CAST UP!

Why point these things out?

Why does information about suppressors of the truth need to be written? Why take the trouble to explain these things? The most obvious reason is because God so strongly warns us about such people in the Scriptures. His warnings are available to anyone willing to listen. Take for example the following warnings about suppressors who deceive others about God (italics added throughout):

“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips” (Romans 3:13 ESV).

“For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve” (Romans 16:18 ESV).

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6 ESV).

Stated as plainly as possible, this information needs to be written because suppressors of the truth deceive people into believing a lie.

“…they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!” (Romans 1:25 KJV).

There are four additional reasons why this information should be explained.

Because an increasing number of people in America are being turned away from God.

There is a concerted effort by suppressors of truth to persuade people away from God. Using our national education system, the mass media, and other assets, the truth of God is distorted and suppressed by those who are opposed to God. This may appear to be conspiratorial but it is not. This view may also seem implausible due to the very scope of the matter. To answer this I will but point you back to the scale of the warfare humanity is involved in. The war is cosmic in its scope and the forces at work are far beyond human actors, players, and combatants.

Because warning people of anything harmful is expected.

Warning the public about dangerous and potentially harmful situations is expected by all people for the well-being of society. Written texts and warning signs are publicly posted for all sorts of harmful things: hot temperature warnings on food and beverages, warnings for holes in the ground, warning signs for sharp turns in the road, warnings for fall hazards, warnings for health precautions, and the list goes on and on. Warning messages are considered to be a necessity for society due to the large number of hazards that exist in our world.

Take for example the Surgeon General’s warning label on cigarette packaging. The warning points out that a serious hazard exists if a person chooses to smoke cigarettes. The warning does not prohibit people from smoking—it only warns people of the harmful effects. The same is true for the biblical warning about those who suppress the truth about God. People are not prohibited from believing what they choose to believe, the biblical warnings only point out the serious consequences of believing what suppressors teach as opposed to what the Scriptures attest.

Because God, in his great love, instructs believers to proclaim the truth to others.

There is a biblical mandate for Christians to tell others about the gospel of Christ and to point out the lies perpetrated by suppressors of the truth (italics added).

“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47 ESV).

"Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3 ESV).

Because we are all on a battlefield together.

People on a battlefield are considered to be brothers in arms regardless of what branch of service they belong to. As I stated earlier, this is the case for all human beings. We all have an enemy (Satan) who is attempting to deceive and capture people’s minds, and ultimately, destroy people’s lives. That enemy has his combatant forces upon the field whose primary warfare tactic is to deceive people. And, on this battlefield, because of the assets at the enemy’s disposal, many people fall, many are injured, many are taken captive, many are destroyed. Paul makes this abundantly clear when he states believers are to kindly inform others about this perilous situation:

“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:25-26 KJV).

The battlefield tactic of deceit is not new. Sun Tzu, in his famous book on battlefield tactics states,

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near (Sun Tzu, The Art of War).

A good illustration of battlefield deceit by an enemy force occurred during the final months of World War 2. The final large-scale offensive conducted by Adolf Hitler was the Ardennes Offensive, referred to as the Battle of the Bulge by the Allied Forces. Part of the tactics employed by the German Army was to infiltrate German soldiers dressed as America and British GIs behind American lines with the mission of causing chaos and redirecting American forces by changing road signs and other such deceitful tactics.

This historic event is a prime illustration of the battlefield we all find themselves on. There is an identifiable enemy who is using infiltration, camouflage, and deceit while attempting to persuade people that God does not exist, that the world exists without a Creator, that there is no objective truth, that there is no reason to be concerned about how we live this life, and what happens after our death.

Consider the following statements—we should categorize them as words uttered by suppressors of the truth who stand in direct opposition to the cross of Jesus Christ.

“All this twaddle, the existence of God, atheism, determinism, liberation, societies, death, etc., are pieces of a chess game called language, and they are amusing only if one does not preoccupy oneself with 'winning or losing this game of chess.”--Marcel Duchamp

“Science can teach us, and I think our hearts can teach us, no longer to look around for imaginary supporters, no longer to invent allies in the sky, but rather to look to our own efforts here below to make the world a fit place to live.”--Bertrand Russell

“The Bible and the church have been the greatest stumbling block in the way of women's emancipation.”--Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“I studied every page of this book, and I didn't find enough love to fill a salt shaker. God is not love in the Bible; God is vengeance, from Alpha to Omega.”--Ruth Hurmence Green

“He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him), and took a sort of pleasure in thinking that human affairs would never improve.”--George Orwell

“There seem to be only two kinds of people: Those who think that metaphors are facts, and those who know that they are not facts. Those who know they are not facts are what we call "atheists," and those who think they are facts are "religious." Which group really gets the message?”--Joseph Campbell

“I am unable to believe in a God susceptible to prayer. I simply haven't the nerve to imagine a being, a force, a cause which keeps the planets revolving in their orbits, and then suddenly stops in order to give me a bicycle with three speeds.”--Quentin Crisp

“I feel that we should stop wasting our time trying to please the supernatural and concentrate on improving the welfare of human beings. I think that, uh, we should use our energy and our initiative to solve our problems, and stop relying on prayer and wishful thinking. If we have faith in ourselves, we won't have to have faith in gods.”--Ruth Hurmence Green

“Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought.”--Mark Twain

The suppressors of truth mock God and encourage others to do the same. Their efforts can be summed up by one simple short biblical statement: “Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ?” (1 John 2:22).