THE PHILOSOPHY OF REJECTING TRUTH.
By T.
When an error is presented to us, if we reject it we are made stronger and more manly by it. But when truth is presented, if we reject that we are breaking down the barriers that would protect us from destruction. When the truth is presented to us, we may know it; we may know for sure that it is the truth. For the Lord has said, “If ye continue in My Word, then are “ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, “and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31, 32. “Ye shall know the truth.” Such is the assuring promise the Lord has given. When the Lord presents truth to us, He sends His Spirit at the same time to impress that truth upon our minds and hearts. There is a solid, clear conviction that comes along with the presentation of truth, and this conviction can not be shaken off until the individual wholly abandons the Lord and positively refuses to have anything to do with His truth. The individual who thus rejects truth binds himself under the power of error. For all there is in the world may be classed under the head of truth or error. And when truth is rejected, when truth is thrown overboard, all that is left for the individual is error, and consequently he becomes the toy of every delusion that error can bring into the world. In this connection read the following forceful scripture:— “For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and bring to naught by the manifestation of His coming; even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that are perishing; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thess. 2:7-12, R. V.
By the foregoing scripture it will be seen that Satan’s masterful working of unrighteousness and deception is in “them that are perishing.” And these individuals are in this perishing condition “because they received not the love of the truth, “that they might be saved.” Then the Lord not only sends the truth to each individual, but He also sends with that truth the power and the disposition to love it. The Lord makes it manifest that truth is the most lovely of anything that can be presented. But, as is shown in these verses quoted from Thessalonians, there are men who insist upon finding their “pleasure in unrighteousness,” and that bars the truth out. We can not hold truth and unrighteousness both at the same time. We must reject the pleasure of unrighteousness before we can receive and enjoy “the love of the truth.” We must decide that we will have none of the delusive pleasures of sin before we can enter into the substantial joy and everlasting satisfaction of loving and receiving truth. Then, since we can not hold “the love of the truth” and “pleasure in unrighteousness” at the same time, it is plain that our choice must be for one or the other. And just so surely as we reject truth and the love of it, just that surely will we be deluged by all the evils and deceptions of unrighteousness. We will become the sporting toys of Satan’s malice, and the instruments of his evil ways. We can not afford to stand in any such position. T.