Truth, Facts and Lies

One of the most challenging concepts for non-believers and believers alike to accept is that ‘fact’ and ‘truth’ are not the same. When running for president in 2019, Joe Biden was ridiculed for saying “we choose truth over facts” at the close of a speech in Iowa. The statement was called “confusing” and one of his many gaffes. In a world of ‘relative truth’ that might be a gaffe. But in God’s world of absolute truth, facts are very different from truth: facts are temporary conditions and subject to change, truth is neither temporary nor subject to change.

For a believer, this should not be difficult, but it is. We are programmed to operate according to the ‘facts’ that our five input senses tell us. What we see with our own eyes or hear for ourselves is natural human reality, fact. In a culture where nothing is absolute, not even ‘science’ -- for instance, gender can be fluid, men can dress like women or a person can “identify” as neither male nor female– we cannot trust what we see or hear; nor should we. Believers are called to walk and live in God’s truth, not facts. By definition, “believers” trust in an unseen God and redemption through the death of God’s Son 2,000 years ago to attain eternal life in an unseen realm. So believing in things our five senses don’t experience should be easy!

Facts are simply conditions or circumstances that are subject to change, like the weather. Facts convey a temporary status. It is all too easy to treat facts as truth, but to do so is extremely dangerous, especially for the born-again believer. Facts that are not in alignment with God’s word are NOT truth; facts that oppose God’s word are lies. To repeat these facts as though they were truth is to call God a liar!

God’s truth is often very different from facts. Facts tell us that water doesn’t turn into wine. Facts deny that men can walk on water. Facts do not support dead people coming back to life after three or four days. Factually, it is impossible for five small loaves and two small fishes to feed thousands of people with baskets of leftovers. Facts are irrelevant in the spiritual realm. In the spirit realm, nothing is impossible and truth – not science, not facts -- reigns. God’s word is truth, His Holy Spirit is truth and Jesus is truth.¹ ‘Truth’ is found nowhere apart from God. Truth is absolute and unchangeable. And this is where the born again believer is called to live, by faith, and operate.

“But God is true and every man a liar.”

• • • Romans 3:4• • •

The facts may say a person has terminal cancer; God’s word says “by His wounds, you have been healed”.² Which one is truth? In Numbers 13:27-33 twelve spies returned with a report of the land God had promised them. They all had the same facts; no one disputed the productive land, fortified cities, or size and number of inhabitants. The ten spies recounted these facts (or temporary conditions) as unchangeable truth, and in chapter 14 God killed all ten of them for speaking this way. God said they were treating Him with contempt, in essence calling Him a liar!³ God said He would let their evil words (stating the facts as truth) become their reality without ever encountering the inhabitants of the land, not just for the ten men that spoke them, but for all who listened and went along with them!

God did not dispute the ‘facts’ but condemned the people for confusing facts with the truth that God had given them, the reality He called them to believe, rely on and live in. Instead of thanking God for His good and victorious plans for them and His promise to give them the land and His power to overcome fortified cities and giant people, they immediately fell into the trap of believing the facts. Thank God He doesn’t condemn us for doing that very same thing! But our words DO reveal our heart-felt belief, and our words reveal how often we believe facts and in essence call God a liar! How that must hurt Him to have His children - who only became His children through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice – call their Father a liar! To say “yes, God, I accept Jesus as my Savior but You are not truthful about these other things.”

Do you really think the woman with the issue of bleeding for twelve years would have been able to take her healing if she had not spoken her belief, saying over and over to herself “If only I touch His cloak, I will be healed”?⁴ No, her words revealed her deepest belief and she acted on that belief. Her words betrayed her faith and opened the door of “according to your faith let it be done to you.”⁵ The Law said she couldn’t even be out in public much less touch a holy Man. But grace said otherwise. The fact was she had an incurable condition. But truth said otherwise. She chose Grace and Truth.

God’s word tells us to walk by faith not by sight; to imitate a God who calls the things that are not as though they were; to do the work of God and believe that Jesus is the exact representation of God.⁶ Jesus came to bring truth and grace to a world of lies and laws.⁷ If you want the grace, you must also accept the truth. Faith is the vehicle that transforms your situational facts into God’s truth.

Beloved, God’s promises and plans for you are good! ALL His promises are “Yes!” in Jesus!⁸ That includes promises for provision, promises for your children, promises for your health, promises for the Holy Spirit’s gifts, promises for your future. Jesus would not have instructed His followers to go in His authority if He had not made provision for us to do so.⁹ If Jesus truly destroyed the works of the devil and stripped him of all power,¹⁰ then facts that do not line up with God’s word for you are satanic lies: very real and factual, but nonetheless not truth and therefore lies. We cannot have it any other way – either God has lied or our ‘reality’ is lying. Stand on God’s truth, proclaim His word over your situation and don’t let anything move you. Then when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.¹¹ And don’t ever call God a liar again!

1. John 17:17; John 16:13; John 14:6
2. 1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 8:17, Isaiah 53:4
3. Numbers 14:11, 23; Numbers 14:36-37; Numbers 14:28-29
4. Mark 5:28, Matthew 9:21
5. Matthew 9:29, 8:13
6. 2 Corinthians 5:7; Ephesians 5:1; Romans 4:17; John 6:29; Hebrews 1:3
7. John 1:14, 17, John 18:37
8. 2 Corinthians 1:20; Jeremiah 29:11
9. John 20:21
10. 1 John 3:8; Colossians 2:15
11. Ephesians 6:13; Isaiah 7:9