by C. H. Fisher

Why is one man, Jesus Christ, the truth, the whole truth, and the pure truth?   Because Jesus said He is the truth.  Truth declared He is truth, but I realize that many will not accept that answer, so let me explain further. Jesus Christ is the truth because He is God the Son and the epitome of rightness, which is righteousness. He defies all falseness and wrong, everything that does not function correctly in life and all that is dis-ordered and deviate. Truth has to be able to do this or it is not truth. Only a Supreme Being could claim this quality and there is only one Supreme Being, that is God Almighty, eternally existent in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The fact that He declares Himself to be truth makes the statement He is the only true God also to be truth. Anyone who recognizes the existence of a god must determine if there is a supreme God. Once you come to the understanding that Jehovah God Almighty is that supreme God you have to accept His truth that there is no other true God. In fact, you have to accept His statement that He is truth. (John 14:6 NKJV) "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

In God there is no blend, all is purity, everything is original, and there are no shadows. (James 1:17 NKJV) "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."

This is an essential characteristic of truth and even a slight deviation would disqualify God as truth. Everything in life that is truth must find its source of truth in God. I realize that this statement will invoke some strong responses and protests, yet to be understood it has to be considered in the light of eternal truth. Gods word says, (James 1:17-18 NKJV) "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. {18} Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."

The problem we have in this temporal world is that mankind is both eternal and temporal and must consistently choose between the two. Since we are in a temporal world we are heavily influenced to make temporal decisions that are false. The father of lies, who is Satan, fills the temporal realm about us, which is the World System, with falseness. (John 8:44 NKJV) ""You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. 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 lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it."

There is no one who can overcome the falseness of the temporal realm by his or her own resources. God's word declares that there is none righteous (Rom 3:10 NKJV), and that all flesh is sinful (Rom 3:20 & 23 NKJV). To attempt to overcome the temporal with the temporal we would be at an impasse. It is obvious that we need someone or something not of this realm to help us to overcome the falseness in which we dwell, which is our bodies and the World System. When mankind rejects truth the ultimate consequence is destruction. Remember that falseness is everything that is wrong, everything that does not function correctly in life and all that is dis-ordered and deviate.

All that false religions and philosophers can do for anyone is confuse them with artful rhetoric that has no eternal value. What they are presenting as truth is unqualified because it cannot pass the litmus test of true freedom from the falseness of the temporal realm. The apostle Paul said, (1 Cor 15:19 NKJV) "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable."

The great difference between the false religions and Christianity is that Jesus gives us hope beyond this life and that hope springs from truth. He appeals to the eternal in us, the soul, to look beyond the temporal distractions of the present world. He was and is more than an example, He is the truth that, when applied to our temporal life, will set us free. The best way to explain this is to reveal the example of His life here on earth. By this example we can easily grasp why He is the truth and why knowing the truth can set us free. (John 8:31-32 NKJV) "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. {32} "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.""

Jesus came into this world a perfect, eternal, being, yet adorned Himself with flesh and became temporal in that sense. He was God in flesh, eternal in temporal, truth in falseness, righteousness in sinfulness. I have to say it this way to let you know that He had the same opportunities to sin that we have. He had the potentiality but I do not believe there was a probability that He could have sinned. He would not sin because He had a Divine Nature. (Rom 8:3-4 NKJV) "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, {4} that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

Some people will argue that His flesh was holy, but the word of God declares differently. He was tempted in all points just as we are. (Heb 4:15 NKJV) "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."

He was in the world but not of the world. He never sinned and never allowed the temporal to alter His nature or course, yet if the potential did not exist He would never have been able to understand, to sympathize with our weaknesses. Also, if Jesus did not have a battle with His flesh He would never be able to understand our battles. This is an important point that we must concede or we cannot justifiably use Him as an example. The point would be futile that He never sinned if there was no potential for Him to sin.

Where did His temptation come from? His temptations must have come from the flesh even though Satan was the tempter. Satan would not have wasted his time tempting Christ if he did not realize the potential for sin existed. (James 1:14-15 NKJV) "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. {15} Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death."

The point is that He had a body just as our bodies that gave Him the same problems we face, but set the example of obedience to God even to death on the cross. He learned obedience by the things that He suffered. (Heb 5:8 NKJV) "though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered."

His body was even considered by Jesus to be unclean after His death and resurrection, a fact that reveals a great deal in itself. (John 20:17 NKJV) "Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.'""

Jewish custom and law was very strict about the touching of a dead body. (Num 19:11-13 NKJV) "'He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. {12} 'He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. {13} 'Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him." Of course, after His body became glorified it would not be unclean.

In my opinion this means Jesus lived on this earth exactly as we exist here, eternal in temporal, yet He was God in flesh. The freedom from sin that we have comes from following His example. (Rom 6:5-6 NKJV) "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, {6} knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."

This means as the Truth lived in this fragile sphere, we also must live. If we live thus, we have accessed the eternal and appropriated it into our lives. It is no longer temporal versus temporal, but eternal versus temporal, which gives us the advantage to overcome falseness and its fruit, destruction.

(Rom 8:1-4 NKJV) "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. {2} For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. {3} For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, {4} that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

One could make a point that it is a truth that all falsehood is false, all evil is evil and all wrong is wrong, thus proposing a truth that did not begin with God. In other words, this would be making a statement that evil exists is a truth, and that truth is not of God since it needs evil to be declared. I agree that the fact evil exists is a truth, yet who determines that it is evil? The only way that such a point could be made, viz., the statement evil exists is a truth independent of God, would be to prove God was not involved in identifying evil. Evil and wickedness is declared such by God and is exposed by the law and His word. The person of Jesus Christ is a contrast to the evil, the Light that shines in darkness, an exposer of all that is false. The truth that all falseness is evil and its effect on society at large is real and destructive, is simply an affirmation that Jesus Christ is truth. He condemned sin in the flesh because He is the truth and conquered sin living under the same conditions all of humanity endures in this temporal world.

As a Christian I must live my life as a revelation of Christ in me. I must conform my life to His image, abdicate my nature to His Divine nature and let His life be portrayed through my finite, earthly, being. There is a two-fold purpose of the revelation of Jesus Christ as truth. First, it is a beacon of hope to the secular, lost, temporal and hopeless World System. These who are lodged in the grip of temporalness cannot see eternal, spiritual, truths unless they can see them portrayed on the stage of life. A supernatural, evil, force operates the reins of falseness and blinds the minds of humanity to the message of Christ.

How has this evil force, who by the way is a real being called Satan, accomplished this task? He has presented clever arguments that defy truth. You can clearly see this in the first temptation (Gen 3:1-5 NKJV) "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" {2} And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; {3} "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" {4} Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. {5} "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.""

This is the war against God, the arguments of Satan, and it is a war against truth. (2 Cor 10:3-6 NKJV) "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. {4} For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, {5} casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, {6} and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled."

He is still presenting clever arguments and he has an accomplice in the flesh. Temporal flesh is a conductor of falseness and all else that is temporal. Although there is eternity in us it lies dormant and is unable to sense anything at all until it is awakened and brought to fullness of life by the truth of Jesus Christ. This means all the knowledge we might obtain, acquire, appropriate, or absorb while the soul lies dormant in spiritual death is of no value except it is truth and it is accepted truth.

Satan is a master at taking a simple lie and embellishing it with articulate, temporal, wisdom until it appears as a jewel of incredible, intelligent, truth. Such is the case of Friedrich Nietzsche, a tremendously intelligent man who wasted away most of his adult life writing diatribes against God. In my opinion he was filled with hatred toward God because he contracted syphilis in a brothel and spent his life dying from it. The idea that such conditions were judgments from God must have caused Nietzsche to believe God was punishing him for his sin. Actually, he was suffering from the consequences of sin rather than the judgment of God; that comes after we die in most cases. Nevertheless, many people are mesmerized by deceptions such as Nietzsche's that give them a false sense of superiority and enlightenment. They are deceived into believing in a supernatural connection to enlightenment through fallible men who have discarded everything of God. This is a very subtle and effective method of Satan.

When someone with truth opposes these falsehoods Satan will use the fact of that opposition as proof to his blind followers that they are in an exclusive class with super enlightenment. He beguiles them into believing the rest of the world cannot understand and therefore persecutes them. Exclusivity doesn't always mean you have found a gem of truth. It can also mean that you have been isolated from true knowledge and entered a trap of falseness. In order to escape these traps people have to reverse their denial of Jesus Christ as supreme Lord and Savior. This means a rejection of the lies of Satan in all its various forms including but not limited to Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism, witchcraft, Paganism, New Age and ancient religious lies, the aberrant Nietzsche-like philosophies and the blatant lies of crass worldliness and sin. The Bible, which is the Word of God, inerrant and infallible, reveals the truth about Jesus Christ. Reading it with hunger for truth will cause understanding to form that will break the satanic blindness and reveal the truth in the person of Jesus Christ.

The second purpose of the revelation of Jesus Christ as truth is for the professing Christian. One would think that a professing Christian needs no understanding of this revelation but that is not the case, especially in these times of great apostasy and darkness. The fact is that Jesus Christ is being presented today along with falseness and it is causing many to accept satanic deceptions. Satan's ministers appear as ministers of righteousness for this purpose, to deceive people who profess Christianity. It is for sure that Satan's ministers would not appears as ministers of righteousness to deceive the world since they are already in deception. (2 Cor 11:13-15 NKJV) "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. {14} And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. {15} Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

The increasingly popular deception of attributing evil to God and mingling blatantly, wicked, falsehoods with the truth of the gospel is snaring many souls today. This satanic plot could not be carried out if Jesus Christ were known to them as God's word declares Him to be and applied in each Christian's life.

(1 John 4:17 NKJV) "Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world."

By presenting Christ as less than deity, denying His virgin birth, His death and resurrection, His sinless, perfect, life, and His words that are recorded in the bible; these purveyors of mingled and mangled Christianity are presenting another Jesus. Actually, there are many different Jesus' being presented today and the various camps of erroneous theology do not necessarily agree with each other. A person following the Jesus who allows his obsession with sports may not accept the Jesus who condones homosexuality, yet they are all false.

The love of the truth begins with love for the biblical Jesus Christ. If one cannot love the biblical Jesus it is impossible to love the truth. No one can love Jesus who will not conform to His nature because of the nature of enmity that develops in him or her. (Rom 8:7-8 NKJV) "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. {8} So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

If one knows the true Jesus, no lies and wicked deception will be welcome in their mind and spirit. Satan presents a counterfeit gospel with a counterfeit Jesus to beguile the minds of professing Christians thereby preventing them from knowing or retaining the knowledge of Christ. In this present apostate and wicked time the abundance of wickedness has cooled the love of many people toward Jesus Christ. As that love cools, deception forms. This begins the process of allowing fleshly dictates to being their rule again. This is a very dangerous state for professing Christians in the last days.

The great apostasy will not just be a time of tremendous deception, but God declares He will send a great delusion as well. This great delusion will cause people who rejected a love for the truth to be damned.

(2 Th 2:9-12 NKJV) "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, {10} and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. {11} And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, {12} that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

This is an ominous scripture that needs to be taken seriously. Imagine someone rejecting the truth so many times and to such a degree that God sends them a delusion so that they could never receive the truth again in any form.

Why would God do such a thing? In other historical apostasies God sent prophets to warn people and He is doing the same thing right now. He even sent judgments and He is doing this today also and they will increase in intensity and frequency. The last days is different because there will be no other dealings of God with His people in regard to salvation after the end of the age. All that is left is the end, the final chapter to be written in the Book of life, the judgment of all evil and the setting up eternal kingdom of God to rule over all existence.

The last days are also different because there has been so much more given to us to understand and know truth. Powerful light and life was given by Jesus Christ. Then came the Holy Spirit to supply God's Divine Nature to all those who would receive Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. Afterwards, God allowed us to have our own book from Him, the Holy Bible.

We have been partakers of His gift and have tasted the world to come, how can He do more than He already has to convince us to surrender to the truth and live for Him? When God has done all He can do and people still reject Him, play games with Him, disobey Him to follow the desires of the flesh, carnal mind, the course of this world, and the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience, God has but one option and that is to reject the branches that refuse to bear fruit.

Many have rejected a love for the truth by rejecting:

A.  True salvation,

B.  True righteousness

C.  The sovereignty of God

D.  The Lordship of Christ.

True salvation has been denied by various aberrant doctrines that were fashioned as a direct result of mankind refusing to submit to the nature of God. One of these doctrines is "Once Saved, Always Saved."

This has led to a rejecting of true righteousness but false doctrines are not the only cause for this rejection. Some people simply want to play games with grace and gamble with eternity. There is rampant, unconfessed, unashamed, sin in the rank of professing Christianity today.

False doctrines, such as the "Prosperity Doctrine," have led to a rejection of the sovereignty of God. The terrible consequences are that many people have become materialistic and selfish while millions are in danger of entering hell without Christ.

The whole of the Great Apostasy has led to a rejection of the Lordship of Christ. Many professing Christians have become spiritually autonomous and reluctant to submit to His authority, thus becoming gods to themselves.

The love for truth procures truth. Hunger for truth will make you a diligent seeker for truth. Ethical character and integrity will cause hunger to form and remain in you. This world is full of lies and presents an attack of deception on every Christian each day. People are challenged to do the right thing consistently, to be ethical, to not cheat and lie for their bosses or to increase monetary profit in their businesses. If you are a true Christian you must know that you sow a little deception in your soul every time you give in to the encroaching darkness and you get weaker and weaker each time you do it.

The answer is to love Jesus. Love His word and pray for Holy Spirit guidance in everything you do. Find a group of ethical Christians who are serious about following Jesus and avoid aligning yourself with dead spirits. Maintaining the hunger and love for truth is a battle, but it’s a matter of life and death.