THE FATHER OF LIES

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The Father of Lies

   Jesus declared at John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

   The question then is whether there is truth in the proclaimer himself. If there is truth in Jesus, his claim that he is the way and the life might also be sustainable. If not, then by that very fact the utterance as a whole will go centrically disproved.

   Let us consider some passages in the new testament that go to show that there is absolutely no truth in Jesus.

   Matthew 17:10-13: “Then the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah has to come first?” “Elijah is indeed coming first,” answered Jesus, “and he will get everything ready. But I tell you that Elijah has already come and people did not recognise him, but treated him just as they pleased. In the same way they will also ill-treat the Son of Man.” “Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.”

   That Jesus was in fact referring to baptist John when he spoke to the disciples is evident from his words to the crowd in Matthew 11:12-15: “From the time John preached his message until this very day the kingdom of heaven has suffered violent attacks, and violent men try to seize it. Until the time of John all the prophets and the law of Moses spoke about the kingdom; and if you are willing to believe their message, John is Elijah, whose coming was predicted. Listen, then, If you have ears!”

   What does the baptist himself say about his identity? “The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to John, to ask him, ‘Who are you?’”

   “John did not refuse to answer, but spoke out openly and clearly. This is what he said, ‘I am not the messiah.’

   “‘Who are you then?’ they asked. ‘Are you Elijah?’”

   “‘No, I am not,’ John answered” (John 1:19-21).

   Jesus says baptist John is Elijah. But the baptist himself spoke out openly and clearly that he was not Elijah. Thus Jesus’ assertion that John is Elijah is a palpable lie.

   John does not stand to gain anything by lying whereas Jesus does gain from lying. He says self-justifyingly that Elijah has already come to restore all things and people did not recognize him but did with him the things they wanted. When Jesus so identified the baptist with Elijah to the disciples, the baptist had been killed already. This served as a favorable opportunity for Jesus to lie about the baptist’s identity.

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   Jesus told many other lies as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

   Another classic example is found in Luke:

   At Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested he said “I was with you every day in the temple. You did not try to catch me then. But this is your time now, the time of the power of darkness.” (Luke 22:53)

   The truth is that several attempts were made to seize Jesus, particularly when he preached in their synagogues. But every time they try to stop him he slipped away. In fact it happened on the very first day of his preaching, which is mentioned in Luke 4:28-30 “When all the people in the synagogue heard these things, they became very angry. They got up, forced Jesus out of town, and took him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built. They planned to throw him off the edge, but Jesus walked through the crowd and went on his way.”

   Here is another incident where Jesus the so-called savior of the world hiding himself in fear of execution: “At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.” (John 8:59)

   Again the text in John 10:39 “Again they tried to seize Jesus, but he escaped their grasp.”

   So every time the Jews tried to arrest Jesus he escaped their grasp, but finally when he was arrested he said “I was with you every day in the temple. You did not try to catch me then”. This is a bold-faced lie. It is impossible to reconcile the detection of untruth with a person who simply claims to be truthful. But in the case of Jesus, he says he is truth embodied. Any untruth detected in him would necessarily make him falsehood embodied and consequently the Devil, “the father of lies.”

   As for his two other claims of way and life, they merely signify when coming from him the necessary idioms for trap and doom.

   It is clear therefore that Jesus is neither the way nor the truth nor the life.