“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.” (Colossians 3:9). As a follow-up to my write-up on “The Lie about Truth ,” I have attempted to examine the flip side of it titled, “The Truth about Lies.” To lie is to speak falsely with the intent to deceive. While some posit that all lies are lies, others do not share the same opinion. The latter group argues that the use of wisdom in the management of particular situations to meet corporate goals cannot be classified as lies. Some lie for fear of people or the unknown, while others lie their way out to get what they want. Those who usually lie get some temporal relief from the anticipated difficulty or trouble. In the medium to long term, however, lies have always betrayed their perpetrators and brought irredeemable disgrace to them. God detests lies and those who bear false witness against others. (Exodus 20:16; Proverbs 6:16-19).
Humans equally get disappointed and lose trust in someone once they find out they lied. The devil is the only one who likes and lives on lies. About the devil, Jesus said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44). The origin of lies is, therefore, the devil which was transmitted to humankind through the fall in the Garden of Eden. No race, color, tribe, or ethnic group can be said to be expert or immune to lying, although cultural values and environmental factors may expose some than others. Lies are also not passed on genetically to others. It is in the seed of sin and, therefore, makes all humans predispose to it.
Sometimes, people confide in others and do not expect them to divulge certain information without their prior approval. Does one’s determination to keep such confidence amount to lying? Some situations warrant some actions or responses to prevent bloodshed or save a pending catastrophe. Will that also make people who find themselves in such godly missions liars? What then constitutes a lie in the perspective of God’s word? Are some lies smaller or whiter than others? Can lies be concealed forever? These and other related questions are what this write-up seeks to discuss. The objective is to unearth the deceptive nature and the hidden dangers associated with the patronage of lies as marketed by the devil.
A typical lie told out of fear is what Abraham did when he referred to Sarah as his sister instead of a wife. In Gerar, in the region of Negev, Abraham told the people of the Land that Sarah was his sister and not his wife. Although Abraham was not too wrong to call Sarah his sister due to their distant relationship, the motive of the response made it lie. Seventy-five years later, in the same town, Isaac, his son, also lied to the King that Rebekah was his sister and not his wife. Both nearly lost their wives to the King and his town folks but for God’s swift intervention. Covenant children or believers must always speak the truth because both God and the devil have a particular interest in our issues. (Genesis 20:1-7; 26:7-11).
Jacob’s sons also lied to their father about Joseph after they sold him to Egypt, but they could not cover it forever. Thirteen (13) years later, the truth bounced back with a certain amount of force to their utter shame and humiliation. Not all lies, however, survive for that long. When David and Joab masterminded the murder of Uriah, the Hittite, the truth came out a few weeks afterward at God’s instance through Nathan. Similarly, the lie Jacob and Rebekah connived and told Isaac could not even last for 24 hours. Therefore, humans do not have in their custody any implement to conceal lies. It will be only a matter of time before it is uncovered.
It was needless for Jacob to rob Esau of his blessings through the lie they told Isaac because Esau had already sold his birthright to him. Indeed, God doesn’t need a carnal hand to fulfill His divine purposes. There seems to be a force that motivates people to lie even if they feel reluctant to do so at times. Jacob initially reclined when his mother brought out the plan to rob Esau of his blessings. He told Rebekah in verse 12, “What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.” The force behind lies, however, was allowed to prevail over Jacob, and he went ahead to lie to his father. Thankfully, the power of Truth (i.e., God) is greater than the force behind lies, which is the devil.
Jacob had to run into exile for twenty (20) years after it came out that he lied and robbed Esau of his blessings. While in exile, Jacob was equally deceived not less than ten times by Laban. Even in his old age, he wasn’t spared the agony of patronizing lies at other people’s expense. His sons designed and well-choreographed a lie to him that a wild animal had devoured Joseph, his beloved son. Therefore, the temporal relief or “breakthrough” a lie brings is not worth it since the price when the truth is unveiled is too expensive to bear. Amnon paid with his life when he feigned sickness and slept with Tamar. Those lies, usually termed “white lies” or small lies, equally carry the same measure of risk, which casts a lasting dent in people’s trust levels and integrity. Abraham and Isaac referring to their wives as their sisters for fear of losing them nearly cost them their marriages instead. And can you imagine telling someone you have traveled out of town during a phone conversation only to bump into the person in traffic just after dropping the line? How on earth would such a person trust you again? There is, therefore, nothing small or white about peddling falsehood.
Another truth about lies is the amount of lies needed to cover a lie told when its expiry is approaching. So, in the Jacob, Esau saga, the former had to tell three (3) separate lies to cover up the first one. (Genesis 27:13-27). Isn’t it astonishing that even when people are lying, they are still able to swear Heaven and Earth to the extent of garnishing it with the name of the Lord? Isaac initially suspected some foul play due to the record time with which his food was served to him. Jacob, however, responded, “The LORD your God gave me success” (verse 20). Meanwhile, God was nowhere to be found in that lying production line. It is, therefore, not surprising to see people greeting, Praise the Lord, and others shouting Hallelujah when there’s nothing Hallelujah about what they are saying.
However, some may give responses to questions that may appear as a lie per the fact but are best described as a display of godly wisdom. In Joshua chapters one and two, Joshua sanctioned a security operation to be undertaken by two of his operatives before invading Jericho. A prostitute by the name of Rahab hid them in the roof space of her apartment and insisted she did not know their whereabouts when she was interrogated. Ordinarily, it appeared a lie she had told those the King of Jericho sent to her, but she instead kept the confidence of the deal the spies struck with her. Besides, Rahab appeared to have fallen for the God of Israel and the stories she had heard about the nation Israel. She, therefore, saw that as an opportunity to cast her destiny vote for Him rather than to hold that unquestioning loyalty to the national security apparatus of Jericho. She told the spies in her room, “We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” (Joshua 2:10-11).
It would be a lie to think that betraying the two spies was the truth and the way to go. In my opinion, Rahab did not lie for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of the spies who took refuge in the roof space in her room. Although some prefer to call that a white lie, I rather like to call it a God-fearing gesture worthy of emulation. The same applies to the two Hebrew midwives who feared God rather than men, so they managed the situation they found themselves in by the inspiration they got from God. Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, decreed that all male borns of the Israelis were to be killed at birth, but these two ladies disobeyed that order and allowed them to live. When they were interrogated, they told the King, “The midwives answered Pharaoh, Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” (Exodus 1:19). Meanwhile, this was not the case per the fact and, therefore, a lie per human or its literal definition.
Their motivation for allowing the Hebrew boys to live was the fear of God in their hearts. God’s endorsement of their action and response to Pharaoh can be found in the next verse. It reads, “So God was kind to the midwives, and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.” If God judged them to be liars, He wouldn’t have given them thumps up and piled blessings on their households. Lying is not relative per se, but anytime man’s orders conflict with God’s Word, the former would be the lie while the latter the truth.
In Matthew 16:20, Jesus instructed Peter and His twelve apostles not to tell anyone that He was the Messiah. What then was going to be Peter’s answer to those who came asking whether Jesus was the expected Messiah? Peter would have responded he didn’t know who the Messiah was. Was Jesus encouraging the apostles to lie? Never at all. If the epitome and embodiment of everything Truth tells you to be silent on a matter, who else can purport to judge you as a liar? Therefore, the mere keeping of confident information or some details of it from the public doesn’t make a person a liar or dishonest. Managing some information to prevent catastrophe and save situations and lives doesn’t also make a person a liar. The motive of a person’s actions in the sight of God is the most critical determinant in judging a lie. If it is to deceive others or for selfish and personal aggrandizement, then it is a lie. However, the use of wisdom in divulging information for the safety and good of general society unto God’s glory is better classified as wisdom. The litmus test for lies is the motive behind a person’s actions or responses.
It must also be categorically stated that the end of all liars is hell fire because God hates such practices (Proverbs 6:16-19). “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelations 21:8). Besides, even in this temporary life, it is difficult to point out a single benefit of telling lies apart from the superficial relief it provides its perpetrators at that very moment. Proverbs 21:6 states, “A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and is a deadly snare.” Let’s stop patronizing the devil by staying truthful always, irrespective of the short-term consequences we may suffer. It pays to be a child of God than the devil, whom Jesus refers to as the Father of all liars. Stay blessed.
Written by Apostle James Orhin Agyin
