Posted January 06, 2026
A woman protesting against the Venezuelan government in 2021 was disfigured when military forces tossed boiling water on her. Yesterday, she took part in demonstrations in New York City, where she begged a Manhattan federal judge to lock up dictator Nicolás Maduro for as long as possible.
She identified herself only by her first name because she said she has family back in Venezuela and fears for their safety since she’s speaking out. “I was tortured for expressing myself and having an opinion,” she said. By contrast, Maduro told the judge at his court appearance, “I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.”
In other headline news:
In each case, we are left to debate who is right and who is wrong, which leads to my larger point today.
Klaus Schwab is the founder of the World Economic Forum and author of the new book, Thriving and Leading in the Intelligent Age. In it he states, “Our economies, our institutions, our very concept of what it means to be human are all being transformed by forces of intelligence. These changes are not abstract; they are already redefining how we learn, how we work, how we govern, and how we relate to each other and to our planet.”
This transformation is clear to anyone who follows developments with regard to artificial intelligence and technology. But in a Time article published yesterday, Dr. Schwab writes, “Beneath a surface of political volatility and technological acceleration lie two quietly deteriorating foundations: truth and trust. Their erosion is reshaping the global landscape more profoundly than the events that dominate headlines.”
He notes that “in past decades, societies could rely on a shared understanding that truth, however contested, was worth pursuing.” However, “Digital networks and algorithmic curation have fragmented public life into discrete informational universes.” Synthetic media and AI have accelerated this fragmentation. Consequently, “It is increasingly difficult for citizens to determine whether what they see and hear is authentic. As a result, the very idea of a shared reality is weakening.”
He concludes:
The warning is clear: no society, no institution, no technological system can stand for long on foundations that are no longer believed. Truth and trust remain the indispensable pillars of modern civilization—and the degree to which they can be restored or reimagined will determine the contours of our future.
Watching US politicians react to the news regarding Venezuela along such starkly partisan lines reinforces his point. A “post-truth” society cannot sustain itself, since consensual truth is essential to the consensual actions by which society functions.
In response, I’d like to suggest a brief apologetic framed around three logical assertions.
One: Objective truth exists by logical necessity. To make the postmodern claim that “there is no such thing as objective truth” is to make an objective truth claim.
Two: Objective truth must logically be grounded ultimately in a source that transcends our fallen minds and subjective opinions. We require a compass for direction, a dictionary for the meaning of words, a Constitution for framing laws, and laws for framing personal behavior. In the same way, humans require a transcendent truth that our fallen minds cannot produce. Such truth must come not from our fallen creation but from our Creator.
Three: If God is “the truth” (John 14:6), God’s “word is truth” (John 17:17), and “God is love” (1 John 4:8), his character logically requires him to make his truth available to humanity. A loving father wants his children to know what is right so they can do what is right. This impulse explains the work of God’s Spirit in inspiring, preserving, interpreting, and applying biblical truth (cf. 2 Peter 1:21). God wrote a book, and we can read, understand, and obey it today.
But any book, even God’s book, must be read to accomplish its intended purpose.
According to Klaus Schwab, our future as a society depends on “the stability of the conceptual architecture that supports collective life.” The Architect of such life intends us to depend upon his word because he knows that such dependence is the only path to our highest flourishing.
The good news is that if you and I choose this path today, the Spirit will then “guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). We will discover for ourselves that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
And our changed lives will become the change we wish to see as the Spirit uses our godly character and compassionate witness as a catalyst for moral and spiritual awakening. Thus it has been across our nation’s history, and thus it will be again in our time.
Tim Keller was right: “A perfect God could have nothing less than perfect communication with his people.” Mark Batterson added: “When you open your Bible, God opens his mouth.”
And the Scottish theologian Alexander Whyte (1836–1921) observed,
“There are two ways to read Scripture: the way a lawyer reads a will and the way an heir reads a will.”
Which way will you read God’s word today?
“The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into him, that they may delight in his presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God himself in the core and center of their hearts” —A. W. Tozer
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