Just about everything hinges on credibility—the question of who we’ll listen to and trust. Credibility inevitably shapes our decisions and relationships, sometimes in irreversible ways.
If you’ve ever ventured into the online dating world, you’ve likely experienced this. Shockingly, some people look decades older in person than on their profile pictures! If someone assures you they’re independently wealthy, you better be suspicious. And these days you can’t even trust someone who tells you they’re not married.
So, as many have discovered the hard way, not everyone is trustworthy. Relying upon the wrong person can have severe and painful consequences. On a bad day, we might be tempted to agree with King David’s dreary conclusion that “everyone is a liar” (Psalm 116:11).
But our credibility crisis today extends far beyond the dating scene. Our national leaders are making consequential decisions that are often difficult to evaluate based on piecemeal news reports.
Many of us believed the assessment by America’s leaders that Saddam Hussein had “weapons of mass destruction” and was planning to use them. It turned out he never had such weapons, so there was no way he could have significantly endangered the world.
Was the resulting Iraq war based on an outright lie, or just faulty intelligence? Either way, the consequences were horrendous: more than 4,000 Americans dead and an estimated 200,000 Iraqis killed in the ensuing chaos. And that’s not to mention those who were crippled for life or stricken with PTSD.
One of the other casualties of the Iraq War was credibility. Now when we’re told about regimes planning to use unthinkable weaponry, we can’t help but recall the saga of Saddam Hussein. Although this skepticism may be unfair to our current leaders, it’s a byproduct of the credibility crisis. Our trust in today’s leaders is still hindered by our memories of past deceptions.
Covid and Beyond
Our public institutions took a huge credibility hit during the Covid pandemic. In retrospect, just about everything was a lie:
- Did Covid come from bats? Nope.
- Did masks or social distancing help stop the spread? Nope.
- Were ventilators helpful? Nope.
- Were alternative treatments like Ivermectin dangerous? Nope.
- Was the Covid vaccine safe and effective in preventing people from getting or spreading the disease? Nope.
And while vaccines were mandated for many Americans to keep their jobs, millions of unvaccinated illegal immigrants poured across our southern border. All the while, the White House kept telling us, “The border is closed.” More lies. More consequences.
Although I hope justice is eventually done for victims of the Covid vaccine and mandates, the credibility of our healthcare officials may never recover. Big Pharma made lots of money at our expense, and many people have been permanently harmed by the supposedly “safe” vaccines. Will they ever be held accountable? It’s unlikely, since they’re some of the biggest donors to our politicians.
Perhaps you saw the recent news about Ivermectin. Not only is it an effective treatment for Covid, but it also has been shown to be safer than chemotherapy in shrinking some cancers. As a cancer and chemo survivor myself, I can’t help but wonder if my chemotherapy regimen could have been avoided. Thankfully, insurance paid the astronomical bills. But Ivermectin would have been much cheaper and without chemo’s terrible side effects.
All these recent experiences have given me an enormous skepticism toward the medical advice I receive. My trust in our drug companies and medical practitioners has been diminished, probably forever.
‘Alphabet’ Agencies
Time doesn’t permit me to explain the details, but well-documented scandals have also tarnished nearly all of America’s governmental agencies:
- The FBI and intelligence community have given out lots of false information, and they’ve often been weaponized against political opponents.
- The Department of Defense seems to have been taken captive by the military industrial complex, creating a perverse incentive for unnecessary wars around the world.
- The CIA has been implicated in assassinations, disinformation, and the fomenting of violence throughout the world.
- The FDA, DHS, FEMA, VA, and other agencies have repeatedly failed to protect our citizenry.
- You probably could add to this list!
So, what went wrong? Credibility comes through a combination of HONESTY and COMPETENCE. With many agencies, both have been in question. Agencies like USAID have given out billions of dollars in questionable grants, and the DOGE group uncovered credible evidence of corrupt officials siphoning off money for themselves or their family.
Let’s be clear: Officials from both parties have let us down. We’ve learned that the government “swamp” is deep and wide, protected by many politicians and bureaucrats who’ve been in power for decades. After entering “public service” with a modest net worth, many quickly became multimillionaires!
To make things even worse, much of the political corruption has been hidden by a complicit news media. I grew up in the days when Walter Cronkite and Huntley & Brinkley earnestly told us about the Vietnam War each night. They seemed trustworthy enough, but we later discovered the Vietnam fiasco was based on countless lies by the government. Watergate, Iran-Contra, Hunter’s laptop, and the list goes on—we’ve repeatedly been lied to by our government.
So, think about it: Which news outlet do you have confidence in these days? ABC? NBC? CBS? NPR? CNN? MSNBC? Fox? Be careful who you believe! The problem of fake news has existed for decades, but now AI fabrications have been added to the mix.
President Reagan famously advised, “Trust but VERIFY!” If we only get our news from one source, we’re never going to get the full picture. King Solomon warned about this very thing: “The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him” (Proverbs 18:17).
What About the Church?
Sometimes it feels like our current predicament is reminiscent of the sobering words of the prophet Isaiah: “Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed” (Isaiah 59:14).
When “truth stumbles” in a society, it becomes more important than ever that God’s people embrace integrity in our personal lives and our families. Instead of just bemoaning the cultural decay, we’re called to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16).
So, how are we doing on that? Oh, how badly I wish I could point to the American church as a bulwark of credibility. Sadly, though, our blemished credibility is even more tragic than the demise of honesty by our government and secular news agencies.
The epidemic of megachurch pastors involved in scandals has created widespread skepticism of religious institutions, even toward leaders like me with small ministries. We’re all being impacted by fallout from the credibility crisis. People seem to subconsciously assume every pastor or priest is secretly involved in financial misdeeds, sexual sins, or abusive leadership styles.
It surely hasn’t helped that some pastors and TV evangelists flaunt their lavish lifestyles. And what about the so-called “prophets” who regularly make grandiose predictions that often don’t come to pass? The world is watching, and they’re not impressed. No wonder most aren’t attracted to the lifestyle we’re modeling. What the apostle Paul wrote could be said of us today: “God’s name is blasphemed among unbelievers because of you” (Romans 2:24). Yikes…
The Ultimate Credibility Test
I normally try to end my blogs with some words of encouragement, but this time it isn’t easy. The fact of the matter is this: It’s extremely difficult to regain credibility and restore trust once it’s been broken. Years of building a positive image can be destroyed in a moment.
If we sense people don’t trust us, it may be because we’ve not been trustworthy in the past. If that has happened, all we can do is sincerely repent and begin to sow seeds of honesty and integrity from this day forward.
Sorry to say, but the credibility crisis isn’t going away anytime soon. It has it’s roots clear back in the Garden of Eden, when the serpent successfully questioned God’s credibility. Although the serpent won that round of the credibility debate, the Lord has found people throughout the ages who were willing to put their trust in Him.
One of the pivotal verses in Paul’s gospel message was his quote from Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3).
While the devil is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44), God asks us to detect and cast off those lies. He calls us to put our full faith in Him instead (Hebrews 11:6).
This is the credibility battle of the ages: We can trust that God is true, even when everyone else is a liar (Romans 4:4). This is no small issue. Who we listen to and rely upon will ultimately determine our fate, both in this life and in eternity.
