Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God." John 6:68-69

In the year 1855, the powerful preacher, Charles Spurgeon said, "If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it, but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly. It will be light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old Proverb, 'A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.'"

Now I don't know if that was really true in Spurgeon's day, but I do know that the Internet age has given us a world where a lie can go around the world in an instant ... numerous times.

Case in point: NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, went on record as saying that, as far as it was concerned, the world was not going to end in the immediate and foreseeable future. And why would NASA feel the need to say such a thing?

Simple: the Internet was ablaze with rumors of a great, big asteroid plowing into the earth.

This predicted asteroid would be large enough and traveling fast enough to destroy Puerto Rico, the Atlantic and gulf coasts of the U.S., Mexico, Central and South America. To paraphrase NASA: it ain't a'gonna happen. As proof, they shared, "If something was headed toward earth and promised to do that kind of damage, we would have seen it by now."

"But," and NASA emphasizes this, "there is not one shred of evidence that an asteroid will mess with us next month." Moreover, they add, the odds on that happening before 2,100 AD is .01 percent.

I guess I can live with those odds. How about you?

Now the reason we bring the subject up in this devotion is this: unless you dig a hole and pull it in after you, a rumor like this doesn't do that much damage. But there are many other rumors which are not nearly as innocent; there are other lies whose impact can be devastating.

In John 8:48 Jesus encountered rumor-mongers who challenged, "Are we not right in saying that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" At His trial, numerous witnesses were bribed to tell fake stories and lies about Jesus. After His glorious resurrection from the dead, the guards who had been at the tomb were instructed to lie about what had happened.

It was no different for the early church as many outsiders believed the lies about Jesus' followers being cannibals and child murderers. Today it is a rare month that does not boast some book or movie that lies about the Savior; which does not have some skeptic or critic telling us the "real truth" about the Redeemer.

Sadly, the stranger and more exaggerated the lies are, the more readily they seem to be accepted.

This is why this devotion encourages you to search the Scriptures because they contain God's plan for eternal life, which is ours through the victory of Jesus. It is why, when you hear some outrageous lie about the Savior, your voice should join with Peter and confess: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God."

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, in a world of lies, partial truths, and slanted statistics, may we hold fast to Jesus who alone is the Truth. In His Name we pray it. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: 2 Chronicles 21    Obadiah    2 Corinthians 8

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