April 15 Lies in the Bible

April 15

Lies in the Bible

Ge 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman,

Ye shall not surely die:

“I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet.” said young George Washington with the hatchet still in his hand. Mason Locke Weems wanted people to know that George Washington was an honest, truthful man. He also wanted the people who read his book about George Washington to follow the example of the young truth telling George. So it seems ironic that the story about the cherry tree was in itself a lie. Even worse it came from a preacher! But it never happened. Nope. Pure fiction.

Weems was better known as Parson Weems.  Many of his “myths” still live in our culture today. His intentions were noble and welcomed by people of the early 1800’s who wished to honor the memory of Washington. But they were none the less falsehoods.  

Telling lies no longer seems to be the evil it was a generation ago. We are confronted with messages which are not true almost daily from advertisers, the Internet, the news media and politicians.  Even the Bible contains lies, but the lies are of bad people in Scripture. The Bible itself is true, but it truthfully records lies people have told.

The devotional thought for today is that we need to be discerning so we are not harmed by the lies we daily hear.

The serpent told Eve a big fat lie. He is responsible for the lie, but Eve is responsible for believing him!  So too are we responsible when we are confronted with a lie.  Especially one that deals with our faith and relationship with God.

A good example of that principle is found in the story of the unnamed “man of God” in 1 Kings chapter 13.

1Ki 13:1 ¶ And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel…    

This Man of God had been sent by the Lord to condemn Jeroboam. When he condemned Jeroboam it set off a chain of events including the hand of Jeroboam becoming paralyzed and the Man of God praying that it be restored. Jeroboam then invited him to have a meal with him. But the Man of God had been instructed to “ …Eat no bread, nor drink water,…” and declined the invitation. Then he headed for Judah and his home.

The Bible continues the story with a prophet who lived in Bethel going after the Man of God and inviting him to come home for a meal.

The man of God knew exactly what the Lord had told him.

1Ki 13:16 And he said, I may not return with thee,

nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread

nor drink water with thee in this place:

 

So the old prophet used the devils trick and lied to the Man of God. 

1. 1Ki 13:18 …I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

The man of God went home with the old Prophet and had a meal after which he left and was later killed by a lion. He had believed a lie and it was a fatal mistake.

He had listened to the advice of a prophet who still lived in Bethel. What was a prophet doing living in bethel? He should have left with the other prophets when Jeroboam set up idol worship. This was a backslidden old prophet, as evidenced by him telling a lie about an angel speaking to him.

Why would the Man of God have violated his marching orders? We can learn much from this example.

1. Do not take advice from people who are backslidden. Their backslidden position should alert us they have made bad decisions for their own future and surely cannot advise us for ours.

2. Do not be swayed by religious sounding talk that runs contrary to what you already know.

3. If God wants to speak to your heart he does not need a stranger to deliver the message.

4. Nice sounding, reasonable suggestions should be put under the light of God’s word before you accept them. Too often it is the world asking you to compromise just a little. Don’t be so unreasonable is their hidden argument. If you really love people you would join us.

I find it fascinating that the world wants us to join them, but they do not want to join us!

Unfortunately, from time to time, we are being led astray by other Christians. It takes great discernment to recognize deception and avoid following bad advice, or ignoring those who say they know what God’s will is for our lives. Sometimes you have to swim against the modern popular movements in religious circles. Friends will tell you to go hear some great speaker who is just wonderful. Or go see a movie about the Bible where 99% is ok and only a little is false.

    Those are the times you need discernment. Another time we need great discernment is when preachers become famous and start telling you to send them money. People sent millions to Jim Baker and Tammy Faye.  Rock and roll music used to be bad but now it is called contemporary and used to praise God? 

      Companies that print Bibles are quick to tell you their latest version of the Bible is “from the original Greek” but slow to tell you there are more than one “original Greek texts” they can choose from for their latest scholarly version. It takes great discernment to know what is the true Word of God and what is Satan’s counterfeit. Could it be publishing houses are more concerned with profits than accuracy? Is that the reason they keep making new versions. Is it to correct earlier translations or make more money?   

The thought for us to carry away from today’s devotional is “Why did Eve believe Satan.”  And why do we believe some of the modern lies about our faith and practice?  As I said it takes discernment and God will give it to us if we but ask. God requires that we try the Spirits. Discernment is not optional. It is required in faithful servants. (1Co 4:2  Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.) There is still good advice for us today from the Old Testament.

De 11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your

heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside,

and serve other gods, and worship them;