In March 2nd of 1990 a movie titled The Hunt for Red October premiered. It was based on a novel by Tom Clancy and both were wildly successful. Here is more on both from an article from Wikipedia:

The Hunt for Red October is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984, by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutting-edge ballistic missile submarine Red October, and marks the first appearance of Clancy's most popular fictional character, Jack Ryan, an analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency, as he must prove his theory that Ramius plans to defect to the United States.

It is all fiction, though:

The Hunt for Red October launched Clancy's career as a novelist, especially after US President Ronald Reagan remarked that he had enjoyed reading the book.[1] A film adaptation was released on March 2, 1990,[2] and several computer and video games based on the book have been developed. The book was instrumental in bringing the book genre of techno-thriller into the mainstream.

Many like myself loved the movie, but few know that the story was based on a real events as we learn in an article from MSN.com:

The Hunt for Red October is a fantastic book and film. Written by Tom Clancy, the story centers around a Soviet submarine captain, Marko Ramius, who is given command of an advanced submarine but decides to defect to the West. It is a fantastic film (even today, it is probably the most accurate depiction of submariners ever put out by Hollywood). However, what most people don’t realize is that Tom Clancy was himself inspired by a real Soviet mutiny in which a Soviet Captain of the Third Rank staged a mutiny and seized control of a missile frigate.

Here is a brief summary of what really happened:

The 1975 mutiny that inspired The Hunt for Red October had a radically different motive than the fiction it spawned.

-The real-life figure was Valery Sablin, a Soviet naval political officer and fervent Communist.

-Believing the Brezhnev regime was corrupt and had betrayed Leninism, Sablin seized his frigate, the Storozhevoy, not to defect, but to sail to Leningrad and broadcast a call for a new, purer revolution. The Soviet leadership, fearing a high-profile defection to the West, scrambled the Baltic Fleet.

-Soviet jets located and bombed the ship, stopping the mutiny. Sablin was captured, tried for treason, and executed.

Both were revolts, but the differences stop there. You have to dig a little to find the true story.

Truth Matters

I had a Bible college teacher that told us that truth at its base level is personal. He was teaching a class on Bible doctrines and once he made the statement he explained it simply and it made sense. He mentioned one of the first cars was an idea that originated in the mind of one Henry Ford. So that was personal first. But this was a class about the Bible so we did turn to a familiar story in the Gospel of John:

Pilate said to Him, “So You are a King?” Jesus said, “You are right when you say that I am a King. I was born for this reason. I came into the world for this reason. I came to speak about the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

38 Pilate said to Jesus, “What is truth?” After Pilate said this, he went out again to the Jews. He said, “I do not find Him guilty.”

(John 18:37-38, NLV)

Pilate asked what is truth, but he didn’t realize that he was talking to the Truth. How do we know this? Another story about Jesus happened earlier where Jesus made it clear:

Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way to get there?” 6 Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one can go to the Father except by Me. 7 If you had known Me, you would know My Father also. From now on you know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:5-7, NLV)

In the original Greek the phrase “I am” is very strong wording. It means that Jesus was not “a truth” but “The Truth” to the exception of all others. Here is how a commentary from the Bible Hub explains the phrase:

In claiming to be the truth, Jesus asserts His identity as the ultimate revelation of God. This connects to the Old Testament understanding of truth as faithfulness and reliability (Psalm 25:5). Jesus, as the Word made flesh (John 1:14), is the full expression of God's truth, contrasting with the deception of the world and the lies of Satan (John 8:44).

Another commentary from the Bible Hub let’s us know the battle over the truth going back to Pilate:

This question posed by Pontius Pilate is one of the most profound in the New Testament, reflecting a skeptical or perhaps cynical attitude towards the concept of absolute truth. In the Greco-Roman world, truth was often seen as relative, with various philosophical schools offering differing perspectives. Pilate's question may indicate his dismissal of the idea that there is a single, knowable truth, contrasting with Jesus' earlier declaration in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." This moment highlights the tension between worldly power and divine truth, as Pilate, a Roman governor, represents earthly authority, while Jesus embodies divine truth.

The Other Guy

While we know who is the truth we need to establish the other player in this game and that is Satan. Jesus tells us all we need to know about him in John 8:44:

For you are the children of your father the devil and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and a hater of truth—there is not an iota of truth in him. When he lies, it is perfectly normal; for he is the father of liars. (TLB)

In this story the religious leaders were questioning who Jesus was and even whether He even knew who His father was since they knew it wasn’t Joseph. Jesus of course called them liars in the strongest of terms. So we now know who tells us lies and is the father of them. And he has weaponized the art of lying as we see in an article from gotquestions.org:

Lying is Satan’s primary weapon against God’s children. He uses the tactic of deceit to separate people from their heavenly Father. Some of his more common lies are “there is no God,” “God doesn’t care about you,” “the Bible cannot be trusted,” and “your good works will get you into heaven.” The apostle Paul tells us that Satan “masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), so that what he says and does sounds good and seems reasonable. But it is nothing more than a false appearance. Many of Satan’s lies tend to perpetuate themselves. This is what happened when Eve convinced Adam to also believe the devil’s lie. Today, Satan still uses people to spread his lies for him. Often, he uses charismatic but foolish people to further his falsehoods, as in the case of false religions and cults.

So the battle for truth is very personal and we need to see it as such. And there are eternal consequences for believing one or the other as the article continues:

Whether a lie is small or large is not really the issue. Lies are of the devil. The Bible teaches that all liars “will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). Warnings are never pleasant, but they are better than ignorance of danger; the Bible faithfully warns sinners of danger, including the danger of lying. Proverbs 19:9 also teaches that liars will be punished.

Don’t Believe The Lies

Yesterday the world celebrated Halloween which is commonly known to be the Devil’s Christmas. Your mileage may vary on that assessment, but for argument’s sake let’s agree that there are certainly a large number of people who believe it and act like it. Sure, there were a lot of kids that went into sugar comas last night, but Satan also got a few licks in. If he only worked one day a year I could deal with that, but he works 24/7/365 to deceive and take as many people to Hell with him. Thankfully Jesus never sleeps nor slumbers and He is doing all He can to expose the lies and present the truth to the world. One lives to bring darkness and blindness to sin while the other shines His light of salvation to all who are willing to accept it. The differences between the two sides could not be anymore stark. And the decision should be clear if the facts are also clear, but unfortunately they aren’t. Going back to the same gotquestions.org article we read this:

Satan has told more lies to more people (and even angels) than any other being ever created. His success depends on people believing his lies. He has used everything from “little white lies” to huge, pants-on-fire whoppers to deceive folks. Adolph Hitler, a man who learned how to lie effectively, once said, “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”

But I also like how it concludes:

Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6), and He will never deceive you. Thankfully, Jesus is also the Savior, and His death and resurrection provide the basis for your forgiveness of all sin, including the sin of lying. Come to Jesus in faith and humility, and you will find that “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

So instead of doing a hunt for a submarine I implore you to hunt for the truth and find the source of all truth and let Him set you free.