“These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among breathren.” — Proverbs 25:18

July 31, 2005

Any day now, leading Christians of the fundamentalist persuasion — those who see the Bible as the literal and inerrant Word of God, and who feel that the government of the United States should be conducted on Christian principles — will surely stand up, step forward and decry the abomination of lying in the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives.

The Holy Scriptures are perfectly and abundantly clear on the issue. We read in Exodus 20:16, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Yes, it’s one of the Ten Commandments, the Ten that many Christian leaders want to see displayed in every courthouse in the land.

I am sure that after every falsehood, every denial, every evasion, every smear, our right-minded Christian leaders recall the words of Zechariah 8:16-17, “These are the things that ye shall do. Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates. And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.”

The Lord hates a lie, and so did Jesus Christ. In John 8:44, Jesus attributes lying to the Devil: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

Satan. The Father of Lies. Those who lie do the work of Satan. Lying and deceit are forbidden to God’s people. Period. It’s not “politics.” It’s lying: shown to be an abomination in the Old Testament, shown to be the work of the Devil in the New Testament.

Hence my anticipation that Pat Robertson and Dr. James Dobson and Jerry Falwell and their followers will soon raise their voices in deploring this abominable, Satanic behavior. Although I do wonder what’s been keeping them.