Six More Definitions of a Lie
Introduction: A Lie Is Far More Than a “Little White Lie”
This teaching continues the series we began a few weeks ago on lying and deception. Most of us have something very particular in common: we hold practically one single definition of what a lie is, and as for deception, we may not have any definition at all. Yet according to the Word of the Lord, there are several definitions, and many of them we do not recognize, or we simply do not consider them deception. Even so, at some point or another we will have fallen into one of these situations.
Let us recall the first two definitions. The first is that a lie is hiding a personal reality. For example, a person who is mistreated at home comes to church saying that everything is fine, that nothing is wrong, that the glory of God is manifest in their home. The Word of the Lord considers that a lie, because that person is hiding a personal reality. The second definition is that a lie is denying a personal reality. It seems like the same definition, but it is not. Hiding is acting as though it had never happened, as though it were impossible. Denying, on the other hand, means admitting that the situation exists but rejecting it in front of others. Think of a man or a woman who loses a father, a mother, or a loved one and tells everyone, “Everything is fine; I haven’t felt any loss or any pain.” But when they are alone, the weeping begins, along with the pain, the suffering, and the frustration, everything that cannot be shown in the presence of other people. That is denying.
Alongside these definitions we have affirmed something of great importance: deception is every lie embraced. No one can be deceived unless they embrace a lie. Deception is not established at the outset; it is the result of a path of lies that have been embraced. In this chapter we move on to definitions three through eight. The last three are somewhat more complex, but, as we will see, we also encounter them routinely and daily in our lives.
The Third Definition: Distorting a Fact to Show Urgency
The third definition is that a lie is distorting a fact to show others the urgency of something. For example, there is a sale, and the sale is real, but it is presented as lasting only until today, until six o’clock this evening. In doing so, something is being exaggerated to make it seem that the decision must be made now, at this very moment.
Appearances and the Pressure of Time
Closely related to this is what happens when a person develops an outward appearance before others. Whoever does this is already in deception: they put on an appearance of not being nervous, of everything being fine. A visitor comes to the house, and it looks like the happiest marriage or the most orderly family, and they begin to show an appearance to people. Appearances are also put on through clothing. And they are put on through words: some use elaborate vocabulary to appear noble and deceive people; others constantly use biblical words, an entirely religious vocabulary—“God bless you, amen”—to give an appearance of religiosity.
Whenever something looks attractive and comes with time pressure, we need to stop. We cannot rush; we have to think, we have to take time. Taking time to think things through is not wrong; acting hastily is. The lie lies precisely in elevating one priority over everything else.
The Purpose: Getting Out of the Scheme of Lying
As we have said since we began this series, the purpose is not to fill ourselves with knowledge. The purpose is to identify our own realities so that we can get out of lying, out of having embraced a lie, out of having walked in deception. There are things in our lives—and by things I mean behaviors, attitudes, feelings, emotions, thoughts, and in some cases even obsessions—that we will not be able to resolve until we get out of the scheme of the lie. We human beings define a lie as a “little fib”: he didn’t tell me the truth. But we are realizing that a lie is an entire scheme, and it is a spiritual scheme. Many of us have walked in schemes of lying, and in walking in them we fall into deception. Therefore, listen carefully: everything we decide within that scheme of deception will turn out badly. It will not merely be false; it will turn out badly.
Recently we have run into people we used to know, and what we have seen is exactly this. Instead of going from glory to glory, from blessing to blessing, with the best wine saved for last, we have found that their condition has declined, that they have entered a process of deterioration so severe that we say, “My goodness, what happened over the years?” And it is precisely because we so often walk in schemes of deception that we ourselves bring about; we ourselves embrace those lies. Therefore, nothing will go well for us as long as we walk in schemes of lying and deception. Brother, don’t just write it down: make it part of your very life. Nothing will go well for me as long as I walk in a scheme of lying and deception. It is as simple as that.
Nor is the purpose merely to be able to minister to other people, though of course we want to help. But we will not be able to help anyone if we ourselves are walking in those same schemes of lying and deception.
Inflating a Situation to Impress
Often the scheme of the lie consists in having grown accustomed to inflating something to make it stand out, so that others will decide to buy what we are presenting. It also happens when a person has a need and greatly inflates their situation: “Here in this country everything is terrible; it’s chaos, it’s a disaster; you have no idea how we are living here.” When we try to inflate something simply to impress others, to get them to rally to our side, we are walking in a scheme of lying and deception, because we have embraced the lie.
Health Conditions Used to Manipulate
This becomes especially severe when it comes to health conditions, because some people use them to manipulate others. Usually it is parents who manipulate their children with their health conditions and enslave them, although there are also children who do it to their parents, and husbands and wives to one another; there is every kind. But I have often seen—and it has literally happened to me—that when the person senses you are going to be away, they present themselves in a more distressing condition so that you will stay tied to caring for them. When you are not there, that person manages quite well, but the moment they see you, the situation gets complicated. The aim is to bind the person and manipulate them through the health condition.
We have to understand that health conditions should be attended to with proper care, as is appropriate in life. But most health situations are spiritual, and we have to understand that there can then be a manipulating spirit. That spirit also uses the condition to bind you to it, even when you have nothing wrong with you. That is why we have to identify that manipulation. We have to turn to the absolute truth, which is that of Jesus, in order to end a lie. The only way to undo a lie is Jesus; there is no other way. And it is Jesus who must give us the answer about what to do. When He gives it to us, let us not close our ears and say, “Wait, you’ll have to confirm this for me.” Is that absolute truth not necessary?
Distortion Reproduces Itself in Others
As for this third definition, every distortion of the facts is a lie, without exception. As we have seen from the exposition, distortion leads a person into processes of manipulation, not only with themselves but also with other people, because they will try to get others to agree with what they have decided. This is the most serious part: deception reproduces itself in the person, but it also reproduces itself in everyone around that person.
We have biblical examples in 1 Kings 21:8-14, the case of the false witnesses against Naboth, and in Acts 5:1-11, the case of Ananias and Sapphira. I invite you to read both passages in your personal study.
Every time we see that we are distorting the facts, let us keep in mind that there is a lie we embraced in the past and that we are walking in deception. Let us not look only at the deception; let us look for the lie we embraced, because as long as we keep embracing the lie, the deception will not go away. We have said this from the beginning: it is not only a matter of undoing the deception but of undoing the lie. If we undo the deception but the lie remains, within months the person falls into it again—perhaps not in the same thing, but in something similar—and often that deception mutates. As a rule, the next deception is stronger: if the lie remains, the deception that comes after it is much, much stronger.
The Fourth Definition: The False Interpretation of the Facts
The fourth definition is that a lie is every false interpretation of the facts. In this case the senses are involved, all the senses; also included, often, are dreams and visions, and everything we have picked up from society in terms of omens and superstition. You have seen, for example, people who say, “I feel God,” simply because they got goosebumps. That is one example. Others say, “But I saw it,” or “I heard it.” I have known people who, when facing a decision, hear a voice telling them, “Look behind you,” or “Look over there.” They may understand those sensations, but their purpose is to lead them to develop a false interpretation of the facts.
Surely you have known people who have gotten into situations like this: “I was going to go out, but since it was raining, I understood that I shouldn’t go.” That is superstition, a false interpretation of the facts: I saw so many obstacles to doing it that I concluded I shouldn’t do it. Or the complete opposite: I saw that everything went smoothly for me; I felt peace. And the example the pastor gave, so common in our day: “I felt peace, so I made the decision, understanding that God was backing me.” A man of God, a woman of God, does not walk that way, brother. That is known as divination by omens, and such divination is part of the occult sciences, in which many people are walking and multiplying deception precisely through the false interpretation of the facts.
Let us look at two passages: Micah 2:11 and Zechariah 10:2. The first says:
“If a man walking in the spirit of falsehood should lie, saying, I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink, he shall be the prophet of this people” (Micah 2:11)
Now let us hear the same passage in the older version, which presents some additional elements:
“If there be a man who walks with the wind and feigns lies, saying, I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink, he shall be the prophet of this people” (Micah 2:11)
To walk “with the wind” means to be moved by the wind; in other words, spiritual forces are inciting that person to act. Now let us look at Zechariah:
“For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain; therefore the people went their way like sheep, they were afflicted because there was no shepherd” (Zechariah 10:2)
There are many other passages we could cite, but these are conclusive regarding this definition: every false interpretation of the facts, in which the senses are involved, or an activity of dreams, an activity of visions, or an activity of omens, can lead a person down a path of lying and deception.
The Deceived Prophet and the One Who Consults Him
In Ezekiel 14:9-10 the Lord Himself is speaking:
“And if the prophet be deceived when he has spoken a word, I, Jehovah, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall be the same as the punishment of him who inquired” (Ezekiel 14:9-10)
What is happening here? There are people who come to find out something or to ask for an explanation of something, and first they make a kind of preamble: “No, my intention wasn’t this; what I wanted was that; what I understood was that they told me there was a good solution…” In this way they soften the path to seek the prophet’s opinion, not what God wants to say, and the prophet lets himself get drawn in and makes a deal: “Wow, you’re right!” Then, when he is about to speak, God will deceive the prophet so that the prophet will deceive the person and tell him, “Yes, that path is good, go there; if you consult, there’s no problem.” And both the prophet and the one who went to consult bear the sin.
What a responsibility a prophet carries! Many people do not like hearing someone tell them, “Look, that is deception; don’t say that again, because what you are saying is such-and-such,” and they feel confronted. Why must it be this way? Because if the prophet is deceived by the spirit that presented itself, God Himself will cause him to speak what the person wants to hear, but both will bear the punishment: the one who came to consult and the prophet who let his ear be sweetened. That is why it is best to have no preambles or explanations: “It’s just that I understood…,” “it’s just that they told me this and I believed it…,” “well, the way I saw it…” All who have had the experience know that whoever shows up with that kind of thing receives a very harsh answer in return. Why? Because otherwise I would also bear the sin of the one who came to consult me, since I let myself be deceived. I have to judge things according to the Word, not according to my own judgment, nor according to what I may think in someone’s favor, not even out of love. That applies to my children, to my husband, to the sheep, and to myself.
If I myself receive revelation and understanding from the Spirit—“That was not right”—I cannot stay silent: if I did wrong, I have to come and confess it immediately. How easy it is! The Holy Spirit told me, and I answer, “Yes, Lord, I did wrong; this and this happened.” Someone will say, “But I have a relationship with God.” Yes, and that is precisely why the Holy Spirit convicted me: so that I would correct it. But I have to own up to it.
Walking According to the World
You are realizing, I trust, that all these cases repeat themselves every day. This is practically the routine, everyday situation of every man and every woman of God. The only thing is that we did not know we had fallen into a lie and a deception. For what reason? Quite simply, because we are still not walking according to the Gospel, but according to the world. The practices and the doctrine of the world still persist in us; we still walk with our own judgment, our own opinions, everything the world taught us. And if some of us were in religious groups such as Catholicism, apostate groups, or occult groups, all of that has clung to us down to the bones. When they come to Christ Jesus, many of them strip off none of it, but keep walking with the same practices, the same thoughts, the same attitudes, and the same sensations, and now they multiply the deception that was born back then.
God’s Patience Is Time
There is a deception that must be destroyed: the idea that Jesus accepts us as we are, and that is that. That deception must be destroyed, because God says, “Look, I have given you time.” When the people of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness, all of them died there. They did not all die at once; rather, each year one segment of the population died, and the next year another. That is how Christians are: each year something in the person dies, each time something dies, until a cycle comes to an end. God says, “Look, I have given you time.”
There is a characteristic of God, part of His personality—I believe—or of His attributes: patience. But God’s patience is not like what we understand patience to be. It is true that the fruit of the Spirit gives us a patience to handle certain matters, so that we do not lose control, because otherwise our nervous system would blow up somewhere. But God’s patience is time. God says, “I leave you here; in fifteen years I will visit you again in this situation,” and God’s patience is those fifteen years. Or He says, “Twenty years from now I will weigh you on this matter, and that matter will come to visit you.” And we think that during all that time we can do this and that and still have the presence of God; we think it is not so bad, or that God is permissive, and we do not understand how God works.
We have people who serve God and say, “I’m going to dye my hair violet, I’m going to get five hundred tattoos, and I’m going to be an example of how God can work through a person, even one who has this.” And many people will believe that this is fine, as if the Word did not speak about it. Time passes, and we expected something to happen to them, and nothing happened: they were not punished for preaching the Word and setting an example in themselves that does not come from God. The person themselves even becomes convinced that God has been permissive with them: “I’m a special case; God has had mercy on me.” What they do not understand is that they are in a span of God’s patience. Because after God’s patience ends, He comes looking for fruit; if He finds it, He multiplies it, and if not, the fig tree simply withers: He brings a word of dryness upon the person and withers them.
We have to understand how God works. There is a mantle of mercy, there is the grace of God, and there is the patience of God, and the patience of God is time. “Look, I have given you time.” There are moments when we can be in a visitation from God and not understand why the wrath of Jehovah has come upon us. It is because I gave you time and your time ran out. God sets the time. We cannot say, “Maybe God will give me one more chance.” No: there is a time, and when the time is over, it is over; and then the person’s problem is that they have deceived themselves. Where do we see this in the Word? In Revelation 22:10-11:
“Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him practice righteousness still; he who is holy, let him be holy still” (Revelation 22:10-11)
All the time God gives a person is because He is just and patient, but that does not mean the person will change; it only means that He gives a time. There are people who will not change, because they have no will to change and do not want to; they feel fine the way they are and think they have negotiated it with God, that it is already settled. The passage also says: “he who is righteous, let him practice righteousness still.” Practicing righteousness means that you have to face each thing and establish the truth of God still. In other words, you still face warfare, you still face effort, you still face sacrifice, because establishing justice takes effort: the world is not just, and you have to go against the world and everything the world has. Righteousness is the Word of God. There are righteous people, holy people, filthy people, and unjust people; and in His patience God has given time to the unjust as well as to the righteous.
The Fifth Definition: Everything Done in Secret
Together with the fourth definition, and running practically parallel to it, we have the fifth: a lie is everything done in secret. Often we hear expressions like this: “I didn’t know I had to tell you this too.” Whoever speaks this way prefers to walk without anyone knowing, and that is a lie; that is a scheme of lying. Why? Because the Word says it clearly: those who work in secret do not come to the light, so that their works will not be brought to light. Everything that is true is made manifest; everything that is a lie is hidden. Therefore, any tendency in a man of God to hide things indicates that he is walking in a scheme of lying and, consequently, in a scheme of deception.
The remaining definitions—the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth—are somewhat more complex. As I said a few moments ago, we will also encounter them routinely, daily, quite often.
The Sixth Definition: The Incomplete Truth
The sixth definition is that a lie is every incomplete truth. I define it this way: two or more facts are presented, all of them true and accurate, and the false one is left for last, with the aim of passing the false off as true and receiving approval. A good biblical example is found in Genesis 3:1-5:
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1-5)
In the serpent’s speech there are three arguments: two true and one false. But because the false one stood next to the true ones, he tried to pass it off as true as well. Which is the false one? “You will not surely die.” God had said that in the day they ate of it, they would surely die. Here we find cunning—we read it in verse 1—and we also find manipulation, with the aim of leading others to a false conclusion.
Something similar happens when someone says, “I went to the doctor, and the doctor told me to take this medication, but I decided I’m not going to take it.” Deep down, that person is not convinced, because they have no faith, because they are not walking by faith. So they try to convince others about their decision, even though inside there is no conviction. And here is the great difference: in a scheme of truth, there is no need to convince anyone; we act and we establish. In a scheme of lying, there is a need to convince others. Are we understanding this?
There is another example I would like us to check, in Joshua 9:3-13:
“But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors, and took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us” (Joshua 9:3-6)
The men of Israel answered the Hivites: “Perhaps you dwell among us; so how can we make a covenant with you?” They answered Joshua: “We are your servants.” Joshua asked them who they were and where they came from, and they spoke of the fame of Jehovah and of all He had done in Egypt and to the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan. And they added:
“This bread of ours we took hot for our provision from our houses on the day we departed to come to you; but now look, it is dry and moldy. And these wineskins which we filled were new, and look, they are torn; and these our garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey” (Joshua 9:12-13)
We know the rest of the story: Joshua and the elders made a covenant with the Gibeonites, who were of the Hivite people. Some truths are presented, but along with them at least one lie is presented. The aim is, through cunning, to manipulate others and lead them into a false interpretation. This is an example of how a lie is an incomplete truth. And on many occasions, in light of these examples, we will realize that we have done the same: we present, “I do this, I did this, and I did this,” and then, when we see the assent of the people listening to us, we present a weakness so as to go unnoticed before others.
Truth as the Requirement for God’s Justice
In Psalm 85 there is a description of how God operates, of how the Kingdom of heaven works, and of how God answers what we ask of Him. It says in verses 10 and 11:
“Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven” (Psalm 85:10-11)
As long as there is no truth, we cannot demand that God do us justice. Truth has to spring up from the earth so that God will bend down to look and establish justice. Mercy and truth met together: a requirement is truth. When God displays His mercy and finds truth, He immediately finds righteousness, and righteousness and peace kiss. There are people who cannot live in peace; they have no tranquility; they have unrest; they cannot say, “I really have no worries about anything, literally nothing.” Why? Because there is a lack of truth. When truth does not spring up from the earth, there cannot be an activity of God’s justice that is immediately established and brings peace. There is always a situation, always a conflict, always some reason not to sleep. When people find themselves in a situation where they cannot sleep, it is because there is no truth. Truth is the requirement for Him to bend down.
Truth and justice are two things that go hand in hand. The Word says:
“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32)
Truth is His Word; truth is Jesus. And the truth is that we have to examine our actions, our thoughts, and our attitudes to see where they are grounded, because if they are not in the truth, they are in deception. If we do not get out of that deception, there will be no cleansing in that area and no manifest justice. The justice of God has to come that justifies us, that places us, that positions us, that restores us. God is calling us to the truth because it is a requirement; it is not optional, “if you want.” It is a formula established by God, not by man, and no one can invalidate it. It is a spiritual law: where truth is established, God’s justice immediately follows.
A Single Lie Invalidates Everything
So we have this case of the incomplete truth. There can be five truths, or add as many truths as you like, but a single lie turns the whole situation into a lie. Let me say it again: just because there were eight or ten true facts and one false one does not mean the rest stands. The false fact invalidates everything, and therefore everything we have said and done becomes a lie. It is extremely important that we understand this.
Why? Because Matthew 7:21-23 speaks of men who stand before the Lord and say to Him, “Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in Your name? Did we not speak in new tongues in Your name? Did we not do miracles in Your name?” And they receive this declaration in return: “Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity” (Matthew 7:23). They walked in a scheme of lying, they walked in a scheme of deception; and if they walk that way, it does not matter what they have done—listen carefully—all of it is considered a lie. We can also see this in Isaiah, chapter 1. It was a people very strict in applying the Mosaic law, yet the Lord says that none of it pleases Him; on the contrary, He sees all of it as an abomination.
Let us not think, brothers and sisters, that we can deceive God. Many times we present our lives saying, “Look at what I did, look at this, look at that,” but it may be that what we did not do, we leave unsaid. That is another way of seeing the same thing: I presented all the truths, but what I did not do, I did not say. Therefore, there is a scheme of lying.
The Seventh Definition: A Lie Disguised as Truth
The seventh definition is basically the same thing, but in a different order: a lie is a lie disguised as truth. For this we can read a passage we have cited on other occasions, in 2 Timothy 3:5:
“Having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5)
Let us also look at 1 Samuel 15:20:
“And Saul said to Samuel, But I have obeyed the voice of Jehovah, and have gone on the mission on which Jehovah sent me, and have brought Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites” (1 Samuel 15:20)
Saul said that he had done what God had told him: I killed Agag and I destroyed the Amalekites. But Samuel answered him that this was not what God had told him: he was supposed to destroy everything. When God commands destruction, of men and animals, it is a matter of blotting out the memory. There are things whose memory we will not be able to blot out until we remove ourselves. Then we say to the Lord, “Lord, I have removed everything; I have given up this, I have given up that,” but we have not blotted out the memory. There are times when people are still present who should not be, and there are animals that have not been removed. In other words, we cannot present ourselves to God saying “I did it” when we have not done everything we have to do; in reality, we have not done it.
Let us keep in mind, brothers and sisters, that God weighs all things. We can put on an appearance before others and even obtain their approval, but God, who weighs hearts, knows that we are not walking in truth. Another example that explains this definition is the one we already pointed out, that of Ananias and Sapphira. Peter says to him, “Did you sell the property for so much?” and he insisted, “Yes, for so much.” Later, when the wife arrives, she is asked the same thing, and she held to it: “Yes, for so much.” We know the account. If there is a scheme of lying, if there is a scheme of deception, even what we give to the Lord—understand this, everything we give to the Lord—will often be shortchanged. Because I believe that with this I am fulfilling my duty, I believe I am giving it according to the Word, and it may be that I am not, brothers and sisters; it may be that we are not giving completely, that we are falling into the same case as Ananias and Sapphira. Therefore, we are walking in an atmosphere of deception. It is not a matter of saying, “Lord, forgive me, but I had my reasons for doing it that way.”
The Word says that truth will spring out of the earth and righteousness will look down from heaven. Where there is truth, there is the work of God.
The Eighth Definition: Every Word Spoken by a Deceiver
Let us look at the last definition in Matthew 4:6:
“And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Matthew 4:6)
I ask: is there a lie in that text? And if there is a lie, is there deception in that text? We know that whole passage; it belongs to Psalm 91. I think we will all quickly say: no, it is the Word of God; it is impossible for there to be a lie or deception. Well, the eighth definition is this: every word spoken by a deceiver is a lie. Let me repeat: every word, even if it is from the Bible, spoken by a deceiver, is a lie. This is strong, brothers and sisters. When a person has become accustomed to living in deception and walking in a scheme of deception, everything they do, everything they say, everything they produce is a lie and deception. It is hard. That is why many people do not do well. “But I am declaring the Word, I am preaching, I am quoting passages; look how many passages I quote, look how many passages I know by heart.” Every word, every declaration, even every deed, every action uttered or declared by a deceiver, becomes deception.
God Weighs Motives
What does it mean that the Lord weighs the motives, the reason, and the foundation? He weighs what you have done with the opportunity God has given you. A moment will come when God will look upon the Earth seeking truth and will weigh all of us again: why are we here? God will do it. Some people will remain and some will disappear, because when God raises up a work, it has a function, and if that function is not fulfilled, He raises up a new work, a new thing. God does that. I know it because I have lived it and because God has revealed it to me: I have seen how God acts in His patience, which marks the times. He goes looking to see whether what He set out to establish was done, and if not, He makes a new vessel again. Is the purpose for which He raised you up being fulfilled? In this we cannot deceive ourselves.
That is why each one of us has to go before the Lord without deception, because He is the only one who can restore us and relocate us, or the one who determines that He is finished with us: “Look, your time is up; I am going to cast you aside.” If He is going to relocate you, He will relocate you; if He is not going to relocate you but will put you at another level, He puts you at another level. God does that, not we as a ministry. But where there is no truth, God cannot work, because Satan is the father of lies. One of the most important things is the truth.
Conclusion
I have to tell you, brothers and sisters, because in the same way that I teach you about this, I must tell you that God has found lying and deception among His people. We are not going to keep walking in lying and deception. It is not for our sake, it is for yours: having received teaching as profound as what you have received, without reserve on our part—we have given you everything—how can there be resistance to abandoning the lying and deception in which we have walked all our lives? Brother, that calls down the judgment of God on a person’s life, and I have to tell you so. If you do not abandon your schemes of lying, your schemes of deception, your schemes of manipulation, your levels of cunning, your levels of ignorance, or your levels of wanting to minimize things, a time will come when you will remember these moments and long for them.
That is why I have to close this section. For several weeks, almost two months, we have been studying the subject of the old man, and this subject of lying and deception is practically the conclusion of that study, so that all of us may be confronted: how am I walking? What is my scheme of lying and deception? A moment is going to come when the plumb line will be dropped, brothers and sisters, and a wall that is not vertical will stand in judgment before the Lord. You already know it; you already know it, because you have already been informed. Let us not turn our backs on what God is speaking; let us weigh, each one of us, the Word He has brought.
We trust that the One who gives the Word, and who has declared that it will not return to Him void, also gives the ear to hear it and the heart to understand it.
Review Questions
- What does it mean that deception is “every lie embraced,” and why is it not enough to undo the deception without seeking out and undoing the lie that gave rise to it?
- Of the definitions studied in this chapter (distorting a fact, falsely interpreting the facts, doing something in secret, presenting an incomplete truth, disguising a lie as truth, speaking as a deceiver), which do you recognize in your own life, and what embraced lie might lie behind them?
- What does it mean that God’s patience is time, and how does that truth change the way you think about your decisions, your practices, and God’s supposed permissiveness?
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