If you have been listening to any news lately you can readily see that talking heads are babbling out of control from the top down. It’s amazing how much truth is replaced with falsehood with no apparent recourse for those doing it. I hear one person say one thing as truth and another will say the opposite and also proclaim it as truth. It makes you think that all of them are liars and that what we thought was truth is just a cruel mirage. In the movie Conspiracy Theory Mel Gibson’s character was paranoid about everyone and everything and his existence was driving a taxi and identifying government conspiracies. His conspiracy theories almost got him committed. With the rush of so many things that don’t add up lately, I am starting to believe that there are some weird things going on that confirm that some of this stuff is creepy. Lies have always been a part of society and the desire to have more power doesn’t travel down the highway of truth. It travels down the road of deception. When we pass through that wide gate to get what we want, we make a huge mistake in judgment and open a doorway to whatever depravity goes along with it. Here’s how it goes for me. I hear the upper leadership say something and I believe it. Later I hear, from their own mouth, a “different” truth or an evolution of truth, and their first comment becomes a lie, and the second comment becomes a weak, wasteful comment at best. Whew!! This is living life walking through a wide gate that allows for anything to be said or unsaid to prove a point or make oneself more powerful. In this one area, lying, it opens up many theories of what might be the truth. Why? Because the lie of the first truth discounts everything said from there on until trust is rebuilt. Jesus spoke in Matthew 7:13-20 about the narrow gate we should use as a parameter for our life and He went on to share that there are few who go through that gate. He also followed it up by saying that there are many who go through the wide gate and their fate is destruction. This a proving ground for those who know Him and are part of The Way. It all comes down to fruit! In verse 16 Jesus says, “Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?” And the answer is a resounding no!!! You see, we have lived in the world so long, and compromised our faith so much, that we have now started accepting the lies of those who try to control us. We have tasted their fruit, and at first it was bitter and spoiled, but now we have acquired a taste for it, and even long to eat of it again and again. Years ago as a child my mom gave me a piece of fruitcake and I took one bite and spit it out. It was terrible!! Of all the things I have tried to eat, the impression that fruitcake made on my taste buds, turned me off on eating it for good! I have no desire to try it again, and I can even remember the taste of it at age 8. Ugh! No more fruitcake for me.
We have tasted the fruit of this world and it’s leaders and spit it out again and again and vowed to never eat again, but now it looks like the wide gate, spoiled fruit message of our world is starting to be acceptable by some. In today’s scripture it is basically a litmus test for those who follow Christ as to who they will follow. The world or The Way. In verse 18 Jesus says, “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.”
Can we not figure this out with base level Biblical reasoning that if it tastes bad once, it will taste bad again and again, so don’t taste it anymore. Go to a better fruit. Put down the fruitcake. I’m not channeling a Conspiracy Theory here, but if it looks bad, sounds bad, thinks bad, and tastes bad……IT IS BAD!! When the children of Israel were saved by God from the Egyptians you would have thought that they would have been eternally grateful for what God had done, but they weren’t. They took their blessed state and demanded more from God and God gave it to them, but He also gave them empty hearts. BAD FRUIT. In Psalm 106 there is a direct parallel between where we are right now in our world, and where the children of Israel were, and it is not good. An empty heart is a heart that denies any absolutes from God. An empty heart is a heart that denies that God is our sole provider. An empty heart is a heart that allows pride to make us think we have gotten all of this on our own. An empty heart is a heart that accepts lies and doesn’t question those in leadership who make them. An empty heart is a heart that tastes the bad fruit and tells everyone else it tastes good. An empty heart is a disillusioned heart that even says fruitcake is good, when it isn’t. An empty heart is a heart that is far away from God, but doesn’t even know it.
In writing this I know that some will say that a bell ringer is just that, a person who rings a bell that is ignored after awhile. Some may even say that there is no conspiracy and you are crazy, just like Mel Gibson’s character was in the movie. Just remember this. In the end, he was right and it wasn’t any theory at all. It was the truth! So, if you’ve got anything left in the tank. If your heart has anything left on the gauge, let’s commit to call truth, truth and lies, lies. We will call those who tell the truth, good. We will call those who tell lies, liars, and at least, we will show where we stand. On the Word of God. Fruitcake anyone? I think I’ll pass……
Augustine said, “When regard for truth has been broken down or even slightly weakened, all things will remain doubtful.”
The Pilgrimage continues….. David Warren