Teaching Resources International

“Lies and Deception …” (September 2020 Update) 

It’s that time again when the eyes of all Americans turn to the elections. In American elections, there are many things that are unpredictable. But one thing we can be sure of – we will all hear a lot of lies and deceptions! And it’s not just from one party but it seems to be the “nature” of (most) politicians to use exaggerations, lies and deception to get themselves elected. In fact, unfortunately, an old joke is mostly true: Question: How do you know when a politician is lying? Answer: His lips are moving! Fortunately, there are a few politicians who do not fit this joke – unfortunately, they are few! 

But what is the reason for this? What is the source of all these lies and deceptions? And more importantly, how can we navigate this election year and avoid falling for the lies and deceptions? 

First of all, where does all this come from? The Bible is quite clear about this – we need to point the finger at Satan. In John 8:44, Jesus said that Satan is a liar and he even called him “the father of lies.” In other words, he is the source of all these lies and deceptions. This is how he tricked Eve into disobeying God in the garden (2 Corinthians 11:3).  

But he is not alone. In 2 John 1:7, John reminds us that “many deceivers have gone out into the world.” This is even more evident at election time! Politicians and their followers spread their lies to get people to believe them rather than following the truth. And many do. Romans 1:25 tells us that people “exchange the truth of God for a lie.” And this includes Christians. In 1 Timothy 4:1-2, Paul warns that, in the last days, there will be deceiving spirits whose lies will even cause some to depart from the faith!  

Satan knows that if he can get someone to believe his lies, then he can lead them away from the things of God. And he also knows that the more a lie is repeated, the more people will believe it! That’s why it is so important to be aware of Satan’s devices and schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11) or he will “take advantage” of you. 

But most important, how can we as believers protect ourselves? There is really only one solution – Saturate yourself in God’s truth. Jesus prayed for his disciples, “Sanctify them in truth; thy Word is truth” John 17:17. There is no better way to stay focused on the truth than to stay grounded in God’s Word. I know I wrote the same thing last week, but this is so essential and so foundational. It not only informs us what the truth is, it also checks our character and corrects us when we wander from the truth. Make this your prayer: “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name” (Psalm 86:11). And saturate yourself in God’s truth from God’s Word to protect yourself from the lies of the enemy. 

A person who stays in the Word of God is less likely to be deceived by Satan or any of the “deceivers” that have gone out into the world. At times, there will be specific commands and precepts in the Bible that will give you direction. At other times, you will need to exercise godly wisdom in sorting through the information that you hear.  

1. Here are some helpful reminders from 2 Timothy 2:14-26. 
2. Be diligent to know God’s Word (2:15) 
3. Don’t waste your time with empty arguments (2:16) 
4. Make sure you are a “vessel of honor” useful for the Master’s work (2:20-21) 
5. Pursue righteousness in your own life (2:22) 
6. Avoid foolish disputes that create strife (2:23) 
7. Be gentle, patient, and humble in your responses (2:24-25) 
8. Pray that God will lead these people to the truth (2:25). Never forget that these people are held captive by the Father of lies (2:26). 

Wisdom for Voting 

With the elections coming up in a couple of months, here are some thoughts that might help you in voting, not just for President, but also in voting for elected officials from the city level all the way to the national level. The same principles apply. 

When choosing who you will vote for, consider each candidate based on the following order of considerations: 1) Policies, 2) Performance and 3) Person (Character). 

I know many Christians would say that character (the person) is the most important criteria. Before 1980, I would have agreed. I felt that, for me, a person’s character was the most important issue. But there are many problems with this approach, and I would now say that character, while an important criteria, is the least important of the three criteria. Let me share with you why. 

1. As Christians, we are rightly concerned about character. While that criteria is essential when choosing a pastor, elder or other church leader, it is not the main criteria for choosing leaders in government. I would love that all elected officials would have strong Christian character, but it is not required or even realistic.  
2. As a historian, I have seen that, more often than not, the best leaders have not had the best character. While this is unfortunate, it is reality. We all love men like General Patton because he was a great leader, not because he had great character. 
3. In terms of US presidents, some of those with the greatest character have been the least effective presidents. Jimmy Carter is a great example. With the exception of Abraham Lincoln, I know of no president who was more personally virtuous than Jimmy Carter. Yet most historians rank him as one of the least effective US presidents. 
4. Character is one of the most difficult and subjective criteria to judge. This is especially true regarding politicians. They are usually masters in making people believe them and they are adept at hiding any flaws that might disqualify them. And many who look quite virtuous when elected are found to have many character flaws later in their terms or after their terms. This has always been true but even more so today – when the camera lights go on, they all put on a different face. So, character is really hard to evaluate. 
5. Especially in the elections of the last few decades, most of the candidates on both sides have had very questionable character flaws. This is one big reason why we should consider policies over character.  
6. Additionally, if you make character your #1 criteria, you can easily fall into the trap of the ad hominem fallacy. This is when someone ignores the issues and instead attacks the person. This was often called “mudslinging” was first introduced in mass in the Presidential election of 1828. Since then, it has been a part of nearly every campaign. Both parties want you to forget the issues and focus on certain character flaws in the other candidate that they will highlight for you. If you put character over policy, you are in danger of falling into the trap of the ad hominem fallacy. Focus on the issues, not the ad hominem accusations. 
7. Finally, it is easy to see why people make character the primary qualification for Presidential elections because they assume (wrongly) that this person’s character is well-known. But, as I mentioned above, the brightest political stars are some of the best at hiding their character flaws until after the election. But even more concerning – if we make character the #1 criteria (and often the only criteria), then who will we vote for in local elections where little to nothing is known about the candidate? This is another reason why we must look at policy first and character last. 
8. Therefore, Policy is the most important criteria. It tells us what the candidate promises to do if elected. Don’t ignore this! Look at a candidate’s platform (and the party’s platform) to determine who to vote for. A candidate may not accomplish everything they promise, but their policies help us to see what they would do if they could. So, a candidate’s policy needs to be evaluated even more than character. 
9. Performance is the second most important criteria. We need to ask what this person has accomplished in previous elected situations. Did they do (or at least try to accomplish) what they promised they would do? Policy is important because it tells what they hope to do. Performance shows what kind of leader they might be. Real leaders accomplish things! 

So before you choose a candidate, consider their policies first, then their performance, and finally their character. I hope this is helpful. More than anything, we need to be praying for our country. We are facing some of the most difficult times that we have ever seen, and we need to be praying for our leaders and for people in America to make wise choices as they go to vote this fall rather than giving in to lies and deception. 

(P.S. I know that criteria is technically the plural of criterion. But in modern usage, criteria is used for both the plural and the singular so that is how it is used here. Just a grammatical note for all the English majors out there 😊).  

Teaching …  

As I mentioned in our last update, I have decided to only teach online this fall due to my continuing health issues. This has meant a lot more work to prepare for these classes ahead of time and to pay for getting the translations done. I am scheduled to teach 3 classes with a possible 4th class this fall. I have been working on this daily and have completed one class and started work on the second. I still have a lot to do and my bouts with blood pressure issues mean that some days I don’t get a lot done. Be praying for me that I can get what I need done this month in time for classes! 

Time with Family … 

We are still in the process of preserving our harvest for winter. We worked on canning tomatoes, apples juice and apple sauce. We also dehydrated apples, bananas, red peppers, corn and lots of basil. After shucking the corn, the girls got to make cornhusk dolls and even used some left-over corn silk to make some hair extensions! 

School started for us on September 2nd and the girls woke up excited to start a new year. They are both doing 2nd grade materials and they love learning. Kristina is especially excited about learning American History this year. We started with learning about the Vikings and Leaf Ericsson’s discovery of America. The girls played Vikings all day after the lesson with some interesting observations. Nadia noted that Papa is the ViKING and Moma is the ViQUEEN and that they were ViKIDS! Even so, they got the main idea! In school, they love reading and being read to. We are continuing to read from the Chronicles of Narnia, but we are also reading about the Pilgrims in England and the persecution they experienced there. 

Because of the quarantine and because of my health, we have not been able to travel this summer. So, we decided to do some camping – in our own backyard! We also took some short trips to lakes and even had a secret picnic under some pine trees in the forest near us. The girls loved it! 

They also were able to go to the opening of a new park in Kiev. There were several fun activities including a number of cartoon characters, face painting and cotton candy. We think this was their first experience with cotton candy. 

My Health … 

I’ve seen some progress with my health this past month, but I still have a number of outstanding issues that we are trying to correct. My cardiac and pulmonary situations seem to be greatly improved. All the scans and tests (MRI, CAT, Ultrasound, Blood work, etc.) show that the pericarditis seems to be gone. I can also feel the improvement and I am back to walking about an hour a day, including hills with only a little difficulty.  

I’m still working on problems with by gastro-system. I have lots of issues here and they were the issues that started all these problems last September. We put working on them on hold because of the heart attack in December and the pericarditis afterwards but now we are back to trying to correct these problems. Please continue to pray for me and my continuing health issues. 

Grateful for Provisions … 

We continue to be thankful how God provides for us – even with regard to our home in Arkansas. Over the last 10+ years, we have been renting it out without any difficulties. But last month, we had a renter move out unexpectedly and left the house with many repairs and truck loads of trash. Jake Minton and Johnnie, Jonathan and William Baker, and few men from Cornerstone (including the pastor) came over and cleaned the place up so we could get a new renter into the house. It cost us nearly $6000 in repairs, but we are grateful that we put aside money each month to cover upkeep on the house. So, we had a little over half of what we needed. We also received an extra gift to help with the translation costs for the online classes this fall. Thank you for your constant praying for us and our needs! 

Pray for Ukraine … and America  

Please continue to pray for Ukraine over the next few months while Russia is conducting its “Caucasus 2020” war games. Ukraine is already surrounded by over 150,000 Russian troops and many fear that Putin might use the war games to launch a preemptive attack on Ukraine to secure a water canal to get water for Crimea. Right now, there is a slight lessening of tensions regarding Russia because Putin seems to be watching the demonstrations in Belarus where he might need to send troops. Be praying for Belarus also during this time. 

We also continue to pray for peace in Eastern Ukraine also where the war there continue (even though we supposedly have a cease fire) and 2-3 soldiers are dying each week. Pray also for our students who serve as pastors and chaplains to many from the war-torn areas. 

And of course, be praying for America. This might be one of the most important elections ever in our country. Pray that people will take responsibility and vote for policy more than anything else! Also pray that God will open the eyes of those being blinded by the lies and deceptions of Satan – not only about the election but so that many may see that there is salvation only in the Lord! (“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4).  

Thank you for your prayers and support! We are blessed to be your partners as we minister here in Ukraine. It is our desire that truth that matters be proclaimed in Ukraine as well as in the United States! Thanks for helping us share the truth of God’s Word here in Ukraine! 

By His Grace, 

Jim, Katya, Kristina and Nadia