In 1938, Orson Welles had a brilliant idea. He took a popular book and turned it into a radio play, convincing many of his listeners that Earth had actually been invaded by Martians. He was immensely successful, even to the point of having a write-up on the front page of The New York Times.
Go to Grover’s Mill today, and you’ll find a granite monument to the supposed invasion of Welles’ Martians on that fateful day in 1938.
Welles achieved his phenomenal success on that October 30th evening by one thing and one thing only. He was sincere in his presentation of a really good script.
When the devil comes at us, he comes well prepared. He speaks eloquently, his words are polished, and he’s very convincing. Yet, he’s telling us lies, and if we let his smooth words entertain us, we will come to believe his lies, soon accepting them as truth.
Jeremiah 28:2 tells us of an Orson Welles who lived in 596 B.C. His name was Hananiah, the son of the prophet Azur. He went before the priests and the people saying, “Thus speaks the Lord, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
His words were exactly what the people wanted to hear. Babylon had been a burden to Israel for years. The Israelites wanted freedom. They wanted desperately for Hananiah’s words to be true.
Yet, the prophecy was a polished script, spoken with honey and oil, and offered with the false sincerity of an accomplished radio actor. In addition, the lie ran deeper. Jeremiah had already prophesied God’s truth. When the people trusted in the false lies, their bad situation was only made worse, for Israel’s “yoke of wood” was then made into a “yoke of iron.”
When we believe in what sounds good instead of what God really says, we walk a tough line. God will not bless us simply because we want it badly enough. To believe that is to write a script for disaster. Rather, God will bless us because we turn from our sins and follow after him.
God’s Word is our measure of truth. We must measure man’s words against that truth. Everything else is a lie.
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