When I was in ministry, we'd play a game called "Two truths and a lie." The person who was "it" had to give three statements, two that were true, and one was a lie, while the other students had to determine which was which. The true statements had to be absolutely true (not true from my point of view), and the false statement could contain a kernel of truth. The purpose of the game, while fun, was also to point to other facts: we need discernment, as everything we hear may contain truth, but could be a way to draw us in to a life of selfish rebellion. Even Jesus warns us of such things: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits." Matthew 7:15-20
Today, there are many well known people, who call themselves evangelists, but are self-seeking charlatans (they're fraudsters, but self-seeking charlatan sounded nicer when read aloud). They preach a message about God wanting people to be happy, healthy and prosperous, but the ones who prosper are themselves and those in their inner circle. They capture us with these lies by giving us partial truths. This is why we need discernment.
It is a lie that, if we give our lives to Christ, life will suddenly get easier and better. It is a truth that we will suffer in this life, but it is also true that Christ has overcome, and thus He can get us through this life. There is your lie, and there are your two truths. Coming to Jesus isn't about you, and it's not about me. Coming to Jesus is about getting Jesus! It's about being transformed and conformed in to the image of Jesus! And, it is about drawing other people to Jesus so that they, too, may be transformed by Him! We can't accept the lies being fed to us by traveling salesmen; these are meant to make us feel entitled, and is a lie straight from Satan to make us further rebellious and more wicked than before. We need to live lives submissive and humble, wholly committed to Christ, so that we may see His glory manifest through our struggles and joys, as well as be with Him eternally in the next. 1 John 4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
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