Truth

The Adversary of Useful Idiots.  The Deficiency of Historical Filler.

So, what is a useful idiot?  What is historical filler?  Or, should I say, ‘Who?’

I first heard the term, ‘useful idiot,’ on the radio the other day, and it intrigued me because it fit so well with our current study.

The first term, ‘useful idiot,’ was supposedly coined by Lenin in the early 1900’s.  He used it to refer to people in the western world who gave moral or material support to totalitarian ideologies.  In an odd twist against those who supported his views, he criticized them for being naïve, ignorant of the facts, detached from reality, and advancing a cause, his cause, which an informed person would not otherwise support.

In other words they were idiots, promoting something that they really did not understand.

In the 1930’s, this same term was used to describe those who opposed getting involved in the war in Europe.  They were called appeasers, liberals, anti-war advocates and so forth.  In opposing the call for patriotism here at home, they became spokesmen for the German advances through Europe, and unknowing advocates for the atrocities that were to occur during World War II.

Chamberlain, back in the late 1930’s opposed getting involved in war, and ultimately failed in his views, but he later apologized for his error in judgment and later supported the war.  Typically when folks get involved deeply in their views, they refuse to change.

Later in the 1960’s, these anti-war folks became more vocal and violent as they became known as activists.  Not only opposed to the war in Vietnam, they opposed establishment and authority in general, and government policies in particular.  They instead adopted free love and free drugs concepts, living a life free from responsibility and obligations.  Or so they thought.

Now we turn to our present day and we have yet another type of ‘useful idiot,’ the political liberal and the suicide bomber.

Political liberals are folks who promote their own agenda regardless of the facts of reality.  Their interests are for their own advancement and benefit, rather than those from whom they seek to gain their support.  They use deceptive rhetoric, speaking all of the right things, expressing their concerns for the welfare of the masses, but prefer that the masses remain perpetually dependent, which in turn keeps them in their positions of power and authority.

Their lust for power, authority, influence, wealth and approbation are their genuine goals, not their public appeals to ‘serve’ the masses.

The suicide bomber represents a category of folks who are manipulated by religious or political movements, terrorist groups, or hostile governments.  They are brainwashed, as it were, into believing that they serve a greater purpose, with the promise of greater rewards not from this life, but in the next.

To that end they will gladly give up their life in the taking of other lives, such that they will promote their faith and qualify for their eternal reward.  They blatantly reject the concepts that separate right from wrong, and embrace violence over more socially acceptable behavior.

Then there are the folks that are caught in the middle of all of these ideologies.  The masses as we generally call them.  The are not folks who will strap bombs to their chests, nor are they running for office, but they will, by their vote of support or by their attitude of indifference, promote and help sustain those evils out there in the world whose purpose is to destroy everything that is good and right, for their own selfish gain.

That brings us to truth.  What exactly is it?  Not telling a lie?  Being honest and living a life of integrity?  Well actually these ideas are not in themselves ‘truth,’ but they are the product of truth.

Truth, in its short definition, is the perfect matching up of facts with reality.

Any modification of facts, any compromise with facts, any attempt to manipulate facts, any policy which excludes facts, are all forms of lies.  When facts are manufactured, then they cannot match up with reality, therefore they become lies.  Whether little white lies or gross misrepresentations, makes no difference.  A lie is a lie regardless of its intent.

Of course this is a Bible study so now we introduce the scriptures to the subject.  But truth is not simply a blind application of faith, where fools go around saying ‘hallelujah’ and ‘Praise the Lord.’

Reality is a very broad concept, and therefore truth has to be broad in order to match up all of the facts.

For example, the Scriptures start out with truth, ‘In the beginning, God,’ is the introduction to the source of truth.

God created the heavens and the earth.  This universe covers a whole lot of things, which include gravity, physics, biology, mathematics, and so forth.  God also created humanity and along with humanity, He created rules designed for the preservation of the human race.

These rules we call the Divine Laws of Establishment.  In an unnatural and undisciplined world, the jungle rules apply.  But in order to preserve life, God has invented His establishment laws to work parallel with and in opposition to the laws of the jungle.

Establishment laws include the law of volition, or the right to make ones own mind up.  Satan interfered initially with that right by deceiving Eve.  Of course Eve would not have been deceived, had she been paying attention to the teachings of Christ in the Garden, and alert to the fact that she was carrying on a two way conversation with an animal.

Slavery is a form of violation of this principle.

Then there is the concept of marriage between a man and a woman.  This is a natural and obvious law which lots of folks these days, choose to ignore, replacing it with alternate life styles of various types.

Other laws of establishment include, family, nationalism, free enterprise, freedom, liberty, justice by means of due process, responsibility and accountability, charity, and so forth.

These laws of establishment combined with the true laws of nature, all serve to maintain and preserve the human race.

Unfortunately lies come along to distort truth, and to present a whole other set of views as to just what is and what is not truth.

The objective to these alternatives to truth?  Satan wishes to destroy God and preserve his chosen way of life, which is simply, to be better than God.

And so, history, beginning in the Garden, has been filled with religions, cults, philosophies, and ideas designed to confuse and thwart Gods truth.  These ideas run the gamut from evolution, to homosexuality, to big bang theories, to what is or is not proper to eat on Sunday.

The ultimate truth being that first, man is lost.  Second, man needs help in finding himself.  Third, man can’t get himself out of his own problems.  Fourth, man needs a savior.  Fifth, Christ is that savior.  Sixth, man needs a relationship with God.  And seventh, learning Bible doctrine is the means of mans gaining the maximum relationship, after salvation, with God.

Without God, there is no truth, no life, no future which is good.

But to make things even more confusing, the philosophies of the world have discounted the scriptures and have replaced them with mans own definitions of self importance.  This gives rise to the politics and philosophies of the day.  Concepts which state simply that man is in control of his own destiny, man is the one who determines his own destiny, if anything is acceptable and causes no harm to others, then it should be accepted in society as normal and right.

This kind of attitude gives rise again to relative and reflexive beliefs.  Relative simply means that everything is measured and compared with everything else, and that there are many degrees of truth, rather than just one standard.  Homosexuality is a perfect example of this kind of compromising attitude.

Reflexive is a reference to automatic, self-serving, or unthinking attitudes.  This applies to the masses when they vote for a candidate who makes then promises, even when they know that the promises are not reasonable.  This applies to politicians who make the promises in order to get the votes, even knowing that what they are promising cannot be accomplished.  This also applies to celebrities who make public statements in order to get free publicity.

All the while ‘truth’ is under attack, while deceit and selfishness are being embraced in order to serve ones own interests.

Truth provides the foundation and basis for freedom, liberty, opportunity, prosperity, security and happiness.  Those who oppose truth are in effect tearing down the very support structure for their own lives.

Why people, who enjoy the freedoms, liberties, and prosperity that we have in our nation and world today, work so obsessively to destroy everything that is legitimate and worthwhile, is due to their own rejection of truth, and to their embracing of the lies of this world.

Often time’s people want to hear only those things in which they are interested.  Things which promote their wants and desires.  Would-be leaders or tyrants capitalize on this flaw, and promote those very false concepts which people want to hear.

At the same time, the would-be leaders, tyrants, news media types, learned professors, and celebrities of the day, define their own success in terms of the successful promotion of the lies of the world.  All of this ends up with fools leading fools toward a destiny of doom.

God has defined His objective for each one of us as the attainment of happiness and completeness in life.  This comes to us through salvation, which provides us with spiritual freedom.  Freedom is the foundation all things good.  Freedom leads us to liberty, which leads us to opportunity, which leads us to success, which leads us to prosperity, which leads us to security, which leads us to happiness.

As we fight the various fights around the world today, our goal is freedom.  Nothing good can occur in life until there is first freedom, and the forces of evil have to be eliminated or at the very least brought under some type of manageable control, before that freedom can exist.

It is the same in the spiritual life.  We first need freedom, which comes with believing in Jesus Christ.  Then comes opportunity.  Opportunity comes with making the right decisions.  More right decisions bring more opportunities in life.  Our fundamental decision in the spiritual life comes with our daily decision to study the Word of God.  This brings us spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth brings clarity of thought, clarity of discernment, and ultimately the avoidance of being scooped up by the trickery of the world.  In addition, spiritual growth brings the blessings of God into our daily lives, and the fulfillment of Gods objectives for each one of us.

Without doctrine, which is the foundation of truth, and the understanding of truth, there is no fulfillment, no completion, no purpose in life, other than to just fill time and space in history.

And that brings us to historical filler.  A person lacking Bible doctrine in their soul will have no purpose and they’ll make no meaningful contribution to history.  They will at best be historical filler.

Self serving interests and delusional views of reality, lead to things like, the personal preferences of homosexuality, the emotional beliefs of either pro or anti-abortionists, they lead to the fanaticism of terrorists, or the selfishness or indifferences of society in general.  Self serving interests and delusional views lead to the misrepresentations made by teachers in the classrooms, and to the misrepresentations made by the press in news stories.

All of this boils down to fools becoming idiots, serving the purposes of others, and thus relegating their life to a category of meaningless filler. 

Satan is of course the original ‘other’ to whom all fools of this life serve, by means of their lack of knowledge and understanding which Bible doctrine provides.

How dumb can anyone be, to fall into a trap like this one?

There is only one way out of the trap of useful idiocy and historical filler, and that escape is through the daily study of Bible doctrine.

Bible doctrine is the only source of truth, and more important, it is the only door through which you can pass and discover greater truth’s, which affect our daily lives and truths which ultimately determine the success of our personal legacy and destiny.

Now is the time to post a prayer.