It is amazing how early we humans learn to lie. From the time children are old enough to understand when they have an opportunity to say anything that will protect themselves from what is perceived rejection or hostility, they lie. Lying doesn't have to be taught. In fact, it has to be untaught. “Johnny, don't lie to me. Susie, don't you be fibbin'” can be heard at almost any department store from time to time. The truth is: people lie, and when we look at John the apostles description of the “antichrist and antichrists” that are and will be in the last time, John shares with us that there once again are and will be lies. He says in First John chapter two and verse twenty one:
I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
The word “know” that John employs in this verse is “oetis” which means: “to know by intuition”. This is not an experiential knowledge, but a knowledge that is imparted to the believer in Jesus by the Holy Spirit of God. Recall our last verse, “But you have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” where John shares with us how the Holy One is involved in our lives when truth and lies come our way. Those who would keep a believer in Jesus from knowing Him in the first place share lies, and those who try to persuade a person to follow after other than Biblical activities once they know Jesus share lies as well. Remember, the overall idea that John is communicating is how much God desires to have fellowship and relationship with us. Since this is the case, it is imperative that we know when someone is sharing with us anything other than the truth.
John knows his readers know the truth, and he declares just for clarity that “no lie is of the truth”. Read your Bible. Whenever anyone, anywhere, including myself, shares with you something that is deemed to be the truth, test it with the Holy scriptures. We must be like the people of Berea in the book of the Bible called “Acts” or “Acts of the Apostles” who in chapter seventeen and verse eleven it says:
“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
The Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth, and He often does so by what we discover through Him in the scriptures. This is one of the reasons that we are going through the book of First John together chapter by chapter, verse upon verse, and precept upon precept. We are learning the truth, and dispelling all lies. “No lie is of the truth”, and as we share together, those who would keep us from fellowship with God will persuade us less and less with their fabrications.
Next time we shall discover one of the greatest lies ever told. Read ahead, and we will meet together then.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
Look for the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, find locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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