Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Lies



Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)

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Scratching the Surface



of



Lies

 Dr. James I. McCord, President of Princeton Theological Seminary from 1959–1983 and President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, went home to Jesus in 1990.



Our Lord shared many blessings of knowledge and wisdom through him; and I will never forget what he said about ministry, stewardship, and lying.



During the 1976 General Assembly of United Presbyterians in Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. McCord challenged five young seminarians on the fifth floor of the Hilton Hotel: “Do something for Christ’s sake!  I don’t care if you succeed or fail.  Just do something for Christ’s sake!”



He often recalled the woman who complained to him after a sermon: “All you ever talk about when you preach is money.  All I ever hear from you is, ‘Give, give, give.’  He responded, “Have you ever heard of a better definition of Christianity than give, give, give?”



He told us, “Never lie!  You don’t have to reveal everything that you know or think.  But never lie.  You can tell people that it’s none of their business or that you’re not comfortable talking about it now or that you may talk about it at a later date or that you may never talk about it.  But never lie!”



Actually, those cherished memories are all about telling the truth.



Truly, truly, truly, we love God by loving like Jesus according to the book or doing something for Christ’s sake and we give in gratitude for what/who He gave (see John 3:16-17) and Jesus said the father/source/starter of all lies is satanos: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (see John 8:39ff).



So now you know the inspiration and kinship of liars.



People who love Jesus by the book are dedicated to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.



Back on February 3, 1980 in Woodstown, New Jersey, my buddy Paul Watermulder told Cub Scouts, “Lying is out.  Little lies, half-truths, and pretend stories are out.  They will not make you happy, because God does not like them.  No matter how much it hurts, God likes the truth best.”



I think of the mother who asked Dwight L. Moody how she could help her children to stop fibbing.  Moody answered, “Start calling them lies.”



John Calvin linked lying with the 9th commandment (“You shall not bear false witness!”) and said breaking it was “evilspeaking.” 



He wrote, “To sum up: let us not malign anyone with slanders or false charges, nor harm his substance by falsehood, in short, injure him by unbridled evilspeaking…hateful accusations arising from evil intent and wanton desire to defame.”



In other words, lies come from the pit of hell.



Truth is heavenly.



That means liars are…



Ouch.



Nobody wants to go there.



It’s true.



Honesty is the best policy…and prescription for harmony with God.
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Blessings and Love!

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Today. Obama to Pope. 'We stand with you in defense of religious freedom. A people cannot be free unless they are able to exercise thwir faith.' Obama knowingly lied.

Ella Jane said...

Bob,

I have never seen so many half-truths or blatant lies as now. Thanks for hitting this!

John said...

Well said