Twisting the Truth

Satan is the father of lies. John 8:44, TPT reads, “You are the offspring of your father, the devil, and you serve your father very well, passionately carrying out his desires. He’s been a murderer right from the start! He never stood with the One who is the true Prince, for he’s full of nothing but lies — lying is his native tongue. He is a master of deception and the father of lies!” A lie is defined as “an intentionally false statement.” One of the most substantial deceptions the devil pulls is to use the truth to embed his lies. He buries lies inside of truths, so we miss them. Some say he uses a 90/10 tactic, where 90 percent of what is said is truth and 10 percent is a lie. Satan is far more deceitful than we can imagine.

Satan works to twist the truth about God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit in order to keep us away from salvation and intimate relationship with them. He has been doing this for generations going back to Adam and Eve. He attacks us spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. To take it a step further, he teaches us to attack ourselves. We have become proficient at various forms of self-sabotage thanks to his efforts.

Satan with our permission, consciously or unconsciously, has infiltrated a multitude of areas in our lives. We have agreed with him in twisting the truth, and we are suffering the consequences. Jesus said in John 8:32, TPT, “For if you embrace the truth, it will release more freedom into your lives.” We usually know this verse as, “The truth shall set you free” from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. This verse is huge. When we seek out the truth, the lies fall away without manifesting in our lives.

We must focus on truth. The verse above doesn’t say “embrace the lies” it says to “embrace the truth.” If we concentrate on the lies, we are setting ourselves up for failure. We are giving ourselves thoughts that are negative seeds that will grow. Scripture says we reap what we sow, so it’s important to sow positivity in the present moment. Being positive in the now moment creates a positive future. Fixate on truth. Read Scripture to understand what the truth really is and seek the freedom it promises.

Freedom is only necessary when there’s bondage in our lives through sin and death. And it’s safe to say that we all need more freedom. Why sin and death? Because sin is anything that is disobedient, malevolent, evil, unjust, unrighteous, unholy, etc. And the Bible is clear about sin leading only to death. Death is the last thing that Jesus conquered by His own death and resurrection (Romans 8:34).

There are many ways that we are enslaved emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Emotionally refers to feelings that are fleeting and not who we are, and mentally refers to our thoughts and thinking processes. Physically we are captive through illness, disease, stress, anxiety, and the like.

Spiritual bondage refers to our spirit, and its interaction with the Spirit of God, and with other spiritual beings in the spiritual realm.

Below is a tiny list of the ways we can be in bondage to sin and death in our lives. They can refer to lack in all things, not just with finances, self-image, relationships, or other areas of our lives. They can attract negativity and abuse in one or more ways. They can be inflicted upon us by the devil, ourselves, or others. They can be our personality and/or character flaws or shortcomings. Wherever they originate, they are destructive and dangerous, rather than lifegiving and wholesome. Spend some time researching these issues for a better understanding of what they mean to our salvation.

• Poverty Mentality
• Victim Mentality
• Rejection
• Abandonment
• Fear of Intimacy
• Worthiness
• Illness & Disease
• Prideful/Egotistic
• Envy/Jealousy
• Lack of Identity
• Low Self-Esteem/Image
• Vengeful
• Generational Sin/Curses
• Dishonesty
• Abuse of Any Kind
• Disobedience
• Ambivalence
• Fear of Man

A few of the greatest sin symptoms are fear, pain, shame, and guilt. It doesn’t matter whether the attack is coming from someone or something else, or it’s coming from self, these are detrimental to living life to the fullest. When we sin, and we have a conscience, we begin to feel emotional pain, shame, and guilt. We know all too well how to shame ourselves and feel guilty for what we’ve done. This causes emotional pain that can become physical pain. This is how we contribute to making ourselves sick. And it all starts with fear.

Fear is an insidious thing that the devil has taught humans to trust ever since Eve took a bite of that fruit. She was tempted by allowing herself to be convinced that she wasn’t good enough or worthy to eat fruit from that tree. She became afraid she wasn’t enough, and that God was keeping something from her. Today, many generations later, that fear is still present in us. The world reminds us of this on a daily basis.

We are affected by fear so much that we have lost our innocence and childlike ability to trust God. We entertain doubt and unbelief as a result, which runs rampant in our societies and cultures. Our movies are more violent, sex is more casual and overt, and language is more disrespectful. These forms of debauchery are only a few examples of life’s current state of debauchery. This is why it’s so much more crucial that we rise above the darkness and become childlike again. Matthew 18:3, AMP reads, “…and said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you repent [that is, change your inner self — your old way of thinking, live changed lives] and become like children [trusting, humble, and forgiving], you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

There are many areas of life that are in dire need of restoration to innocence. We as Believers have a responsibility to break through the lies and build a better world for our children.

There’s a school of thought out there called the Seven Mountains, or the Seven Mountain Mandate originally written about in Lance Wallnau and Bill Johnson’s book titled, Invading Babylon: The 7 Mountain Mandate, 2013. There is some controversy surrounding the topic, and I don’t want to go into why here. You can research that on your own. I only mention it to say that the seven mountains or categories of society and culture make a good list to follow for prayer, blessings, meditation, and finding our purpose.

The Seven Mountains are:

• Arts & Entertainment
• Education
• Family
• Government
• Business
• Media
• Religion

Knowing which “mountain” we are called to is important. Yours may be a bit different than what is listed here and over time it will get more specialized. The key is knowing the area of society you are called to influence. And maybe you are called to more than one area.

The bottom line is that the devil’s lies block the truth of who we are, our healing, and our ability to grow, change, and mature. Lies block our blessings, which we already have been given. Many of God’s promises in the Bible are written in a past tense form. God’s promises have already happened in Heaven; they’ve been given to us already. It’s our job to remember to receive His promises here on earth. We are to pray God’s will be done on earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:10). Sometimes it can be a struggle to receive from God because we are in need of further healing.

Fighting for Freedom

We have victory with Jesus, so why do we still struggle? Upon salvation, we are born again with Christ in the middle of a raging spiritual war. We must work through battles to find our personal victory and freedom. The battlefield is in the mind. It starts with our thoughts which turn into beliefs and if we believe lies, we lose battles.

One way to win battles is to identify the problem and find solutions by asking ourselves important questions. Try this five-step process to find out how to win battles:

1. Identify the problem (write as much as you need to).
2. What is the lie or are the lies in this problem?
3. What is the truth based on God’s Word?
4. What are some solutions?
5. Then get some counsel via Scripture, pastors, counselors, and/or mature friends.

Here’s how it looks in a simple grid I developed with an example:

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Excerpt from Jana’s book called, “Hardwired to Trust God: And Exploring Trust in Ourselves & Others.”