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KNOWING THE TRUTH

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 2, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 27.

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KNOWING THE TRUTH.

By L. A. S.

If you would have the truth in your head, first be sure that you have it in your heart.
Notwithstanding the boastings that are made to-day in the name of science, the world is full of error. It is the time of which the prophet Isaiah wrote: “Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.” In the last days, wrote Paul to Timothy, men will be proud and boastful, “ever learning,” but “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Men have put darkness for light, and light for darkness. By its “wisdom” the world knows not God. The world’s learned men, in the Church as well as out, hold to theories, and glory in them, which contradict the words of the Omniscient. They hold, for example, to the doctrine that the human race has been evolved from the lower forms of animal life, instead of having, as the Bible asserts, one common ancestor, Adam, who was physically and mentally perfect; they hold that the history of the race has been one of ascent, instead of one of sin and descent.
The Scripture tells us how it was that the world lost the knowledge of the truth. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind;” that is, as the margin reads, “a mind void of judgment.” Rom. 1:21, 22, 28.
This is how it was that men lost the knowledge of the truth, and this is how it is that men are still losing the knowledge of the truth to-day. This is why so many men are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
When the heart is evil, the mind is its servant to do its unrighteous bidding. The heart cherishes an evil, and orders the mind to produce a justification of it; and the mind obediently goes to work and finds something that will answer this purpose. Often it is able to employ logic to a considerable extent in making its justification, and a conclusion that is fortified with logic must surely be right! Thus men reason, and demonstrate things to their own satisfaction, and quiet the voice of conscience; but in the final day, if not sooner, they will discover how their eyes were blinded by the god of this world. Ah, the Judgment day will reveal to many a person the difference between mere “logic”—human reasoning—and the truth!
How can I know the truth? The answer is, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life.” Rev. 3:20; John 14:6.
The world, because they did not desire to retain God in their knowledge, put God out of their hearts,and then the knowledge of the truth went out of their minds. The heart must be opened, and God must be invited back to His rightful place before the knowledge of the truth that has been lost can be regained.
Trust not your reason if your heart be not right. You will be led astray. There are many who are preparing themselves to receive strong delusion, that they should believe a lie and be damned, because—they are deficient in reasoning power?—Oh, no; but because they do not love the truth. They have “pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thess. 2:10-12.
“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Are you free? Do you know the truth in your heart as well as you think you know it in your head? L. A. S.