OK, so, Whatever you think about President Trump – and a lot of people think and feel a lot of things about him; even some of my most liberal friends have expressed serious concern about the behavior of the FBI and the Department of Justice. Senator Ron Johnson wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, in which he lays out the case for the FBI and others to release all documents pertaining to Crossfire Hurricane.
Now, I’ve talked before about this issue. Back in April we (on my radio show) talked about the Senate request for the FBI to turn over all documents pertaining to Operation Crossfire Hurricane. They’ve not been. And I, and many others, are extremely concerned that they haven’t been.
What concerns me is that we’ve had a multi-year, multi-million dollar special prosecution against President Trump and his teams. We’ve had oceans of ink spilt and skies of hot air blustered concerning President Trump and Russia, with the presumption and presupposition of guilt. And not only was there no evidence of guilt, but now we know that these investigations were either carried out under the most extreme and tragic form of incompetence – an incompetence that strains, if not defies, credulity – or they were carried out in bad faith. We had all this investigative work, all this public airing of dirty laundry all these “revelations” but the FBI doesn’t want to release its internal documents? That dog won’t hunt – something’s rotten in the state of Denmark! And it is in the interest of all Americans who value actual justice to see these documents released.
Now, back in April I spoke about accountability – that the Bible teaches us plainly that when there are unaccountable people in leadership it ends badly for everyone. Today, however, I don’t want to focus on accountability. Not because it isn’t a major issue! But because there is a simpler story here. One that is missed.
The story we miss, we miss because our standards of morality and decency and righteousness are so anemic in this country that clearly wrong and evil things seem to just breeze past us. I’m talking, of course, about lying.
We just take lying as a matter of course. We just ASSUME that it’s part of the political process. We just ASSUME that politicians are going to lie. And we shouldn’t assume that! It shouldn’t be par for the course. And I don’t care who does it. The other night during the debate Kamala Harris told deliberate lies. And, she should be called out on it an her feet should be held to the fire.
And when President Trump lies – he should be called out and his feet should be held to the fire. But nobody cares anymore. As long as the person lying is on your side, then it’s all good right? MSNBC and CNN and the Print-Media, they all get up in arms about Trump’s lies. And they should! I don’t want my President to lie. Lying is evil. But people stop paying attention when you only point out the lies of your political opponents. The performative outrage is tiresome and its only effective on those who already agree or those who are too lazy or stupid to investigate further than the surface. And that goes for the Spin Doctors on Fox News and the New Media Right, as well.
I don’t want to hear justifications for lies. Lies are bad. Lying is bad. Liars are bad.
And what’s worst of it all is that liars are untrustworthy! I get tired of hearing myself tell my children this, but I constantly have to tell them that nobody can trust a liar. I constantly tell them to not let their integrity and honor be less valuable than a spanking. Now, I know that ideas like integrity and honor and the kind of handshake word-is-my-bond mentality are thought of as quaint and a bit old fashioned and just not capable of making it in this modern world. Our culture seems to find honesty to be the indicator of the naive and the rubes.
Well, I say to Hell with that. Literally, I mean the idea that you have to lie to be a modern man or woman is an idea that needs to go back to the pit of Hell where it belongs. Because, it’s not really enough to talk about the FBI lying about the sources of information. It’s not enough to talk about Presidents and Senators lying. It’s not a government problem it’s an AMERICA problem!
Recently, the Barna Group published their 11th “American Worldview” survey of professing Christians. And here is the meat of the article speaking about the results.
“A majority (52%) of evangelicals reject absolute moral truth; 61% do not read the Bible on a daily basis; 75% believe that people are basically good,” the report outlines.
And “[w]hile elevating the essence of man to goodness, they have also radically humanized Jesus Christ — 43% believe He sinned while on earth — and demoted the Holy Spirit to symbolic status (58%).”
Half do not believe sex before marriage is sinful, and 40% think lying is okay if done to protect one’s reputation or advance their personal interests. 34% agreed that abortion is acceptable if it spare the woman financial hardship or emotional discomfort.
Pentecostals and charismatics were likewise concerning, as “[t]wo-thirds (69%) reject absolute moral truth; 54% are unwilling to define human life as sacred, with half claiming the Bible is ambiguous in its teaching about abortion, and 69% say they prefer socialism to capitalism.” Further, the Center notes, “[a] full 45% did not meet the definition of born-again Christians.”
Not surprisingly, mainline Protestants showed the greatest departure from orthodoxy, as 60% of those surveyed held to beliefs that directly conflict with the Bible.
“Their customized belief system revolves around three key values: truth and morality are decided by the individual, not God or the Bible; life has no inherent value or purpose, so individuals should pursue personal happiness or satisfaction; and traditional religious practices are no longer seen as central or essential to their Christian faith,” the Center explains.
Now, if you were able to concentrate through the deafening din of that avalanche of depressing data, you might have noticed there was a curious statistic about lying. About how Evangelical Christians feel about lying. Let’s read it again, because it’s important.
“40% think lying is okay if done to protect one’s reputation or advance their personal interests.”
Why else would you lie? So, as long as you’re not a pathological liar it’s OK to lie? I mean who lies for no reason? Who lies for any other reason but to protect or help themselves! I mean, so lying is OK as long as you’re not…what?...the Joker?! As long as you’re not just trying to see the world burn, lying is OK? But hey, seeing the world burn is the Joker’s goal, so maybe it’s OK for him to lie, cause it advances his personal interests?
Good God in Heaven, what is wrong with people? OK, so 40% of Evangelicals think lying is OK. Well, let me give you some Bible. Let me give you what GOD SAYS!
Proverbs 12:22
12:22 The LORD abhors a person who lies, but those who deal truthfully are his delight.
Ephesians 4: 17- 32:
4:17 So I say this, and insist in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 4:19 Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 4:20 But you did not learn about Christ like this, 4:21 if indeed you heard about him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus. 4:22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, 4:23 to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 4:24 and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.
4:25 Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. 4:26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger. 4:27 Do not give the devil an opportunity. 4:28 The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need. 4:29 You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear. 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 4:31 You must put away every kind of bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and evil, slanderous talk. 4:32 Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.
Or how’s about Revelation 22:14,5:
22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access to the tree of life and can enter into the city by the gates. 22:15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood!
You wanna know why our politicians are a bunch of self-serving, godless, clowns? You wanna know why our Republic is collapsing in on itself? You wanna know why our culture is disintegrating? You wanna know why our churches are emptying and dying and nobody wants to come?
Because half the Christians in this country are totally OK with lying! Half the Christians in this country love something God hates. Frankly, I don’t think persecution can come fast enough – ‘cause I think that’s the only hope for the Church in America. We need some extremely stern discipline. I just pray it isn’t too late. Please, brothers and sisters, let’s pray that it isn’t too late, and that there can be revival in our selves and in our churches, even if it requires persecution! Because from where I sit it looks like our lampstand is about to be snuffed out. Let’s pray for revival and let’s live a revived life!