With the election coming, this post is timely.

First of all, I want to be clear about what I mean by a lie.

A lie is something that someone says that is factually untrue.

A lie is an untrue statement that is meant to manipulate or deceive you.

But, a lie can also be a lie of omission. If I make 10 statements, all of them factually true, but omit truths from the other side……and if I do it with the intention of misleading you and manipulating you, then the sum total of my work is a lie.

This bears repeating:

A lie does not have to be factually untrue. It only has to be intentionally misleading.

Journalists are masters of the lie of omission.

If you want to see a lie that is factually untrue, scroll down your Facebook page. You will find one on every other screen.

If you want to see a lie of omission, watch Fox or CNN.

Taken together these two categories of lies could very well account for half of the “information” that we consume every day. The people, the journalists, who spread these lies are highly skilled. They want you mad. They want you to attack THEIR enemy. They want to manipulate you into making their enemy into your enemy. They want to turn you into a “hater”.

Judging from the quality of our current public conversation, they have been highly successful. And it will just get worse until the election. Hopefully, this will improve after the election. However, it didn’t improve after 2016.

What to do?

First, we must critically assess the things that we are told. If a “talking head” or an internet post makes you mad, that is a red flag. The probability that you are being manipulated is very high.

The factually untrue statement is fairly easy to deal with. There are fact checking sites on the web. They are sometimes biased, but they are better than nothing. Use them on every post that you share, especially the ones that make you mad.

The manipulative but factually true lie, the lie of omission, is much more difficult. It is hard to spot, especially when it supports something that you believe, something that agrees with your appetites. We love the lie of omission, because it tells us that we are right and that the other guy is evil. The key to spotting the lie of omission is to look at the body of work of the journalist in question. If Jim Acosta has nothing positive to say about Trump, ever, then he is an omission liar. If Sean Hannity has nothing positive to say about Biden, ever, then he is an omission liar.

Ideally, we should stop consuming information that comes from factual liars and from omission liars. If we all did this, then their sponsors would go away and then they would go away. This is going to be hard to do without cancelling our cable TV subscription and our internet service.

This sounds hopeless; but, I find that when I am facing a confusing and difficult problem, there is often good advise in the “owner’s manual”, the Bible.

When all else fails…… Read the instructions.

Love God
Love your neighbor

When you are in the process of reacting to a piece of information, run it through those two filters first. Does YOUR reaction reflect both a love for God and a love for your fellow man? If not, you may want to change channels…..or better yet pull the plug and go for a walk, play with your child, pet your dog. Maybe you need to get a dog. Trust me, his reaction to the “talking head” is far healthier than yours.

An evildoer listens to wicked lips,
and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

Solomon, NIV

No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.

David, NIV

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

John, NIV

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

John, NIV

But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person.

Jesus, NIV

I get up around 5am every morning. I go out on the patio, light a fire in the fire pit, and sip my first cup of coffee. I read the Bible, pray, and write these posts.

Yesterday, the sun rose on a cloudless, crystal blue sky……it was beautiful. Today, it is cloudy, threatening rain, and cool……almost fall-like……….it is beautiful. Soon it will be very cold with a light frost, and later……. snow………and that too will be beautiful.

We get deeply immersed in our to do list. We are so busy pulling on the levers…….running the machine that is our daily life, that we fail to sit back, take a minute and appreciate the beauty that is our world…….at least the part of it that God created.

Have you ever just sat on your porch and watched a thunderstorm? Better yet, I once experienced a hurricane, up close and personal. The power, the glory of it was awesome.

I have come to realize that nature, the direct result of God’s creation, is beautiful……all of it.

There is no such thing as a natural disaster.

A wildfire may destroy homes in California. A volcano may destroy cabins in Oregon. A hurricane may flood a city in Louisiana. The human stuff that is destroyed, the lives that are lost is tragic. But the storm itself, in its power, is majestic.

We get upset…….because our human plans are disrupted. We get upset……..because our man made stuff is destroyed. We forget that these “natural disasters” are one face of our creator. They are a reminder of his power and glory. They are a reminder of how small we are…….and of how inconsequential the things that we build are. In 1000 years there is not a thing that we have built that will still be here……..except, perhaps for our waste. If there are still people around, they may read about us, but they will not remember us.

So we need to decide what we will focus on as we go about our day….. the temporary life we are living and the stuff that we are accumulating and maintaining……..all of which will soon be gone……or the power, glory, and majesty that is our creator……who is eternal.

Do we focus on the lower eighth ward in New Orleans?
Or do we focus on the storm?

I can assure you that we will rebuild New Orleans. I can also assure you that it will again be destroyed someday. Katrina, or another storm with a different name will return every year for as long as this planet exists.

So…… where is this going?

There is a critical truth hiding here.

The conflict between our stuff and the storm is the same as the conflict between our temporary society and God’s eternal society.

Our earthly lives and our temporal stuff will not survive.
The storm will prevail.
God will prevail.

We have to choose which to focus on.
We have to choose which to put our treasure in.

In a way, we must choose which to worship…….the temporal…….or the eternal……………our stuff……..or the storm.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Jesus, NIV

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Paul, NIV

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.

David, NIV

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

Paul, NIV

I’m getting old……… I’m probably well past my “best used by” date. Recently a friend, also about my age, commented, “In a few years, all of the stuff I’ve accumulated will either belong to somebody that I don’t know…..or will be in the dump.” It’s a sobering thought………but true. I’m a firm believer in the truth, so this post is about facing that truth.

Soon……….I’m going to die.

I really don’t get too sad about dying. But, I have to admit that the thought of my woodshop being sold at auction to a bunch of guys whom I don’t know and carted off in pickup trucks saddens me. Even worse, somebody will fill MY shop up…….with THEIR junk. Instead of being neatly organized, it will probably just sit there in piles……..makes my skin crawl. They probably won’t weed my garden either.

So how do we……the baby boomers in particular, but everybody else as well, even the very young……deal with the reality……the truth……… that we are near the end of our lives?

I’m a Christian, and I pray every morning. As a part of my prayers, I include this:

Lord,

I thank you for all that you have given.
I trust you for what you have taken away.
I praise you for what I have left.

But………the truth is that soon………God will take away every earthly thing and person in my life. I can get mad at God……I can ignore him or deny him……. I can struggle against my fate. But, that won’t change a thing. My daily trip to the treadmill may buy me a few more days…….but my end is not in doubt.

Or, I can go back to my prayer. I can trust God. He has given me many promises. The first is that he loves me. The second is that he has prepared a place for me. After he takes away this present amazing place, I have to believe that a creator who loves me and has prepared a new place for me, has something nice in mind. If he takes care of me any thing like the way I take care of my children, I’m in for a treat.

The best guess that I can come up with goes like this. My day begins sitting on the porch drinking coffee and talking with people that I love……Jesus, my wife, my sons, people that I don’t know yet. I then spend time in a woodshop where I make beautiful things……where the chisels don’t get dull, the bandsaw blade never breaks, and where there is no sandpaper…….none.
Jesus stops by and gives me a few pointers. I break for lunch where I enjoy more fellowship. In the afternoon, I take a long walk with a friend. Dinner is with my mom and dad. I get a good night’s sleep with no midnight trips to the toilet and no CPAP machine. Then I start all over.

The key here is to love and trust God……..and his promises.

The alternative is dispair.

There really is no other choice.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus, NIV

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Jesus, NIV

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

David, NIV

This post is directed primarily at believers……..Christians. If you don’t accept Jesus as divine, then this will mean very little to you. On the other hand, I have found the teachings of Jesus to be trustworthy. Maybe you should read on, and consider the possibility that Jesus may have been on to something.

In the Bible there are two men named Lazarus…….two unrelated stories. The first is the one we all know. Jesus’s friend Lazarus dies and Jesus raises him from the dead. This contains the famous “shortest verse in the Bible”…….”Jesus wept”. This is an account told by Luke about Jesus and the things that he did. The second Lazarus story is not nearly as well known………but it is arguably far more important. It is a story told by Jesus……possibly a parable……..comparing a poor beggar named Lazarus and a rich man. More importantly, it is a brief description of heaven, hell, and the relationship between the two. It is a summary of Heaven and hell, spoken by the Creator. As such, it deserves our attention.

The cliff notes version is this:

Heaven is a place of comfort.
Hell is an agonizing burning fire…….a place of torment.
Both are permanent.
Whichever you land in, you are there for eternity.

I hear a lot of Christians say something to the effect of, “I believe in Christ, I believe in heaven, but I don’t believe in hell”.
A more common statement by Christians is, ” I can’t believe that an all loving God would send Aunt Jane to hell.”

These Christians are wrong. You cannot be a Christian and deny the existence of a burning hell.

Why?

You must believe in a burning hell………because Jesus did.

If you are not a Christian, and if you don’t believe in a burning hell, and if you are wrong……..then you are headed for a lot of pain.

Here is the other Lazarus story……..as told by the Creator.

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets;  let them listen to them.’

“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Jesus, NIV

I believe that the worst pain that we can experience as human beings……….is when we are unfairly attacked……..by someone we love. When the attack is fair, when we deserve it, it’s not so bad. When the attack comes from an enemy, it’s not so bad. But, when it comes from someone we love, it is devastating.

I used to tell my sons, “you can only truly hurt the people who love you”. There is some big league irony here. But, this is one of the greatest truths that I know.

To be clear here, I’m not talking about forgetting a birthday. I’m not talking about some unintentional slight. I’m talking about intentionally hurting someone who loves you. We seem to know the power of this. Often, we save our most devastating attacks for those who love us. It’s not hard to do. The people who love us are typically close to us. We know them well.

We know just where to stick the knife.

And this is tragic.

So you are saying to yourself……”that kind of person is a real jerk…….I would never do that!” And, for the most part, you and I don’t attack those who love us.

But, if you honestly think about your relationship with God, you probably don’t have to look too far to find an episode where you threw him under the bus.

Used his name disparagingly.
Lied.
Took something that was not yours.
Disrespected your parent.
Lusted.
Was jealous of another.
Used Sunday to catch up on work.

And that is just working through the commandments.

How far back do you and I need to go…….to find an episode where we failed to love our neighbor? Not far……probably today……….probably the last time we read an inflammatory political post on Facebook…….or watched the evening news.

So…….here is the hard part.

God loves us with an otherworldly kind of love…..a love that is far beyond our understanding. Try to imagine his pain, when we intentionally attack him by ignoring his teaching, by ignoring him, by denying his very existence.

This is hurting someone who loves you……..writ large.

We do it every day.

And yet, God stands there with open arms, with a heart filled with love……..and, I suspect, with a tear in his eye.

The bad news is that we are guilty………just about every day. Guilt is not very fashionable these days. But, it has a purpose. The purpose of guilt is to guide us away from destructive behavior.

The good news is that God does not hold a grudge. He is just like any other parent. When we get finished attacking him, when we turn back to him, he is still waiting and his love is still there.

God’s love is not diminished because of our failures. His love is not diminished because of our attack. His love is not diminished because we simply are not capable of understanding it.

This makes no sense to me……..but it makes sense to my father. And that’s good enough for me.

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,”

God, NIV

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Paul, NIV

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul, NIV