In 1969, Ralph Carmichael and Kurt Kaiser produced a folk musical / drama entitled, “Tell It Like It Is,” which was fairly well received in churches throughout America as they were struggling with the rise of the Jesus Movement among the youth. This youth production included the well-known Christian camp song, “Pass It On,” with the theme song, “Tell It Like Is” which boldly proclaimed a much-needed transparency in that day and time.
Let’s tell the truth about the world we live in,
Let’s ask about the God who put it here
Let’s tell the truth about our friends and neighbors
Let’s check the cause of all our hate and fear.
Let’s look at love and find out where it comes from
Let’s look at life and all that we hold dear
Let’s check it now before it quickly passes
Let’s use today before it disappears.
Let’s tell it like it is, Tell it like it is,
We’re tired of pretty words designed for youth.
Let’s tell it like it is, Tell it like it is,
Get down to where the “searcher” meets the truth.
If some demented, deluded (yes – delusional), scientist decided to sew 4 legs that have hooves on a fish, would that make the fish a horse? You’d say come on PF, that’s ridiculous! Nonetheless, that’s exactly what’s going on in our world. We have a society which is being influenced by certain cultural norms and pressures to actually believe that a fish can become a horse because of physical modifications coupled with its inner feelings. However, there is no Truth involved – or else, a horse is not a horse, and a fish is not a fish. It’s as stupid and as absurd as the old joke, when is a door not a door … when it’s ajar!
Truth is under serious assault / attack today and that onslaught is coming from many, many directions. Here’s a good contemporary example. A word, which is now common place today is transgender, yet in reality there is absolutely no such thing! The etymology of the word actually reveals this, perhaps stunningly! Trans comes from Latin meaning to cross over, and gender most likely is an Old Latin, Greek, and / or French word, genos, meaning species, or kind. Within the concept of this word’s original meaning lies the idea of clearly identifiable physical characteristics of a male or female. Each one human, but obviously and distinctively different.
In truth, within the framework of modern science, we know that God’s creation includes greater distinctions and differences than just the normal, usually identifiable, physical attributes of an individual. Within the exalted framework of God’s design for human beings, there is no way to cross over, even if one feels a certain way or eliminates certain identifiable physical traits … even sewing new ones on! “God made them male and female He made them” (A simple, but highly complex Truth from Genesis 1:27). A female can dress like a male, walk like a male, act like a male, and even modify her physical body to appear as a male, but she is still a she, biologically / anatomically … according to God’s purpose, and His sacred original design, all for HIS ultimate glory! NOT HUMANITY’S. The same is true for any male … all males, gay, straight, or in modern vernacular, trans. He is still a he, even if he wants to be a she, or on the inside has decided to feel like a she.
It’s interesting that medical science, even including current Covid research, where male deaths are 2.4 times higher than that of females, reveals that if only males are used in clinical studies, that a higher adverse reaction rate is always found among females. Why? Aren’t they both human? Obviously, there are too, too many distinctions to even start to discuss here, but absolute truth is essential for proper medical treatment … a female with prostate cancer or a male with cervical cancer! Really. Well now there is some true gender identity issues.
This is just one example of Faux Truth … like man-made pearls, they are simply fake. Lie after lie is being presented and promoted in our world from various sources to selfishly achieve their own agenda(s). A big lie (German: große Lüge) a propaganda technic used by Hitler … tell a big enough lie, tell it over and over, and the people will come to believe it. We can see how that worked out really well for him and the Germany people!
As God’s people, we must not be swept up and captured by / in the lies of our pagan, unbelieving culture. Instead, we must continually speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) and walk / live in the same truth we speak. Please, never forget, discount, or abandon the words of our Lord, Jesus Christ, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make (set) you free.” (John 8:32)
As believers, our lives are all about Truth – not some faux beliefs or faux religious system. Are we like those faux blinds hanging in your home windows, or are we authentic? If faux blinds dominate the market and are hanging in every house, before long, nobody will even know what real wood blinds are, or if they ever really existed! Are we Faux Christians or the real thing? Isn’t it time totell it like it is, like it really is, so the searching world can know the truth?
Today I’m calling us, as a church, to stop playing games with our beliefs, cease our compromises with the world system and its pagan culture of delusion, deception and lies. Let’s simply, and authentically, “tell it like it is”, “speaking / sharing the truth in love.” Are we trusting and brave enough to move forward in TRUTH? Just as I spoke about Sunday, (“That’s Too Much”) lose the calculator!
I’m asking the Lord to help me, and help us all, to “tell it like it is” as the need for truth becomes ever more apparent in our world.
His & Yours, because of GRACE (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense), PF