I found this quote online today:  Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.

Does this sound like an accurate observation of the current day? I think, yes. But it might surprise you to know that this quote is credited to Blaise Pascal.

He lived in France in the early 1600’s. Not much has changed, has it?

Pascal lived during a time of religious upheaval, right in the middle of the Protestant Reformation. A brief search on his life indicates he was raised as a Roman Catholic, but “later became a devout and committed Christian, always conscious of his sinful nature and of his need for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Raised in the heyday of the enlightenment, French mathematician and physicist, Blaise Pascal was dramatically converted to Christ and became an effective Christian Apologist and accomplished scientist.”¹

What made the difference in Pascal’s life?

He found the truth.
Rather, the Truth found him!

Obscuring the truth is the enemy’s most powerful weapon. Mind you, it doesn’t bother him if you have a little truth. Just enough to satisfy the God-given desire in men and women who are created in the image of God and are seeking something or someone to worship. But, oh the dismay in the corridors of his domain, if all the truth be told…because once we see truth, and respond, then he has lost.

The truth is we were created to worship our Creator, and Jesus came to make this possible.
The truth is that Jesus not only tells us the truth, He IS the truth.
The truth is only sincere and honest worship of God will satisfy the human soul.

Jeremiah was another man who lived in a time where truth was obscured by the culture that surrounded him.

Jeremiah 9:3 describes it this way:

“They bend their tongue like their bow; lies and not truth prevail in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me,” declares the LORD.

Once the truth about God is suppressed, the truth about everything else in life is obscured. (Why else would we be having discussions about whether or not it’s okay to kill a baby in its mother’s womb?)

Have you noticed that our enemy’s strategy is not to declare outright that the Bible is not true? Instead, the message is that while it might be true for me, it’s not necessarily true for you. That we can believe anything we want and consider it “our truth.” (Shaking my head, here.) That’s not even logical, but for some reason, with all our increased knowledge and skill and wisdom, we accept such a foolish statement.

Two diverse and opposite statements cannot both be true.

Either Jesus is the Son of God, or He is not.

We can’t have it both ways. He can’t just be “my” God. Either He’s a fake, or He’s truth.

And whether I believe it or not makes not one iota of difference to the fact. It’s either true or not true.

Here’s another quote from Pascal to ponder:

In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.

There are people who live right around us who only see the shadows. Like a game of “sleight of hand,” our enemy keeps them distracted. He whispers lies, telling them that they are a good person, that they can control their own lives, that if they just try harder, meet the right people, go to the right schools, get the right job, that their lives will be fulfilling and satisfying. He puts up the smoke screen of deception, pointing out the faults and failures of those who claim to be Christians. He provides temporary pleasures that satisfy what the flesh desires, so that the real issue, the spiritual bankruptcy that all men must face, is obscured. And when they do realize that they need something or someone bigger to handle things, he substitutes false religion and self-worship, encouraging them to look within for the light to find their way.

Oh, how we need to tell them the truth!
Oh, how thankful I am that someone told me.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:24-26)

What do you believe is true?
Who will you tell today?

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^{1 https://www.reformationsa.org/index.php/history/64-blaisepascal}