The False Peak
Every hiker knows this experience: someone in the group announces, “There’s the peak, I can see it!” After hours of an upward traverse over rocky terrain, the tired climbers welcome this joyous news: “We’ve almost made it!” Yet, every hiker also knows another version of this moment: a few minutes later, the initial herald meekly admits, “No, that’s not it.” Such misidentification is known as a false summit. That supposed peak is just another crag along the agonizing climb toward the mountain’s crest. And every hiker learns something important from this experience: the premature proclamation leaves the group more demoralized than before.
As Christians, we are like those hikers: a false assertion that brings welcome news often harms more than it helps. In the Bible, people who tell pleasant lies instead of difficult truths are called false prophets. During the time of the prophet Jeremiah, such voices were common. While Jeremiah delivered the painful warning of imminent defeat, these prophets proclaimed messages of coming deliverance. Unsurprisingly, the people preferred the latter. God, however, pursues their correction: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jer. 23:16).
Lies are easy, while truth is hard; lies are sweet, while truth is bitter; lies are alluring, while truth is unsightly. Yet lies ultimately bring destruction, while truth brings life. Our culture inundates us with easy, sweet, and attractive untruths. You know a public figure you dislike—here is a claim to make that person seem worse. You admire a company—here is a story that flatters its ethics. You need immediate relief —swallow this tiny, convenient lie. These events serve the same purpose: they make us feel better. In reality, the public figure is somewhat admirable, the admired company is flawed, and the quick fix is hollow. We resist such truths, so we welcome comforting distortions, especially when they are coated with half-truths.
Scripture anticipates this tendency: “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather teachers who say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:3–4). When faced with such deception, we instinctively respond, “Not me!”
I hope that is true, yet I know how easily untruth can snake into my own thinking. Consider Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness: Satan offered seemingly reasonable solutions to real needs, like hunger. Jesus, however, answered each temptation with Scripture. The Bible, accordingly, trains us to recognize the true summit rather than a false one. We live among many deceptive peaks that promise relief while leading us astray. Yet Scripture reveals truth—a truth that may be unwelcome at first, but ultimately guides us toward life, peace, and enduring joy. Thus, I encourage you: today, read/listen to God’s true revelation – our Holy Bible.
