It was done in the book of Genesis, in ( Genesis.3:4,5): " 4 At this the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die. 5 For God knows that in the very day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and bad.” (Genesis.3:4,5).
Truth: “ For God knows that in the very day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened . . .knowing good and bad.”
Lie: “You certainly will not die. ”
How God Conveys Truth
Actually, God conveys his messages in a way that allows sincere seekers of truth to search them out. (Psalm 14:2) Consider the message that God delivered through his prophet Jeremiah centuries ago. It was given to God’s wayward people regarding the coming destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.—Jeremiah 25:8-11; 52:12-14.
Yet, at the same time, other prophets claimed to speak for God. Hananiah foretold peace for Jerusalem. That was a very different message from the one that Jeremiah delivered. So whom was a person at that time to believe—Jeremiah or those who contradicted him?—Jeremiah 23:16, 17; 28:1, 2, 10-17.
To know who was right, sincere Jews needed to know Jehovah as a person. They needed to understand his laws and principles, as well as his attitude toward wrongdoing. Doing so, they would have agreed with God’s words spoken through Jeremiah that “there was not a man repenting over his badness.” (Jeremiah 8:5-7) Furthermore, they would have discerned that this sad situation did not bode well for Jerusalem and its inhabitants.—Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Jeremiah 52:4-14.
Jeremiah’s prophecies about Jerusalem came true. The city was razed by the Babylonians in 607 B.C.E.
Although the consequences of disobedience were foretold long in advance, effort was needed to recognize that the time had arrived for God to take action.
What About Christian Truth?
What of the truth proclaimed by Jesus Christ? Did everyone recognize it as a message from God? No. Even though Jesus was right there in the midst of the people of Israel teaching them and performing miracles, most of his listeners did not discern that he was the foretold Messiah—the Christ, or Anointed One.
To the Pharisees who asked when God’s Kingdom was coming, Jesus himself said: “The kingdom of God is not coming with striking observableness.” He added: “The kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:20, 21) God’s appointed Ruler, Jesus, was among them! But those Pharisees refused to open their eyes to the evidence that he was fulfilling the Messianic prophecies and to accept him as “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”—Matthew 16:16.
The response to the truth proclaimed by Christ’s first-century disciples was similar. While miracles helped to demonstrate that God was supporting the disciples, the truth was still not plain to most. (Acts 8:1-8; 9:32-41) Jesus commissioned his followers to “make disciples of people” by teaching them. As a result of listening and learning Scriptural truths, sincere seekers of truth became believers.—Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:42; 17:2-4, 32-34.
It is the same today. The “good news of the kingdom” is being “preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” (Matthew 24:14) This is not necessarily being done “with striking observableness”—in so obvious a way that every individual on earth will recognize it as a message from God. Yet, God’s truth is recognizable and strikes a responsive chord in honesthearted individuals who want to worship God in the way approved by him.—John 10:4, 27.
The fact that you are reading a Bible journal shows that you are likely a sincere seeker of truth. How can you determine which religion is teaching it?
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