TRUTH IS A PERSON 

Over a number of years, the  Readers Digest have published lists of the most trusted professions in Australia, as well as compiling a list of the most trusted individuals. When I searched online, I found the list of 45 most trusted professions. Admittedly, this was some nine years ago, but I would imagine the ratings on the list would not have changed much over the years, concerning the public's perception of trustworthiness.

At the top of the list were paramedics, firefighters, pilots, rescue volunteers and nurses in positions one to five.

At the other end of the scale of trustworthiness were taxi drivers, real estate agents, car salesmen, politicians and telemarketers. Having been a taxi driver in Hobart, the southernmost capital city of any state in Australia - for over fourteen years (was it really that long? Time flies when you're having fun - or more to the point, as you get older), my boss had me laughing at times, when directing my reverse parking in his yard into awkward spaces, when he called out: "Trust me, Pete! I'm a cab driver!"

Having said that, looking at the list of professions, the perceived levels of trustworthiness are generalisations. As a cab driver - I hung up my keys for the last time nearly four years ago, many of the cabbies I have known have been hard-working, decent people just trying hard to make an honest living. Also, our experience four years ago as we had our house on the market, and subsequently sold, and then bought another house - dealing with three real estate agents, lower on the list of professions than taxi drivers - was a happy one, and we could say without a shadow of a doubt that we trusted these three agents implicitly.

As to the list of most trusted individuals, I would personally question some of the choices at the top of the lists, but that is another story.

The reality is, that as we are at the beginning of the third decade of the twenty-first century, honesty and trustworthiness seem to be character qualities that do not always seem to be in ample supply. It used to be said that a person's word on a matter was their bond, quite often sealed with a handshake. In other words, if a person said he would do something for you, his word could be trusted - at least in the majority of dealings with reputable people and organisations. That, obviously is far from reality in our present times.

With the advent of personal computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones and other readily available communication platforms, using the internet to host a myriad of social media sources, the potential for users to fall victim to a host of online scammers and cyber-criminals of varying degree and sophistication is mind-boggling and not just a little bit scary!

Add to the online scammers the criminal telemarketers preying on the elderly, in particular, who use fear and intimidation techniques to attempt to catch them unawares, and in turn, by deceit and lies, to fleece them of financial assets - all the while presenting as bona fide representatives of organisations such as the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink, and Telstra. We have had bogus calls from people purporting to be from all of those bodies just mentioned. At one time, the "Telstra" one was almost on a daily basis - usually with voices from overseas call centres. So frustrating! The really upsetting thing is that, no doubt, there would be numbers of people who fall for these scams and suffer financially, physically and mentally in the process - and it would seem they can do nothing about it.

Then there is the "fake news" phenomenon spurned by the 2016 US election of Donald Trump, with most of the major US networks and newspapers and news magazines deliberately presenting stories as facts, when, in reality, oftentimes they are nothing more than attempts to denigrate him as a person in ways that cannot be substantiated by the truth. In 2020, post November 3 election in the USA, this phenomenon is actually worse. Networks and news outlets are falling over themselves to declare Joe Biden is the runaway winner of the election, and Trump should just concede, and fade into oblivion. 

Fortunately, for Donald Trump, and American democracy, the battle for the truth about this election outcome is far from over, and diligent lawyers and millions of Bible-believing Christians are standing for full disclosure of fraud, evil vote-rigging and exposure of corruption on all levels, including suspect computer software under the name of Dominion.

Here in Australia, where I live, the mainstream media also has been guilty of presenting "fake news" and for political advantage, only presenting a one-sided appraisal of individuals and political parties. I have had to laugh, albeit cynically, when I have heard promos on ABC Newsradio stating that their news is authoritative and unbiased - when in fact, they are obviously very much biased to the left side of the political spectrum. No more was this so, than when Tony Abbott was Australian Prime Minister, and was constantly being undermined and ridiculed by the ABC. Their current treatment of Donald Trump is no better. As has been said by others, once upon a time, you could listen to the news and receive objective facts, and then it was left up to the hearer or reader to make up their own minds on a particular matter.

We should not be surprised that truth and personal integrity are dwindling commodities in today's world. The Bible says in 1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. NKJV

Speaking of the rebellion of Satan, when as the angel, Lucifer, he lost his place in the presence of God, Revelation 12:9 tells us: And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Paul, the apostle, says in 2 Tim. 3:13 But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 

Lies and deception entered the human race when Adam fell into sin the Garden of Eden.

TO BE CONTINUED