Do Not Lie
The more rain we get out here the more beautiful this waterfall is. What a berekah (blessing) to enjoy! When I decided to pack up a few personal items along with my dogs into my little baby Jeep and hit the road with the intention of moving out of state, I didn’t know where I was going to move; but the call to leave CA was so heavy on my heart that to stay felt like it would have been blatant disobedience to YAHWEH’S will for my life. What I did was not like me at all, but that is the way of the Father isn’t it? He calls us up out of our comfort zone, into the realm of the unknown to a place where there is no one else there but Him. Writing about His faithfulness to me over this past year will not do my experience justice. Neither my words, or the English language itself can decode the magnitude of The Creator of all. The best way to describe His faithfulness is to compel others who are not, to get in Covenant with Him, to walk in His ways following His Torah; the rest is inexplicable and can only be experienced. I’m not going to lie to you, it won’t be easy, but it is well worth it for your life here in this physical realm and your eternal life to come. Speaking of lies, this weeks devotional is about the 9th commandment; Do not lie. Exodus 20:13,,,You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Israelite Samaritan) Deuteronomy 5:17,,,You shall not bear false witness against your fellow. (Israelite Samaritan).
There are a few things to unpack with this verse. I would like to break a few words down; for the word “bear”, Strong s’ H6030 depicts it as: answer, testify, speak, sing and it even says hear. The word “false” in the Strong’s H8267 lists the words: lie, lying, falsehood, vain, and deceit. For “witness” it’s Strong’s H5707 and lists the words: testimony and evidence and “against thy neighbor” is Strong’s H7453: companion, friend, another, brother and husband. So at it’s core, we are not to testify, speak, sing or even hear lies, falsehoods, vain, deceitful, testimony or evidence against our companion, friend, any other, our brother or husband. Me being me, when I read “against your neighbor or fellow”; my mind limited this verse to say “do not lie against someone else, or do not lie on somebody” suggesting that lying in any other case is perfectly acceptable. For example if I tell someone I grew up in Europe and moved to CA when I was 20; anyone who grew up with me knows this is a lie but a stranger wouldn’t. Besides, what does it hurt? What does it matter to my neighbor or friend? Where I grew up does not negatively affect them, so this lie is OK right? No it isn’t, which is why unpacking the words in scripture is important. Many times people take the scriptures as face value based on the English translation when the original language may carry alternate or various meanings. When I summed up the Strong’s earlier, it says we are not to tell falsehoods. To tell someone I grew up in another country, for whatever reason is deceitful; whether it negatively affects them or not.
What does YAHWEH actually think about lying? Leviticus 19:11-12 says: Do not steal from, defraud or lie to each other. 12: Do not swear by My name falsely, which would be profaning the name of your EL; I am YAHWEH. Have I ever lied, yes, I have many times but I also realized at a very early age that I don’t like it. Some transgressions people tend to not notice in themselves or they do not know that it’s a transgression and are comfortable with it. For me I have repented from lying long ago because lying is a transgression that I was never good at or comfortable with. I do not like it in myself and I definitely do not like to be lied to. When I say an early age, I was 8. I lied to my father about being somewhere when, I was actually somewhere else. He was driving down the street and saw me with a bunch of friends at the park when I was supposed to be around the corner at my friends house. I was terrified. Where I expected a spanking, he told me very sternly never do that again. He stated, that I did not have to lie to him, he was right, I didn’t, there was no reason to lie if I’m doing what is expected of me or I should have just asked him if it was OK if I went to the park. Over the years I grew an aversion to lying. I still look back on any time I have lied to my parents and cringe and I cringe now when when people lie to me and I know it; I’m embarrassed for them and it’s disrespectful to me.
1 Timothy begins speaking about people who will eventually leave the faith because they are listening to doctrines of liars and hypocrites, then 1 Timothy 1:2 says: Such teachings come from the hypocrisy of liars whose own consciences have been burned, as if with a red-hot branding iron. (CJB) Obvious lies today are the christian doctrines of “Once saved always saved” and “The Torah is done away with”. These doctrines are lies that I used to believe as a christian until I actually started reading the scriptures. John 14:15 literally says, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (HG) I am not sure how people read the NT and become blind when they get to this scripture. Even most well meaning misguided christian pastors should look deeper to see what He means by this but they don’t and continue to spoon feed their congregation lies. I can go on about the false doctrines and the lies and ideologies of the world but then this devotional will become a 1000 page novel. I will just leave some videos below from a dear brother in the faith that explains this topic much better than myself. Moreover, Revelation 22 talks about people within the gates of the kingdom and those outside of its gates. Revelation 22:15 says: Outside are the homosexuals, those involved with the occult and with drugs, the sexually immoral, murderers, idol-worshippers, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Liars are placed in the same category as murderers, occultists, drug users and immoral idol-worshippers. HalleluYAH, that I have the RUACH HA’KODESH in my life today protecting me from the liars, revealing to me those in my life there to deceive me. While I don’t have time to super-sleuth people and false doctrines, YAHWEH does have the time, He knows what to look for and He will either remove these people or things from my life or reveal them.
In John chapter 8 YESHUA was speaking to the Jews, telling them that they they don’t understand the words He is speaking to them that come from our FATHER YAHWEH, because they are seeking do what “their father” is telling them to do. So He said to them in John 8:44 You belong to your father, Satan, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. From the start he was a murderer, and he has never stood by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is speaking in character; because he is a liar — indeed, the inventor of the lie! (CJB) Lies literally come from satan 2 Timothy 1:7 For ELOHIM gave us a RUACH who produces not timidity, but power, love and self-discipline. (CJB) While lies are a deception, they are typically birthed out of fear. People will lie because they fear they won’t get the money they asked for, for example pastors in the churches not getting the amount of offerings they expect; or there is fear that a person won’t do what the liar wants them to do, which is a form of manipulation, or there is fear that the person being lied to may be disappointed in the liar; and if that person is me, I will be more disappointed to find that I have been lied to.
In conclusion, brothers and sisters, lying is nasty business and is a serious matter not just to me but to YAHWEH. In Acts 5:3 Then Kefa said, “Why has the Adversary so filled your heart that you lie to the Ruach HaKodesh and keep back some of the money you received for the land? 4: Before you sold it, the property was yours; and after you sold it, the money was yours to use as you pleased. So what made you decide to do such a thing? You have lied not to human beings but to The ELOHIM! 5: On hearing these words, Hananyah fell down dead; and everyone who heard about it was terrified. Hananyah fell dead before the congregation and so did his wife because she lied in support of his lie. We will be held accountable for everything, even little lies we tell; and it is my fervent prayer that when people spend time with me or visit my home, they see Him in my life and that my speech represents my love and obedience to His will in so much that my life never falsely represents YAHWEH profaning His name and taking it in vain. HalleluYAH!
Shalom & Berekah!
Just a few supporting verses:
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Israelite Samaritan)
-Exodus 20:13,,,
You shall not bear false witness against your fellow. (Israelite Samaritan).
-Deuteronomy 5:17,,,
Do not steal from, defraud or lie to each other. 12: Do not swear by My name falsely, which would be profaning the name of your EL; I am YAHWEH
-Leviticus 19:11-12
Such teachings come from the hypocrisy of liars whose own consciences have been burned, as if with a red-hot branding iron. (CJB)
-1 Timothy 1:2
If you love me, you will keep my commandments (HG)
-John 14:15
Outside are the homosexuals, those involved with the occult and with drugs, the sexually immoral, murderers, idol-worshippers, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (CJB)
-Revelation 22:15
You belong to your father, Satan, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. From the start he was a murderer, and he has never stood by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is speaking in character; because he is a liar — indeed, the inventor of the lie! (CJB)
-John 8:44
For ELOHIM gave us a Spirit who produces not timidity, but power, love and self-discipline. (CJB)
2 Timothy 1:7
Then Kefa said, “Why has the Adversary so filled your heart that you lie to the Ruach HaKodesh and keep back some of the money you received for the land? 4: Before you sold it, the property was yours; and after you sold it, the money was yours to use as you pleased. So what made you decide to do such a thing? You have lied not to human beings but to The ELOHIM! 5: On hearing these words, Hananyah fell down dead; and everyone who heard about it was terrified. (CJB)
-Acts 5:3
But if you harbor in your hearts bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, don’t boast and attack the truth with lies! (CJB)
-James 3:14
A true witness delivers lives; but a deceitful witness speaks falsehood. (Aramaic Peshitta)
-Proverbs 14:25
Fine speech is unbecoming to a boor, and even less lying lips to a leader. (CJB)
-Proverbs 17:7
Rescue me, YAHWEH, from lips that tell lies, from a tongue full of deceit. (CJB)
-Psalm 120:2
Therefore, stripping off falsehood, let everyone speak truth with his neighbor, because we are intimately related to each other as parts of a body. (CJB)
-Ephesians 4:25
Let the lips of the wicked be silent; for they speak falsely and disdainfully against the righteous. (Aramaic Peshitta)
-Psalm 31:18
Keep deceitful ways far from me, and favor me with your Torah. (CJB)
-Psalm 119:29
Truthful words will stand forever, lying speech but a moment. (CJB)
-Proverbs 12:19
A false witness will not go unpunished; whoever breathes out lies will not escape (CJB)
-Proverbs 19:5
A false witness will not go unpunished; whoever breathes out lies will perish.(CJB)
-Proverbs 19:9
A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth causes ruin. (CJB)
-Proverbs 26:28
There are six things YAHWEH hates, seven which he detests: 17: a haughty look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood (CJB)
-Proverbs 6:16-17