Modern society repeats the phrase “the truth shall set you free” without understanding the warning behind it. Freedom is impossible when a person is bound by hidden lies, self-deception, and the silent chains of sin that shape the heart. Cultures built on illusions collapse into confusion, and individuals who let lies define their identity become easily manipulated by fear, shame, and control. True liberation begins the moment illusions die — when the masks fall and reality is seen as it truly is. Truth is not a concept to invent or a philosophy to debate, but a Person who exposes darkness, breaks spiritual bondage, and empowers ordinary people to stand unshaken before the powers that depend on keeping them confused. This is the freedom that terrifies tyrants and transforms nations: the freedom of someone who has encountered Truth Himself and can no longer be enslaved by deception.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: So yesterday, I was at church.
And somebody said something along the truth will set you free. And I thought, I -- I don't even know what the truth even is anymore.
You know, the truth will set you tree. I mean, it's been reduced to a bumper sticker. You know, a slogan we stitch on the pillows or hang on our walls with a little kitty cat. "Hang in there. Truth will set you free." Truth will set you free. Jesus spoke those word the first time. And he was issuing a warning. He wasn't comforting. He was confronting people. He spoke those words to people who believed, absolutely believed that they were already free. Let me ask you this: Are you free?
Most Americans, most people in the West will say, yes!
Yes!
Children of Abraham, keepers of tradition, moral guardians of our age, you're not free.
You're not free. Because when -- when Jesus was talking to those moral guardians of his age. He was saying it to them: You're not free! You're slaves, and you don't even know it.
This is the tragedy of the human condition. We are -- once you lose -- once you lose the narrative of where these things came from, you no longer understand what the words even mean. Okay?
Our chains are not chains that rattle. Okay?
It's not the same kind of chain. But it is a chain in every way there is a chain. Ours are quiet. They're internal. They're self-forged most of them.
But because they're invisible, we treat the bond that come we're in, like normal life. Christ, when he said those words, he named that bondage plainly. I want you to listen to this. Because I just want you to hear. We're all struggling. Glenn, how do you know it's true?
I don't know. I don't know.
I -- I -- I ask that question all the time.
How do I know what's true and what's not?
I don't know! But it is my job to find it. And sometimes I find it, sometimes I don't.
But every day, I struggle with it. But that's not the truth.
The truth shall set you free. It's not politics. It's not Rome. It's not Washington. It's not your circumstance.
It's sin. The unyielding gravitational pull inside of all of our hearts that just banged us away from what's true. What's holy. What's sacred.
When -- when Jesus was saying this, he named the jailer. Lies!
Okay. Lies about what?
Lies about who we are. Who are you?
Once you answer that, and maybe this comes before answering that, why are you here? Who sent you?
What difference does your life make? Do you have a soul?
Who are you? Lies to you every day about what matters the most. Lies about what or who will save us.
Whole civilizations are built. Ours included are built on lies, because lies are comforting.
Rome, remember, promised peace. They were crucifying people by the thousands. And yet, they were the ones saying peace!
The enlightenment promised perfect human reason. You can't have perfect human reason and ignore the broken human heart. You can't!
Our hearts are all broken. We don't even recognize it anymore. We're so empty. We're so lost. And we're all struggling, for what is true. How do I know? I've got to follow that guy. I've got to listen to that guy.
You're an enemy. What are you talking about? You don't even get to know what truth is.
Because we live in a time right now, where we're promising ourselves the truth is whatever we feel right now, whatever I deem the truth is.
You don't believe in the truth, then you're an enemy. But if truth is subjective, then freedom is an illusion.
And freedom is only an illusion when lies root our world.
Because every lie is a leash. And the moment you believe it, we hand that leash to somebody else, some other power to pull it.
So -- so what is Jesus even meaning, when he says, the truth will set you free?
And this is so important, because if you understand this truth, everything else falls into place. It will take you a while. But it will.
He's saying this: Freedom begins the minute your illusions die.
The moment the masks are ripped off.
The moment you stop defending that lie, that keeps you comfortable!
Look, I'm a recovering alcoholic. Do you know what the hardest part was? First part was to admit that I was an alcoholic. And I had a problem. Because the alcoholics are a wino. They're living in the treat. That's not true. That's not true. That's a lie I told myself, to stop me from stopping drinking.
I'm not an alcoholic. Because that's what an alcoholic is. That's a lie. An alcoholic is whatever you are, if you're drinking, and you stop.
And then when I had to put my life back together, because first just admit the problem. Then look at the problem. Then admit you're powerless over it.
Then just vomit it all out. Get all those lies out of you. And the minute you start vomiting those lies out, you're like, there's nothing left.
Because my whole life is built on that lie.
The moment you stop pretending that the prison cell is actually a sanctuary, you're free!
I know I've lived it.
But it doesn't help you necessarily know what's true in politics and everything else. It just gives you perspective. And that's what we've lost.
This is the part we forget.
Truth is not an idea. Truth is not a philosophy. Truth is a person. I am the truth. Not I carry the truth. Not I teach the truth.
I am the truth. That's what he says. Which means the truth is not something you discover like a treasure in the dirt.
It is someone you meet. And when you finally meat him, you begin to see reality as it actually is.
And everything else that you thought was important, is -- you realize, that's a lie. None of that is important.
And believe me, when that happens, you become very dangerous.
Not to society. Not to your neighbors. But to tyrants.
To liars. To manipulators.
Anyone who depends on keeping you confused. Ashamed, and afraid.
You have total freedom. And you scare the living batcrap out of them!
Because the man who has met truth, cannot be blackmailed by lies. Why do you think tyrants need to stop religion first?
They couch this every single time. And, well, it's religion that's keeping you down!
No. It's not. Not if you are following the truth! Him! Because he frees you from those lies! And when you're freed from those lies, you know what to stand up for.
You know the big right and wrongs. You may not know the policies. But you know the big ones.
And you can't be intimidated by a threat. You can't be enslaved by shame.
You have nothing left to hide. Nothing left to prove.
Nothing left to fear. That's freedom. Not, I can go out and say things and not be offended.
No!
Freedom to become who you were really, truly made to be.
A person no longer owned by sin.
Somebody who is no longer defined by the past. Imagine how we would change the world, right now.
If I said to you, there is a way to get rid of everything that you and your -- and your -- you know, great, great grandfather's ever did.
It's all gone. It's all washed away. Everything you've ever done. It's gone!
And you're no longer trapped behind the walls of your own illusions of time.
You're starting fresh. Think about how many NGOs would no longer be of use!
Think about how many political people would no longer be of use.
Think about all of the lies that are said every day. That you would laugh at.
And you would scare them out of their minds!
Because they would know, you don't fear them at all, because you know they're a lie, and so does everyone else!
The world will offer you self-expression.
Jesus offers liberation!
The world tells you, craft your own truth. Jesus tells you, encounter the truth!
And walk out of the cell, transformed!
That's the freedom worth living for. That's the freedom worth defending with your life.
That's the freedom that scares the pants off of tyrants. You want to know how to know what is true? And what is a lie?
You want to know, being able to decipher truth. If you haven't met the truth, I don't think you're going to be able to. Because you don't know what true freedom is. And there will be still parts of you, that are terribly, terribly afraid.





