All truth originates with God. According to the Bible, it is impossible for God to lie (Titus 1:2). In contrast, Satan is a liar. Jesus said that he (Satan) "does not stand in the truth" and that "there is no truth in him" (John 8:44).

This would not present much of a problem if the lies of Satan were clearly identified as lies, but unfortunately they are not. From the time of his fall from the heavens until now, Satan has deceived many.

He convinced one third of the heavenly hosts that he could rise up and be like God. He told himself that he had the power to overthrow God and his Kingdom and make it his own. He was so convincing that one third of all the created heavenly beings united with him and attempted to overthrow God and His Kingdom. They attempted to place Satan on a throne in heaven.

The Lie Was Very Convincing
For them to stand against God they must have truly believed they had a good chance of defeating Him. After all, their leader was sure of himself. He was beautiful. He was powerful.

When the battle was over, Satan and one third of the angels were cast out of heaven. Even though they believed they could defeat God as Satan had told them, they still lost the battle.

Just because a lie is believed and just because one acts on the lie, thinking it is truth, that alone does not make it true. The angels acted on what they thought was truth, but they were still cast out of heaven because it was not truth.

Today
The devil cannot produce truth because there is "none in him." He is a liar. With hate in his heart, Satan still believes that he can somehow defeat God. With his ability to make a lie look like the truth, he plans daily to destroy God's creation, man. Destroying man gives him great pleasure.

Satan's method of attack is still through his mouth. First, he lies, disguising the lie in beauty and the appearance of truth. He then convinces man to believe that the lie is truth. Then man acts on what he thinks is truth and is destroyed.

Christians Can Recognize Satan's Lies
A banker once told me that the best training for discovering a counterfeit bill is to study the real thing. He said he would have his employees sit and study real money closely for hours. He wanted them to know the bills so well that when a counterfeit bill came along, they would immediately notice something was wrong.

This is the way we are to be concerning the truths of God. We are to study His Word daily. We are to meditate upon it and let it sink deeply into our hearts. We need the Word to become so alive within us that we know God's nature instinctively. Then when we hear a whisper we know is not God, we can say as Jesus did, "Get thee behind me, Satan."

Jesus said, "My sheep know My voice." We must be able to recognize His voice without question and obey it without hesitation. Now here is a key. We need to act on God's true Word, what He actually said, not some man's interpretation of the Word or some organization's opinion or some denomination's doctrine, but God's Word and nothing else. We must be very careful because sometimes we think something is true when it really isn't.

Believing a Lie Doesn't Make It True
Have you ever thought something was true and then found out later it wasn't? Everything you did from the time you believed the lie until the time you discovered the truth was in vain.

Only what you do that is based on truth counts. Jesus said in John 8:31-32 "If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." On the other hand, in John 8:44, Jesus refers to the Pharisees as being after their father, Satan, the liar.

Titus 1:2 tells us that it is impossible for God to lie. So as we go through the Word of God, we begin to see this distinction. All truth comes from God, and all lies and partial truths come from the deceiver, Satan.

Just because we believe something to be true does not make it true. Regardless of how much we believe it's true; regardless of how much we act like it's true; regardless how much we confess it; if it isn't true, it is still a lie. And if we act on a lie, it can mean death.

Once I believed that I could not get shocked by an unplugged appliance, but that did not keep me from getting jolted with a few thousand volts! Believing a lie can be deadly, and a partial truth is still a lie. Even though it may sound good, it can still result in death. Only believing the truth will set us free.

The Whole Truth
When a witness swears to tell the truth in court, he is instructed to "Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

When we are instructed in the Word of God, it is very important that we know the whole truth. Unless we know and act on the complete truth, we cannot achieve complete results.

This is important to realize because a partial truth can be as misleading as an outright lie. A man may believe if he jumps out of an airplane with a parachute, he will float safely to the ground. But this can only be true if additional instructions are followed.

When he hits the ground clutching his unopened parachute, it is too late to discover that he must pull the ripcord. Having the parachute is not enough, and knowing that it will work without knowing how to work it is of little use.

Too often Christians know only that the Word works without knowing what makes it work. Knowing that God heals is not enough. Knowing that we can be saved through the blood of Jesus is not enough. Knowing that we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit is not enough.

Knowing that the ripcord exists and what it does is not enough. Even knowing that the ripcord exists and believing with all your heart that if you pull it, the parachute will open and you would be saved is not enough. You must pull it!

In the same way, knowledge without action is not enough. Knowledge without exercising faith is not enough. Faith is believing that God is doing what He said He would do and then acting on it.

Belief Without Action Is Not Enough
"You believe there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe, and tremble!" (James 2:19)

"He (Jesus) touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith, let it be to you" (Matt. 9:29).

There are several areas in our lives where we need faith each day. It's easy to have faith when we are within the four walls of the church. It's easy to have faith in God and His Word after hearing an inspiring message that proclaims the Word of God.

It's easy to have faith while entering into praise and worship. We can walk out of the church building feeling as though we have enough faith to conquer the world; but sadly, on Monday morning on the job, all too often faith is nowhere to be found. We need to be able to take faith and apply it each and every day in the world.

Recently a young man told me that every Christian he knew was a hypocrite. He said it seemed to him Christians picked up their faith when they walked into a church building and laid it down at the door when they left. How sad he sees Christians in that way.

We need to remember that the lost see us outside the sanctuary, and if there is a place we need to proclaim our faith by action, it's in the world. Only then will the people see that faith works and that the God we worship has power to save us from destruction.

Copyright © Larry Ollison Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.