"... and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

John's Gospel here has some astounding statements by Jesus. (8:31-38)

To be Jesus' followers, we must continue in HIS Word - The Good News of Agape Love and Grace.
If we do not live in that, we are not Jesus' followers.
If we do not actively commit to the well-being of the other, even stranger and enemy and especially the most vulnerable, then we are not continuing in His Word and we are thus not His followers.

If we do continue in His Word, the Good News of Agape Love and Grace, we will know the truth, and the truth will make us free.
We are having trouble with the truth these days.  We live in the post-truth, alternative facts era in which networks can claim that they have no responsibility to report facts because they are "opinion" networks, but they put words like "your news source" on banners seen during their shows. 
We live in an era in which "Christians" who claim Jesus can justify their hatred of others because their preachers say they can and because their denominational leaders remain largely silent in the face of the hatred.
We live in an era in which the supporters of a current President, who screamed about perceived lies regarding the last President, say that this President's lies, hateful rhetoric and hateful actions don't matter because he supports them in one cause or another.
We live in an era in which repeating the outrageous lie enough times means that the gullible, easily duped folk who support you will believe it - hook, line and sinker.  The last time that was spoken of and often used was in 1933 in Germany.
We live in a truth challenged time in which blatant lies are believed and what is factual is relativized and politicized into being false in the minds of many.

The truth of which Jesus is given witness as having spoken is the truth of living Agape Love in a world in which the lies of the Roman Empire were largely accepted as truth - lies about how God wants us to live with one another - lies about what true values are - lies about the inevitability and/or acceptability of Greed, lust for Power and desire for Status as normative values and the heart of normative practices in a society.  We are in that truth-challenged time again in empire here.

The truth attributed to Jesus is the truth that these values are not sustainable or just, healthy or loving.  The truth is that turning truth into lies and lies into truth does not mean that God is fooled or that God accepts our post-truth attitudes and thinking.  The truth exposes how these values hurt people who God loves - the poor, the stranger, the sick, the imprisoned.  The truth is that God is not pleased at our hateful words and actions against people God loves.  The truth is that Jesus' Way is a better way, and it is the commanded way for any who would claim the name of Jesus.

We are in danger of raising a generation of children to believe whatever they like, rather than the facts at hand.  We are in danger of destroying the planet because many believe the lies of the few who profit from its demise.  We are in danger of killing Democracy and Christianity in America, because we have been blown by every wind of doctrine, have listened to the false teachers and have made our belly (what we want, think and value) to be our god. 

I pray that we will know the truth, for if not we are bound to a captivity to the lies again, still.

Pastor Jamie