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In Proverbs 6:16-19, we read of seven things that God hates and the
second one is a "lying tongue." God loves the truth but the devil
loves a lie. Jesus told the Jews who rejected him "Ye are of your
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was
a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his
own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."(John 8:44) Christians
are to put off the lying tongue.(Col. 3:9,10) Why would God hate the
lying tongue? The reasons are seen in all the evil that such tongues
have done to the human race.
1.It was the lying tongue of the serpant that aroused the lusts of the
eyes, flesh, and the pride of life in Eve, resulting in her falling
to temptation and sin entering the world. God told them that if they
ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die,
but the serpant (really Satan was behind it), said, "Ye shall not
surely die."(Gen. 3:4) They listened to the lie, obeyed the lie, and
so were guilty of sin. This happens every time people listen to lies.
2.It was the lying tongue that caused the death of the prophet Judah
who had so valiantly and faithfully cried out against Jeroboam's
false worship in Bethel. The old prophet said, "I am a prophet also
as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying,
bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and
drink water. But he lied unto him."(I Kings 13:18) God had told this
prophet of Judah not to eat or drink in Bethel and to return by a
different way than he came. Until this lie had been told to him, he
faithfully carried out what God had said. He fell to the lie and
returned to the old prophets' house. There he was told that he had
disobeyed God and that his body would not come to the sepulcher of
his fathers.(I Kings 13:21-23) He was killed by a lion on the way
back home.(I Kings 13:24) What a tragic end for such a good prophet
all because he had listened to the lying tongue.
3.Ananias and Sapphira, two members of Christ's church in Jerusalem
decided to lie about a gift they brought to Peter for distribution
to the needy. Peter told Ananias, "Why hath Satan filled thine heart
to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the
land?"(Acts 5:5) When Ananias heard these words, he "fell down, and gave
up the ghost" or in other words he died.(Acts 5:5) Three hours later,
Sapphira told the same lie and also died.(Acts 5:7-10)God let it be
known for all time that he punishes liars.
4.The bible describes the man of sin or antichrist as a liar. "Whose
coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them
that perish; because they recieved not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved."(2 Thes.2:9,10) This is terrible because these false
teachers are dealing with the souls of men. Gullible people listening
to their lies will lose their souls. "And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they
all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness."(2 Thes. 2:11, 12)
We are warned in the holy scripture, "believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets
are gone out into the world."(I John 4:1) "The spirits" refers to the
teachers and preachers we hear. We have an obligation to "Prove all
things; hold fast to that which is good."(I Thes. 5:21) The Ephesian
Christians tried out the false apostles and found them to be liars.
(Rev. 2:2)
5.The saddest of all lies is to lie to ourselves about our spiritual
condition. To hear the word and not do it is to deceive ourselves.
(James 1:22) To think ourselves religious but bridle not our tongues
is to decieve ourselves.(James 1:26) To say we have no sin is to
deceive ourselves.(I John 1:8)
If we allow ourselves to continue the lying tongue, the lake of
fire and brimstone will be the result.(Rev. 21:8) If we believe a
lie in religion, we are dooming ourselves.(2 Thes. 2:12) Dear friend,
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap." (Gal. 6:7) There is time to repent; resolving to
speak the truth; accept only the truth; and to live according to the
truth.
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