WHO’S YOUR DADDY?

You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

How important is it for you to know the truth? How important is it that we all learn to discern between truth and lies? I submit to you that it is vital to your very life! Trust is built on the foundation of truth. From the beginning of time, the most important question man has had to answer is: Who are you going to trust?

Yesterday, I talked a little bit about this idea of conspiracy theories, something that is these days taking over social media. A simple Google search shows us one dictionary’s definition of a conspiracy theory as a belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event. Wikipedia says this: While a conspiracy theory might be taken to mean any explanation of an event or situation involving a conspiracy, in popular usage the term carries the pejorative connotation that the appeal to a conspiracy is implausible and based on prejudice or insufficient evidence. For the believer, taken to its ultimate conclusion, the dictionary’s definition can only be true up to a point. That men are responsible for evil is true, but that God is in control and works out that evil for the good of His children and His glory, is also true. I find the Wikipedia statement fascinating because it implies that conspiracy theories have a negative association because they are based upon prejudice or insufficient evidence.

The criminal legal case brought against my son and I came down to one key element: Who do you trust? Who do you believe? Why do you believe or not believe them? Those questions have followed us throughout these past fourteen years and have left an indelible impression on the way we process every facet of our lives. Throughout what I call my whole “prison trial”, the question that kept pressing itself against the forefront of my mind was this: When did it become acceptable for men to lie? The thought that always followed was: Karla, why is this realization so shocking to you? I mean, from the false accusations to the whole circus of legal “justice” in the courtroom, I guess it bothered me because I was feeling the effects of lies against me firsthand. Certainly, I was naïve before this great lesson. There is no doubt I had lived in a Christian bubble, to some extent, before that time. But I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for all the lessons I learned throughout this season of my life. All the truths I knew and loved before, I now believe with a greater depth and conviction I didn’t know was possible.

We grew up watching Perry Mason and courtroom shows on television. One thing that stood out in stark contrast to reality growing up was what I saw inside a real courtroom. When a witness takes the stand today in a Federal courtroom, he swears to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That’s it! No Bible, no “so help you God”. The moment the first government “witness” took the stand, I knew we were in trouble. Apparently, it is also widely accepted that we are all our own standard of truth, that there is no higher authority than ourselves. That is really scary!

Men and women lie. They always have. We should not be surprised by it when we look at the Scripture verse for today. What is surprising is this noticeable shift in how lying has become acceptable, expected, and not exposed as sin. This should shock us as believers and as American citizens! Revelation 21:8 gives us a list of sins that characterize those who will one day find themselves in the Lake of Fire. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

God hates lying! Proverbs 6:17-19—There are six things which the LORD hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.

In Chapter 8 of the gospel of John, we see Jesus teaching the people. Enter the Scribes and Pharisees. These religious elite of the day, were always laying traps for Jesus so as to bring a false accusation against Him in order that they might arrest Him. They wanted to discredit Him to the people who believed in Him. (To see the scathing rebuke Jesus gave these Scribes and Pharisees, see Matthew 23.) They hated Jesus with a passion because as the truth, He spoke only truth, and that truth included the confession that He is God.

In the account of the woman caught in adultery, we see their covert operations in action. In the Law of Moses, a woman caught in adultery was to be stoned to death. It is interesting to me that they bring this woman to Jesus in front of the crowd. Reminds me of the wild news frenzy that ensues against those who are the accused (put not proved guilty) in our day. The Jews (Scribes and Pharisees) were all about holding people to the letter of the Law, yet they did not keep the Law themselves. The people who were following Jesus were drawn to Him by grace. The Jews believed they had forced Jesus into a corner by demanding He make a judgment regarding this woman. They should have known that the One to whom the Law belonged also gave it in the spirit of the Law of liberty. In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus told His disciples that the Law God gave to Moses could be summed up into one principle, and that is to love God with all the heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus had fulfilled that law Himself. If they wanted to judge others by the letter of the Law, then they should be judged likewise. John 8:7—But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” The commentary on this verse in the John MacArthur study Bible says: Verse 7 directly refers to Deuteronomy 13:9 and 17:7 where the witnesses of a crime are to start the execution. Only those who were not guilty of the same sin could participate.

Some have proposed that when Jesus stoops down to write something in the dust, without saying a word, He is writing the sins of the accusers. Only God would know their individual sin. The result? It could read: They began slithering away. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Jesus proceeds to ask her if anyone is left to condemn her. When she sees that there is no one, He says, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.” John 3:17-18, the verses proceeding the most beloved of all verses, 3:16, says, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already…” Just like darkness must flee in the presence of light, lies must flee in the presence of truth. How do we know the truth? As we will see further in the text, Jesus says to believers: If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Those who walk in the darkness are enslaved to sin and cannot see the light of truth that gives true freedom until Jesus tells them, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”

Why has it become so acceptable to lie? Someone once said that sin thrives in an environment of darkness, lies, and secrets. It has become acceptable to lie because our world has become more comfortable in their sin to the point that they no longer try to hide it under the cover of darkness. Ephesians 5:11 tells us that we are not to take part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but to instead expose them. How do we expose the darkness? By shining the Light of truth upon it. More on John 8 in the days to come.