A word of wisdom, for those with ears: “Hell can never conquer the truth.” Ever. Not in the end.

Meditate on that. Meditate on the word hell, on the verb conquer, and most of all, the word “truth.”

Lies are burned in the flames of hell. Follow a liar into the fire. When we transpose the letters “a” and “i” we get “lair.” What is a lair but where resides the wolf who howls or the lion who roams the world seeking to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

In Scotland a “lair” is a burial plot in a graveyard.

The father of lies is Satan.

It doesn’t matter what we think the truth is. Or what those of this world purvey. The truth is the truth no matter what we try to distort the truth to be.

Truth is reality. Truth is what is real. The only way that we know what is true is through the Truth of Jesus.

“Teach me Your way, Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name” (Psalm 86:11).

How would He act? That is the true way. How would He think? They are true thoughts. How would He talk?

Would He focus on God or Caesar?

Notes a preacher: “Ask anyone today, ‘What is truth?’ and you’re sure to start an interesting conversation. Try it on a university campus and you’re likely to receive laughter, scorn, and derision. The concept of truth has clearly fallen on hard times, and the consequences of rejecting it are ravaging human society. So let’s go back to the starting point and answer the question: What is truth?

“One of the most profound and eternally significant questions in the Bible was posed by an unbeliever. Pilate—the man who handed Jesus over to be crucified—turned to Jesus in His final hour, and asked, ‘What is truth?’ It was a rhetorical question, a cynical response to what Jesus had just revealed: ‘I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.’ Two thousand years later, the whole world breathes Pilate’s cynicism.”

“Now then, Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth; and You have promised this good thing to Your servant” (2 Samuel 2:28).

Has truth left you? Have you left the truth?

“Do not let kindness and truth leave you” (Proverbs 3:3). Truth and kindness are forever; they are immaculate; they go together. Oh, Mary, conceived without sin, help us also to be right with God!

“Truthful lips will endure forever, But a lying tongue is only for a moment” (Proverbs 12:19).

Invest your heart in what is written in Scripture. Trust what is perceived in the depths of fasting and prayer. “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in secret You will make wisdom known to me” (Psalm  51:6).

Look at the world as saints did (at a distance).

Ignore the Big Lie (a falsity repeated).

People of the Lie are of the devil. What causes the glow, the darkness that shines, are hidden flames.

“Please, Lord, just remember how I have walked before You wholeheartedly and in truth, and have done what is good in Your sight!” (2 Kings 20:3).

Keep your eyes on the truth of Heaven and partake of the sacraments with your heart and God will feed your intuition. We find clarity with Confession. Ask for the truth of how God sees you.

“For Your mercy is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the skies” (Psalm 108:4).

“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and do away with the gods which your fathers served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt” (Joshua 24:14).

“Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you” (1 Samuel 12:24).

This Christmas, cleanse from worldliness and falsity before the Manger. Turn your back on the inn that rejected Joseph and Mary (and Jesus). Ask the Holy Spirit at every turn what is real and what is not.

There are “shades” of the truth. There are those who see through the “glass darkly”: there are those who see through fun-house glasses; there are those who wear sleep masks during the day and know not their own blindness, which is as contagious as The Virus.

“Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our wrongdoing and giving attention to Your truth” (Daniel 9:13).

This Christmas, pray for the Light and vision of the Infant.

“The one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God” (John 3:21). He avoids the darkness and those flames in the chthonic regions.

“A time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers” (John 4:23).

“I will bow down toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your mercy and Your truth; For You have made Your word great according to all Your Name” (Psalm 138:3).

–MHB