Month: February 2026

“Buy truth, and do not sell it” (Proverbs 23:23) An Urgent Appeal.

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 “Buy truth, and do not sell it” (Prov 23:23). When I hear this proverb, two questions come to mind: “Is there anything more important than the truth?” “Am I living in the truth?” How easy it is to justify our own opinions and actions by perverting the truth. We embrace delusion out of perceived self-interest oblivious to the fact that such behavior is always self-defeating. The destructive power of such delusions is multiplied when they are shared with and reinforced by a group. Furthermore, we can always find something online to support what we want to believe. It is so easy to choose what I want to believe rather than to seek for the truth.

The burden of proof is the responsibility of those who make such a claim. What kind of proof could substantiate this accusation?

First of all, the perpetual, ceaseless, loud insistence that the election was stolen is no proof. “Thou dost protest too much.” One way to convince people of a lie is to repeat it loudly, confidently, and publicly. Such behavior should always raise the suspicion of thinking people.

Furthermore, YouTube videos and random statements online do not constitute evidence unless they are vetted in a court of law. Otherwise, they come under the category of hearsay and gossip. The internet is filled with fake videos.

Our freedom is based on the rule of law. Thus, if there had been evidence that the election was stolen, it should have been presented in court and evaluated in accordance with the laws of the United States. There is no reason to believe that Trump would not have received a fair hearing in the courts. The Supreme Court was (and is) dominated by Trump appointees. He had appointed many judges to lower courts. His party controlled the Senate which might have been another venue for legal review. Yet his legal team never presented anything like convincing evidence in any court. His own attorney general said that there was no evidence of corruption sufficient to change the results of the election. To continue to insist that the election was stolen without presenting such evidence is indeed to lie. M. Scott Peck describes this kind of behavior well: “the malignantly narcissistic insist upon ‘affirmation independent of all findings.’” (People of the Lie, p. 80, quoting Martin Buber, Good and Evil, p. 136, emphases added).

This lie has become a corrupting influence pervading everything that this administration does and compromising its integrity. The President repeats this lie in his speeches. He even reiterated his claim that the election had been stolen in his recent speech at the National Prayer Breakfast. Furthermore, he insists that everyone who is part of his administration affirm this lie. 

So, what is the bottom line? 

First, Trump has set himself up as the determiner of truth. Truth is not based on evidence. Truth is what Trump says it is.

Second, his demand that everyone must affirm this lie exposes the absolute loyalty that he demands of his followers. 

My friends, the biblical definition of an anti-Christ is one who comes with deceit and demands for himself the loyalty that belongs to Christ alone! I urge my Trump-devoted friends who profess Christ to return to their first love. Remember, it is Jesus alone who can say: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He also said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). “Buy truth, and do not sell it.”

What Is the Annual National Prayer Breakfast For?

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This quotation is on the webpage of the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation: 

“Founded in 1953, when President Dwight Eisenhower accepted the invitation to join Members of Congress to break bread together, our annual Breakfast is an opportunity for Members of Congress to pray collectively for our nation, the President of the United States, and other national and international leaders in the spirit of love and reconciliation as Jesus of Nazareth taught 2,000 years ago. Every president, regardless of party or religious persuasion, has joined since. All faiths are welcome.” (https://npbfoundation.com)

In the light of this statement, President Trump’s thirty-five minute speech at the annual national prayer breakfast on Feb 5 was more than inappropriate. It was blasphemous. He used this occasion, dedicated to humbly seeking God’s blessing upon the leaders of the nation and the world, as an opportunity to brag about his wonderful achievements, promote his own agenda, rant by name against those with whom he is currently displeased, and brag about those who are doing his will. (Click here for the President’s speech.) By contrast, the keynote speaker, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, took a bare fifteen minutes to give a wonderful testimony to the reality of Jesus in the sorrows and challenges of his life. (Click here for his speech.) 

The president bragged that he had done more for “religion” than any other president as if that were a great achievement. He seems not to notice that “religion” is often used as a cover for evil or a means of manipulation. Both Jeremiah and Jesus condemned the “religious” of their day. Followers of Jesus are not concerned about “religion” but about the kind of commitment to Jesus that leads to a life of integrity, mercy, and justice. They are more concerned about being faithful witnesses to Christ than about escaping persecution.

The President showed his ignorance of true Christian faith when he suggested that he might have earned his way to heaven. He said that he had only been joking when he said that he did not think he was going to heaven, but that there was nothing he could do about it. In today’s speech he declared that even though he wasn’t so good himself, he had done enough for good people and for “religion” that he had a chance of making it. It is a terrible thing to promote “religion” as a means of strengthening one’s power and covering one’s sins.

The bad news is, President Trump, that you are wrong. You cannot earn heaven with any number of good works. Salvation is in Christ alone. The good news is, you can do something about it. You can come to Jesus. You can, by his grace, repent of your sexual immorality, rapacious greed, disregard for “the fatherless and the widow” (Deuteronomy 10:18), hostility toward “the stranger that sojourns with you” (Leviticus 19:34), unconcern for those being carried away to death as in Gaza, and neglect of the starving in Cuba and the beleaguered in Ukraine. You can let Jesus replace those things with purity, generosity, kindness, and a concern for mercy and justice that will bless the poor and oppressed of the world.  

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23–24)

For a more detailed analysis of the National Prayer Breakfast click here.