Discerning Lies from Truth

Proverbs 17 Select Verses

4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips,

    and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

7 Fine speech is not becoming to a fool;

    still less is false speech to a prince.

9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love,

    but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

10 A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding

    than a hundred blows into a fool.

13 If anyone returns evil for good,

    evil will not depart from his house.

15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous

    are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

20 A man of crooked heart does not discover good,

    and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.

We, as followers of Jesus Christ, should not be those who entertain lies and what is contrary to God’s word and to the teachings of the Scriptures. We should not willfully listen to those who speak wickedly, who speak what is evil, who practice telling lies, and/or to those who twist the Scriptures to their advantage in order to continue living in sin. And we should not listen to vulgarity and anything that is mocking or making light of the Scriptures and the divine character of God. And we should not engage in gossip, either.

Now, in order for us to know the lies which are being spread, we do have to listen to or read what people are saying, to a point. For how can we refute the lies of the enemy if we do not know what the lies are that are being said? But that is not the same as us entertaining the lies in our minds and hearts and us listening with a desire to engage ourselves in the lies. But another way of looking at this is that what we might preconceive as lies may not be lies at all, but may be the truth but that we were taught were lies.

So, what am I saying here? Sometimes we get brainwashed to believe that the lies are the truth and that the truth is the lie and so we automatically reject certain things without even considering if what is being said is actually true or not. Now some things should be obvious, but not everything is, for we were all brought up believing things a certain way, and many have had their beliefs altered by the mind manipulations of the media, and by preachers, and so many people are believing lies as truth and truth as lies.

This is why we are taught in the Scriptures to test everything that we hear (or read) against the Scriptures, in context, and in prayer, to make certain of whether or not what we are listening to are lies or the truth. But sometimes we have things wrong and we do not realize it until we search the Scriptures ourselves and then we realize that what we were taught was not the truth, and that what we were believing was a lie. So we must be careful that we don’t reject the truth thinking that we are rejecting lies. And this is why we need to be students of the Scriptures who read them in context.

Now, with regard to what verse 9 teaches us, there are really two ways of looking at this, I believe. For this is speaking of covering another person’s transgression, a sin, which I believe has to do with forgiveness. We are to forgive those who sin against us and we are not to desire revenge nor retaliation, and we are not to gossip about the person who sinned against us in order to get others to think evil of the person. For it is loving to forgive others who sin against us and to not retaliate.

On a flip side of this, this is not talking about hiding sin or excusing away sin or giving the sinner the idea that his sin doesn’t matter to God or that he is okay if he continues living in that sin. This is not about condoning sin nor about excusing it away or coddling people in their sins. For the Scriptures teach that we are to speak the truth in love to one another, and that we are to exhort one another daily so that we are not hardened by sin’s deceitfulness, and we are to help restore one who has fallen back into sin.

And it is definitely not teaching that we are to excuse away or hide deliberate and habitual sin going on within the gatherings of the church, among those professing faith in Jesus Christ, and that we are to hide their sins so that no one finds out. For when sin is allowed to permeate the church it spreads like gangrene and it impacts the entire body of Christ. We are to confront habitual and intentional sin among the members of Christ’s body with the intention of bringing the sinners to genuine repentance.

And what verse 15 says here is definitely what is largely taking place today in the market-driven and flesh-driven “churches” here in America. For the wicked are largely being justified and the righteous are largely being condemned. For if you are living in deliberate and habitual sin you will often be coddled in your sins and comforted with a false message which gives you the assurance of salvation and eternal life with God regardless of how you live. Other people will like you because you are like them.

But if your life is committed to Jesus Christ and to his service, and so you take God and his word to heart, and so you are walking in obedience to the Lord in holy living, although not necessarily in absolute perfection, and so you are doing the will of God in loving the people of this world and by sharing with them the teachings of the Scriptures, and so you are calling sin what it is, and you are calling people to repentance and to obey the Lord, and you are refuting Satan’s lies, you will largely be rejected.

And that is because so much has been flipflopped to where good is being called evil, and evil is being called good, and those who are walking in sin are being applauded while those who are walking in righteousness are being cast away. And those who coddle people in their sins are being called “loving,” while those who confront deliberate and habitual sin in the lives of those professing faith in Jesus Christ are regarded as unloving and/or as judgmental and legalistic and/or self-righteous, etc.

So, be students of the Scriptures who know what they teach, in context, and don’t be followers of human beings, some of whom are lying to you. Don’t entertain the lies, but first of all be certain of what are lies and what is truth so that you don’t end up rejecting the truth in favor of the lies thinking that you are believing the truth and not the lies. And be those who forgive others their sins against you but don’t be those who coddle people in their sins and who make excuses for them so that they continue in their sin. Speak the truth, but speak it in love, and lead others to follow Jesus with their lives.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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