Big Fat Lies

By John Stallings


A pastor announced to his people that in a few weeks he’d start a series of sermons on lying.

 After the announcement he heard a lot of remarks from the congregation, mostly in fun, that surely he didn’t think his church needed to hear such a series. The pastor assured the good folk that they indeed needed to hear his sermons on lying. The people continued to take it more or less as a joke.

The Sunday before his first message, in announcing his first installment on lying, the pastor asked everyone to please read the seventeenth chapter of the book of Mark as preparation for the upcoming series. The next Sunday morning the minister stood in his pulpit & before he took his text he asked how many had read Mark seventeen during the past week. Practically everyone in the audience raised their hand that they’d read the chapter as he’d asked them to. Then the pastor announced to them that they couldn’t have read Mark seventeen because the book of Mark only has sixteen chapters.

In some places I’ve been, a preacher pulling a stunt like that would be called “unemployed.”

I’ve tried to track down the origins of “liar, liar, pants on fire, hang them on a telephone wire.” This derisive phrase was probably uttered by a parent to a child caught lying & later the child began to use the phrase, mostly because kids like things that rhyme. Someone obviously made it a poem, children started using it on other kids &, well it entered the lexicon.

In the Who’s who among American High School Students, the report of a recent survey is very disturbing. It reported that 84% of the high school students surveyed said cheating was common among their peers. Fifty-six % of students said “Cheating wasn’t that big a deal.” In another study of over 12,000 high school students, 43% agreed that a person has to lie or cheat sometimes in order to succeed.”(George Clowes Survey results-heartland institute, 02/01/2004.

Every now & then over the years 20/20, Prime Time, or one of the big network T.V shows will have a segment about lying. It’s astounding how pervasive lying is & how early in life it starts.

The New York Times some time back did a story called;--What tangled webs we weave, --- we ALL practice to deceive. The article said that 91% of Americans confess that they regularly don’t tell the truth & a full 20% admit they can’t get through the day without telling conscious premeditated lies. The report says—“We have moved very far away from the age when a man’s word was his bond….to a society in which people are more accepting than ever before of exaggerations, falsifications, fabrications, misstatements, misrepresentations, gloss-overs, quibbles, concoctions, shuffles, prevarications, trims & truth covered & varnished.” It sounds like Isaiah is describing present day America when he says---No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments & speak lies. They conceive trouble & give birth to evil. Ish.59:4.

Harris poll did a survey that dealt with trust. It was based on a survey of the first graduating class of the new millennium—the class of 2001. In the study students said they trusted the honesty & integrity of their grandparents’ generation more than their peers. They are more likely to trust their grandparents’ generation (79%) followed by their parents’ generation (68 %.) Apparently our children are seeing their world-where lies are so prevalent – as a treacherous place.

They seem to relate to the words of Psalms 12:1-2 where it says—Help O Lord! For the godly are no more. The faithful have vanished from among men. Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception.

We dare not take a soft-stand on the subject of lying. We are clearly told there will be no liars in heaven. Have you noticed that the Bible doesn’t say, “All murders will have their part in the Lake of fire?” Or “all of any group of sinners shall have their part in the Lake of fire?” Certainly these folk, minus forgiveness will be there but the Bible in referring to them doesn’t say they “All”___ will be there. But the Bible does say, “ALL LIARS” will have their place in the lake of fire.” (Rev.21:8.) God wants us to know “all liars” includes “little white lies- I love your hair—you’re not fat,” “Lies of convenience- read my lips, no new taxes—or—I didn’t inhale” “small lies like-my dog ate my homework,” “religious lies, like volunteer to do church work, it’ll only take a few minutes a week, ---My message will be brief, ---give me just two more minutes of your time-- I’m almost through preaching---& “Business lies—the bait & switch merchants.”

Also, our nation now has a new art-form known as SPIN. If a politician has the ability to successfully “spin” a version of truth that will soothe listeners or deceive them, he’s admired by many people & considered someone worth looking up to. Gone are the days when GREATNESS & HONESTY were a package deal.

We have historians re-shaping history to conform to the morals of our day. We even have a whole new type of newspaper today know as SCANDAL SHEETS or TABLOIDS. They are sold, of all places, at grocery stores & usually have “true” headline stories on the front page. Stories like, - “Hundred year old woman gives birth to two-headed baby after being kidnapped by a UFO.” People buy these things because they are tantalized at the thought of hearing the latest smut on some person…even if it’s almost certain to be untrue.

We are all bombarded by claims each & every day that are totally bogus.
Maybe you don’t get the same email or watch the same advertisements I watch daily but if I believed everything I hear & read I’d have by now become rich by investing with some guy in Africa, I would by now have the physique of Superman, I would have my house filled with drugs & food-supplements I bought at bargain basement prices- no need for a prescription, & I would be free of credit-card debt. Liar, Liar, pants on fire. In a day when lies abound, the truth can actually be refreshing no matter how bad it is.

It’s horrendous, especially in ministries, to indict or be indicted as a liar & it’s equally as terrible to engage in the kind of secrecy that keeps others in the dark. It’s enlightening to read the words of 1 Timothy in 4:1-6,

-- Now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits & doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron….


Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?”

Indeed what is it?

What appears to be the truth isn’t always the truth & if you think you know all the truth maybe you’d better ask some more questions. To say that the truth was/is important to Jesus is like saying the Atlantic Ocean is a little damp. In the Gospel of John alone the word truth occurs 25 times & it’s usually coming from the mouth of Jesus Himself. He said—you will know the truth & the truth will set you free. To Jesus, to live in ignorance & error is to live in bondage.


The ninth commandment in Exodus 20:16 says;--You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor—this commandment has never been timelier. God takes lying seriously—very seriously, and for good reason. In the words of more than one great intellect, “there can be no true community in the face of public lies.” Oh how we need to hear this & take it to heart. Oliver Wendell Holmes said—“Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all.” God understood that any relationships based on lies can’t stand. Jesus told us in John 8:44—the devil is the father of lies.

Proverbs 6:16-19 lists seven things that will drive a wedge between us & God. Listen to what it says,--There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him; haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies & a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

This certainly isn’t a perfect analogy but with God it’s somewhat like a person with allergies. I have known people who are allergic to things like ragweed or cat hair. Their immune system is overly sensitive to those things. Their eyes will water & itch. They cough & sneeze until you think their head is going to fly off. It’s sad to watch them suffer. All because they can’t tolerate something in the air that they can’t even see.

God is “allergic”to all sin but he especially hates lies. Jesus was truth incarnate. God is called “The God of truth.” The Holy Spirit is called “The spirit of truth.” Paul says of the people in Romans 1,--They exchange the truth of God for a lie. By lying we separate ourselves from God, so there are several negative consequences that come with disobeying the 9th commandment. Matthew 5:37 says,--Let your communication be yea, yea & nay, nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

St. Telemachus was a fourth century monk who lived in a monastery in Europe. Under the Spirit’s leading one day he set out on a journey to Rome. When he arrived he followed a crowd into the Coliseum. As he watched, in the arena, gladiators came out & began to fight to their deaths. Telemachus thought, “Here we are four centuries after Christ in a civilized nation & people are killing each for the entertainment of the crowd. This isn’t Christian.”

So he got up from his seat ran down the stairs, climbed over the wall, walked into the arena & stood between two large gladiators. Putting his hands to his mouth he meekly shouted, “In the name of Christ stop.” The crowd jeered him but he continued to say the same thing until finally one of the gladiators took his sword & stabbed Telemachus in the stomach. Before he died he uttered the words again, “In the name of Christ stop,” then he expired on the arena floor.

The crowd grew silent & within minutes they all got up & left the coliseum. History records that thanks to Telemachus, this was the last gladiatorial contest in the history of the Roman Empire. The same Holy Spirit who led Telemachus to stand for the truth will lead you & me to do the same thing whether it’s to speak out against racism, abortion, homosexuality, or even against our nation’s tolerance of lying.

It’s not enough to NOT LIE. We must speak up for the TRUTH!


Blessings,


John