Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, speaks with Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on a bus during a campaign tour, Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024, in Rochester, Pa. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Kamala Harris was “completely shocked” by her election night loss to Donald Trump, while her running mate, Tim Walz, was so “stunned” by their defeat that he had “no words.” This is according to The Hill correspondent Amie Parnes, co-author of FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House.
Reading the book, I noted the degree to which their campaign team “bought the hype” that they were doing better than they were based on crowd sizes and fundraising. They are not the first, of course; Mitt Romney’s internal polls persuaded him that he would defeat Barack Obama in 2012, for example.
Our “post-truth” culture is absolutely convinced that there is no such thing as absolute truth, despite the illogic of this claim. In this view, reality is what we believe it to be. But believing something doesn’t necessarily make it true, as any politician who lost a race they thought they would win can tell you.
Duke was convinced they would defeat Houston Saturday night up to the last seconds of the game when they didn’t. Now I’m convinced my hometown Cougars will defeat Florida tonight to win the NCAA men’s championship (unless they don’t).
Tom Cruise pays tribute to Val Kilmer
However, believing something to be true can make it true if the consequence of our choice depends upon our choice. For example, if I believe I am capable of being a good writer and therefore write this article, I then have the opportunity to make my belief a reality.
By contrast, some realities become true for us because we refuse to believe that they are true. If I believe I am unworthy of writing this article and therefore refuse to finish it, my belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
My dermatologist recently diagnosed a spot on my jawline that needed to be removed before it became cancerous. If I had chosen to believe that she was wrong, my rejection of her prediction would have made it a reality.
These reflections were spurred by Tom Cruise’s comments at a film event in Las Vegas last week. Paying tribute to his Top Gun costar Val Kilmer, he asked attendees to join him in a moment of silence. Afterward, speaking to the late actor, he said, “I wish you well on the next journey.”
Cruise’s tribute has generated stories praising him for his kind words. None that I have seen questioned whether his “wish” is based in reality.
“I don’t believe in heaven and hell”
According to Jesus, our “next journey” after death is binary. Speaking of himself, he testified: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18).
Rejecting Jesus’ clear statement about heaven and hell does not invalidate it—it means we reject the only way we can experience the first and avoid the second. The apostles testified about our Lord: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
By contrast, George Clooney famously declared, “I don’t believe in heaven and hell,” as though his opinion changes their existence. This is an example of Nietzsche’s “acoustic illusion,” the fallacy that what we do not hear does not exist to be heard. Clooney’s disbelief does not change the reality of heaven and hell any more than disbelieving in Australia changes its existence.
As a result, the best way to wish someone “well on the next journey” is to help them prepare for that journey before it begins.
Woman fights an alligator to save her dog
The first step is to believe that lost people are truly lost. That, despite the tolerance-based relativism of our culture, Jesus was right when he said of himself, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Then, like the Florida woman who risked her life by prying a six-foot alligator’s jaws open to save her dog, we will do whatever it takes to help the people we know come to know our Lord.
The next is to share our story with them, telling them how we met Jesus and how they can do the same. This is to be our lifestyle, not just our occasional effort: “Sing to the Lᴏʀᴅ; bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day” (Psalm 96:2; cf. Acts 1:8).
Our job is not to convict people of sins or lead them to faith—this is the work of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 16:8–11). Our job is to be a witness who goes to the stand when the Spirit calls us to testify and then tells what we know. If the “jury” rejects the One on whose behalf we testify, that is their fault rather than ours (cf. Acts 7:54–60). If they choose for him, that will be their eternal joy and ours (cf. Luke 15:7).
If, however, we do not tell what we know, that is our fault: “If anyone sins in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity” (Leviticus 5:1).
“The truth that can fuel this transformation”
Easter is that season above all seasons when people are open to spiritual conversations about our risen Lord. Over the next two weeks, as we serve God in the “great might” that the Spirit “worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead” (Ephesians 1:19-20), his resurrection power can work through us to raise the spiritually dead to eternal life.
Commenting on this text, Billy Graham wrote:
Did you know that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to you and me today? The moment we receive Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts. He gives us supernatural power to overcome temptations, to smile through tears, to experience joy despite life’s burdens and trials. The Holy Spirit will raise you from the mundane, the monotonous, the hopeless; he will raise you out of your spiritual lifelessness and transform you.
In fact, imagine what a difference it would make if people understood that Christ is risen and the Holy Spirit has been given! What a transformation would take place in our families! What a reversal there would be in our culture’s deteriorating morals! What a lessening of tensions we would see between individuals, groups, and even nations! And a new purpose and power we would experience if we caught the wonder of the biblical truth that Jesus is alive!
He concluded:
“Believe and share the truth that can fuel this transformation: Jesus is alive!”
If we truly believe this “truth,” we also believe that every person we know desperately needs to believe it as well. Therefore, we believe this truth to the degree that we share it.
Will you “believe” it today?
Quote for the day:
“Catch on fire and others will love to come watch you burn.” —John Wesley
Our latest website resources:
- Will an iPhone cost $2,300? The power of biblical faith in an age of uncertainty
- White House spiritual advisor offers “supernatural blessings”
- The problem of grandiosity
- Val Kilmer, Top Gun and Batman actor, dies at 65
- A book review of Jefferson Fisher’s “The Next Conversation”: Say it to connect, not win the argument
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