By Thomas Klocek, CDR, USN, Ret

“What is truth?” —Pontius Pilate (John 18:38)

“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.” —George Orwell (1903-1950)

People today have a hard time with the truth. The news media lie to us, our politicians lie to us, even our church leaders lie to us — all in an effort to exert power over us for their own means. Lying started with Lucifer in the Garden, preying on the pride of our first parents. Satan is the great prevaricator of all time. Mostly his lies try to tell us that we can be like God, do our own thing, live however we want. And too often we buy it and indulge in whatever pleasure or distraction is at hand, worshipping the false idols of power, money, prestige, etc. “I did it my way” is the mantra of those who fall prey to his deception. Satan appeals to our pride, often categorized as the first (original) sin, the sin of intellectual pride. Some have said that, actually, this sin was the result of envy, with Satan preying on the thought that Adam and Eve could be like God with the knowledge of good and evil.

The quest for power and control drive the actions and policies of many people. Similarly, many people desire money because money can provide them with a certain level of power and control. The false idols of power and money are difficult to overcome. Often, however, the quest for money, power, and control on a larger scale can have a negative effect. People in high positions often try to convince themselves that they are seeking this power so they can do good things. But are the things they want to do really in the interests of the greater good? Or are they just efforts to maintain or add to their power? If they lack a firm moral foundation, this becomes problematic for those close to them and for their entire sphere of influence, even nationally and worldwide.

Power is especially troublesome. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But even a small amount of power can corrupt. So, someone or some organization that can influence the powers that be will go out of the way to keep that position of power. Bureaucrats are especially jealous of whatever power they have. And so they often rely on lies and half truths to maintain their positions. This is one of the reasons people are mistrustful of those in government.

The media, looking for power in the form of influence, control, and support of the ruling party, lie regularly. It is almost enough to know that an issue is supported by the media to make it suspect. Various other organizations, including professional organizations and big business enterprises, frequently join in, trying to ensure support from media and government. Teachers unions and abortion providers are especially involved and obtain a great deal of support from the government in terms of financial and indoctrination power.

In an effort to maintain a position of power, these groups will endeavor to suppress free speech, change vocabulary to suit their arguments (most of which cannot be supported by plain English), suppress religion, invoke slander (e.g., everyone who doesn’t agree with them is “racist”), and invoke orders that even they acknowledge are not within their constitutional power. Their methodology is prevarication; they LIE.

Perhaps surprisingly, many of the lies today claim to be based on science. For example, the liars continue to promote such ideas as killing babies (abortion) is health care. Or even denying that it is a baby, but rather just a growth (like a tumor) or a clump of flesh, denying any humanity whatsoever. Nevertheless, the real science affirms that what they are doing is killing someone who is a fully human being from the moment of conception. Several other issues concerning abortion are surrounded by lies. Besides denying the humanity of the baby, they deny the impact of the operation on the mother (she’s a mother, whether she wants to admit it or not). The impetus behind such efforts is money, either on the side of the abortion providers or on the politicians who so avidly support this abomination. As Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco told high school students recently: “Do not be victims of the culture. There are powerful forces in our country that use slogans to co-opt you into being agents of their own self-serving agendas. You must see through the lies. Abortion ‘providers’ are not for choice: Every birth for them is a lost sale.” And, ridiculous as it may seem, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is urging their abortionists not to refer to the fetus as a baby or unborn child, nor should they talk about a fetal heartbeat, even though those are approved terms in various textbooks and teaching materials.

In a similar vein, we are lied to regularly, again against science, when we are told that there are more than two sexes, that there is a homosexual gene, and that children are actually born in the “wrong” body (thus supporting transsexualism). When you get down to the science and study the genes and DNA, there are only two sexes. I’m surprised that with the current “woke” attitude about everything, especially in the entertainment industry, that they haven’t taken any of the crime or forensic television shows off the air. I have yet to see a program show a forensic pathologist, upon examining a body, determine that it was any of the 57 supposed sexes other than male or female. Or even that the victim was homosexual based on the pathology. The Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education explains some of the problems with these sexual attitudes as follows: “The physiological complementarity of male-female sexual difference assures the necessary conditions for procreation. In contrast, only recourse to reproductive technology can allow one of the partners in a relationship of two persons of the same sex to generate offspring, using ‘in vitro’ fertilization and a surrogate mother. However, the use of such technology is not a replacement for natural conception, since it involves the manipulation of human embryos, the fragmentation of parenthood, the instrumentalization and/or commercialization of the human body as well as the reduction of a baby to an object in the hands of science and technology.” While we are told that the “science” claims that LGBTQ and transgenderism are “normal,” albeit for a small percentage of the population, a study in The New Atlantis reports that “the LGBT community bears a disproportionate rate of mental health problems compared to the population as a whole.” Specifically in relation to transgenderism and contrary to the rush we see in families and many government administrative and education levels, the report states: “The notion that a two-year-old, having expressed thoughts or behaviors identified with the opposite sex, can be labeled for life as transgender has absolutely no support in science. Indeed, it is iniquitous to believe that all children who have gender-atypical thoughts or behavior at some point in their development, particularly before puberty, should be encouraged to become transgender.” Especially significant is the finding that “the rate of lifetime suicide attempts across all ages of transgender individuals is estimated at 41%, compared to under 5% in the overall U.S. population.”

Science also “failed” the powers that be during the recent COVID crisis. How many times were we told “the science says this” or “the science tells us to do that”? Every time we were directed to wear masks, no masks, two masks, lock down, open abortion clinics and bars and strip clubs while churches remained closed, and so on. We have also been told that the “vaccine” (which is not a true vaccine) was better than natural immunity. Since then we have learned that, as one with a modicum of science background would expect, natural immunity resulting from surviving a bout of the virus is not only more effective but also much longer lasting than the vaccines. Additionally, we find that, despite the claims that the continuing “pandemic” was the fault of the unvaccinated, those who were vaccinated could pass on the virus as much, if not more, than the unvaccinated.

As for masks, we find that there were several studies conducted as much as a decade prior to the COVID outbreak that showed the ineffectiveness of masks, especially cloth masks (as mandated by so many officials), against the transmission of an airborne virus. And all of this was for a virus that had almost a 99% survival rate. Additionally, the CDC has since noted that perhaps 75% of those who died during the pandemic died with COVID as opposed to because of COVID. Early on there were even reports of people who died in a motor vehicle accident having COVID listed as the cause of death. Hospitals in many places were directed to list COVID as the cause of death even if the patient died of other causes but also had tested positive for COVID. While it is true that there were many people who died because they had contracted COVID, most of those had several other complications (e.g, 75% were obese), which might mean they were more susceptible to COVID and/or could not fight the virus effectively. I do not mean to belittle any deaths due to COVID, just to point out that much of the “crisis” hype was just that — hype. All unnecessary deaths are a tragedy, but not an excuse to violate freedom and civil liberties.

We are in a time when most Americans distrust our government, not only for the lies mentioned above, but also for the lies told for political gain and power. Take the president’s recent State of the Union Address, for example. To claim as job production the regaining of jobs resulting from government lockdowns is an outright lie, particularly when the nation is still several million jobs below the economy that existed before the lockdowns. Claiming the energy crisis is Putin’s making when from the very beginning this administration did all it could to destroy the energy independence achieved by the previous administration is another lie. That the canceling of programs like the Keystone XL Pipeline (which would have supported energy production) had no impact on the energy and inflation crisis is another outright lie. And trying to pin the inflation crisis on Russia as well when the administration freely printed money and engaged in known inflationary policies, much like the Weimar Republic in Germany did after World War I, is another blatant lie. Unfortunately, the education system, led also by the lying teachers unions supported by the left, has failed our nation so greatly that many don’t know enough real history to recognize this fact. It’s no wonder that Americans are finally coming to the awareness and consequently distrust many of those government institutions and organizations that ought to be neutral (e.g., CIA, FBI, and IRS). Even the military with its current emphasis on wokeness does not garner the confidence it once had.

Other organizations that should have the confidence of their members have also engaged in lying to their members and constituents. One of the most obvious is the Catholic Church, whose scandalous child and sex abuse problems was uncovered around the turn of the millennium. Amplified by the media, similar problems in other circles (e.g., education, other denominations, etc.) were overlooked and the problem was exacerbated by the coverups also discovered. However, a report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education indicates that the problem of sexual abuse by teachers and employees is much worse in the public school system, perhaps 100 times worse. The media and the government engage in a lie of omission by failing to report this information.

Groups like antifa and Black Lives Matter emerged or grew stronger again supported by lies concerning racism, wide-scale improper policing, and supposed “fact-based” studies. Even professional organizations engaged in the practice. Take for example the American Psychological Association, which has declared that there is no such thing as “post abortion syndrome.” Where does this study come from? The Guttmacher Institute, which is the “research” and propaganda arm of the abortion industry. Another organization often referred to denying post abortion stress syndrome (PASS) is the Center for Reproductive Rights, which, by its title, tells you that it is a pro-abortion organization. Any of its studies also take you back to Guttmacher. If you want to learn more about this serious problem go to “abortionchangesyou.com” and read the stories of actual victims talking about the long-term effects and depression suffered by their experience, not to mention the pressure placed upon them by people who only had their own interests involved and not the woman with the unplanned pregnancy. While the results of many studies come to conflicting conclusions, especially with respect to prevalence, to say that PASS does not exist and is not a serious psychological problem is obviously a lie. A compilation drawn from several studies in the late 1900s concluded the following: “The suicide rate within one year after an abortion was three times higher than for all women, seven times higher than for women who carried to term, and nearly twice as high as for women who suffered a miscarriage. Suicide attempts appear to be especially prevalent among post-abortion teenagers.” (Heartbeat International)

They also tell you that before abortion became legal there were hundreds of thousands of “back alley” abortions. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, founder of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), admitted that these were made-up numbers to try to sway public opinion.

How many times have we been told that there will be widespread starvation within the next 5-10 years because of climate change or population growth or whatever? I remember that we were supposed to experience starvation by 1975 with wars and widespread famine and deaths by 1980 with about 57% of the population we have today. Most of the starvation we see today is due to political policies affecting distribution rather than production problems so often predicted by climate alarmists. Here the science works but has been downplayed as we continually come up with ways to increase productivity.

I could go on, but I’ll end with the administration telling Americans a few months ago that the current bout of inflation is temporary only to have it get worse with no sign of relief in sight. Similarly, no policies or even idea coming from the administration show any promise for improvement. Even the left-leaning media, basically a shill for this administration, is calling out the lies. And the latest is that government spending is actually reducing the deficit. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been able to reduce my debt by increasing my spending. By the way, my latest fill-up topped $60 — a new record high not even achieved during then Obama years when he pushed gas prices up.

So, how do we get to the truth? First, we have to acknowledge that absolute truth exists. The evil of moral relativism tries to tell us that we each can have our own truth. Where do we learn principles about right and wrong? One of the best places I have found is the Bible. “For where I found truth, there found I my God, who is truth itself” (St. Augustine, Confessions). Jesus came to testify to the truth. “I am the way and the truth and the life” (Jesus Christ, John 14:6). And He sent us the Holy Spirit to help us remember and stay steadfast in the truth, if only we will listen and accept this gift.

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, [the Spirit of Truth] whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” —John 14:26