Living in an age of lies

The Bible speaks a lot on lying, for both the non believer and believer. Eph. 4:25: Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.”

Prov. 12:22: “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who deal truthfully are His delight.”

Lying always has the intent to deceive the hearer and protect the liar. Lies have permeated our culture, its celebrated on TV shows. People lie about investments to get ahead in business. It is used in nearly every vocation, even in religion. They lie in the church with false promises so that you give them your money. They brag on how many people are saved and healed, boasting on how God is using their ministry so people are more willing to give their money to them. In fact lying often has to do with only two goals, power and money.

We are in the time of lying, in both politics and religion. The lie is told so easily and boldly and the truth is told so weakly and inefficiently. We have been fed lies portion by portion, piece by piece for so long that the lie has become as the truth. And no one wants to believe lies have encompassed the way the church conducts her practices.
James Dresden “When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic.” We are inundated with so many lies we do not know where the truth is found anymore.

I Jn. 2:21 tells us “no lie is of the truth.” Lies are not just the opposite of the truth, a lie has NO truth. Lies reject honesty openness, integrity, love; they are an assault on everything good and holy. The tactic used to produce the first sin from the first humans, came from the source of all lies - Satan.

Here is what Jesus described Satan as…John 8:44-45: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
“But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me”.
His nature is to lie and to bring confusion to those who want to understand a matter. He does this by influencing people to lose integrity and lie. He concentrates on the areas that have the most influence, mostly on religion so that people do not arrive at the truth that can save them.

There is the spirit of the world, that lives in the natural man preventing him from receiving any of the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:12-14). The spirit of the Antichrist, we are told is already in the world. (I Jn. 4:3) that denies Jesus is the Christ “is the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). There is a spirit of the current age that does not lead people to truth but gives them the impression they are right.

Let me make some correlations so we can understand how the ‘spirit of the world” is working in politics and the church.

The most serious of dangers always come from within. This is true of a country and is certainly true of the church. The church has been corrupted from within in America and because of this encroachment the political system has been affected. Why? Because Americas spiritual beliefs (her religion) once guided and guarded the people. The Frenchman Alexis de Toucheville visited America in the 1830’s said America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” Which he determined were because of her religious views.
The peter principle is at work and has reached its zenith. Those who are incompetent are running things and ruining things. Because they lack integrity and have no moral compass except their own feelings they are unable to discern what is truth from what is false. The decisions they make is nearly always wrong in judgment.

Isa 59:14-15: “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice.”

Jer 7:28: “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.’”

Hosea 4:1-3: “Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel, for the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed.
Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away.”

United States of America is under judgment, because we have based our system on godly concepts and principles and yet do not enforce them, for the most part we have abandoned them. If you look up the judgments the Lord sends to a nation, they often come by weather, finances (unemployment),  food, health and increase in crime and murder. We see all of these in play. When the innocent are allowed to become victims i.e. the unborn, at some point God steps in.

What is the corruption that is taking place in politics and the business sector also is happening in religion. In fact because it has taken place in the church that God has allowed it to spread throughout. We are to be the salt to preserve but have lost our savor.

One of the greatest inroads the world has made in the church is to convince us to be non-judgmental in the face of blatant lies and hypocrisy. What is a lie, what is false, what is error is to be judged and removed not be tolerant as if we have no knowledge of the truth.

I don’t think many of us realize how far off the narrow road churches have gone with Christian media- TV, radio, magazines. From the prophetic and signs and wonders movements influence we have a parade of heresies: the newest revelation from prophets is always anticipated without ever holding them accountable of being wrong in their last prophecy. The word faith philosophies of health and wealth are never addressed when the last person pronounced healed died. The new moves of the spirit with people lying of their visiting heaven and writing books and going on tour with their invented lies. The whole Gnostic idea of being taught by a spiritual experience that challenges what is written. The newest tactic in spiritual warfare is sought when the last one promoted didn’t work any better than the one before that. The newest deliverer’s revelatory scheme to release one from curses and demons; or the newest fantasy book that claims to teach about God in metaphor, on and on ad infinitum. Like a merry go round that has spun out of control, when are we going to stop this to let people get off?

The word faith movement is like a union, its heretical teaching on positive confession for health and prosperity have become the norm for many. Word faith teaching has monopolized the TV air waves, the church is being influenced and controlled by its own corrupted media. The voices may change but the words and concepts are the same as it comes from the many different people.

We do not live in a perfect world nor is there a perfected church. But this should not be used to excuse our autonomous bible study. These false doctrines continue because people have been exposed to a group think mentality and do not want to be independent and think different than anyone else. After all we may have to stand on our own and be questioned for going against the flow (which is often the spirit of the age not the Holy Spirit). As Christians we are to be exercising the mind of Christ, not use our fallen nature, our natural mind.

When is the church leadership going to be serious enough about their faith to help the members begin a plan to not just read through but study the Bible. This is what the Bible calls discipleship after evangelism. This lazy influence has taken away the incentive for people to hunger, to study the Scripture on their own. Instead they are telling people to just have faith, a faith which is disconnected from the word in its context. It is a false faith because it concentrates on us, our will not God’s.

The “preachers of falsehood” have a monopoly of air time, but they will always have some truth included in between their sandwich of lies. Occasional inter-mitten Scripture are sprinkled as salt on an old rotten piece of meat that should have been thrown out long ago.

James 3:1: “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” Many who have no ability to teach the word (I do not mean speaking ability) are behind the pulpits influencing the church into unbiblical ways.

They end up using the Bible only to stop someone using the Scripture to expose their error; so they are actually trying to silence the truth. Much of the church is so spiritually immature she finds herself unable to distinguish between God’s Word of truth and Satan’s lies. The very thing Paul was fearful about… “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted-- you may well put up with it!”(2 Cor. 11:3-4) and how we put up with it today…. flattering the audience with stories of how wealthy they got with this “secret” they found. Tithe for your blessings, give to the TV prophet for the hundredfold, depend on the words they confess. Jesus is more like Santa Claus each day of the year. You can turn to the majority of Christian channels and hear these so called prophets tell you to call in the next few minutes to give money so that your situation can turn around by their speaking the word to God.

1 Cor 13:6 Paul says that love “does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.” (an interesting word, iniquity - adikia - (legal) injustice (properly, the quality, by implication, the act); morally, wrongfulness (of character, life or act). One cannot be walking in the truth if they support those who lie.
The truth comes from the nature of God, it is pure, it is beneficial, it is powerful, and it is written because He loves us. We need to listen carefully to discern that what a person speaks is in fact the truth.

We all know how arrogant politicians can be and so are the TV prophiteers that are selling the church a lot of worthless promises in the name of the Lord as a means of gain. We have all heard of junk science, we have junk doctrine, noxious speech that is useless for our spiritual growth. As Jeremiah wrote, “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit” (Jer. 7:8). They have revisioned the scripture to mean what they want it to mean to benefit themselves. Jude 1:19 “These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.”
These people go by their feelings and emotions and so they lack real logic and biblical agreement, the Holy Spirit is not with them. This all implemented by men who claim to be spirit filled, anointed, who are prophets and apostles but are actually without the Spirit, who have allowed another spirit to work. How can we tell? The Bible says if they do not speak according to this word they have no light in them (Isa.8:20). In other words they keep the darkness over the people and bring no dawn; not for you, nor themselves.

Exod. 18:21: “Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
Once the church compromised with these teachers it left the door open for them to be welcomed and established, instead of good men of truth that fear God, we have the opposite and have forfeited God’s blessing.

The Main media newscasters are on the side of Liberal progressive politicians just like the Christian broadcasters are on the side of word faith teachers. They bring in the money. People are hear few contrary views so it is basically a controlled media. The Christian TV has become an extension for the false teacher’s message of money – they have a centralized control, a monopoly on the air waves. They preach an unbiblical pseudo - ponzi scheme called “seed faith.” Their teachings for years have moved the church in the wrong direction that affected evangelism, discipleship and tithing and now many are reaping the whirlwind.

The connection of faith to our country is the church, America is reaping the wind because the church is complacent. God asks all to repent, but he is not expecting the citizens to repent but the church, his people.
1 Peter 4:17-18 “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

The Old Testament is an example to us today, that we do not make the same mistakes as individuals or as a nation or church.

Jeremiah 9:5 says, “Everyone will deceive his neighbor, and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.”
That’s our society our world today, and it can be the Church because we have not remained anchored to the truth but have drifted away with the ways of the culture. Paul says “Do not lie to one another,” “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor” (Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 4:25). We will either influence society, or it will influence us; we are to be different then the world.

Hosea 4:1-3: “Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel, for the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed.Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away.”

Isaiah then says 8:21-22: “They will pass through it hard pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward. Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.”

Think about all the disasters that are coming upon the world and this nation, does God not warn us what will happen when we actively and openly forsake him?

Yet he promises to those who stay steady: Isa. 26:2-3 “Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

The future in the age of lies
Many believe in all kinds of lies over the truth, these lies are rampant and influencing many. But there is a lie that coming that will change the world, 2 Thess. 2:9-10: “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” People will be so used to lies that they cannot bring themselves to believe in the truth and will be prepared to accept the ultimate lie of the ages.

1 Tim 4:1-2: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

Because they have already refused the truth all that is left is to embrace a lie. He will empower their lies. God will allow the deceiving spirits to speak through them without interference (2 Timothy 4:1) and oppress them, as he has done at other times (I Samuel 16:14, 18:10). In the same manner in I King 22:21-23. God is going to allow their own lies to govern them because they reject God’s counsel (His Word) the truth. He will empower their lies. God will allow the deceiving spirits to speak through them without interference (2 Timothy 4:1) and oppress them, as he has done at other times (I Samuel 16:14, 18:10). In the same manner in I King 22:21-23:

OUR God is described as “a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He” (Deut. 32:4; Psalm 31:5). He has absolutes he does not believe in mixing truth to appease the hearers. There is a difference between telling the truth and telling some of the truth - to promote what one sees as beneficial. Lies often result in far quicker a response, they impresses people. The truth stays the same – it does not change because it is absolute, unchangeable. The Bible says no lie is of the truth (1 Jn.2). We live in an age that is indicative of lies (that is trying to bring change), that is influenced by the source of all lying - the father of lies, who wants us to believe we have no moral absolutes, and these changes are good, beneficial; when the fact is they bring confusion.

We are in the time period- Jesus called a season, a period before the end. Mt.24 mentions the increase of Diseases, earthquakes, reports of war, overthrows of government. 2 Tim.3 mentions the rise of distrust, treaty breaking, lying, deception, all sorts of sins and a form of religion without the power. These are the signs that are taking place- but the end is not yet. In the meantime we are going to see an increase in violence, and deception especially focused on Israel.

We are living in the last age of lying. Where is this all headed?
2 Thess. 2:11-12: “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
In an increasing age of lawlessness, the practice of lies, empowers each person to follow the dictates of his own deceitful heart. It makes our love and compassion grow cold.

Rom. 1:18: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” Rom. 2:8: “but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-- indignation and wrath”

The Scripture tells us “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). Satan is the father of lies, he is the energizing influence behind all falsehoods and false religion and at the end he grows stronger. This means we too must grow stronger to counter his influence.

John 3:21 “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Zech. 8:2-3: “Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I am zealous for Zion with great zeal; with great fervor I am zealous for her.' “Thus says the LORD: 'I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the LORD of hosts, the Holy Mountain.'

The Lord uses this term zeal but a few times, to the compromised church of Laodicea…
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent” (Rev. 3:19).

To those who have abused the Lords house for the own gain, And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!” Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up” (John 2:16-17).

It is only when Jesus the messiah returns to earth, to Jerusalem to set up his reign and kingdom on earth that we will enjoy an age of truth and righteousness, we can’t change history but we have time to change ourselves, our course. Consider your future.