Epistemology, the study of knowing, has been debated for millennia. In ancient times, the debate was over how we can know things; more recently, there are some who question if we can really know anything. The folks in that camp run alongside those who don’t think there is any absolute truth – everything is relative, they suppose. This might be written off as a curious intellectual subject except for one thing: the enemy of our souls knows that if he can slander truth and get people to despise knowledge, he can keep people from turning to God.
Jesus Himself illustrated the dangers in this kind of
thinking. The New Testament says that Jesus doesn’t just have truth or speak
truth; He
is Truth. Jesus is co-eternal and equally divine with God the Father; He
was actively present in creation, and He became the one true sacrifice that
redeemed God’s chosen people. Those three truths are the foundation of the
belief system that brings salvation to a lost world.
Regarding knowledge, Jesus said that one thing was necessary
to gain access to the life of the ages, life that would never be separated from
God. He
said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” He who is Truth said the path to life
everlasting is through knowledge. This makes perfect sense because the entirety
of Scripture is the revelation of God – God providing knowledge of Himself. The
prophets, the psalmists, and all the New Testament writers insist that the way
to God is through observing His creation and studying His recorded revelation –
His Word – in other words, through knowledge.
Because humans
were created in God’s image, it stands to reason that He would give them
the means to know Him. He did: He gave us five senses to encounter the world we
live in and make judgments and plans based on that information. He gave us a
brain that can interpret the various stimuli that come to us through the
senses. Our eyes receive light that becomes images we can identify; our ears
sense the pressure waves in our surroundings and create meaning (most of the
time.) Our nose, tongue and flesh have nerve receptacles that feed information
to our brain which we use to interpret the world around us.
What I have just described are the physical conduits God
gave us to operate in the world. While every living thing has these faculties
to a degree, humans have something else that the rest of creation has only to a
limited extent: a mind – specifically, a mind capable of knowing its Creator. The
lower mammals, fish, birds, insects (and plants?) have imbedded knowledge we
call instinct. Behavioral scientists have proven that we can add to an animal’s
instinctual knowledge with careful training, but I don’t believe anyone has led
an animal to a state of sentience, self-awareness comparable to humans’.
So, it is the human mind that receives input from the world
around us and tries to make sense of it. The most reliable information comes
from the ears and eyes as they take in the Word of God. At this point, I am
going to introduce what I will call a sixth sense, not the sci-fi, paranormal idea,
but a spiritual sense that is as real as the other five – perhaps more real
than the others. When Jesus described true, heartfelt belief in Him, He
referred to it as eating His flesh. Quite naturally, this disturbed many of His
listeners, but he explained to His faithful disciples that He was making eating
His flesh a metaphor for taking His words seriously; He said, “The Spirit is
the one who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken
to you are spirit and are life.”
Throughout the New Testament we are encouraged to keep in
tune with spiritual things. It is not always clear from the Greek whether the
word “spirit” should be capitalized indicating the Holy Spirit, or whether it
is meant to refer to the human spirit and the attendant spiritual reality
around us. One of the clearest passages warning us to be on our toes
spiritually is in Ephesians. Paul counsels us that our battle cannot be fought
on an earthly plane; our enemies are spirit beings who stand opposed to God’s
work in the world.
One might ask how these spiritual creatures can affect the
physical world. While I believe they have the ability to act kinetically, even
appearing sometimes as physical creatures, I believe they work primarily
through intellectual or spiritual channels. In other words, they tamper with
the information their targets need to function. Once again, I am talking about
knowing. And in this case, if we don’t know our input is being altered
in some way, we may act in ways that do not reflect what we should know
if we are relying on our knowledge of God and His Word.
I believe the spirits who are aligned against God and His
people use every channel available to humans to “kill,
steal, and destroy.” They might hitch a ride on the eye channel and cause
us to lust after something inappropriate. They might plug into the sound
channel and cause us to hear something hateful where no such thing was
intended. They might make the taste of something unhealthy seem irresistible.
They might hop on a digital transmission and create an addiction to
pornography. They might take over an entire social media platform and pump
disinformation into whatever mind is not filtering its input with the Holy
Spirit’s help.
It has been said that we have moved from the industrial age
to the information age. The success of every modern endeavor is predicated on
its access to the right information. Information – knowledge – is key. This is
no surprise to anyone who knows the Bible; centuries ago, a wise man said, “Knowledge
of the Holy One results in good judgment.” Good judgment, otherwise known as
wisdom, is knowledge put into action. Believers have access to divine
knowledge. We have the spiritual power to intercept it and act upon it. If you
believe that, you have the knowledge to do what is necessary. Now that you
know, what are you going to do?
Related Posts: Knowledge
of Good and Evil; The
God of Demonstrations; Rolling
Thunder; Living
in Zerubbabel’s Day; Digging
Trenches
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