth. These other things are a huge distraction away from Christ.
“Some people will teach what is false and will not agree with the true teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will not accept the teaching that produces a life of devotion to God. They are proud of what they know, but they understand nothing. They are sick with a love for arguing and fighting about words. And that brings jealousy, quarrels, insults, slander and evil mistrust and suspicion. They are always making trouble, because they are people whose thinking has been confused. They have lost their understanding of the truth…. Don’t let this happen to you – run away from these things! You are a child of God. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, perseverance, and gentleness…. God has trusted you with many things. Keep these things safe. Stay away from people who talk about useless things that are not from God and who argue against you with a ‘knowledge’ that is not knowledge at all. Some people who claim to have that ‘knowledge’ have gone completely away from what we believe” (1 Tim. 6:3-5,11,20,21).
This is serious stuff. We are each personally responsible for what we believe and for what we pass on. As one person says, “If the content contains any slander (even in the name of truth), if it creates fear (even in the name of truth), if it creates suspicion or division (even in the name of truth) it is NOT from God and should be rejected.” 1
Spreading Life or Death
Over the past twelve months we have noticed here in New Zealand that the sharing of lies (politely called “misinformation”) about Covid-19 has been largely from church goers. It has been quite obvious and was noted and correctly reported by the media here.2 In spite of being a country where we have no Covid-19 transmission in the community, we have still had Christians protesting and grumbling about lockdowns even when we weren’t having any! You’d think Christians would be the people giving grateful thanks to God for the mercy and grace of being able to carry on with life as normal! Instead, even some church leaders here have been promoting suspicion and distrust of our government – in spite of NZ’s government being one of only a handful in the world who have done an outstanding job of keeping the virus at bay.
People who carry Christ’s name ought to be the very last people on this earth sharing lies, promoting lawlessness, distrust, and suspicion, because that is the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches: “Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government” (1 Pet. 2:12-17).
Just to be clear, those words were written to people whose country was being ruled by a foreign power; they were under the tyrannical government of Nero who was having many followers of Christ brutally killed. And yet they were told to submit to and obey that terrible government. They did not protest or claim their “rights” or “freedoms”, they didn’t claim their “freedom of speech” or even their right to live! They were told:
“Every person should obey the government in power. No government would exist if it hadn’t been established by God. The governments which exist have been put in place by God. Therefore, whoever resists the government opposes what God has established. Those who resist will bring punishment on themselves. People who do what is right don’t have to be afraid of the government. But people who do what is wrong should be afraid of it. Would you like to live without being afraid of the government? Do what is right, and it will praise you. The government is God’s servant working for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid. The government has the right to carry out the death sentence. It is God’s servant, an avenger to execute God’s anger on anyone who does what is wrong. Therefore, it is necessary for you to obey, not only because you’re afraid of God’s anger but also because of your own conscience” (Rom. 13:1-5).
The only “disobedience” of Christ’s followers that we see in the New Testament was in the context of religion; in Acts 5 the high priest of the temple had some imprisoned for speaking about Jesus. These ones told the religious leaders, “We must obey God rather than men” even though their lives were at stake for disobeying those religious leaders and speaking out.
Let’s be honest. Our lives are not at stake by obeying government regulations. What some perceive to be “persecution” of Christians due to Covid-19 restrictions, is simply governments trying to do their job of protecting their citizens. Churches and Christian groups have NOT been singled out. The reason for stopping groups from meeting is simple: to prevent people transmitting and spreading the virus. That is not persecution. And is your relationship with God really so tenuous and so fragile that it cannot endure not meeting with others regularly? I hope not! 🙂
Some think they are being persecuted, but the truth is that their hypocrisy and their delusions are being exposed. As one person put it: “You aren’t being persecuted for loving Jesus, you’re being held accountable for not acting like Him.”
A lie pretends to be true, it wants to supplant Truth, it aims to deceive and bring death. “The lawless man is produced by the spirit of evil and armed with all the force, wonders and signs that falsehood can devise. To those involved in this dying world he will come with evil’s undiluted power to deceive, for they have refused to love the truth which could have saved them. God sends upon them, therefore, the full force of evil’s delusion, so that they put their faith in an utter fraud and meet the inevitable judgment of all who have refused to believe the truth and who have made evil their play-fellow” (2 Thess. 2:9-11).
That is hard to comprehend… that God would send a delusion to those who refuse to love Truth, but that’s what this Scripture says. The Amplified Bible says: “God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false“.
Loving Truth
Why would refusing to love Truth have such dire consequences? Why does God value truth so much? Why is He jealous over it? Those verses say they refused to love the Truth that could save them – Truth is Christ who saves: “I am the Way, Truth and Life”. Knowing and loving Truth is knowing and loving Christ and that makes Truth incredibly important. So to “refuse to love the Truth” is ultimately to reject God’s Son who is Truth.
Why does God hate deception, mixture and compromise? Because it is the opposite of His nature and character, it is the antithesis of His Son, it is anti-Christ. It was a lie that first turned man against God in the garden of Eden. That lie brought death and separation, and lies still bring death and separation.
I am not interested in politics, or who is “right” and who is “wrong” as there is always right and wrong on both sides. What I am interested in, and what is deeply grieving, is how our Father’s name is being misused and how Christ has been grossly misrepresented by “Christians” who ought to know better. I have never seen such pride, lies, and gross misuse of Scripture, all in the name of the One who said, “My holy nation does not belong to this world. If My holy nation were of this world, My helpers would fight so I would not be handed over to the Jews. My holy nation is not of this world“ (John 18:36).
That is very clear. If anybody ever had the right to govern and bring freedom to the nation of Israel, it was Jesus Christ! But He did not even speak out against the foreign rule of His own country, let alone incite people to fight for it, so why would we? Clearly we are not to fight against governments and nations here on earth, instead the Bible tells us to: “Remind people to submit to the government and its officials, to obey them, to be ready to do any honorable kind of work, to slander no one, to avoid quarreling, to be friendly, and to behave gently towards everyone” (Titus 3:1,2).
If we all did that, what a difference it would make! Let us not be those who exchange God’s truth for a lie and end up serving what is created rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25).
Billy Graham learned this the hard way: “Until 1974 Graham had tumbled more and more rapidly into the vortex of partisan politics. When Nixon crashed, his muddy reputation soiled Graham’s. The Nixon years represented the bottom of Graham’s slide. Graham acknowledged that Nixon’s magnetism had clouded his judgment. In 1993 he would say, simply, that his friendship with Nixon had ‘muffled those inner monitors that had warned me for years to stay out of partisan politics.’ He urged young evangelists to avoid his mistake…”. 3
We know that God desires truth in us (Ps. 51:6) and if anyone on this earth is known for their integrity and for being true, it ought to be the children of the God of Truth. And yet over the last decade I have had Christians try to convince me of one lie after another about leaders of nations, primarily the USA, regardless of which party was in power. The things that have been said about these people from the mouths of those claiming to be lovers of Jesus, are truly awful. And I’m not talking about the obvious lies, duplicity, bullying and foul words from a man’s own mouth, but things that are hearsay and cannot be proved or substantiated.
Jesus warned us: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in My name saying that I’m the Christ and they will deceive many people…. Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people, because contempt and violation of the law will increase, the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:4,5,11,12).
We have seen how true that is. False prophets have prophesied for some time that Donald Trump would have 8 years in office, while others have repeated and shared these things like they were gospel truth. God never gets it wrong and does not lie (Num. 23:19). He has exposed those “prophecies” as lies and exposed the instigators as false. Have those who believed and shared those lies admitted they were wrong, apologising to those they lied to? Or do they still refuse to believe the truth and go even deeper into delusion and deception? Will they love darkness and lies or love truth and light?
Hear what God said about false prophets “who are making things up out of their own heads and calling it ‘prophesying.’ Preach to them the real thing. Tell them, ‘Listen to God’s Message!’ God, the Master, pronounces doom on the empty-headed prophets who do their own thing and know nothing of what’s going on! All they do is fantasize comforting illusions and preach lying sermons. They say ‘God says . . .’ when God hasn’t so much as breathed in their direction. And yet they stand around thinking that something they said is going to happen. Haven’t you fantasized sheer nonsense? Aren’t your sermons tissues of lies, saying ‘God says . . .’ when I’ve done nothing of the kind? You have profaned Me among My people just to get ahead yourselves, used Me to make yourselves look good—killing souls who should never have died and coddling souls who shouldn’t live. You’ve lied to people who love listening to lies. Because you’ve confounded and confused good people, unsuspecting and innocent people, with your lies, and because you’ve made it easy for others to persist in evil so that it wouldn’t even dawn on them to turn to Me so I could save them, as of now you’re finished. No more delusion-mongering from you, no more sermonic lies. I’m going to rescue My people from your clutches. And you’ll realize that I am God.’” (Portions of Ezekiel 13).
The only way we will know truth and see what is true is if we humble ourselves and repent from believing and telling lies.
“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust swarms to eat up all of your crops, or if I send an epidemic among you, then if My people will humble themselves and pray, and search for Me, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear them from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.” (2 Chron. 7:13,14 TLB).
“If I send an epidemic among you” yes, we have that. “Then if My people will humble themselves…” this is what we need to see. Humbling MUST come before praying and searching. We hear of Christians all around the world praying about the state of things in the USA and the pandemic around the world, telling God what the outcome needs to be (which, by the way, is not being humble) but where are those who are humbling themselves? Where are those who are searching for Him? Where are those who are prepared to know and listen to His heart instead of their own or instead of someone else’s?
Those words were said to God’s own people: “If MY people… will humble themselves and pray and search for Me and TURN, repent, apologise, and change direction away from their wicked ways then I will hear… and forgive and heal”.
The thing is, there will not be any humbling or repenting so long as people proudly think they are right and believe lies to be true. We have to examine ourselves and our beliefs, having our eyes opened to see our own state, and that requires us to take a hard look at ourselves and what we think is true.
We ALL believe something that is not true. Blindness is an awful thing and we know that pride blinds. The question is, when we are confronted with the truth, are we going to receive that truth and admit we were wrong, or are we going to go further into darkness and lies and refuse to love the truth? Will we humble ourselves? That is the only way for there to be change, repentance and Light in us. That is the only way for the eyes of our hearts to see what is true and be opened.
It seems that when you are deceived into believing or promoting a lie, or when you deliberately try to convince others of something that isn’t true, you then open yourself up to more deception, until eventually you become blind and can no longer discern what is really true any more. You then see only what you want to see and what you see is not necessarily what is real or true – it is a delusion. That is a dangerous position to be in.
I had a vivid example of this recently when the rioters broke into the Capitol in Washington DC. A couple of hours after it had happened, someone who had watched the footage but didn’t want to believe the protestors could have been Trump supporters, said to me, “There were no Trump hats on the people I saw, or [Trump] flags…”. This person had seen only what they wanted to see and did NOT see the reality and truth of the situation. All of us have our blind spots where we either will not, or cannot see what is true, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. Once people believe a lie, they become invested in it. If they keep feeding that lie with even more lies, it takes them over and becomes an obsession which blinds them to seeing what is real and true. They refuse to love the truth.
The words of Isaiah are as applicable today as when they were written, and as appropriate today as when they were quoted by both Jesus and Paul: “You will indeed hear and hear with your ears but will not understand, and you will indeed look and look with your eyes but will not see [not perceive, have knowledge of or become acquainted with what you look at, at all]. For the heart (the understanding, the soul) of this people has grown dull (stupid, hardened, and calloused), and their ears are heavy and hard of hearing and they have shut tight their eyes, so that they may not perceive and have knowledge and become acquainted with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their souls and turn [to Me and be converted], that I may heal them.” (Is. 6:9,10; Matt. 13:15; Acts 28:27).
Christ has come to rescue us from lies, “The reason for My birth and the reason for My coming into the world is to witness to the truth. Every man who loves truth recognises My voice…“ (John 18:37). And immediately after Jesus said that, Pilate asked, “What is truth?” even though he had Truth impersonated standing right in front of him declaring truth!
The Truth in Christ
Lies must be exposed for what they are, so that Truth can be seen. Yet another lie that has infiltrated Christianity is that we are part of this world and must defend what is in this world. The evidence of this is many Christians still looking to the earthly Israel, even though Jesus very, very clearly told Israel: “I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you. It will be given to people who do the things God wants in His kingdom.” (Matt. 21:43). That happened; there is no longer any distinction in being Jewish or not and this is emphasized quite a few times in the Bible (Gal. 3:7; Gal. 3:28; Rom. 10:12; 1 Cor. 1:24; 12:13; Col. 3:11).
We are not looking for a nation or country in this world. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed or with a visible display; nor will people say, ‘Look! Here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20,21).
We are not looking for a new temple or Jerusalem here on this earth, “You have NOT come to a mountain that can be touched… BUT you HAVE come to Mount Zion and to the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:18,22).
We are not looking for a leader or an anointed person here on this earth. We have found Him, “You are the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the Son of the living God” and we do not look for another (Matt. 16:16, 11:3).
That old system/covenant ended when Jesus came to this earth. Everything is now centred in Him, He is our City, our Nation, our Country, our King. Everything shifted from the nation of Israel to taking out people from all nations to form one Nation in Christ spiritually; away from the earthly literal, to the heavenly spiritual. The letters to the Galatians, Hebrews and the Revelation explain this clearly, as well as 1 Peter 2:9-11.
And if we need an example of this, Jesus didn’t even try to save His own “nation” or country of Israel when He was on this earth. This disillusioned some of His followers who expected Him to save them and to set Israel free (Luke 24:21). Jesus didn’t protest about the injustice of the occupation of His country, or speak out about it, fight for it, defend it, or try to save Israel. If even He didn’t do that, why would we? He had nothing to do with it – He did NOT belong to this world, He did NOT try to preserve or protect Israel, and neither do we. Read again, “My holy nation does not belong to this world. If My holy nation were of this world, My helpers would fight so I would not be handed over to the Jews. My holy nation is not of this world“ (John 18:36).
Viewing things from an earthly perspective has been a problem since the beginning: “There are many who live like enemies of the cross of Christ. I have often told you about them. And it makes me cry to tell you about them now. The way they live is leading them to destruction. They have replaced God with their own desires. They do shameful things, and they are proud of what they do. They think only about earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven…” (Phil. 3:18-20).
Jesus exposed and spoke out about the religious world, calling the religious leaders blind leaders of the blind, but He did not get involved with the political, geographical world. He told people to pay their taxes (Mk 12:14-17) submit to what the rulers say (Matt. 20:25-28) and then surrendered when He was arrested and led away. He did not fight against the regime. He gave us the example of being a servant to all: He laid down His life and took up His cross, and told us to do the same thing (Matt. 16:24).
If we aren’t careful, taking up issues within countries here in this world can become a huge distraction from our heavenly calling and vocation.
“The Lord is seeking to bring about that oneness of vision and vocation where everything which is of earthly distinction is entirely lost and where there is a universal ministry constituted in all the nations without nationality; where every kind of earth bond is entirely eliminated…. There can be neither Jew nor Greek. Not “there is not”, but, “there cannot be” circumcision nor uncircumcision on the earth, but where it is all of the heavens and therefore universal. Oh, the need for this emancipation in spirit! The only way in which there can be any true realisation of the universality of the Lord Jesus is by a spiritual operation of God in our hearts…. We could go back to our French, English, American and all the rest of it. We could do that and it would be a caricature, it would be an entirely false conception of the truth of the body of Christ. You need to have the thing done inside by the Holy Spirit, to be absolutely emancipated from all that is of this earth, to be brought into the heavenly universality of the Lord Jesus Christ where everything else ceases. Not to divide you merely from other people, but where it ceases to have a place in your own heart, where you do not regard yourself as belonging to that any longer, but where you realise you are out of every kind of earth system and earth order, and you are now with the Lord in the heavens and that the universe is the sphere of your spiritual operation, and that everything with which you have to do although it may be local, has a universal relationship.” – T. Austin-Sparks. 4
God’s ways are NOT our ways (Is. 55:8). He does things differently, He sees things differently. As I said at the beginning, we are all deluded to some extent. We need to see that all the lying substitutes of nationalism, patriotism, and churchianity have been completely eclipsed and removed by Jesus Christ who is our sole Horizon, our only Place, our Nation, our Country, our Kingdom, our City, and our complete Truth! And we can totally trust Him with this world.
Abraham’s original calling, as well as ours, is to “Get OUT of your country, and go to the Place/Land/Nation (Christ!) that I will show you” (see Heb. 11:13-16). If you have not yet seen this, then please make the first step of “getting out of your country”: out of your comfort zone, out of what is false, out of the lies you believe, out of your traditions, out of where you think you belong. Then ask God to “show you” Christ as the Promised Land, as the Light, and as the Truth! We do not look for another place, or person, or truth. We go “outside the camp” to Christ, we look to Him, we focus on Him, we live in Him, we love and know Him who IS Truth!
God, who gave our forefathers many different glimpses of the truth in the words of the prophets, has now, at the end of the present age, given us the Truth in the Son. (Heb. 1:1,2 Phillips)
