I thank God for the Holy Spirit, my wisdom
A problem related to people’s response to R & D, is that many just yield to the reports when they are broadcasted and published, assuming that once someone says, “a study shows…” or “researchers found that…”, then everything that follows suit is factual and trustworthy. To be honest, as a new student in a PhD programme years ago, I would be drawn to a lot of these inciters, mainly for academic purposes in building literature reviews. I was also drawn simply because these words connoted “legitimate” and “trustworthy” to me. Well, all of us have to be discerning in these times. I thank God for the Holy Spirit, my wisdom. God has placed Him in His people (The Body of Christ). The gift of discernment is by the Holy Spirit and no one on earth is to be living without Him, because man was NOT made to be without Jesus. It is He Who makes us able to live and be masterpieces of God – It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves (Psalm 100: 3).
However, as a Christian now and a researcher, my MO is not to swallow what is reported as research. I was taught to be cautious and assess research reports thoroughly. I liken the approach to research as “consider it fake before deciding it is factual.” Many research reports are so leaned to one side, they are as the leaning Tower of Pisa and should be placed in the conspiracy theory argument. Instead, they are being promoted by questionable characters who are the influencers and leaders and they make life – altering decisions from these. On the other hand, research that are legitimate, science -ordered studies are being thrown out as garbage.
I came across a headline very recently, and I believe the Holy Spirit led me to it, so I read it and I also watched a video that was critiquing the report. The headline reads: “Unvaccinated more likely to have serious car accidents.” Automatically, I rebuked the folly, in Jesus Name and then I smirked at the absurdity. I thought about the level of desperation that is being demonstrated. How could scientists voluntarily put their names to such a study without much coercion?
He does not lie and He does not coerce
It contrasts so emphatically with God’s way of doing things. He does not lie and He does not coerce. God never has to try to prove Himself or His worth or try to convince anyone that He is Almighty God. God shows Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him (2 Chronicles 16: 9). He made Himself known to His people through His powerful works and His mercy was shown throughout the ages (Psalm 136). Yet in this He never tried to coerce and lie to people to get His way (Hebrews 6:18) . Now here we see man, unregenerate in his ways (Genesis 6:5), if not submitted continually to the Spirit of God and His Word, processing untruths and trying to convince persons that they are ‘truths.’ We see man being paid to put forth lies to substantiate agendas that are destructive and are establishing tenets for policies and laws that govern our nations. This is the path of destruction that Jesus came to rescue man from.
However, none of these should be a surprise or overwhelming to the child of God. God told us in the last days, there will be perilous times (2 Timothy 3:1). Jesus said we would suffer persecution, for the Word’s sake, but be of good cheer, because He has already overcome them (2 Timothy 3: 11-13; John 16:32-33). He told us to rejoice in the face of perilous times, because he has defeated them and when we remain in Him, their presence is really shadows (Psalm 23; Colossians 2 :15). Shadows can do nothing. The enemy knows his time is short (Revelations 12: 12) and he is running around seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5 : 8) and he is doing that with his usual tools – lies and deception at very intense levels.
It is therefore, now, even more impossible for God’s people to live without the leading of the Spirit of Truth and the Word of God, Whom the Holy Spirit reveals to us (Galatians 5: 16 – 18; Hebrews 4: 12). Mainstream news media and social media are strewn with lies and deception. Free speech on these outlets is not really free because it lacks the truth, and the Word of God says, “we shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make us free”.(John 6:32)
When God first made us, His masterpiece, He made us free. Rebellion threw us into bondage but Jesus came and set us free once again to be the masterpiece He created us to be.
If the Son, then, sets you free, you are really free! (John 8:36) – free to be His masterpiece!