The Fantasy Factory

June 16
The Fantasy Factory By Pastor Brad Reiches

"To avoid the initial awkwardness of truth,
we sometimes tell half-truths or avoid
the truth altogether by donning a
prefabricated mask we've designed
in our fantasy factory."
-Diane Komp, Anatomy of a Lie, p.38

Tom (Hebrew): "Completeness, integrity, innocence of willful wrongdoing, having a clear conscience in a relationship."

"He who walks in tom walks securely,
but he who perverts his way shall be found out."
-Proverbs 10:9

Noah had tom (see Genesis 6:9). So did Job (see Job 1:1, 8; 2:3, "tam") and David:
"Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have walked in my tom,
And I have trusted in the
Lord without wavering...
And I have walked in Thy truth,
I do not sit with deceitful men,
nor will I go with pretenders...
But as for me,
I shall walk in my tom."
-Psalm 26:1, 3-4, 11

Satan is "a liar and the father of lies" (see John 8:44). And, since the whole world lies in the power of the Devil and his wickedness, (see 1 John 5:19, NASB, KJV), it makes since that the "lying spirit of this age" has taken center stage. Tragically, however, this "lying spirit" has made its way into the Church. "Lies and not truth prevail in the land" (see Jeremiah 9:3) and everyone has become a "Political Man."

"There is a system of thought called
'situational ethics' that links our choice
of whether to lie or tell the truth to the
context of our words, not to some moral
rule about lying being right or wrong."
-The Anatomy of a Lie, p.37

In other words, the "situationalist" believes that the ends always justify the means and that a lie that facilitates some perceived "greater good," is not only acceptable, but "good" (-see Isaiah 5:20).

It's one thing to watch this dynamic played out in The White House, it is far more tragic and consequential however, to see tom removed from the local church.

“An appalling and horrible thing
Has happened in the land:
The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule on their own authority;
And My people love it so!
But what will you do at the end of it?"
-Jeremiah 5:30-31

Tom. Integrity. I consistently read examples of it in the Bible, but among today's "professing Christians" and in today's church...not so much.