We need to decide what side we are on, and everything falls from this. Do you want to follow the lies of this world, and rejoice in your tolerance? Will you wilfully blindfold yourself? Do you trust those who say that they are your betters?
For they are from this earth. They are not from the divine. We can speak of that which we know, and what we know relates to our experience in this mortal coil. But there is an eternity to follow, and those of the earth cannot speak to it
That requires someone eternal. Note that John states that Christ is speaking of what he sees and knows, but that is his experience as one who is eternal. He is not speaking of what we can see, nor what we can experience. For we are not God.
We can never be God. Disassociate from any who say that you can. For their fate is to face the wrath of a living God.
And the lies you tell — to signal your virtue, to indicate that your live is wonderful, will save you as surely as your social media can hold you and comfort you in the watches of the night.
22After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. 23John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized 24 ? John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison. 25Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. 26They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. 28You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. 30He must increase, but I must decrease.” 31The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. 33Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. 34He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.
Psalm 4
1 Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
You gave me room when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.
2 How long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame?
How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies? Selah
3 But know that the LORD has set apart the faithful for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
4 When you are disturbed, do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the LORD.
6 There are many who say, “O that we might see some good!
Let the light of your face shine on us, O LORD!”
7 You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine abound.
8 I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety.
The other option is to be honest. To accept that you are human, in the image of God, but broken. Your evil follows you all the days of your life, and your first act of obedience is to undo that which you have done wrong. The struggles you have are graven into your flesh, but in the spirit you can be cleansed.
Therefore concentrate of God. Draw close to him, by word and by prayer, by sacrament and worship.
And do not be like the elite. For they are reliable in but one thing. That they lie.
