Ukrainian Joke: Russian President Vladimir Putin states on Russian TV: “The US President is lying. The Ukrainian President is lying. I am lying. It is better for you to believe my lies than their lies.”
In John 8:44, Jesus says, “… He (Satan) was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
We are all surrounded by lies. We unwittingly embody lies. As Jesus followers living in this age, it is our lifelong journey to hack our way out of a jungle of lies that took hold of us in the past, grow ferociously in our present, and obscure our future.
In the BGU family, we explore the idea, “We believe hidden false narratives about God, ourselves, and others that cause us to do what we most want to not do, and to hurt the people we most want to love.” The pathway out of these self-lies is Scripture, prayer, dependence upon the Holy Spirit, and intentional conversations in authentic, safe Christian community. BGU is not a counseling school, but we pursue proactive spiritual formation at every level to grow our trust in God and root out these hidden false narratives.
We are also surrounded by lies from the media and rumors. In particular, the more complicated a news event is, the more we are tempted to settle for a simple explanation. Like the Ukrainian joke, we say, “It is better for me to believe the lie that my friends believe. It doesn’t require me to wade into the confusion nor feel the pain of caring deeply.”
BGU has students and alumni who are leaders of large churches, educational, NGO, government, and business networks in Russia and Ukraine; in Jerusalem and the West Bank; in Nigeria and eastern Congo; in China and Taiwan; and in Venezuela and Haiti. Many are in the arena of “wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution, deceit, and love that has grown cold” (Matthew 24:6-13) that we see daily in media.
BGU pushes every graduate student to explore complexity and develop relationships with people in these places that spur them to care deeply. They learn to train their social media algorithms to avoid echo chambers. They learn advanced AI prompt engineering. They learn to listen well and hold their opinions loosely. It creates lifelong habits of running toward confusion and feeling the constant pain of being part of a global Christian family.
The confusion and pain of being truth seekers in a world of lies results in thankfulness to God for being THE truth. In John 8:31-32 Jesus says, “…If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
God calls us to develop disciplines to live well in the world of lies. BGU proactively trains those disciplines, but above all, God calls us to abide in our relationship with Jesus as the only true way to find freedom, truth, and life as citizens of a future beautiful city living in the midst of a present nasty ghetto.
Please consider joining BGU by praying for our difficult work, joining as a participant in our degree and non-degree programs, and supporting the work of this global family. BGU needs generous, joyful givers in the midst of this current season of thankfulness.
For the USA members of the BGU family, we pray that you will have a Thanksgiving season this week that is full of thankfulness, connection with family and friends, and a sense of God’s presence that is unusually overt.
Brad Smith
Chancellor
Bakke Graduate University