Psalm 12:1 LORD, for no one, is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. 2 Everyone lies to their neighbour; they flatter with their lips but harbour deception in their hearts.

      “YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO!” are the headers and titles of the clickbait posts on many social media platforms. Most of these – shocking truth revelations – posted are written by conspiracy theorists who claim (dare I say it) to have done the research. The claims that we have been lied to, are loudly advertised as if the human race walks in holiness and is always telling the truth. We have industries devoted to the finessing of the lie. The book Lessons In Deception, How To Lie and Get Away With It, is a hot seller. Of course, we have been lied to, the father of lies is running rampant worldwide. John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

      We have been lied to, it is not news. Don’t forget, the term pathological liar (someone who habitually and compulsively lies) has been in our vocabulary for a long time. To lie, exaggerate, embellish, deceive, fabricate, fib, and mislead are the default settings of mankind. If this were not so, then the Lord would not have carved His commandment in stone. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. You shall not lie, exaggerate, embellish, fabricate, fib, mislead, or deceive your neighbour. However, as the Psalmist points out, everyone lies to one another. Psalm 12:2 Everyone lies to their neighbour; they flatter with their lips but harbour deception in their hearts. The presumption that somehow we can become truthful by simply changing our ways is another lie. We will need a new heart to make honest life choices. Eze. 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

      The question is, – what lies in the lie? Or, why we feel we need to lie, embellish, or mislead becomes a question we need to answer. What lies in the lie, are the fears, mistrust, and loss of power that we believe will happen if we do not protect the lie we are living. Letting go of our soul’s survival methods in exchange for the victory Christ gained for us through the sacrifice on the cross, is now the truth we need to adopt in our hearts. The transformation from living a lie to living in the truth of God’s redemptive love is done through faith in who God says we have become through God the Son. 2Cor. 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, the new has come into being. As new creatures and born-again beings, the old lies are passed away and have no power over us as long as we accept and believe in the truth that the new birth gives us.

      One of the oddities about the art of lying is when those in positions of authority use lies and duplicity as their method of remaining in power. Why and how does this work? I think part of the answer is what Upton Sinclair famously stated, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it,” Therein is the issue. We will protect a liar if our lives depend on the liar’s success. Psalm 12:1 LORD, for no one, is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. Finding our way back to living and telling the truth is God’s agenda and assignment in our newly redemptive hearts. We are the workmanship of God and are the spokesmen of His grace. Grace does not lie, it teaches us to abstain from evil. Titus 2:12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. The Lord’s grace is the truth of the new birth and that truth must be lived in. We need to be sure that no lie is working within our hearts. Rom. 9:1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit.

      Scriptures show us that lying at the drop of a hat is available and ready when anyone needs a fabricated lie to accomplish their deception. Matt. 26:59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 60a But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. The words – though many false witnesses came forward – What? Many false witnesses came forth to lie about Jesus. How corrupt and evil can we be? History shows us that we are absolutely corrupt and in need of deliverance from ourselves. Thank God, the deliverance we can accept for our lives, is in the name of Jesus. John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. “I Am the truth,” Jesus said. Being the truth has power and strength that is different than just knowing the truth. Jesus is truth and there is no lie in Him.

      If you have been looking for truth in all the wrong places, it is time to seek it where Jesus said it would be found. The way to the truth of life is through the cross and the Saviour who sacrificed His honest life for our lost state of existence. We no longer need to lie to survive in a lost world. Christ, the hope of glory, lives in our hearts and leads us into all truth. John 16:13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, shall come, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He may hear, He will speak. And He will declare to you the things coming. The freedom that the truth of God gives us is liberating in that we can be at rest in speaking and living in the truth of the Lord. At the end of the ages and on that great judgment day, the only truth that will count is what God says truth is. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.