Supressing the Truth

Rom 1:18-20

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

Here we see what God’s wrath is expressed toward. The men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Well, how in the world do people suppress the truth? All kinds of ways. The way that is most obvious to the American people is when businessmen or government officials don’t acknowledge the truth of things they are caught doing and are guilty of. I personally believe that the last administration did that in many areas, including in the dealings with Osama ben Laden. Is it happening now in the current administration? Some think yes, some think no. I believe all governments believe it is in their best interests to suppress certain truths -especially when it comes to protecting their spy networks. But what God is concerned with is not the political truths exactly but with the truths that individuals recognize about God. Look at

Rom 1:19-20

19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.(NIV)

This is God’s issue. What may be known about God. People world wide have been guilty of suppressing the truths and truth regarding God. Why do you think communism finally collapsed? Recently on the radio someone has been reading the autobiography of Sergei Kourdakov, who at one time was with the KGB, but defected and became a Christian. This young man heard the words everyday in school, "there is no God." He and thousands of Russian children were told this by their school teachers daily. Kourdakov even as a kid wondered why that was such an issue. But here was a whole nation-he was from Siberia-under the communist rule that denied the existence of God. That is suppression of the truth in the most obvious form. Now you know why the whole system had to collapse.

Now let’s get into less obvious suppressions of the truth. Have you ever known someone who has lied about God to you? For instance, has anyone ever said to you that God is not concerned with your every day problems? Or have they indicated that God can’t do anything about a situation that needs solving? Or that one’s only hope is science’s cures, education’s answers, or one’s own activities and involvement to save this planet? Have you ever heard people say God doesn’t love them, or that He has been mean to them? Have you ever heard people say that it isn’t Jesus who is important, just God Himself? Have you ever heard people say one religion is as good as another and that there are many paths to God? Have you ever heard people say that the Bible is just myths or inspired much like a poet is inspired? Have you ever heard people say God won’t do anything about.......? Few of us here in America have heard, "There is no God." except from the declared atheists. Have you ever run into people who aren’t sure there is a God and let everyone know that whether He even exists is not relevant to today? Have you ever heard that we don’t need a God? Or that if He exists, He is not knowable or reachable? Have you ever heard the idea that God put this world into existence and then left man to fend for Himself? Have you ever heard you are not supposed to go to God about the little things? Have you ever heard people claim or even infer that God has to be heartless or powerless cause He allowed the holocaust or because someone they loved died?

That is just a small sample of suppression of the truth. You see, any thing that speaks a lie about God, His character, His Son, His Holy Spirit, His Word-the Bible, His power and authority and rights, His love, His justice—all of these things when lied about are a suppression of the truth, for the truth about God is not acknowledged.

Have you ever been lied about? Well God has experienced that time and time again and it makes Him angry. Just like us, right? And God’s anger and wrath is against those who suppress the truth about Him, because it is His Truth that sets us free and gives us that relationship with God that we need and were created for. And it is the ungodly wicked(twisted) people who do this suppressing of the truth.

Back to verses 19-20

19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.(NIV)

God is right about that too. I met a fellow who came to God because He saw that nature was created very magnificently and orderly and quite amazingly. He was I believe a biologist and as he studied in school-under the communist system no less-he saw that there had to be a creator for all this. It could not have happened accidently or through evolution. God’s invisible qualities became obvious to him and he sought the truth about God and found some Christians who led him to Jesus Christ. See, what was made by God showed him that God was not only in existence, but real, was a creator beyond anyone’s imagination, and as he sought to find out the truth about God, God led him to some Christians, and once he started reading the Bible, he knew he had found the answers.

You stop and think here. What 3 forms does matter take? Solid, liquid, and gaseous, right? Well, has that ever hit you as a reflection of the fact that God is a trinity? Look at the amazing set up of human pregnancy and birth. Babies are carried head down in the latter half of the pregnancy when there are no problems for a couple of big reasons. One, the pubic bone protects the baby’s head in case the mother falls on her stomach. Another-the baby needs to come out head first so that the baby’s breathing is not restricted and the oxygen supply is not interfered with during birth. Why do whales give birth to their babies tail first-again protection of the baby, for in whales, and other sea mammals like them, once the little one is born, they must get that baby up to the surface so it can breath for the first time. Since it takes a while for the birth, the little one must have its oxygen supply from the umbilical cord, but immediately once the head is freed from the birth canal, the baby can be taken up to the surface to breath. The care that God has taken to bring both human and animal life into this world is really quite amazing. Scientists who are believers can tell you all kinds of amazing things of how God has designed nature to reflect Him.

On top of this, even in many pagan cultures, there is an awareness of God’s existence. Sad to say in their efforts to be their own saviors -salvation by works - they have had religions that are full of false teachings. But yet their observations have often found truths that they have lived by. For instance some American Indian groups will not deal with dead bodies-only those specially picked for the job-because they feel a dead body, even the house the person died, in to be dangerous to them. They attribute the danger to spirits. What did God say about dead bodies in the Old Testament? He said they were unclean and they contaminated people. What the Indians didn’t know and the Israelis of the Old Testament didn’t know was that the contamination and danger were from bacteria. God had it right and the American Indians were not too far off in their diagnosis either.

Somehow someway the Aztec religion as well as the Mayan religions understood the concept of blood cleansing one from sin, again the reality was twisted and so the two groups used human sacrifice and bloodletting as a means of purification and protection. For the Aztecs themselves it boiled down to blood being needed to keep the world from collapsing. I am not sure about the Mayans.

The reality of people having a spirit and of the existence of angels and demons was known to people down through the generations. The western world has not rejected that generally speaking, but other cultures have never rejected that and Jesus certainly did not.

What can be known of God can also be seen in the stars. Such as: His constancy and His organization-those stars stay there century after century, and the constellations continue in their rounds year by year. There are other things people who are Christians have said are revealed in the stars but I won’t get into that-much too long of a subject.

But God has made Himself and His truths known through those things we can see, hear, touch, feel, etc. And mankind since Cain has been trying to suppress the truths about our God. That is true wickedness and evil. The worst evil a person can do is to disbelieve God. That is the first-and that is what leads to all kinds of other evils.

As you see, as Paul writes--man is without excuse. Have you ever compared your beliefs with the Word of God? If not, it is time to do it. For what it says in the Word is far more true than those things you can perceive with your senses. God has revealed Himself through nature and many other things. If you don’t have a personal relationship with Him, you are missing everything that is important in life and you are missing life itself. Go read John chapter 3 and learn what you must do to be saved and have that relationship with Him. And read there too why people don’t come to God.

That is all for today, folks. Have a very blessed and healthy weekend, and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Blessings to you from Your Good News Lady