lies

Honesty is Always the Best Policy

~ mercyfortheday ~ Leave a comment

Hoo boy. It’s been a week. I haven’t even lived in this new house for a month yet, and we’ve run into some pitfalls. And I don’t necessarily mean pitfalls with the house, but there are those, too. One of our cars was totaled earlier this year, so we had to hurriedly buy another one. Wanting to keep the price down, we chose what we thought was a gently used car. Small SUV. Four years old. Lower mileage. Sounded like a solid deal. But driving the vehicle on the way home from the car dealer, the check engine light came on. On the way home from buying the car, the check engine light came on. Yes. I repeated that sentence. We didn’t even get the car home, and it began to show its true colors.

After a couple of repairs in just a couple of months, we knew we had lost the bet. This car was going to be a financial drain. And we began hinting that this car may not be a keeper for the long haul, as we had planned. But we moved forward and we moved two states over taking the car with us.

Because the car was registered in my name, we decided that I should keep it after the move. The human of the house would drive the newer, more reliable car. I hated to give up the newer car, but I knew it was the right decision. I didn’t want him to drive an unreliable car for long road trips. I would sacrifice my comfort for his safety.

Then one day, the car wouldn’t start for me. The battery wouldn’t turn over. Long story short. Someone somewhere in the life of this four-year-old car had installed the wrong battery. Why? How? And when the repairman told me that the other repair was temporary and would require a hefty dollar sign to totally repair it, I had had enough. The car was a piece of junk. But I didn’t know why. How could a four year old car have so many problems?

When we bought the car, we had been told that it had been in one minor rear-end fender bender. Ok. We can live with that. But why were there so many problems under the hood? It didn’t make sense. So we made the ultimate sacrifice and traded the car in for a newer model. Oh. We had researched the value of the junker, so we knew what we should expect for a trade-in. But did we get the shock of our lives when we were told that the car had been in not one, but three accidents. One of those had caused major structural damage. No wonder there were so many problems with it. And we were offered a third of what we thought the value would be. We lost thousands of dollars in the whole ordeal.

The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear! Luke 12:2-3

The car had been sold under false pretenses. It hadn’t been repossessed, as we had been told. It had most likely been totaled and incorrectly rebuilt and then sold at auction. None of this was listed on the supposed tell-all report that auto dealers provide these days. And we, the unsuspecting buyers at the dealership, believed that we were buying a reliable car. Perhaps we should have looked under the hood before we drove the car off the lot. If we had, we would have seen the black tape in several places holding parts together. But we did test drive the car, and it seemed fine at the time. No. Not shame on us. Shame on them.

Shame on anyone who covers their tracks hoping some innocent, unsuspecting victim doesn’t notice the black tape. And shame on anyone who tries to work in an underhanded manner to make a dishonest dollar. Honesty is always the best policy, no matter what line of work you’re in. Because. At some point, your dishonesty, your laziness, your lack of ethics, your selfishness will be found out.

Oh. Your dishonesty may not be discovered this side of eternity, but there is a great big God who knows all and sees all. Everything we’ve ever done and said. Even our intentions are being recorded. And unless we have repented of our sins and lived a holy life in continual submission to God, all those sins will be on display when we stand in front of our holy God to be judged. Only when we repent and confess our sins is our slate wiped clean and our sins are no longer remembered by God.

If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. Luke 16:10

I wonder. Do people like these auto dealers sleep well at night? Do they toss and turn knowing they’ve fooled some gullible sucker into buying a piece of junk? Do they laugh themselves to sleep knowing that some unsuspecting buyer is going to be forking over thousands of dollars for unforeseen repairs in the near future? Do people have no shame these days?

It’s not just auto dealers who pull off shady deals. It can be home sellers or repairmen. It can be politicians or pastors. It can be moms or dads. Students or businessmen. Any of us are capable of swindling others out of their hard earned money for a defective product. We’re a selfish, self-centered people.

Satan does this all the time. He doesn’t try to sell us a defective or offensive lifestyle. He shows us only the pretty and the fun and the glamorous. He shows us a life that is very appealing. It’s not until we get involved in the sin that we realize we’ve been duped by someone who wasn’t looking out for our best interests. He has his ulterior motives at the heart of every temptation he offers to us. He isn’t looking out for us at all. He doesn’t tell us that his lies could very well cause us to have to tape our lives back together, and then life might never be the same because of the train wreck we’ve put ourselves through. We have to be very mindful of the influences in our lives so we aren’t caught up in living a lie. So we aren’t caught up in a situation that we never imagined ourselves to be in. Satan wants to drag as many unsuspecting souls to hell as he can. And he will stop at nothing to charm us away from Christianity. We must stay alert at all times.

But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. Numbers 32:23

A Convenient Lie

~ mercyfortheday ~ 1 Comment

I’ve recently been reading about Charles Darwin. You know. The inventor of evolution. The scientist who claims that the earth wasn’t created by God in seven days. The man who decided that the earth and everything in it evolved over time. The man who held the notion that all life is related and descended from a common ancestor. The man who believed in natural selection. Yeah. That guy.

Wikipedia says that Darwin’s scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life. He’s been described as one of the most influential figures in human history.

But did you know that Darwin knew his theory was false?

After all his work on the theory. The testing pointed to the fact that his work was a lie. He could not come to the truthful conclusion that evolution was real. But he promoted that theory anyway. And he never backed down.

Darwin and his followers. They were willing to believe a lie in order to prove their point. Darwin perpetuated a lie that has continued for generations. Nature became a substitute deity for the man. Generations of school kids have been taught a fabrication of lies. There is no truth in this teaching. 

It makes me wonder. Why were Darwin and his followers willing to support a lie? Why did they continue to preach and worship the lie? Why did they reject the truth? They were looking for an alternative to creation. There were looking for a way or a reason to discredit God. That tells me they fear God. They are afraid for God to be true and right and real.

Darwin wanted to keep God out of the picture. He was afraid of the supernatural. Because if he believed that the seven day creation story was true, he would have to confess that God existed. And if God exists, then Darwin might have to bow down and confess that his life was not his own. So he made sure that his theories and hypothesis pointed to an evolution of earth and mankind and every other living being. He manipulated data. He skewed his findings to produce the results he wanted.

Some things never change. Do they?

Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. Ephesians 5:10-14

We’re lied to these days. We’re deceived by fabrications of the truth. We’re manipulated to believe ideas that aren’t true. And unless we do the research. Unless we put in the time to study the subject, we can easily buy into other lies.

We’re told that men can get pregnant. We’re told that we can change our pronoun, and we’ll magically be a member of the opposite sex. We’re told that women should have the right to kill their unborn baby right up to and after birth.

These are all lies that go against the Creation story. God created male and female. And only a female can give birth. Our DNA doesn’t change because we change our pronouns. And unborn babies have the right to life, just as the mother carrying them.

God knew what he was doing on those six days of creation. He didn’t make any mistakes. At the end of each day, he looked at his finished work. And he saw that it was good. Except for one day. On the day he created man, he saw the results of the dust he formed. He saw that his work was very good.

God had a higher purpose for this created man. Because in this man, he placed a soul. And he planned for the soul of every person born on the earth to live in eternity with him. No other part of creation was given a soul. No other part of creation can choose to follow God or ignore him. Only humans were given that ability. Let’s choose wisely.

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. Romans 1:21-25

Do You Blush

~ mercyfortheday ~ Leave a comment

The ending of a prayer this week has sparked a new controversy. Or shall I say. It has added fuel to the fire. Who doesn’t know that saying Amen at the end of a prayer isn’t a statement of gender identification. In an effort to be politically correct, this former pastor made a mockery of himself, not of prayer or faith. And the fact that a former minister is the one saying the prayer says so much about how lost this great nation truly is. Can we honestly say we are a nation under God? Can we?

On a daily basis, the news is streaming acts of ungodliness without shame. As a nation, we are no longer ashamed of our sins. We no longer blush over wrongdoing or apologize for our sins. We do not heed the warning of our conscience any longer. To say that we’ve lost our way is an understatement. Is it possible for this great nation to repent and return to worshipping God? Who is the god of this nation?

Are they ashamed of their disgusting actions? Not at all—they don’t even know how to blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be brought down when I punish them,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 6:15

We are clearly living in an upside-down world where right is wrong and wrong is right, where moral is immoral and immoral is moral, where good is evil and evil is good, where killing murderers is wrong, but killing innocent babies is right.

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What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. Isaiah 5:20

Just recently, I realized that I had accepted a belief that didn’t align with Scripture. After voicing that belief to another, I felt my spirit checked to reconsider what I felt was truth. As I realized I had bought into a lie, I knew I needed to repent and follow biblical truth. What I learned was that I need to test every belief to see if it aligns with Scripture. If it doesn’t, I need to pray for forgiveness and turn my thoughts and beliefs toward God.

The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Jeremiah 17:9

We’ve forgotten how to disagree. Nowadays, it seems that we all must agree on a subject or we can’t be trusted. We kill unborn babies in the womb up to the day of delivery. We’ve come to the conclusion that there are more than two genders. Some have gone so far as to demand a change in the way pronouns are used.

The nuclear family is in jeopardy. We no longer blush about making the holy commands of God unholy. We applaud same sex marriage and call it equality. We congratulate our child who wants to change their gender. When was the last time we stood against the destruction of our sacred family values? 

We proudly congratulate an unmarried couple on their pregnancy. It’s assumed that at some point an unmarried couple will live together before marriage. But do they know what God says about such matters? Does anyone care anymore?

We think nothing of spewing out four letter words. We show a falsely perfect family life on social media. And yet we applaud those who have publicly announced the deconstruction of their faith. 

We’ve stopped reading God’s Word. We don’t even know the most repeated Bible stories. We can’t pass down biblical truths that we’ve never learned.

And we call ourselves Christians. 

“Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.” But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.” Jeremiah 18:11-12

At times, we choose comfort over truth. My question is why are we comfortable with lies? And how does that happen? How long does it take before we have exchanged the truth for a lie? Why do we stay silent when we know the truth?

We’ve forgotten how to spot the lies that we hear or see. False and exaggerated stories fill the news. We don’t look for the truth. We accept what we’re told as gospel. Especially if it’s comfortable for us. 

Why do we choose comfort over truth? Is it because we don’t know truth anymore?

I’m blushing over here. Are you?