Hard Wool

Some of you might remember in the late 90's when one of The New Republic's brightest stars fizzled. Stephen Glass, a young and promising journalist, was pulling some hard wool over everyone's eyes by producing fantastic articles that were mostly - some entirely - fabricated. He was what most people thought  to be a brilliant writer, a man who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.  Because he provided meticulous notes of people, places and events to support backbones for the pieces he was writing, fact checkers never second-guessed his sources. The high note upon which Stephen's career was gliding came to an abrupt halt when one of his articles titled, "Hack Heaven" didn't slip so neatly under the radar. The "facts" that Stephen provided were full of holes, in essence, they were the holes.

You might be wondering how on earth a journalist who wrote for a high profile publication such as The New Republic (in-flight for Air One) succeeded in duping seasoned colleagues and hardcore editors. Think about what makes not only a great liar, but one who is 100% believable . Is it his delivery and style? his good looks? his income and social status? These might be reasons why some people believe what they are being told but there is another ingredient that guarantees success across the board: the element of trust. Simply stated, we are more likely to believe those we trust as opposed to those we don't - period. A true con-artist will do all he or she can to build trust before going in for the kill.

Once upon a war in heaven, Lucifer raised doubts in the minds of heavenly intelligences concerning God's character and the so-called "freedom" He promised. Why would Lucifer's charges that God was a con-man even be considered at all by the angels? For starters, he was a trusted and loyal son of God, just like King David's son Absalom who went behind his father's back in efforts to stain his father's reputation.  So while some might be tempted to go hard on the angels who left heaven to pay allegiance to Satan, keep in mind they were not banking on someone who was in the habit of creating fables. In fact, if this lie about God and His character was the first lie ever uttered, what did they have to measure it against?

Could it be that they left God's side elated and confident in what they perceived as newfound freedom? Maybe they felt a burden lift in believing they were about to be partakers of true liberties promised by their brother and now rogue leader Satan. In their eyes, Satan had a record of upholding truth so if anything, his new perpectives were not so unbelievable but rather regarded as ingenious insights on  how to dismantle a false and greedy government created by God Himself. Why wouldn't they desire mutiny against such an evil deity?

In the case of Stephen Glass, losing his place at the The New Republic was not the end of his career. He went on to achieve his law degree at Georgetown University and wrote a book not surprisingly based on none other than a young journalist's flight to hard-copy fame on the wings of falsehood. In an interview with 60 minutes he admitted that years of counseling helped him to process and realize that his actions were deceitful and ruined his credibility. The interview commenced on an interesting note when the interviewer asked, "How do I know the person I am talking to right now is really who he says he is and not some made up character? How do I know you are telling me the truth?"  Stephen replied, "You don't. I can't convince you of that with mere words. All I can do is demonstrate by my behavior that I am a changed man."

When Satan made the allegations that God was was not who He claimed to be, God could not prove to His universal family that the allegations were false just by saying they were false. Instead, God came to earth and became a man to demonstrate by His actions that He was not the tyrannical deity Satan suggested and still suggests.  God is willing to give each one of us ample time to sort through the evidence that meets our standard of proof.  He is willing to put Himself in the witness box before all to be examined and cross-examined, scrutinized, criticized, tortured and even sit quietly as He is sentenced to death, and executed without struggle with nothing but love and forgiveness on his lips.

Unlike Stephen Glass, God has always been worthy of our trust yet, because of gossip He has been tragically portrayed as a ruler who manipulates and enforces rules under the very threat of execution in order to gain control over his subjects.  It still amazes me when I think of how the Creator of all is willing to sit in the hot seat of the most intense interview of all time and allow us to ask, "God, how do we know you can be trusted?"