“Time, Truth, and Fruit never lie.”
— Bob Deering
If you have been around Voice Ministries for any length of time, you have probably heard Bob say this maxim many times. It’s one of those certainties of life that is borne out in evidence.
These terms defined:
Time – The measure period in which an action, process or condition exists or continues. A non spatial continuum of events which succeed one another from past though present to future.
Truth – The body of real things, events, and facts. A transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality. Being in one accord with fact or reality. A sincerity in action, character, and utterance.
Fruit – The effect or consequence of an action or operation, the product, result or effect, a return or profit.
Essentially, this phrase is an undeniable reality. Throughout our lives, we will encounter various businesses, companies, ministries, personalities, friendships, and relationships and will be experience the gamut of failures and successes in each of those.
Our fruit is what we are producing. Whether it is positivity and life in our speech, generosity with our finances, or acts of service in our actions and deeds, our fruit is an outflow — a result — of time and truth in our lives. Truth is lived out as we embrace authenticity. Truth is that “transcendent fundamental” that we discover on our journey over time. No one is born knowing the complete truth all at once; rather it is discovered layer by layer – like peeling an onion. One layer at a time, more truth is revealed over the continuum of time – one event after another throughout the scope of life. Sometimes we think we know the truth — we are so certain about something that seems to be so solid and true and there might even be evidence of good fruit. Time gives us space to learn, study, examine, investigate, be illuminated, and perhaps what we believed about a situation, person, or event, may not be as clear and solid as we thought.
Often we make judgements based on this premise – even unknowingly or unintentionally. For example, we might see a popular politician – (I know, an easy target) and we notice that everything coming from them is negativity; or that the fruit of their organization is the opposite of everything you want (or have religious beliefs / personal convictions about) in your life. Many times that is because they do not live in truth. They don’t practice truth; rather they engage in manipulation, deception, obfuscation, or misleading statements to win you to their side. Over time though, these types of people or organizations are eventually revealed for who they are — because in the long arc of time, you can’t operate in ways that yield bad fruit and live in that deception without it taking its toll. Whether in life or in death, eventually the truth will be revealed and lies will be exposed. (The many docuseries on streaming services in the past several years prove this!)
In the scriptures, Jesus told many parables and stories in order to make people think. He addresses this concept of living fruitful and truthful lives and the apostle, St. Luke, shares some of the teachings of Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount.” In chapter 6 he says, “You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds. Why are you so polite with me, always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on. If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss.” Good fruit requires good foundations of truth that stand the test and storms of time.
Jesus blasted the religious leaders of his day because they lived differently than how they expected everyone else to behave. In Matthew 15 Jesus said to his disciples, “These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it. They act like they’re worshiping me, but they don’t mean it.They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy.” He then called the crowd together and said, “Listen, and take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life, but what you vomit up.” Later his disciples came and told him, “Did you know how upset the Pharisees were when they heard what you said?” Jesus shrugged it off. “Every tree that wasn’t planted by my Father in heaven will be pulled up by its roots. Forget them. They are blind men leading blind men. When a blind man leads a blind man, they both end up in the ditch.” Peter said, “I don’t get it. Put it in plain language.” Jesus replied, “You, too? Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It’s from the heart that we vomit up all the junk. That’s what pollutes.”
In the fall of 2023, statements of spiritual and sexual abuse were brought against a ministry leader that I had respected for years. His teaching on stewardship and simple living had always impressed me as so many preachers live these extravagant lifestyles, and he seemed to embrace something different. Over time, so many things have been revealed that have shown that most of everything that was thought to be true was built on lies, half truths, exaggerations, and worse. The “public face” or the visible fruit of the ministry appeared good for a while. But as time progressed, the truth began to leak out, the stories began to surface, and it became very obvious that underneath the positive social media posts and impactful videos, the livestreams, the massive conferences, and the worship stage… there was a lot of rotten fruit and a lot of lies. The way we believed they would respond (based on everything they taught) was instead the opposite, and the way not to respond — more lies, obfuscation, and manipulation. Trust has been broken, and what once was is now lost. Was there good fruit and positive things that came from this ministry over the years? For sure. I (and many others I know) experienced many amazing times of worship, connection with God, beautiful moments of prayer, great joy, and encouragement. But when truth opens our eyes to the rotten core, we can no longer remain blind to reality. We now have the “body of real things, facts, evidence.” We now see the “effect or consequence of an action” and we are forced to make decisions based on that. (Or not in many cases. In this case, there are those who remain very loyal and hopeful for some sort of resurrection or comeback even in the face of boatloads of evidence and personal testimony.) The past few years have brought so much more scrutiny to church ministries and organizations, and allegations of clergy and sexual abuse seem to be the dominant theme in so many cases. Time, truth and fruit shows up.
Not all is lost though! There are so many incredible organizations and dedicated selfless people who have stayed steady over time – living in authenticity, simplicity, transparency, and truth, and the fruit of their labor is positivity, service, love, joy, and hope. Being around people and places like this will energize and charge us up! We want to support and partner with people and organizations like this because that authenticity and truth yields fruit worth eating! Jesus speaks about good fruit in John 15 — “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.… I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.… But remember the root command: Love one another.”
And that fruit Jesus is talking about? St. Paul writes about it in a letter to the church in Galatia. He lays out a list of the fruits of living by the spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He says, “What happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard — things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good — crucified. Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives!
As we move forward in our lives, may our fruit be evidence of the truth we live over time, and may we live in love to those around us — as instruments of change, voices of hope and givers of grace and peace.