Did you know there is a lot of deception in the Bible through some of our beloved Patriarchs?  

Abraham told the King that Sarai was his sister (Genesis 20:1-6); Isaac calls Rebekah his sister (Genesis 26:7); Paul tells the crowd that he is a Pharisee which was true, but he was not living like a Pharisee at the time, so it was deceitful – (Acts 23:6).  

And what about our National Secret Service, and Spies? 

Don’t they have to lie to keep our country safe?  

What about the people who protected the Jews during the Holocaust?  

The average person lies 25 times per day.  

The main reason we lie is to protect ourselves and to not hurt someone else’s feelings.  

We also lie for other reasons; to get out of trouble is a ‘biggy’ as well.  

The Bible warns us not to be deceived.  

All of us have told a lie or deceived someone at some point in our life, and some of us do it intentionally.  This tells me that there are many out there trying to deceive us, including well intentional Christians.  

I Kings 13:16- 23 – talks about a young prophet sent to prophesize against the King.  He was told by God not to eat or drink anything on the way home. An older prophet lied and said an angel told him to go and eat with him, so the young prophet ate and drank.  The young prophet died on the way home for believing the lie and disobeying God.  

I know, crazy huh?  

Seems like the old Prophet would have been killed for lying, but the young one died for believing the lie and not following God’s instructions.  

So once again – don’t be deceived!  

Proverbs 6:16-18 – it is talking about 7 things that are an abomination in God’s sight: a lying tongue and a false witness are nestled in this passage.  

Webster’s dictionary defines lying as “to utter falsehood with an intention to deceive” and “to cause an incorrect impression; to present a misleading appearance.”  

Basically, a lie is intentionally causing someone to believe something that is NOT true.  

Throughout my life I have read the Bible over and over again.  And in the back of my mind, I thought it was ok to tell half-truths because of the characters in the Bible had done it, and God did not strike them down (other than the young prophet that actually was killed, because of disobedience to God).  

Did you know disobedience is defiance, noncompliance, insubordination?  Much stronger words than disobedience. But I digress.  

There are 50 plus scriptures that talk about how God hates lying.  

In Proverbs 12:22 it states “The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”  

Revelation 21:8 – “But the cowardly, unbelieving….and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”  

A righteous man should hate lying as well – Proverbs 13:5 – “A righteous man hates lying, but a wicked man is loathsome and comes to shame.”  

Lying is the most common sin and plagues everyone.  

We also lie to get gain – Proverbs 21:6 “Getting treasures by a lying tongue is the fleeting fantasy of those who seek death.”  

It’s very hard to get past the fact that many of our Patriarchs of the Bible have lied, or told half-truths, but there it is; in black and white for all to see.  

If you thought that someday someone would write your story, and put your lies down, would you tell them?

 

Karen Y. Stevens is the founder of Orange County Christian Writers Guild