Searching for the Truth in the King James Bible;
Finding it, and passing it on to you.

EDITOR:
Steve Van Nattan

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LYING IS AN END TIMES EPIDEMIC

By Steve Van Nattan

It is getting hard to avoid telling lies, and God makes it clear
that he hates liars.

Jesus NEVER did that with his parables. Jesus NEVER told stories about his life in his father's carpentry shop. Paul never told stories about how cute he was as a tent mender, and he never claimed he was dumb and made non-existant blunders when he was young. It seems it is no longer enough to simply say, "I am a sinner saved by grace, and all glory to The Lord Jesus Christ?"

Hyles claimed that he was very dumb in his first pastorate. He claimed an old lady came to the church house and asked for counsel. Hyles claimed he had no idea what counsel was, so he called the church secretary and asked her if the church had any counsel to give the lady. He then claimed the church secretary, whom he credited with saving his first pastorate by her great wisdom, told Hyles to talk with the lady for a while, and the secretary told him she would go downstairs and get the lady some counsel. Hyles talked to the old lady for some time, after which, the secretary came back upstairs with a bag full of "counsel." Hyles handed the lady the bag of "counsel," and she went away happy.

Do you believe any man in his late twenties or early thirties, an Army paratrooper and a graduate of a East Texas Baptist Univeristy, is so dumb that he does not know what "counsel" is? I am not making this up. I heard Hyles tell this while he was preaching. This is the sort of thing intelligent Christians have to deal with, and they are grieved to be expected, by their own pastor, to take these stories at face value. This is the sort of lying preachers do, and I am referring to Independent Fundamental pastors now, but the epidemic is actually found in pulpits of every denomination.

So, let us look at the kinds of lying we all have to deal with and examine ourselves.

1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

If you have ever had to make a mad dash to a hospital Emergency Room, you know how it feels to be struck down by the hand of God because you are not examining yourself. One of the hardest things a godly man has to do is answer the question, "What kind of man am I today?"

Let us judge ourselves.

THE PERILS OF LYING

“If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.” Mark Twain

When you come to the point where you will lie to get what you want, you are square on target to serve Satan and go to Hell. According to John Calvin, lying cannot send you to Hell if you are born again. Thus, millions of alleged Christians lie their way through every day of their lives. The point is, lying is not part of the personality of a born again person saved from their sins by Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

How can you take a light view of lying when Jesus told you who he himself is?

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

If Jesus is the personification of the Truth, how can a person claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ while they survive daily by lying many times?

Who is the father of lies?

John 8:44 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.

Jesus was talking in that verse to the Pharisees. They were the Fundamental Baptists of Jesus' day, and they defended the Pharisee Baptist Standards of that day. Their rule book would make Bob Jones' rule book look like a cheap imitation. Do you suppose Bob Jones' rule book has any rules about lying?

It is well known that all tyrants are noted for lying loud and long. Hitler told his men that if they lied loud enough, and long enough, the German people would believe them, and they did. Psychologists who have studied Adolph Hitler determined, from his behavior and speech patterns, that Hitler eventually came to believe the lies he started with. If you lie long enough, your conscience will eventually be unable to detect your lies, and you will become a pathological liar and even lie on purpose to make fools of people. One of Barak Obama's school mates said that, when he was in High School in Hawaii, Obama would tell bold lies and stories to his best friends just to see if he could deceive them and make fools of them.

In the Bible we see the prophetic destiny of the world is driven by lies.

Liars in the Old Testament era:

Adam and Eve, the first couple in God's garden, were told not to eat of the fruit of one tree in the garden. That was the only law God gave them. What a simple easy to understand plan of life. And, they broke that only law God gave them. But, when God came looking for them, they had made clothes for themselves and were hiding from God. When God asked them why they ate the fruit of the tree, they both lied to God.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

And, God went looking for Adam and Eve to talk and visit with his friends:

Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Guilt and lying are best friends. It is also interesting to see that nakedness is embarassing to guilty sinners. We have much self-righteous blather and bluster in Fundamental Baptist churches caused by a self-righteous war against semi-naked sinners in Hollywood and the market place. But, who, on a hot humid day in the summer, has not wished he could shuck off all his clothes and cool off.

Man was created naked and had no self-conscious feelings about it. Then, when man sinned, he got troubled about being naked. And, the crazy thing about Adam and Ever was that there was no one to see they were naked except God. The perpetual memorial to the fall of man are the clothes he wears. I have seen Africans, back in the 1950s, who wore nothing but a string of beads around their waist for clothing. I have seen men who had on nothing but a bit of banana leaf wrapped around their member. But, if those beads, or the piece of banana leaf is missing, they are considered undressed and naked and will be embarrassed if a stranger walks up. I know of only maybe three tribes in all of Africa who go stark naked with absolutely nothing to modify their nakedness. This fear of being naked, no matter how much or how little coverage they have on, is an innate tendency in all of humanity which is directly related to the fallen state of all men.

Blaming God for how he arrangeed his creation was a silly and childish lie. Blame is almost always based on lies.

Lying always follows rebellion, and this is true today all through every culture in the world. World leaders lie and lie and lie. News media make up fake news. Parents lie to their children (Santa Clause). and school and university professors lie to students. From Adam and Eve to your sweet little charming princess to the whole human race today, lying is endemic.

Liars in the Church Age:

Eph. 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive”.

The Apostle Paul warned of men who would come and intentionally lie to the local churches. They came to the churches in the book of Acts, and Christendom is saturated with liars today, from the Pope down to possibly your pastor. These men lie to make the rebellious church members comfortable. Joel Osteen tells the members that they can replace Christ, the great "I Am", with themselves and speak magic words which will make them anything they want to be.

LIKE THIS

Compare Joel Osteen's Satanic lie with what the Apostle Paul said about himself:

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Fools who come to Joel Osteen to hear his smooth words do not give a flip that they are being lied to by Osteen. According to this shameless pimp of the Whore Church, Osteen and YOU can talk your way into being something Paul said is not possible. The old nature from before you were born again is hanging around and must be fought into submission to Christ by YOU. Even Pastor John MacArthur has fallen into this lie and heresy. He now teaches that you can irradicate the old nature, contrary to what Paul taught in Romans 7. For this one heresy John MacArthur will miss Heaven and go to Hell. Reverlation 22:14 makes this clear because he is one of the Ephesians 4 liars above who live to deceive the saints.

The future of lying is prophecied in the Bible.

2 Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

God is preparing a way to help the wicked, inside the Church and in the world, to become fully committed to lies. God is going to give the wicked a spirit of trust in the liars of their world. This way, when it is time to divide the sheep from the goats, there will be no question that God is just. It seems to me that, with liars like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren calling gullible suckers to themselves to hear and believe their lies, we may have entered the time near the End of the Age where God has sent the strong delusion.

Those who make a way of life and a culture of lying are said not to believe the truth. When a preacher or evangelist lies constantly, whether he is bragging about his exploits, or he is flat out lying about what the Bible teaches, he is damned. You are a fool to figure him out and yet go back over and over for more. You may well go to Hell for loving the lies.

This is the destiny of liars:

Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

You need to face it, my friend-- If you make your way through life lying constantly, and you never repent of lying, you are not born again. Only complete repentance, and a determination to tell the truth, will please God.

HERE IS A SELECTION OF BIBLE CHARACTERS WHO LIED

You may complain that, once someone is born again by confessing Jesus Christ as Savior, they cannot lose their salvation. That is most certainly true. But, when someone professes to believe in Christ, but they have a way of life that depends on perpetually lying to survive, that person is a fake Christian.

Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

It is most certainly working iniuity when a professing believer boldly lies their way through life.

THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

“The truth is always an insult or a joke, lies are generally tastier. We love them. The nature of lies is to please. Truth has no concern for anyone's comfort” Katherine Dunn, Geek Love

It is a sick culture that makes sport of lying.

The USA has come to be a land of perpetual lying. If you are late to work, and you say, "I am sorry boss, I simply got distracted and left home late today," you will get fired. If you make up a yarn about having a flat tire on the highway and having to change the tire, the boss will know you are lying, but the story covers the problem, and most managers will prefer this story to the truth.

This TED Talk shows where lying is going in the future. There is much to think about in this video.

God said every word he gave us will not be lost or cease to be accountable:

Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

This promise is from God the Son in person.

But, not one word YOU speak will pass away either:

Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

This is a terrifying thought. Virtually every word I have ever spoken will be remembered by God, and my words will be examined by the light of God's own personal holiness, and based on my words I will be justified or condemned. This is not the condemnation of damnation. It is the condemnation of our works being rejected as worthless by Christ. Every joke, every word spoken to other drivers on the highways, even with the windows rolled up, and especially every lie I ever told, will be examined. I would invite you to memorize those two verses above, and use them to keep in the background when you are just killing time talking with friends. Nothing is lost. God's hard drive is infinite. And, all your words will come back for you to explain to God.

Also, as the speaker in the TED Talk above suggests, the world now has a vast resevoir of YOUR words, and all of humanity's words, on their hard drive. Long before you arrive before God's throne and have to explain your words to God, many government agencies, your employer, your spouse, and your kids may have access to your words. What will your legacy be? There is NOTHING you can do to stop this process in the age of technology. There are agencies and hackers now working on ways to grab every word you speak or type and use them for marketing or to blackmail you. Perhaps this is why God promises to burn up the whole world one day with fervent heat. He wants all the evidence of your sin and folly destroyed.

So, do you think this is a pointless discussion? Let me knock some reality into you, my skeptical friend.

You have died and gone to be with the Lord. God asks you to have a look at some of your past days and the words you spoke. God's Wayback Mochine shows you that back on earth is a hacker delving deep into your past and your life. He hacks into a hard drive in NSA or Homeland Security. As he reads your file he comes to the day and hour when you were talking to a fellow worker at your job at the hardware store where you worked. During the conversation, he hears you moving the discussion to life and the Bible, And, he hears as the worker asks you what life is all about anyway. You then gave the Gospel to your fellow worker. The hacker listens as you try, and seem to fail, to convince your friend of his need to declare his faith in Jesus Christ. As you walked away, the hacker hears you say to yourself, "What did I say wrong?"

Now, here is the part of the play back of your words where God smiles. You ask God, "Did I say something wrong, Lord, which made the guy reject the Gospel?"

Back to the playback. You now hear the hacker talking to himself, and he says, "I wish I had the peace and life that guy was talking about." Then, God takes you by the arm and turns you aside, and God says, "Bill, meet the hacker who eventually declared his faith in my Son, Jesus Christ. Thanks Bill for doing the right thing at the right time. Bill, you did exactly what I wanted you to do that day." Then, God reaches into his robe, pulls out a huge emerald, and says, "Here, Bill, add this to your crown."

This imaginary story will be impossible if you decide to stop talking about anything controversial.

Read that last sentence again please.

In fact, I have asked friends of mine, while we were talking about something mundane on the phone, to give the Gospel to anyone snooping on our conversation. You can even force Homeland Security or NSA to listen to the Gospel by dropping key words into the beginning of the call which will put your conversation on the "Must Listen To" list. Like, El Chapo, ISIS, Syria, Palestinians, three fifty seven, Chinese imports, Nissan, and weed. The employee at Homeland Security will have to listen to everything just in case there is some juicy plot in progress.

Preachers are some of the worst liars around. They boast of their numbers, and they lie to grow the numbers in order to look more successful than other preachers. Preachers lie in answer to questions people ask them. They claim to be called of God to preach and teach the Bible, but they spend only a few minutes a week studying for their sermons. Then, on Sunday morning they claim, "The Lord laid this sermon on my heart to preach to you today." If the average Fundamental Baptist preacher saw as much of God as he claims, God would be very busy keeping up. I expect there will be a long line of preachers in Heaven one day trying to explain why they lied so much.

 

THE FIRST LIE IS TO YOURSELF

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

You might say that the first lie was by Satan in the Garden of Eden, "Ye shall be as Gods." Technically, that is true. But, the lie that caused to fall of man, a condition which has been passed on from person to person for thousands of years, was told by Eve. And, she lied to herself.

Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

The tree was NOT good for food because anything God says I must not eat is bad for me, in that, the penalty is death.

The tree was NOT good to look at because anything that brings death should not be viewed as good.

The tree would NOT make me wise because there are some things that, if I know them, will kill me.

This was the beginning of the Feminist Movement. "I can do anything a man can do." The weight lifting world record is always held by a man. The heaviest clean & jerk by a male in the 94 kg weightlifting class is 233 kg (513 lb 10.8 oz), by Sohrab Moradi (Iran) at the IWF World Championships in Anaheim, California, USA, on 3 December 2017. Moradi went on to claim gold with a world record total of 417 kg (919 lb 5.2 oz). A feminist will never do this, so their claim to do anything a man can do is a lie.

When you start talking to yourself, be sure you are not lying. "I will always be ugly." Or, conversely, "I am the sexiest looking woman in the world." Lying to ourselves can go in any direction. All we need is a motive to lie and say things about ourselves that we WANT to be, but we know deep down we cannot have. So, we lie to ourselves, and then we go on to try to fulfill those lies by lying to other people or having a Botox booty treatment.

The most wicked preacher in the world is Joel Osteen in Houston, Texas. He helps people who have been lying to themselves in saying things like, "I will allways be ugly." Or, "I am a loser at employment." He does not teach these people to examine their lives and see where they are violating some truth about themselves and, with God's help, change what causes the problem. Osteen teaches people to tell bigger and better lies to themselves. He uses his "I Am" ritual. "I am healthy," "I am victorious," "I am wealthy," I am good looking," and so forth. The alleged healthy person is really fat and waddles along barely able to breath, so now they lie to themselves, and they can keep right on eating sticky buns and gorging and sugar. The "victorious" man is addicted to porn, but now he believes his own lies, talks incessently about Christian victory, but he goes right on peeking at porn. The "good looking" man believes his own lies, and he adds a dozen more tatoos and five pounds of bling bling to himself and looks like Picasso on a ten day drunk.

Joel Osteen is the master of teaching people how to lie about themselves.

The problem is, once you have lied to yourself, and once you sincerely believe your lies to yourself, you become a master at lying to others and convincing them to believe and act upon your supid lies. Back to our first lying human in the Bible.

What made Adam, in Genesis 3:6 above, eat of he forbidden fruit?

Answer: Perhaps he realized that Eve had eaten the fruit, and she looked like the same old Eve he loved and trusted. But, he knew he was doing wrong. Let us not blame the woman alone. But, Eve was held responsible for leading the way in sin. This is why women are not permitted to preach and teach in the New Testament Church.

1 Timothy 2:11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

The woman lead the way for the human race to experience death, so God allows her to be "saved" from being instantly killed by the wrath of God by being the one through whom the human race is preserved from extinction. There is mercy when God shows his wrath, but there still are consequences in sin.

Adam was not deveived by Satan, nor was he deceived by Eve, in that, she did not verbally teach Adam to sin. The problem was that Eve let Satan teach her. Adam trusted Eve, or possibly he reasoned that he should not alienate Eve by refusing the lunch she prepared for him. Whatever Adam was thinking, he ate on purpose for some bad motive. So, since Eve went to Lucifer University and let the infernal professor teach her to violate the only law around, she cannot be permitted to teach in the Church. That is what the Bible teaches, and you can love it or hate it and do whatever you will with it. A godly woman will not whine about this truth. She will submit to God and his revelation to her in the Bible. She will also submit to her husband who will teach her the truth if he is doing his job before God. A Christian husband who will not teach his wife biblical truth can only expect Satan to send her a teacher to do her husband's job. This is why the cults look for Christian women to lead into heresy whose husbands are unchurched.

But, the fact is, the first lie in the human race was made by a woman lying to herself. The way of lying begins in YOUR heart. In order to be a successful liar (which does not actually exist), you need to first deceive yourself.

James 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

So, when you declare this or that alleged "truth" about yourself, STOP. For a few seconds, ask youself, "Could I prove that if my life depended on it?" If you are unsure, or if you realize you are shipping yourself a load of barnyard manure, push the DELETE button, and start over with a view to seeing the thing God's way. When you lie about yourself, TO YOURSELF, you are preventing God from using you to glorify himself through your life.

You doctrinaire Calvinists will cry "off sides," and you will tell me that God can still use you in your self-deluded state because he is just that mighty. You may be right, but if he does, I guarantee you will have something painful added to your life, like God added child birth to Eve's life. Your choice, oh thou mighty tin horned theologian.

Acts 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

THERE IS MUCH IN THIS TED TALK THAT LINES UP WITH BIBLICAL TEACHING

 

LYING BY OMISSION

“A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies.” Alfred Tennyson

Here is a classic example of lying by omission. Abraham nearly got a man killed by lying. It is customary for Bible teachers to exalt Abraham as a great man, but the fact is, Abraham did several very wicked things, and only the mercy of God kept Abraham from being abandoned by God because of his careless ways early in his life.

Genesis 20:1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.
4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.
9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.
12 And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

The lesson here is this: What you leave out when you give "the facts" is lying just as badly as changing the facts you do give. I have said this elsewhere in this article, and you better get it straight. If you don't want to answer a question for some reason, simply tell the questioner that you do not want to answer in any way. Do not tell a clever story based on part of the truth. That is lying.

I also note that Abraham lied when he accused Abimelech of having no fear of God. It is very clear that Abimelech feared God because he responded with great fear when God confronted him. Abimelech would have been guilty of not fearing God if he had responded like Pharaoh did to Moses. So, Abraham, even in his mia culpa, had a cover story that was based on a lie, a false accusation.

When a preacher tells you that you cannnot lose your salvation, and then he gives a wailing heart rending altar call at the end of his sermon in which he tries to get you unsaved by clever blather and bluster, he is lying by omitting the truth that the Bible promises you cannot lose you salvation if you have openly confessed your faith in Christ. That preacher is demon possessed, and you have NO business keeping your family in that church. That perverted preacher will preach your kids into doubt and rebellion.

Yes, I said that..... A PREACHER WHO TRIES TO MAKE YOU BELIEVE YOU LOST YOUR SALVATION IS POSSESSED OF DEVILS. God hates 90% of all Fundamental Baptist altar calls. "If you are not sure, get on down here and settle it so you know you are saved." And, the jerk does that in every altar call, and he has no guilt when some poor saint trots forward every other Sunday to get a retread on his salvation. A preacher who does that is lying about God's Promise, in that, he is implying that God cannot keep you saved after all. Let the bastard son (Hebrews 12:8) go to Hell. You go find another church.

What does God think of, "If you are not sure.....?"

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
30 I and my Father are one.

Verse 30 means that your jerkawallah preacher can convince neither God the Father nor God the Son to disown you. BELIEVE IT.

 

LYING PREACHERS

“One lie has the power to tarnish a thousand truths.” Al David

Some preachers are lying so much of the time that it can become very discouraging to members who are skilled in catching liars, such as couselors, psychiatrists, police, and legal professionals. These people cringe over and over as they watch the eyes and body language of their pastor and KNOW he is lying frequently. The stupid preachers, and some preacher reading here is one of them, get so calloused by their own lying that they actually believe their own lies, like Adolph Hitler did. It is very common for preachers to lie and lie and lie until they really believe their lies are the truth. This is the point at which the wiser members start slipping away, and the reprobate preacher never catches on. He simply resigns one day, curses the church for betraying him, and goes shopping for a new batch of precious idiots.

 

Sermon illustrations

Does you preacher tell stories he borrowed from Jack Hyles of Bob Jones or some other famous Amos? Your preacher is telling lies. These sermon illustrations should come down the aisle the way Jesus told parables. The story must be told as a yarn or tale that is clearly not meant to be taken as an actual event that really happened. "A sower went forth to sow....." Jesus did not name the sower, and it is clear by the way the parable is told that it is a story that is only being told to illustrate a point, not give news of some real event. I have heard preachers tell stories in which they claim that the thing happened to them, and I can tell they borrowed the story from some other preacher and lied about it happening to them.

The reason preachers do this is to make their life sound more exciting than it really is. They are dogs and swine and need to be ignored. Can there be a worse lie than to give a bogus illustration to augment the preaching of the Gospel and of Bible truth?

 

Typology that ain't

I have news for you, preacher. Some of the posts in the tabernacle walls, in the day of Moses, were there just to hold the roof up. Here is the verse typology preachers use to justify their making of everything in the Old Testament into a type of something.

1 Corinthians 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

The lusting and lack of faith of the Jews in the Wilderness is a type or example. That does not mean everything else in the Old Testament is a type of some truth or teaching point.

The key to identifying a true type in the Bible is answered by the question, "Did Jesus, or any of the writers of the New Testament, tell us that there was a type in the Old Testament text?" Only if Jesus or the Apostles tell us we are looking at a type, and directly point out the Old Testament text, is that item really a type.

The problem is, there are preachers and Bible teachers who crave types in order to reinforce some truth. So, they lie to make it happen. They have NO authority from the Holy Ghost to make the connection. The other problem is that some Bible teachers have become famous for their raging typology, and they feel obligated to invent types to prove how clever they are.

Typology freaks are all liars part of the time, and their teaching is thus heresy.

1 John 2:21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

I believe there is an obvious corollary to that verse. No liar preaches the truth.

 

Boasting of numbers and accomplishments

Go to a pheacher's rally, and park yourself in the foyer just before the main event is about to begin. There will be groups of peachers standing around the foyer, and there will be a loud mouth jerk-a-wallah dominating each group. The king of blather and bull will be the preacher holding forth in the group right smack dab in the middle of the foyer. Each of these power boys will be talking about his church and all the clever things he and his deacons have done since the last preacher's rally. He will list the numbers of souls saved, people baptized, new buses added, and the number of increase in Sunday School attendance. This is all meant to exalt him, not the Lord Jesus. When he is finished making himself the greatest thing since Chucky Cheese, he will mouth some caveat to avoid being struck by lightning, like, "All the glory goes to Jesus."

Bah. All the glory goes the the dandy dude blowing off classical gas and holding the listeners in suspense. Do you believe these boys? I do not. I have heard too many of them botch the facts, and I have heard other preachres make downright hateful remarks about these blow hard liars. I have also seen the ad they bought in Sword of the Lord selling off their Sunday School buses because their church went bust on their mortgage.

If you brag about your church, and if the numbers prove how wonderful YOU are, you sir, are not a servant of Jesus Christ. You have the spirit of Antichrist.

If you want to brag on numbers, I will give you permission to brag on how many pounds you shed, since the last preacher's rally, by cutting out the Krispy Kremes.

 

Creating confidence

Preachers crave to be followed and trusted. They will actually teach that the pastor of the local church is the ruler of the church. To Hell with the Holy Ghost in their church. They rule. For this reason these preachers will tell lies which are designed to exalt them so that people will trust them and follow close. This is is seen at its worst in Charismatic churches where faith healers and self-possessed preachers tell war stories about their alleged victories in fighting off the devil and in healing a thousand cases of lumbago. Of course, Fundamental Baptist preachers do this also, but they tell lies about all the souls they have won to Christ. Jack Hyles claimed he won 300 people a week to Christ. I did the math, considering everything Hyles would have to do in a day, including sit on the pot, every detail, and I added in his self-agrandizing tale of how utterly busy he was and the miles he traveled by air in a week, and I came up with 45 minutes per soul won. He was not saving souls, he was pumping gas.

When you hear a preacher trying to gain friends, or trying to keep the faithful close to him, and if you hear facts he lays out which sound beyond reality, THEY ARE. Get away from that preacher. He will tempt you and your kids to be liars just like the preacher.

 

Black balling former members or pastors

I have heard preachers tell their members not to go to some other church in the area, even though that church is in the same denominational fellowship. The preacher will make a sly comment about things being a bit off at that church, but he will not give details. I heard a pastor dump cold water on a local church in the area and make disparaging comments about the pastor, and then this preacher invited that pastor to preach in his pulpit some time later.

Whatever a preacher says about a local church and their pastor must be taken with a large dose of skepticism. This is becauve many pastors are so paranoid about their people visiting another church that they will gladly lie about the other church. When a preacher is that desperate to keep his sheep from going and finding some fellowship across town once in a while, that preacher is very likely in bed with some lady in the church. I have seen this as a pattern multiple times. There is something very wicked in a preacher who has to lie to keep the sheep close. It should be enough that he faithfully preaches sermons that are based on much Bible study. If that don't keep the hogs in the pasture, honey, nothing will.

 

Lying about unsaved people and their sins

"All queers are crooked."

How about, "All Mormons are polygamists"?

It is evil to lie, period. Just because you are lying about someone with some great social or heretical evil in their life does not give you the right to lie about them in order to make them look worse.

It is sadly common to hear preachers make broad sweeping generalizations about sodomites, Catholics, and members from the cults. They will attribute evil to them that those preachers could not prove if their lives depended on it. These sort of liars should be confronted boldly, and if they won't stop it, run the blow hard off.

An example of this sort of lying has tempted me when I have examined Rodney Howard Browne. His monologue with Kenneth Copeland, in which they carry on a bawdy truck driver type conversation in tongues, looks a lot like demon possession by both of them. I have tried to identify words they used to see if they were from a known human language and blasphemous, and they were, but I could not prove it they were demonic. So, I have had to let it go. So, to claim they were demon possessed would have been a lie. HERE IS THE VIDEO CLIP I AM TALKING ABOUT

I have come very close recently to assume that all Democrats are baby murderers. However, there may be a Democrat out there some place who is against abortion. Be careful about lying to make evil more evil. The devil is doing just fine in making a mess of this world. Don't let him make a fool liar out of you by suckering you into lying about him and his servants.

 

Lying on behalf of God

God is not in trouble my friend. Only a fool would lie to cover for God. He has commanded you otherwise:

Zechariah 13:3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.

There is one very evil way many Christians lie about God. When some preacher is caught in bed with six ladies in his church, people ask questions in the community. Do you lie and tell them that the preacher is a fine man and a great Bible teacher? You are playing the fool with your lies. God knows what to do with that four flusher preacher without you lying to cover for him. Just tell the questioner you don't care to talk about it.

You have a church business meeting, it turns into a fight, and you and your friends win. The issue being discussed was whether of not to buy more Sunday School buses. You and your friends won the vote, and you then ask God to bless your obscene use of democracy to find God's will. You slapped the Apostle Paul in the face, turned your back on the principle of doing all things with one mind, and you split your church to get your way.

So, you buy the added buses, and you work like a dog to get the buses filled, and the thing goes south. The buses are not full, and the Sunday School is not growing, AND, you now cannot pay for the buses out or the additional offerings you planned would result in more giving. What do you do?

"I believe, brothers and sisters, that the Lord simply does not want our church to grow. It is his will to do something else with our church, and we need to be content with his will."

YOU WRETCHED JERK. You are lying. You are making God responsible for you failure and your stupid use of democraty to get what you wanted. Has someone in your family come down with cancer, or has some other horror come on you since you played this trick. If not, you are not born again.

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

 

Flattery and introductions and big givers

During my first pastorate in the USA, after servng as a missionary in Ethiopia and Kenya, my wife and I were members of a mission which provided pastors for small country churches. Once a year all the pastors and their wives, who were serving under the mission, came together for a banquet and to hear a pep talk type sermon from some well known pastor.

One year the banguet was at Knotts Berry Farm in their banquet room. The speaker was Dr. J. Vernon McGee, pastor of Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles. Some mission official stood to introduce Dr. McGee, and the man droned on and on for twenty minutes, and all he did was exalt Dr. McGee and use the introduction to get his own fifteen minutes of fame. When Dr. McGee stood to speak, he said, "That was all a pack of lies." McGee was being sort of jolly about it, but during the introduction I saw that McGee was visibly uncomfortable.

a. Long introductions are usually a sign that the person being introduced is not that special, and the intro is meant to convince the crowd that they are about to have a huge blessing, so don't leave early.

b. Long introductions exalt the wrong person. Jesus Christ is to be exalted. Fundamental Baptists are treacherous about long introductions.

Colossians 1:18 And he (Jesus Christ) is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

c. Long introductions are absolutely a waste of time if the speaker is already well known, as was the case with Dr. McGee. Everyone in the room knew very well who he was because of his Through the Bible radio Bible study program and his many years at Church of the Open Door.

d. Long introductions rob the speaker of all that time he could have been teaching the Bible, AND they rob the audience of that much more blessing.

When you tell people how wonderful someone else is, you are a liar. You are implying that this speaker is greatly to be praised for being a Bible teacher (in the case of McGee). The truth is, it is Jesus Christ who must increase in the audience's estimation.

John 3:28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

It is a lie and a case of spiritual fraud to exalt any man. No servant needs an introduction. Did you ever enter a fancy restaurant and the manager came out and introduced the waiter, heapong on him all manner of flowery compliments and the history of his past performance? Dumb question, right? The waiter makes himself famous with you if he digs in and makes your visit memorable and pleasant. He serves. So, rather than exalt a man above Jesus Christ, his Head, turn him loose, and decide what you think about him AFTER he has shelled the corn.

We were home on furlough from Ethipoia where we served as missionaries. We were visting the Gull Lake Bible Conference, and one of the special speakers of the week was a woman. She was speaking to the ladies every day, and she was doing some preaching as well. I was not impressed with a preaching lady, but her husband was even more of a dud than his wife. He was a handsome hunk who wowed the ladies and was the male gender of the designation "air head."

The director of the conference introduced me to the husband, and he told him I was a missionary in Ethiopia. The man did a male version of a sugar coated gush and said, "You people are the cream of the crop in the Lord's Church." Bah. I was already tired of seeing him standing around doing nothing but being handsome for the ladies, and I fear I was a bit blunt with the dude. I told him, "I don't agree with you sir. The Bible teaches that any Christian who gives the Gospel to a sinner is just as famous with Christ as any missionary." The old boy went mute. His flattery had not gotten the result desired. I was supposed to smile sweetly and thank him for exalting me into the heavenlies.

Personally, I have come to the opinion that, when a preacher, or any man, exalts a missionary with extreme flattery, he is trying to shine on the missionary because he is not doing any serious soul winning himself. I had a friend in college who was a real casanova, and he would volunteer to help when we had any big ministry project being planned on campus. But, when it came time for the busy work, he was always AWOL. At the end of the whole thing, after everyone had decided the guy was a blow hard and fraud, he would get up at the end of the program and give a massive load of flattery to all of us and any faculty member who helped. In the end everyone liked the guy because he denied any credit to himself, and would say, "This program would have never happened if it had not been for Dr. Dunning," and then he would also name all the rest of us as heroes.

Job 17:5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

Why?

Answer: Because the jerk's children will see Daddy lying about people, often to their face, with wretched flattery and ungodly praise, and his childrfen will become blind to inegrity and honesty.

A word about big givers.

A pastor who commends a big giver publically, or a mission or Christian organization that publishes a list of big givers in their monthy rag, are blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ. You call Jesus a liar when you do this. No man on earth should be noted openly, before men, for the building or financing of the Church. Oh, if he builds a great public library, go right ahead and go before him blowing your punisimous little tin horn and praising him abundantly. But, if your church or organization claims to be doing service to Jesus Christ, here is who you should exalt:

Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And the disciple John stepped forth, and he did exalt Peter and said many gracious words about Cephas, for Peter was a rock, and rocks are the greatest blessing.

Did you notice that the above text was not in red text? That is because it is advanced revelation, uninspired, and totally a lie. Below is the text as taken from the original King James Bible:

Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Preacher, you are a servant of Satan, and your words are from Hell, that is, if you give long flowery introductions to famous men who are supposed to be serving the builder of the Church, Jesus Christ. All you do is tempt them to inhale the incense of your blaphemies and get proud and lose their reward in Heaven. If you do not receive serious chastening for dumping Jesus into second place, you are not even born again.

Hebrews 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Are you a gigolo bastard blow hard? If you want to hear, "Well done....." some day, make a vow now to our divine Church builder to exalt him and no famous Amos preacher or big giver.

A very rich Christian Jew would come around the Bible college I went to on a regular basis. His pockets jingled loudly, and the President ot the college would perk up at once. The President would take the Jew to a vacant lot on the campus, and, after much flattery of the Jew's past donations, the President would paint a word picture of a glorious library or music hall sitting on the vacant lot. The Jew, who may have really been a godly man for all I know, inhaled the incense and wrote the check. For that, the library was named after him. This is how flattery is used to move the cash from your pocket into the local church treasury.

Luke 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

 

Funerals and visiting the sick and depressed

My Dad pastored a church in the northeast corner of Oklahoma in a town named Salina. One day the town reprobate died. He was quite famous for his arrogance about how useless God was to him. The family came to my Dad and asked him to do the funeral of the old rebel. My Dad did not like the idea because he did not know any way to say nice things and soften the sorrow of the moment for the ungodly. But, wanting to show compassion, he agreed to do the funeral.

Dad decided to simply give the Gospel and just read the Bible. Well, the Bible makes it very clear that rebel sinners who reject the Gospel go to Hell, and in some Bible text Dad read the alternative of damnation was included. He avoided doing any begging invitation to repent and believe the Gospel.

Well, the family of the dead man caught the truth because the Word of God does not return void. The widow of the dead man came up to Dad after the funeral service and angrily said, "You preached my husband right into Hell, preacher." Dad determined that day not to ever again do a funeral for a rebel sinner.

Luke 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

When anything you do or say demands a verdict, be very sure you are under direct orders of the Holy Ghost to answer or get involved. And, never say soft words to anyone when the truth is hard to deal with. If you don't want to go there, either make yourself unavailable, or simply say, "I cannot answer that question for you." or, "It is none of my business to get involved in this situation."

 

LYING TO THE HOLY GHOST

"The day Jonah arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale, Jonah's wife had to decide if Jonah had a history of lying. If not, she would have believed him. Telling the truth may one day be the best investment you ever made in your whole life." Steve Van Nattan (Adapted from Gabriel García Márquez)

Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.
7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

So, who were Ananias and Sapphira lying to?

Answer: They thought they were only lying to the local church and the Apostle Peter. But, Peter said they were lying to the Holy Ghost.

Some preacher reading here will get very angry with my next statement, but the text proves me right. When you, preacher, lie to the believers in the local church, or when you, as a member, lie to your pastor and leaders, you are lying to the Holy Ghost.

This means ANY lie, but especially lies meant to exalt you and make you look spiritual. When you make up a story about handing out tracts or alleged soul winning, you are lying to the Holy Ghost. And, preacher, when you lie to anyone, saved of unsaved, and boast of the numbers of attendace or souls saved, or any such lie, you are lying to the Holy Ghost. If you have not been chastened by God for this, you are not born again, and you will burn in Hell for it.

This will also include many other kinds of lies. If you tell the saints you have been totally delivered from strong drink, tobacco, drugs, or any other fleshly lust, and you are flat out lying, and if God has not punished you severly for your lies to his people and the Holy Ghost, we can assume you are a bastard "Christian."

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Pastor, if you have one of these bastards in your church, and you let them keep telling their lies, like in testimony time, or just while standing chatting in the foyer, you are an abject fool. If you fail to deal with this and get total repentance for it, or send the liar out the door at once, you must be a devil possessed preacher.

 

Making Vows
and Promises to God

A classic modern example of how to make a liar of yourself is the so called "Faith Promise Giving" program used in many Fundamental Baptist Churches. Each member is invited, and oftern coerced, to fill out a card making a vow to give a certain amount to missions during the coming year. Let us get the question out of the way..... Is this Bible based giving?

1 Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

Giving in the Old and New Testament was based on what happened in the recent past. Israel paid a tithe to the national and temple treasury based on the last year's harvest. The church is told to give, "as God hath prospered him (past tense)." The only exception is in the Old Testament era when some Hebrew believers would make vows to give something to God, or they might promise some spiritual act on behalf of God.

There is NO teaching of making vows in the New Testament Church Age taught in the Bible.

But, the worst thing in Faith Promise is that the victim of the scam is invited to promise to give a fixed amount from blessings financially which he does not have and did not come from his past income. This is wicked, because, if the victim member has a financial failure, he may not be able to pay his vow. He thus makes himself a liar.

I have heard some sorry horror stories about church members who made a Faith Promise vow, had financial disaster strike, and went into serious anxiety because they could not keep their vow. Most preachers give a feeble caveat up front telling members that if they have financial trouble, God will not hold the at fault if they cannot keep their vow. The preacher has NO biblical authority to cancel a vow to God by anyone. Also, why make the vow if it is not ultimately binding? The fact is, this system of giving is extortion.

But, I heard of one preacher who weaseled a vow out of one man to give a fixed amount Faith Promise. The man went way beyond what he could pay, and the pastor later collected a special offering inviting the other members to help him fulfill his vow. The preacher should have been horse whipped.

I also heard of a person who had rebelled against God. Their main reason was that their father had gotten so carried away making vows to give that he did not feed his family properly, and he never bought anything special for his kids and wife. The person telling this hated church and resented God.

[ Parenthetic: Sir, if you have become a slave to Faith Promise, and you have been neglecting you wife and kids, depriving them of special treats, I am putting you under direct orders. Give your pastor a call today, and tell him to cancel your Faith Promise. Tell him you will henceforth give based on how God blesses you in the recent past, and tell the pastor he will have to learn to be content with what you give in the offering plate. When the pastor whines and accuses you of not caring about missions, tell him that you will be giving more attention to your family in the months to come.

Next, on the way home from work, buy your wife roses. Take her out to dinner, and tell her she and your kids will be your top priority as you decide where to give to God's people. At dinner soon, tell your kids you feel bad about putting them in lower priority than the offering plate, and you will be making sure that changes in the future.

If the pastor, or anyone else in your local church, nags you about your new standard, find another church to attend. If you refuse to do this, you may find your kids rebelling against God and you soon. Now, call your wife right now, and tell her to be ready to go out for dinner tonight. ]

You are a fool if you let some pastor sucker you into a promise to God which (a) he did not ask of you, and (b) you may not be able to humanly fulfill. If your pastor gives you a hard time for not making a Faith Promise, you need to get your family on down the road to a church where the pastor does not lie to you by telling you God invented Faith Promise.

Who invented Faith Promise giving? A pastor in Toronto named Oswald J. Smith invented Faith Promise Giving. He handed out the first cards to be signed, and as the cards were filled out by the suckers in his congregation, the were tallied, and he had a monster cash register up front. The vows pledged were rung up on the cash register, and this graphic psychological trick imprinted the obligation on the mind and conscience of the suckers he was manipulating. It worked well. His church has been famous for the enormous mission budget they have every year. The end was assumed to jusify the means, and THAT logic came from Ignacious Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) who serve the Pope of Rome and vow to destroy Protestant churches.

When you fill out a Faith Promise card, you are buying a ticket to misery, and you are setting yourself up to become a liar to God. And he did not ask you to do it. Wake up, saint.

HERE IS AN ARTLCLE ON THIS JOURNAL FOR MORE ON THE TOPIC

 

Confessing Sin you have no Intentionn of Abandoning is a Damning lie.

When you repent to God, and you may even weep and wail at the altar rail of some local church, if you know very well that the next opportunity you have to do that sin, you will do so, you are a damnable liar.

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

There is way too much emphasis on walking the aisle, weeping and moaning, and even making a open verbal confession of sin. We need a revival of repentance, public repentance, in the Lord's Church. When a young lady and her male friend stand before the congregation and name their sin of fornication (sex before marriage), this is repentance. The words above, "not to be repented of," mean that the confession or sin and repentance now will result in a changed life in the future. When the man who confesses sin is right back in the church foyer the next Sunday morning hustling the dollies, he is a damned liar. Why damned? Because God rewards fake repentance with damnation and Hell fire.

Acts 11:18 "Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."

REV. CHARLES SPURGEON MAKES THIS VERY CLEAR

"We will consider certain FALSE REPENTANCES. I will begin with this remark-that trembling beneath the sound of the gospel is not "repentance." There are many men who when they hear a faithful gospel sermon, are exceedingly stirred and moved by it. By a certain power which accompanies the Word, God testifies that it is his own Word, and he causes those who hear it involuntarily to tremble. I have seen some men, while the truths of Scripture have been sounded from this pulpit, whose knees have knocked together, whose eyes have flowed with tears as if they had been fountains of water.

"I have witnessed the deep dejection of their spirit, when-as some of them have told me-they have been shaken until they knew not how to abide the sound of the voice, for it seemed like the terrible trumpet of Sinai thundering only their destruction. Well, my hearers, you may be very much disturbed under the preaching of the gospel, and yet you shall not have that "repentance unto life." You may know what it is to be very seriously and very solemnly affected when you go to God's house, and yet you may be hardened sinners. Let me confirm the remark by an instance:-Paul stood before Felix with the chains upon his hands, and as he preached of "righteousness, temperance, and of judgment to come," it is written, "Felix trembled,' and yet procrastinating Felix is in perdition, among the rest of those who have said, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a more convenient season I will call for thee."

"There are many of you who cannot attend the house of God without being alarmed; you know what it is often to stand aghast at the thought that God will punish you; you may often have been moved to sincere emotion under God's minister; but, let me tell you, you may be after all a castaway, because you have not repented of your sins, neither have you turned to God." By C.H. Spurgeon

Your core problem is this..... you have not really been born again. So, you lie to God, and maybe to yourself.

GO HERE TO LEARN HOW TO BE BORN AGAIN

 

Promising God you will do some Good Work for him if he Blesses You

So, why is this a lie? It is a lie because you are telling the Holy Ghost that he is an employee of yours. You are offering to pay the Holy Ghost in good works if he gives you what you crave. The lie is this..... You are trying to convince the Holy Ghost that he owes you a paycheck. The ultimate lie is that you are claming you are entitled to receive some blessing on your terms, not God's. This is the ethic of a fair haired millennial who believes the world owes him their full attention and blessing.

Jesus did not die on the Cross to make you entitled. He died on the Cross to save you from Hell and eternal lonliness, and you are rejecting him as your friend and Savior and cutting a deal in which Jesus ends up in debt to you. Blasphemy!

The soldier, during a combat fire fight, says to God, "God, if you will get me out of this I will believe you are real, go to church, read the Bible", or any other action he hopes will convince God to save him from death. He is making God into an object of bribery or even blackmail. The implication is that if God does not come forward and accept the deal offered, he is not God. The hope is, like the Arab merchant in some suk (open air market) in the Middle East, that God, the customer, will not be able to resist the deal offered.

This sort of religion is from the Pit of Hell. If the guy survives the battle and lives, whether he keeps his end of the bargain or not, he will go to Hell for concocting a bogus religious moment like this. And, the most deadly lie is when the soldier later tells people that God accepted the bribe and performed on his behalf.

The saving of the soul is accomplished when the following takes place, and it is the result of a person seeing themselves as a lost sinner and acting by confessing faith in Jesus Christ. It is not a deal cut by anyone.

Romans 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Thus, when you try to cut a deal with God and coerce him into action based on your performance, now or later, you are making a lie about God. For that, sir, he will send you to Hell.

LYING PRESUMPTUOUSLY

“There are three types of lies -- lies, damn lies, and statistics.” Benjamin Disraeli

There are times when we lie without knowing we are lying. David spoke of such situations:

Psalms 19:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Psalms 120:2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.

I believe David was very conscious that, as a king, he could be given information from his officials, pass it on to someone else, and learn later that it was not the truth.

Is this a problem today? Indeed, it is, and the Internet is loaded with information which is all lies. To pass on such information in a blog, or on Facebook, without giving a clear caveat as to where you got the information, is presumptuous and foolish. The most deadly presumption online are conspiracy theories. They are presented as fact, and conclusions are made about some terror to come soon. To pass on a yarn you got at the round table of the local cafe as if it is true information is presumptuous. You know very well that the information is suspect, but you want to be the bearer of racy hot news items. The worst part of it is that such presumption is based in narcissism, and pride is the root cause of such lies.

And, the media, like CNN, CBS, NBC, and the Washington Post absolutely blelieve the US Constitution guarantees them the right to lie and deliver up fake news to do harm to their enemies. If you work for the media and condone such tactics, you cannot be a born again Christian. Why? Answer:

Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

I had a man, we will call him Fred, who was attending the church I pastored in the California High Desert who was mentally unstable. At times he was totally rational, and he was locally famous for his ability to ferret out all the details on some community issue. The question came up as to the source of our water table from which the whole area got drinking water. Across the valley, the water was terrible, but our water was extremely pure and safe. Fred dug into records no one even knew existed, and he found records of an experiment to see where the snow melt went from the east side of the High Sierra mountains. It turned out that it ran through rock layers to the east, right through our area of the desert, and all the way to the Colorado River. This was done by putting radioactive dye in the snow and seeing where it ended up. Fred's research was amazing and answered an important question.

Then, Fred would see a car in his rear view mirror pull in behind him, and he would at once conclude it was the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the USA tailing him. One Sunday he told me he had spent the past week trying to ditch the FBI, and he drove madly all the way from California to Washington DC, turned around, and he drove madly back to California. The FBI was supposed to have tailed him all the way. He said that he finally ditched the FBI when they ran into a telephone pole somewhere in the midwest. He saw this in the rear view mirror.

Another Sunday he told me the FBI were trying to poison him by putting poison in fruit in the produce department in Safeway, a large grocery store nearbly. I suggested thay must be very clever to know which banana or orange he was going to buy. If they got it wrong they would kill some innocent customer. He thought about this for a while, and he then declared, "That would be impossible to do. I don't think they would do that, right pastor?" I had to ask the Lord regularly to help me get the FBI out of Fred's presumptuous imagination. If you heard some of Fred's stories you might believe them and pass a story on to someone else. He was very convincing, and showed no sign of knowing he was lying.

As you can see, Fred was not lying on purpose. He had a mind that played nasty tricks on him. He was not at all dengerous in any way, except maybe to himself. But, he was a regular test to everyone who knew him because of his false news.

Today, with evil men dominating the media in America, false news is coming at us daily. Quoting any of the media, even Fox News, can end up making a liar of us. Also, our national leaders are almost all liars. Even President Trump has been caught lying, and it seems he sometimes knows very well that he is lying. For example, there is no way he will make Mexico pay for his wall. He will have to play tricks with the facts to claim that Mexico paid for the wall willingly. The sad thing is, quoting some preachers and church members can make a liar of us also. It is wise to pray, as David did, for the Spirit of God to help us use godly skepticism as we hear reports even from our friends.

DEMANDING AN ANSWER

“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” George Washington

The culture we now live in, especially the news media and politicians, have come to believe that any time they ask a politician or public servant a question, that person is obligated to answer the question. America has an Amendment in its Constitution that quarantees that no one can be forced to anwer a question that would incriminate him. But, when a public figure or business leader answers with, "I would like to decine to answer that question," the person asking will at once make the observation that the person quesioned must be guilty. They will imply that the ONLY reason to decline to answer is because the person questioned is wicked.

This is criminal behavior. The Amendment is there for precisely this reason. The police, news media, and adversarial public official is required to gather evidence and forensics to prove that the person suspected is indeed guilty. The problem is, news media people are so blasted lazy that they figure they are entitled to get an answer out of the object of their suspicion or rage.

The most evil aspect to me is that I see this in the Lord's Church. Pastors are the most wicked in this, for most pastors have come to believe that all the local church members have to answer any question they ask of them. There is NOWHERE in the Bible that teaches that one Christian has the right for force another Christian to answer any question asked of him. Certainly, we are all told that when we do answer, we must tell the truth. If you, pastor, suspect something evil within a member, do your research and find the witnesses. If you cannot get the evidence, or if you are a blasted slow belly and too utterly lazy to do you homework, then get your ugly mug out of my face. I will blast you openly and make you a public fool if you do so. Why?

1 Timothy 5:19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

And, you pastor, if you do not demand answers to questions that you should not ask, praise the Lord. But tell me, do you stand by like a wart on the face of Eve when members in your assembly are doing an inquisition on the members in the church? If so, you are worthless as tits on a boar hog. You are to defend the sheep, not let them play wicked games with one another.

A pastor friend of mine evolved over time a ministry of dealing with devils in Christians. He became so well known for this that people drove hundreds of miles to be examined for devils infestation. This alleged ministry became so seductive to this pastor that the main thing in his life was chasing devils and doing presentations on Satanic things in life. He has ended his life work by writing three novels based on devil possession. There is nothing more pathetic than to see a pastor become distracted in an alleged ministry of chasing Satan around.

I went to visit him one time, he told me he had a new ministry team. It was a group of members in his church who were called "discerners." By using and abusing some Scripture he justified this. The group happen to be at the church house the day I visited, and he introduced them to me. They were polite, but they stood around staring at me in a weird way. There is nothing in the Bible that teaches such nonsense. To set a sort of spiritual swat team loose on the saints is very wicked. It can only destroy fellowship and the comfort that should come from being gathered with the fellowship of believers.

Rather than haunt your fellow Christian, could you please exalt Jesus Christ when you are with him? That is what the Bible teaches:

Psalms 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

As to this instinct to catch other Christians in sin, there would be a massive drop in lying in the whole nation, AND IN THE LORD'S CHURCH, if people started letting one another simply say, "I would rather not answer that question." If this is going on in your home or church, and if you do not correct it, God will put the hammer to you because you now know it is evil.

Charlie was a real blessing to me. He lived in the town of Yermo where I pastored in California. He was running a junk yard which his father owned, and when I went to get a part for one of my cars we would talk. He claimed he got saved at the altar of a Pentecostal church when he was younger. Some signals I got from Charlie made me wonder if he really did get saved.

One Sunday morning, while I was getting the meeting room of the church ready for services, a chopper motorcycle rolled up to the front door. No one else was there yet, and I asked the Lord to help me deal with whoever was on the chopper. This motorcycle was one of those beasts that had the seat lowered, and the front wheel was extended way out in front, and it sparkled with chrome parts all over it. I opened the door, and there was a man in new slacks, a stylish new shirt, and a grin as big as Texas. The first words out of his mouth were, "I got right with God, Pastor Steve." It was my junk yard friend, Charlie.

I was overwhelmed for a moment. Charlie DID look like a new man. He told me he had been partying and overdosed on some drug. He became terrified of dying and promised God that if he would save his life, "I will go to Pastor Steve's church Sunday morning." And, Charlie kept his promise to God, and he was in church every Sunday morning from then on. That first Sunday Charlie was a shouting Pentecostal in an Independent Bible church. We were not as vigorous as he was when he heard something he liked. His hands went straight up, and he comenced shouting and praising God. I looked around at the folks, and they were all smiling. They were so blessed to see the towns most notorious loser in church, hair trimmed, and looking like he really had been changed by God. The worship leader told me later, "Don't stop Charlie pastor, let him shout. He is such a blessing the way he is now."

That evening, Charlie came back to the evening service, and I again opened the door to welcome him. Charlie at once started shouting praise to God and dancing the Pentecostal two step around his chopper. "Praise God, pastor, I turned left at Highway 91." I asked him to explain. Charlie told me that every Sunday, at about noon, he went to a drug house and got wasted with a party mob of losers. He had asked God to help him turn left when he left the church Sunday morning, and he did turn left. He got so excited, he told me, that he went out in the desert on a frontage road along Interstate-15, the road to Las Vegas, and he went roaring down the road weaving back and forth between the yellow dashes in the middle of the road and shouting praise to God.

A cop was parked behind a bush trying to catch speeders on the Interstate nearby as Charlie went by on the frontage road. The cop pulled Charlie over and asked him what he was doing. Charlie told the cop that he turned left at Highway 91 instead of going to a drug party, and Charlie told the Cop God had delivered him from evil, and he was praising the Lord and shouting Glory as he rode along. The cop liked what he heard, so he told Charlie, "You go right ahead and praise the Lord all you want, Charlie, but could you do it on the right hand side of the road please?"

That story should have you at least smiling, if not shouting too. But, the next part is painful. Charlie and his Dad came to the parsonage one day. They looked whipped and troubled. They told me that Charlie's teenage son, Charlie Junior, had killed himself on his morotcycle. Charlie Jr. had some enemies in a motorcycle gang, and they caught up with him one day and started chasing him on motorcycles at high speed. Charlie Jr. had been avoiding them because he believed they intended to kill him some day. Charlie Jr. lost control of his motorcycle and wiped out into a telephone pole. He was killed instantly. I knew Charlie loved his son deeply, and that news about tore me up. I also knew that Charlie had told me he convinced all his kids to "go forward" at the Pentecoatal church and confess Christ as Savior..... except Charlie Jr. Charlie and his Dad asked me to do the funeral. I agreed, even though it is my policy not to do funerals of unsaved people. There is no good news in the funeral of a lost sinner who never repented of his sins.

When I got to the funeral home, Charlie was in the parking lot, walking around between the cars, wailing and weeping like a baby. I went walking with him to try to be a comfort if I could, but I had nothing I could honestly say that would be a comfort. Charlie turned to me, and he said, "Pastor, Charlie Jr. never confessed faith in Christ. He is burning in Hell right now, isn't he, pastor?" There was a pause as I tried to figure out what to say that would soften the thing, but I could come up with nothing. Charlie again turned to me and said, "Don't answer that question pastor. I know there is nothing you can tell me that will change anything." Then we walked into the funeral home.

That was possibly the most kind thing Charlie ever did for me. He knew anything I said to soften the situation would have to be a lie. The stark truth was that Charlie Jr. was indeed in Hell. Charlie is the kind of brother in Christ that knew the indecency of asking a question for which the answer is horrifying, the answer no one ever wants to give anyone.

Preacher, do you demand answers from people to questions you should jolly well keep to yourself? If you are a typical Baptist or Charismatic preacher, you specialize in putting people on the spot. In fact, how do you feel now about the question I just asked you. I bet you would rather not answer it if we ever meet face to face, and you might avoid me to escape from being put on the spot. You would be tempted to lie and tell me you agree with me and that you avoid that sort of question. The fact is, you probably ask such questions a lot, and you are hearing from the Holy Ghost about it right now. So, like Charlie, I will tell you, don't answer that question I just asked you pastor. But, I would suggest you talk to the Lord Jesus about it.

Finally, how many people avoid you and go silent when you are around because you interrogate them every time you meet? Nobodly likes to be around anyone who tempts them to lie to snoopy questions. I believe there are thousands of Christians who have abandoned the local church because of the interrogation principle. Like, "Bill, we missed you in church last Sunday. Did something come up to keep you away from church?" Mind your own blasted business, you creep. You are emptying the Lord's Church and driving the sheep into temptation. Indeed, the only reason you ask such vile questions is to exalt yourself by making sure Bill understands you are there "every time the church doors are open." Your perfect attendance is all filthy rags to God.

Romans 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

 

THE ART OF KNOWING WHEN TO SHUT UP

The noted author, Stewart Edward White had this to say about learning to restrain oneself instead of being a motor mouth:

"If a man lives long enough, and moves about enough, and tells of everything he experiences or sees, he will finish up with a reputation as an amusing liar. Some people do not mind being considered liars as long as they are, at the same time, considered amusing. The only problem with that is that sometimes one needs to be believed. So the only way is to shut up about those things, or, if they are to be narrated at all, to tell them with a twinkle that puts them in the category of golf lies and fishing lies- venial lies that wash off without damage. The best way is to shut up." Speaking for Myself

This is so true. When someone tells stories and yarns nonstop, we tend to start doubting that all those exciting things ever really happened, at least we assume that there is a lot of stretching of the fish, and the golf shot gains ten yards every time the story is retold.

The punchline effect is acceptable, but you cannot chatter on forever, telling punchline stories. Joe Sanchez, a realtor friend of mine in Los Angeles, once told me he hit a 500 yard shot playing golf the previous week. I was skeptical of course, and then after he let me wonder if he was lying, Joe said, "I sliced it into the parking lot, and it bounced 500 yards."

The problem with being a motor mouth story teller is that the listeners will arrive at a limit of how many adventures can be expected to happen in one lifetime. The stories may all be true, and you have not added any false facts to your stories, but I promise you, if you don't shut up more, you will become a buffoon and liar to your friends.

Ed Arnold was a God fearing and very helpful man in the church I pastored. He was around eighty years old. But, I had one problem with Ed. He told stories that I found hard to believe, and he told way too many for one man's lifetime. He had been a wildcat oil field worker in Saudi Arabia and South America, he had painted missile silos, he had replaced gold leaf on extremely tall church steeples, he had seen an anaconda as big in diameter as a 55 gallon oil drum, he had done demolition of large buildings, he had been a chef at a dude ranch in the California Desert, and Ed had done many more things I cannot remember. From all these ventures Ed told amazing tales of adventure with an abundance of shock and awe.

Ed's daugher and son-in-law were missionaries to Mormons in Utah, and I talked to his daughter one day and told her I was having a bit of a problem with her Dad. She at once said, "I know what it is, pastor. You are wondering if all his stories are true, and did he really live in all those places around the world, right?" I laughed. She said that she and her Mom, Ed's wife, had decided to run down as many of Ed's stories as they could in order to see if they were all true. They checked with all sorts of people who had been with him, and she told me every story they could check on was 100% true.

My point in this section is to caution you that you can make yourself a liar to some people just by talking too much. The worst talkers I have known have been women. I do not know why women are worse for this, but I have also been in groups of men who met at the local cafe where one man was a motor mouth story teller. We men can contract the disease. These people are always assumed to be, at least, borderline liars.

I must admit I have a problem with this fault myself. The reason is that I have had a very adventuresome life. I grew up in river bottom land in Oklahoma, Los Angeles, the Mojave Desert, Tanzania, and Kenya, and my wife and I have been missionaries in Ethiopia and Kenya. I have been in school at the epicenter of the Mau Mau revolution in Kenya during the 1950s, and we were in Ethiopia when they had a Marxist coup. Every night we went to sleep to the rattle of machine guns, and in the morning we woke to the sound of machine guns executing business men and politicians outside the city. In Ethiopia we also lived in wild country where nearly every night we heard leopards barking around our house. Furthermore; I know something about gardening in the limestone Hill Country of Texas now. I can read sign and track animals moderately well. I know a bit about ocean fishing. The problem people like me have is that we are old, and we will soon be gone. When an old man like me dies, a whole library of adventure tales burns down. It will all be gone. So, while participating in a conversation, I am tempted to shell the corn a bit too generously.

You see, when I get to Heaven, I will not need to tell all these stories because all the ones God likes will already be known to the folks there.

It does no good to decide you will never tell a story unless you are asked. Most people don't know all the treasures you have to share. Seldom will anyone ask. I suppose we could all go about handing out a card with an index of available stories, but somehow that sounds like in invitation for a really strange reputation.

The punchline is this: If you want to be believed and not overload your friends with your thoughts, shut up, and only tell stories and tales occasionally. What will eventually happen is your friends will start saying, "Bill, have you ever had any experience with keeping a pet coon (or whatever the ongoing topic is)?" For the record, yes. But we found out that ordinary animal formula would give the poor thing perpetual diarrhea, so we gave it to a friend who was an expert at raising coons. Do you see what I mean?

Actually everything I have said above on learning to shut up was said in much fewer words by Job and King Solomon:

Proverbs 29:11 A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. The key to this virtue is to listen a lot more, and when you listen do not be getting ready to make your next brilliant observation.

Proverbs 18:13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

Job 6:24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

Proverbs 13:3 He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.

Remember, while you are blowing off at the mouth, you are not learning anything. And, the very abundance of your words greatly increases the chance that something you say will be a lie.

WE ARE ALL LIARS

“History is a set of lies agreed upon.” Napoleon Bonaparte

God says you and I are liars, so you need to repent of you lying wicked mind if you claim not to be a liar.....

Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Meaning, if every man must be classified as a liar in order for God to be true, then every man is a liar, YOU and I.

James 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

If you are so bold as to claim to never offend in word, you just did. For, James says we ALL offend. Put both those texts together please. Are you a liar? I will understand if you do not want to answer that question.

We live in a time when, because of the Internet, millions of lies are pumped into cyberspace every day. They are often delivered by self-proclaimed experts on world politics, and many other topics are allegedly researched. Conclusions are delivered up which tempt us to pass them on to our friends or on our own web sites. If we pass on these bits of "inside information," we have no way to know if they are true. Who do you trust well enough to quote them without checking on their sources? The point is, they do not give you their sources, or if they do, their source is someone you have no way to trust. So, if you quote such stories and reports, you are highly likely lying regularly.

What is the solution?

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Psalms 19:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

So, be like Jesus, and be on guard for presumptuous sins. If that is asking too much, then you have no business claiming to be a Christian (which means little Christ in Greek".

 

IS THERE A WAY TO HIT
THE DELETE BUTTON?

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

So, God will erase anything on the hard drive in Heaven if you confess it with repentance. The lies and vain words can be removed. But, God also requires us to confess our lies to one another, as well as forgive those who lie to us.

James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Perhaps the hardest thing to confess to our brother in the Lord is lying to him. But, that is the requirement. I suspect it is a highly rare thing for a preacher to stand in the pulpit and announce that a sermon illustration he told previously, and he claimed it happened to him, was a total lie.

Imagine a preacher going to a preacher's rally and standing up during a prayer request time and saying, "In previous rallies I have bragged on the attendance in our church, and I have claimed many people are getting saved. I want to apologize to you for that. I was lying all the time. Really, nothing much is happening at our church these days. I ask your forgiveness for lying to many of you here."

Hard as that sounds to do, and rare as it is (I have never heard anything like that myself), such a preacher would be at once forgiven, for most of the other pastors have been lying on the numbers also. And the man would feel clean before God, and it would be a wicked fellowship of preachers who would not be very blessed to hear a brother get right with his friends.

In a church I pastored in the California High Desert, we had a missionary lady who worked in an orphanage in India. She told of blessings and victories with the children in her prayer letters. Then, on furlough she told many more stories of her ministry and all the souls saved and the human suffering lifted from the children. We were very pleased to hear these reports, and we were happy to keep supporting her.

After she returned to India after furlough, I received a letter from her. It was a very serious letter, and the lady confessed the sin of telling other missionaries' stories. She said that, in fact, her time on the mission field had been rather boring, and she felt she needed to tell exciting stories of great victories so that her supporters would believe she was a productive missionary. She was deeply repentant and asked to be forgiven. She then suggested that if our church felt she was unworthy of further support, she would understand and accept our decision as God's will.

I took the letter before the whole church and read it. This was because I knew she had told those stories to the whole assembly. When I finished there were plenty of tears around the room. I told the members that the lady had done the biblical thing, and I asked them what they wished me to write back to the missionary. It was unanimous, and a number of members responded verbally. They wanted her to know they forgave her, and someone, I believe a leading man, said that because of her tender conscience and confession of her sin she had become far more precious to our local church. They most definigely wanted to keep her on support.

This story is 100% true, and it shows us something important. Every Bible believer in this world is under intense pressure to lie daily. We need to learn to either tell the truth or keep our mouth shut so we do not offend our Lord. And, it is a lot more important to discipline our own mouth than to catch another saint lying. If every one of us got ourselves under control, there would be no one to condemn.

So, what wretched lies do YOU need to confess to God and your Christian friends? Remember, they stay on the hard drive in Heaven until you confess them.

I John 1:9 above tells me that God is sitting in Heaven with his finger poised over the divine DELETE button, just waiting to hear from you about your lying.

 

CONCLUSION

“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

If you consciously lie in sermons, to cover your sins, or to knowingly lead anyone astray, you are not born again. If you do not confess your sins of lying to those you lied to, and to Christ, you are damned to Hell in a hand basket. You cannot knowingly tells lies to gain advantage or hide from your responsibilities, and at the same time belong to Christ. He made it very clear that knowingly lying and loving to tell self-serving fiction about yourself, PROVES you are not one of his.

If you claim that a professing Christian can be a congenital liar and still be saved, then I will take you to the only place where I will agree with you.

James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The context of verses 15 and 16 are that sick Christians are often sick because they sinned (But not always). If you are a willful liar, and you refuse to repent and convess that sin, God will make you sick or kill you. If you are doing fine in your fake Christianity and lying your way through life, and you are NOT sick, you are damned to Hell and God is letting you go there fat and sassy. Only true sons in Christ receive the loving chastening of God.

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Based on what I heard myself at a Jack Hyles preaching rally, I fear that Jack Hyles is in Hell right now screaming for water. That is how serious I believe this is.

If you don't think this is serious, take a look at my page on Hell.

If you are living a lie, and you intend to keep right on lying, here is the verdict from the Dixie Hummingbirds:

If you don't like reading the truth, don't come back.

If you repent of sin when the Holy Ghost shows it to you, blessings on you, my friend.

2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

Proverbs 14:15 The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.

SO, WHAT IS THE PUNCHLINE FOR YOU?

This is a new question in my writing which I hope to use from now on.

So, what IS your punchline?

This is it..... TELL THE TRUTH OR SHUT UP.

Was that simple enough for now?

LINKS:

WORDS WE USE- PART ONE

WORDS WE USE- PART TWO

WORDS WE USE- PART THREE

DR. PAUL TRRIPP ON YOUR WORDS AND YOUR LIFE
This is powerful stuff, I promise.

SEND MAIL What is your situation? Can I help?

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