In my 4 March 2006 Blog, I tried to make the point that pretending
that cruelty doesn’t exist only encourages the evildoers. Such pretense
is the same as lying. I wrote:
“As long as people hide from the truth and live in denial, cruelty
will flourish. If enough people stop making it acceptable and
profitable for others to do these evil things, the purveyors of
cruelty will go out of business.”
The Bible has much to say about lying and liars.
In John 8:44-45 Jesus speaks to His accusers:
44. "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the
desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does
not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he
speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the
father of lies.
45. "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.
Jesus goes on to say (John 8:47):
47. “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason, you
do not hear them, because you are not of God.”
(New American Standard Bible)
I realize that there are many who do not believe that Satan (a. k. a.
“the devil”) exists. The cruelty in this fallen world, and the evil that
is so commonplace, is proof enough for me that Jesus speaks the truth
when He mentions “the devil.”
In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “the god of this world” refers to Satan:
3. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are
perishing,
4. in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the
unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the
glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
(New American Standard Bible)
We need to stand against the lies of the industries and purveyors of
cruelty that cause suffering to humans and animals. Make no mistake, the
pain and suffering we cause to God’s creatures who cannot speak for
themselves comes right back to haunt us in very real ways: in diseases,
in our warring madness, and in the pollution of this earth. Whether or
not these people like to admit it, they’re following their father the
devil. And this also applies to those people who hide from the truth and
pretend that this pain and suffering doesn’t exist.
We need to wake up to the truth and become the peace-making children
of God that we are called upon to be.
