III. The Solution — The Near-Truth

In all my millennia of professional operation, I have found one thing consistently more effective than any lie: a near-truth.

A lie is detectable. Given enough time and enough honest inquiry, a lie collapses under the weight of the evidence against it. People can smell a complete fabrication, especially if they are paying attention. But a near-truth — a statement that is 95% accurate, that agrees with the genuine article on almost every point, that shares the same vocabulary and the same reverence and the same moral seriousness — a near-truth can sustain itself indefinitely. Because every time someone looks for the error, they find 95% that is true, and they conclude that the whole must be reliable.

The solution I designed kept everything that was true about the original. The absolute oneness and sovereignty of God — yes. The importance of prayer and fasting and generosity — yes. The moral accountability of every human being before a holy God — yes. The prophetic tradition of Moses and Abraham and David — yes. The honor of Mary, the virgin birth of Jesus, His sinlessness, His miracles, His ascension — yes. The promise of paradise and the warning of hell — yes. The seriousness of sin — yes. The necessity of submission — yes.

It affirmed everything except the five things that actually accomplish salvation. And it affirmed everything so warmly, so thoroughly, so passionately, that the five missing things could be presented not as omissions but as corrections — not as something removed but as something the original had never actually said.

Theological note: Compare the Apostle Paul's warning:

"But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell!" — Galatians 1:8 (NET)

Paul's concern was precisely the near-truth — a gospel that adds to or subtracts from the original.