Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. Today, when you emerge from the cult of the lie, like we talked about last week, when you emerge from the cult of the lie, you discover that the truth has set you free. See, last week we looked closely at what it means to be a captive of the cult of the lie. Today, we want to see what it takes to become a member of the family of the truth. Not the cult of the lie, but the family of the truth.

Now, there is a way out of the endless gerbil wheel of state lies and narratives. And we observed that from the beginning, socialism requires belief in the big lie. That is, we speak truth. That's the big lie of socialism. We speak truth.

How do I know it's true? Well, the government told me on CNN, all other lies of the deep state are corollaries of this big lie, and they depend upon your unquestioning assumption of it. What we say is true, says the state, and you better believe it. As George Orwell puts it in the mouths of one of his characters in 1984, he says, the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command, unquote.

All other lies, dear listener, depend upon you obeying this command. Reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. Oh, the government has your best interest at heart. Not the acquisition of power. That's a lie.

If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. We remember that. That was a lie. Or the vaccines are safe and effective.

And we've seen the lie of that transpire over the last year or two. Or it is insurrection to question the results of the 2020 election. Without the big lie underlying these narratives from the deep state, that is, we speak truth. None of these would be believed by the American people. But we also saw that our own human leanings make us susceptible to the lies of the state, that is, to propaganda.

For example, fear makes us susceptible to propaganda, doesn't it? Fear makes and the deep state uses our fears to get their way, to aggrandize their power. Or hatred and prejudice also makes us susceptible to propaganda. The fear of the other, the hatred, the prejudice against the other. Or thirdly, unquestioned submission to authority makes us susceptible to propaganda, doesn't it?

Number four was the inability or unwillingness to acquire independent information for oneself. This makes us susceptible to propaganda. Or number five, finally, our tendency to form ourselves into insular tribes makes us susceptible to propaganda. We covered all these in detail. And I refer you to that broadcast.

You'll find it on our website, omnisprotestas.org. O-M-N-I-S dash P-O-T-E-S-T-A-S dot org. Omnisprotestas.org. So today, I want to address this. How can we overcome these susceptibilities?

How can we pierce through hypnotizing narratives which are created to aggrandize the deep state's power while weakening we, the people? How can we emerge from the cult of the lie and come into the family of the truth? Well, we invoke Jesus' words in this case. We invoke Jesus' words, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Jesus says this in John chapter 8.

So, when or if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. What does Jesus mean by these things? First of all, he says, if you abide in my word. The word, per se, was not some physical bubble in which the disciple safely abode. No, shielded from the world around him.

No, Jesus' word was that body of truth that he has consistently expressed to them in his preaching and teaching since the onset of his public ministry. John has been clear that this is the essence and nature of Christ's ministry from the very beginning. John begins with this, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Therefore, if you continue to live in Jesus' teaching, such that you live in Jesus' person himself, you are a true disciple. Ah, that's the idea of abiding in his word.

The word of life leads inevitably to life in the word. That is, Jesus' person himself. The true disciple will so desire to live in, dwell within Jesus, that he immediately flags himself as a particular kind of thing. That is, a disciple who abides in his word. And three consequences follow if you abide in his word.

First of all, you know that you are a true disciple. You know that you are a true disciple. Life in Jesus as the word is a banner indication that such a one is a true, that is a bona fide disciple. In a world of false disciples, counterfeit apostles, it is necessary to have an infallible test. And this test is endorsed by Jesus himself.

He says, abiding, which is a Greek word that means remaining in, dwelling in, living as a permanent resident within. Abiding in my word, Jesus says. The true disciple by nature shares the life of his master by abiding in him. And that life is communicated by means of the word. That is, the life, teaching, and very person of Jesus.

Well, if that is the case, then Jesus says, then you will know the truth. So important. Here is the first and necessary step for coming out of the cult of lies. You must know the truth. If you are in Jesus, you will know the truth.

There are a number of kinds of truth. There are mathematical, scientific, historical truths. All of these have their place. But the realm of truth Jesus has in mind is eternally abiding. Truth is that reality that God has created, determined, and revealed.

So, fallen man asserts competing truths. Oh, they vie in the hearts and minds of other fallen men. But leave these behind, dear listener. Blind eyes don't see, deaf ears do not hear. You, however, have been given spiritual life in your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And now you possess the spiritual faculties to see and hear and know the truth. It is important to know the truth. For example, just one example, a salvation example. It is important to know the truth that we were once sinless creatures in our first father, Adam, but now stand in Adam as guilty and condemned sinners. That truth is important to know.

Apart from Christ, we are condemned sinners. But correspondingly, it is also important to know the truth that Jesus stood in our place as a condemned, guilty sinner, and he endured the punishment for it so that we might once again stand as sinless creatures in him before God the Father. Truths, truths that save, dear listener, knowledge of and faith in this Christ, the one who has made it so, is utterly requisite for this last stage, which is, then the truth will set you free. Jesus says, know the truth and the truth will set you free. True liberty.

How the world loves to use this cliche, right? Know the truth and the truth will set you free. It's passed into our lexicon as a kind of in-your-face challenge that is to accept whatever it is I assert to be true. That's how the world abuses this phrase. For example, it abuses it by saying things like, well, science has proven that there's a gay gene in our chromosomes, so deal with it.

Know the truth and the truth will set you free, or something like this. Science has proven that man-caused global warming is true, Mr. Denier. Know the truth and the truth will set you free. A kind of in-the-face assertion, isn't it? Well, how many who so glibly use this cliche know who even says it, right?

A recent Harris poll indicated that 7 out of 10 people don't even know who preached the Sermon on the Mount. Of those who do even, of those who do know this phrase that was said by Jesus, how many really know the context in which Jesus says it? Just because you use the words of Jesus as an appendage to your assertions doesn't make them true. We must say that the liberty of which Jesus speaks is the first liberty, that is spiritual life in him. Without this, all other liberties are trivial and meaningless.

The true first liberty is spiritual liberty, spiritual life in Christ. He is the personification, the embodiment, the very body of truth into whom you are engrafted when you believe in him. When you come to truth in Christianity, you do not come merely and only to a set of intellectual principles by which to live. No, no, no. When you come to truth, and this is what we are seeking, right?

We are seeking to enter the family of truth in opposition to the cult of lies. So when you come to truth in Christianity, you come into a family of truth. You don't come to relative progressive thoughts and feelings that shift and change depending upon the evolving consensus of humanity. No, no, no. When you come to truth in Christ, you come to a person.

You come to life in the person of Christ who is in himself both objective and subjective truth. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Oh, know this and live, dear listener. Embrace this truth.

Come to Christ in faith, and you too will come to life. You will know the truth, and that truth will set you free, free in your heart, mind, and spirit. Yes, truth with a capital T, truth. Abide in Christ and you will know the truth. This is the first big truth that is life in Christ.

The first big truth contrasting with a big lie. Faith in Christ will bring you spiritual life, life that is eternal in nature. The Apostle Paul says, God made you alive together with him, having forgiven you all your trespasses. Yes, you have life in Christ now. God made you alive together with him, as the Apostle Paul says.

When this happens, Christ becomes your life and your truth, too. John says, or our Lord says in the Gospel of John, he says about himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Oh, yes. The search for truth, dear listener, begins in Christ and thereafter becomes your compass point, your spiritual true north for all other truths.

This is the first big truth that is life in Christ. When you come alive in Christ, then you take that first giant step towards discovering truth in all of his creation. It is indeed Christ who has created the earth, all that we see around him, and he has also created the life of man. He has also created the world of man and the culture of man and the mind of man. It is in this world in particular that we need an unerring compass point of truth, a true north of truth in terms of discerning and seeing into human nature and discovering the truths of man as he relates to fellow man as well as to God.

The search for truth then begins but doesn't end in Christ. The truth begins in Christ and thereafter radiates outward into Christ's creation. And we discover truth, true truth, as one philosopher puts it. We discover true truth in his creation after first coming to him in truth. And the first big truth, that is life in Christ, stands in opposition to the big lie.

The big truth stands in opposition to the big lie. And that big lie, of course, is we speak truth. That's the state saying we speak truth. And no one is better equipped to discover the true from the false than the Christian. I submit to you, dear listener.

This is one reason the father of lies, as Jesus called the devil. This is why the father of lies so hates Christians. Because we, because Christians possess the first big truth, that is life in Christ. We are better able to discern spiritual lies, spiritual counterfeits. We are better able to sort out the true from the false, although not always infallibly, I must say, and not always in fullness.

And I'll treat of this here in greater detail presently. Christians are less liable, for example, to fall prey to the susceptibilities of propaganda. This is why I urge you to first and foremost find truth in Christ. Because when we do, we are less liable to fall prey to the susceptibilities of propaganda. Now, we reviewed these for you briefly, didn't we?

First of all, Christians have less reason for fear, for example. Christians have less reason to fear. We trust in the love of God. And as we do, as we trust in His love and we begin to live in it, we begin to see it confirmed in our lives time and time again, we begin to exercise that love in our own lives too, amongst others, amongst our brothers and sisters, and amongst those in the world. And we know that this love of God will keep us through all tests and trials such that we do not have to fear.

The apostle John says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. Isn't that beautiful? Perfect love casts out fear. We have less reason to fear as Christians. And consequently, we are less prone to manipulation by state propaganda as they prey upon our fears.

And make no mistake about this, the make no mistake about this, the state knows that fear is one of our weaknesses. Lock up, mask up, and vax up, for example, lest you die. That was one of the fears that was preyed upon us, wasn't it, during the response to COVID? Well, secondly, we also know that we have less reason to hate when we are in Christ. When we know the truth in Christ, we have less reason to hate.

Since we are so loved by God, we have less reason to hate. Love your enemies, our Lord tells us. Do good to those who hate you. So this tried and true lever of hate and prejudice, this tried and true lever that the state always pulls, doesn't it? Prejudice and hate.

This tried and true lever is further removed in the believer when he comes to truth in Christ. The apostle Paul exhorts Christians. He says, do nothing from partiality and prejudice. Propaganda is thus less effective with the man who does not hate. Isn't it?

Propaganda is less effective with the man who does not hate. And the Christian is less likely to hate because he indeed is loved by God. For example, we are less liable to the propaganda this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Yes, you are being taught to hate when indeed you come into the realm of the hatred, the prejudice against the unvaccinated. And then number three, two, we have less reason to automatically bow to authority.

When we come to truth in Christ, we have less reason to automatically bow to authority. We Christians have come under a different master than the state. We have come under the true king, that is King Jesus. Jesus himself said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. This is the authority to whom we bow, to Jesus, to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given, right?

In fact, as Jesus tells the earthly ruler, Pontius Pilate, who thought that he had power over Jesus, Jesus told him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. This borrowed authority of the state is far less impressive to the believer when that believer knows the very one from whom that derived authority comes. After all, the authority of the state is but a derived authority from God himself. And so, we believers have less reason to automatically bow to that derived authority. And then fourthly, we believers have more motivation and more ability to seek out the truth.

Remember, we have discovered that in those who are susceptible to propaganda, that those susceptible have less motivation and less ability as well to seek out the truth from other reliable sources. All they do is listen to the state. Not so. We who are more motivated and able to seek out the truth and seek it out from other sources. Our Lord exhorts us regarding eternal things.

He says, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you, right? That impulse to ask and seek and knock over eternal things, I find as well. Personally, I find that it carries over into all of living in many Christians, not all Christians, but in many Christians.

So, state propaganda thus has less propensity to work on the man who has sought out the truth in other sources. And then we discover as well, in the life of the believer, we are less likely to be bound by earthly tribal identities. Less likely to be bound by earthly tribal identities. We talked about this briefly too, didn't we? The Christian has a new identity in Christ now that transcends all other identities.

In Christ, the Apostle Paul says, in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. This is my new identity. This is the new identity of every Christian.

He is now in Christ. And he is therefore not bound by other categories like race, like Jew or Greek, as Paul says, or slave or free, even male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. This is my new identity. And consequently, the attempts by state propaganda to isolate me by race or gender or party, and then turn around and aggravate those differences, this state propaganda is far less likely to work on me or to work on you if you indeed have found the truth in Christ.

For example, the epithet racist, oh, racist is less likely to stick on me or any other person unjustly labeled by the state as such, if indeed I dwell in the truth of Christ, because I know who I am. I know that I am not primarily a tribal person isolated by my race or gender or party. No, indeed, I am in Christ. I am not bound by earthly tribal identities. For in Christ, as Paul says, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Let me underline for you, however, here as well, underline the caveat that the Christian, though less likely to fall prey to these susceptibilities because he knows the true one. Oh, indeed, he is less likely to fall prey to susceptibilities. But nevertheless, he can succumb to these weaknesses and come under the persuasive sway of state propaganda. That still happens. I see it happen in the lives of Christians too, but not nearly so much.

In fact, we have the foundational groundwork to discover truth on a more consistent basis because we find ourselves in the truth that is in Christ Jesus himself. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. But nevertheless, Christians can be deceived. We are still straddling these two worlds, between heaven and earth, and we fall prey to weaknesses from time to time. It happens.

We are still weak and fallible creatures. In fact, I know Christians who have succumbed to these five susceptibilities I've outlined for you, and they have turned into what I call naive brainwashed Pollyannas. Not a very flattering term, but a true term which describes them, naive brainwashed Pollyannas. Now, to them, I am a conspiracy theorist. In fact, you may have thought that underneath your breath listening to this broadcast.

But indeed, if I am a conspiracy theorist, then you are a naive brainwashed Pollyanna. Because to me, such ones have chosen to believe whatever is spoon-fed to them because it feeds one or more of these deadly appetites aforementioned. The key, dear listener, is to know the beginning, middle, and end of truth, and that is Christ, who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Dear listener, it is Christ who is the truth, and by him you will emerge from the cult of lies and into the broad daylight of the family of truth. Come and know Christ today, and come to the truth, and that truth indeed will set you free.

This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard, and we would invite you to come and join us. Perhaps you've been listening to our radio broadcast for a while and have considered maybe crossing our threshold. We have a friendly congregation, and we'd love to have you come and see us. You will have a warm welcome, and come and worship with us at 101 4th Street.

That's where our sanctuary is, 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard, and we meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. And you can call us for more information or perhaps to give us some feedback, too. Call us at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196. Thank you. Thank you.