In the second part of this series, we will be looking critically at the swift dissemination of lies and how this impacts the truth. The virality of a lie, in my opinion, is one of its most mysterious characteristics. From observation, you will notice that false information and fake news, perhaps due to sensationalism, tend to travel faster than the truth. Often, when there is some fake news about a public figure, it is almost always fatal and destructive to their reputation. Why? Because no matter how much the truth is trumpeted afterward, it seems it is unable to catch up with the lie. It is as if lies run lighter on their feet or are like gaseous substances that easily diffuse into the air crossing demographic, geographic, generational, and even time barriers. Extending this analogy, we can then imagine the truth as a large bulky body trotting frantically to catch up with the lie. Or so it seems.
It is already established from the previous article who the father of lies is. In this one, we will explore, from the biblical perspective, how Satan employs all manner of devices to spread lies.
At the center of the Christian faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15:16, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Furthermore, belief in the resurrection differentiates Christianity from other faiths and world views. The historicity of Jesus Christ is not often disputed. In Islam, he is seen as a Prophet and Messenger of God and according to renowned secular (read agnostic-atheist) New Testament historian Bart Ehrman, Jesus did exist. Often, the bone of contention between Christianity and other worldviews or faiths is the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. According to scripture, as early as the very day Jesus was resurrected, the father of lies attempted to employ his greatest weapon to cover up the resurrection. This scheme of Satan, aimed at the very heart of Christianity, would have ended the spread of the gospel in the ancient world. According to the account in Matthew 28:11-15, the resurrection was indeed reported to the Chief Priests of the Jews by the soldiers guarding the tomb. But what was their reaction to this news?:
And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.
The devout religious leaders and elders of the land took counsel to bury the truth of Jesus’ resurrection by silencing eyewitnesses with money and binding themselves with the commitment to defend them before the governor. All of this constitutes the hatching of the plan to spread a lie instead of the truth having its free course. But was it successful? To an extent, yes, it was! According to Matthew in verse 15 of the chapter under consideration, the soldiers did take the money “and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day”. The phrase “… to this day” implies that the false story was still circulating when Matthew was penning his gospel. Historians differ in their estimations of the dates the gospels were written. However, it is widely believed that Matthew was written around AD 80. Some scholars estimate a later date. Now, whatever the case may be, it points to the fact that the lie that Jesus’ body was stolen by his disciples was spread for 80+ years. Even though there were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ, the lie still traveled for 80+ years. Even to date, some people still believe this lie; it is called the stolen body hypothesis.
One thing you should always remember about lies: they spread! Indeed they spread swiftly like wild fire. Lies spread by the agency of people; I call them agents of falsehood. Of course, the father of lies is at the helm of affairs. Remember from the previous article that Jesus referred to the Jews as children of the devil because of their opposition to the truth. In this case, the Jews served as Satan’s agents of untruth and the spread of lies. Agents of falsehood often disseminate a lie or oppose the truth so that lies spread. We must endeavour to know them, expose them, and do everything possible not to imitate them.
Below I have characterized the agents of falsehood according to their intentions and flaws.
- Evil-intentioned people – these are individuals who either spread lies by themselves or facilitate the spread of lies to fulfill the will of the father of lies. Sometimes, their greatest contribution to the spread of lies is to oppose the truth. People who fall into this category spread falsehood to promote the agenda of Satan and this is what makes them evil. In the context of this series, a typical example would be the Jews and religious leaders of Jesus’ day. In John 8, Jesus describes them as children of the devil because of their murderous intent towards him and the fact that they don’t stand in the truth. Again, from the resurrection story discussed earlier, the Chief Priests and the elders of the Jews fall under this category as well, especially because of their strong opposition to the truth of the resurrection. They bribed the guards at the tomb and even fed them with a contrary story to spread. From my earlier estimation, this story was passed on for nearly a century. The impact of this lie, probably, is that some people heard it, accepted it, and denied the resurrection based on it. That is evil!
- Ignorant and lazy people – these are people who hold to the poor work ethic of not fact-checking the information they receive. They tend to spread lies without doing the necessary due diligence. They spread lies with no evil intent only that they lack the discipline of fact-checking the information they receive before informing other people. Other times, such people are way too confident about the assumptions and conclusions they draw about others. An example can be seen in the story of Demetrius (Acts 19) and how he influenced people in the city of Ephesus to oppose the truth of the gospel. What fascinates me about this story is the fact that Demetrius’ influence caused a riot in Ephesus and the bible says in Acts 19:32 that most of the people involved in the riot, chanting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians”, did not even know why they were there. Simply put, they joined in the chorus to oppose the truth of the gospel and spread the lie of the worship of Artemis but they didn’t bother to find out why the riot was happening and to what end. At some point, the bible says the riots continued for 2 hours (Acts 19:34). These are lazy and ignorant people who will not do due diligence before contributing to opposing the truth or spreading a lie.
- Greedy People – these are people who stand to gain a lot when lies spread. In most cases, they either start the fire of deception themselves or support its spread. A typical example of this is Demetrius. Paul’s ministry was influencing people in the city of Ephesus to desist from idolatry. This was affecting Demetrius’ business as a silversmith who made silver shrines of the goddess Artemis. He opposed the truth of God’s word for selfish gains. He started the riots by joining forces with the craftsmen of Ephesus to oppose the truth of God’s word because his business was being affected by the spread of the gospel in Ephesus.
- Fearful people – these are individuals who happen to either know the truth or doubt the lie however, they spread the lie anyway because they are afraid of the repercussions of doing otherwise. Sometimes they do not spread lies intentionally, but fear grips them causing them to disassociate themselves from the truth. This facilitates the spread of lies. A biblical example of this category is the story of Peter and the number of times he denied knowing Jesus. Interestingly, Jesus had already told Peter this would happen. However, Peter still failed to uphold the truth or defend his association with the truth even before a little girl, the servant of the High Priest, according to Mark 14:66. In a situation where it felt like there was a mob running on the energy of the lie that Jesus was blasphemous and deserved to die, anybody who was found associated with him or defending him would have faced a similar punishment. Hence, Peter, and we can include the rest of the Apostles except John, did not associate himself publicly with the truth because of the fear of losing his life.
I have found that, on a personal level, you will encounter people who fall into any of the groups listed above or a combination of two or more of them. These individuals might be your friends or close family members and relations who will facilitate the spread of lies about you either by their actions or inactions. Again, at the helm of affairs is the father of lies but he needs human agents to facilitate his schemes. And at any given time he can use anybody who avails himself to him. Anytime I hear complete falsehoods being propagated about someone to tarnish their image or for whatever purpose, I almost always attribute it to the father of lies. Yes, the individuals involved must be held responsible for spreading untruths, half-truths and fake news, but behind the scenes is the great liar. In such cases, I have found that prayer is a more potent attempt at saving your reputation than actually trying to employ PR tactics. Sometimes, the extent to which the lies are spread is beyond your reach hence there is very little you can do. You can explain yourself over and over again but it will not suffice. I suggest you spend time praying about it and trusting God to allow the truth to come out so you can be vindicated. It is not easy to seek to nullify the impact of a viral lie about you with the truth. But God is able to do all things.
Looking back at the analogy I made about lies and truth in the opening paragraph, I will say that although lies spread faster, the truth is more majestic, hence its seemingly slow pace in catching up with the lie. But when it eventually does, it disintegrates the lie into nothingness. God has a way of exposing the folly of lies by introducing or confirming the majesty of the truth. There is no hope for the lie when the truth catches up. Liars and agents of falsehood often suffer bigger dents to their credibility and reputation than the subjects of their lies. If you find yourself battling the spread of lies about you, no matter the virality or coverage the lie seems to have received, take it to the LORD in prayer. He will vindicate you and redeem your image as his child.