Day 182 "Truth never has an agenda but man always does."

Day 182 Matthew 22:15-17 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.” The trickery the enemy plans for believers is so very well played out in this short section of scripture that I truly felt the need to stop and go deeper. We have a classic scenario of the divided religious leaders uniting to discredit the truth with lies and innuendos disguised as fact by taking things out of context. You see, they had one goal, to trick Jesus, to trap Him into saying something that would separate Him from one group of people or another. The Pharisees, who were purists in their view of religion, had failed to trick Him, so they call in the Herodians who are absolutely comfortable with watering down the law in order to appease everyone and make nice with the Romans. If Jesus answers without the direction of the Spirit, He will send a message of discourse to someone, and truly one of the four powers that be will have reason to be offended by Him; hence, leading to His downfall. We will, of course, in the next passage see how this all comes out to play; however, for now, let’s focus on the reason for the discussion, which is to fulfill a preplanned agenda. There was a goal set forth prior to any conversation with Christ and that was to discredit Him; it was not to get to the truth. Sound familiar? It should. It is the goal of our press in this world every day. The goal of the press is no longer to communicate the truth but rather to communicate its agenda. For believers, these are very trying times; we must do all we can to see beyond the agenda of the media and look to the truth, and that, alone, should form our opinions–not Oprah, not Diane, nor Wolf nor Barbara Walters or anyone else. If you are believing the things you read and see on the TV or other various forms of media you subscribe to, without filtering them through prayer, the Word, and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, then you, too, will be believing lies and, consequently, often be spewing them as truth. We are warned in the Word to "test all things." We are also told that in the end times "even the elite will be deceived." How can this happen, you ask? It is actually very easy for this to happen when we fail to seek the counsel of the Lord, for by failing to do so, we trust the counsel of man, and mankind is fallen. Don't believe everything you’re being fed by the media. Test it against the Word, wait upon the Lord in prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to give you direction, and then make your decisions. You will find yourself much more content when you do. Daily Prayer: Father, keep me from making snap decisions and believing the things I hear from the media. Give me the patience to pray and seek Your will, the ability to hear Your voice, and the understanding of Your Word. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. "Truth never has an agenda but man always does." Gene Burroughs, Pastor