I ended my last post with these words: “Will the wildfire of The Tongue’s Power stay unchecked? Each of us needs to start with admitting THE PROBLEM. Then God can start to work..” Let’s start with the basic evil: Deceit 
THE Bottom Line: Satan is the creator of deceit.
Satan’s strategy is effective because he sprinkles his poisonous brew with just enough veracity that we’ll swallow it. Lisa Harper, Believing Jesus: Are You Willing to Risk Everything.
Jesus confronted those who challenged Him, those who were seeking to trick Him:
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44 NLT
Proverbs 6:16-19 NRSV
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord in a family.
I cannot tell you how many times the villain (deceit, lying, lies) is in God’s Word. I did a search, and then I quit counting. God obviously knows that it is at the core of our humanness. A lie began the whole thing. Satan tempted Adam and Eve with a lie. It is something our Father God wants to eradicate from those who say they are His.
When I first read these words from scripture, I quickly glossed over them and told myself, ‘Well, duh, of course.’ As I continued to become a student of His Word, when I began to truly want a relationship with Jesus, those words and others came back to haunt me. So much so, that I began to take notice of what I said. Was that a lie? Maybe? just a little white lie? (so foolish) God was pursuing me and my behavior.
So much so that one day, about ten years ago, I promised God to not lie anymore–ever.
Oh my, that was easier said than done. I would not call my old self a habitual liar, seeking to deceive as part of my every thought. But it had become a pattern in my life. This pattern usually raised its nasty head when I wanted recognition or attention. For other people, lying may be to avoid getting caught, to avoid trouble. And for others telling a lie means getting out of an embarrassing moment or an awkward situation.
I got to the point where I kept track of my goals. Literally. I had a little daily tally sheet. On an index card. I would record the number on a daily goal sheet. My goal: to decrease the tally marks. God honored my goal. He helped me get to a daily zero more frequently. Then He began to do a merciful, glorious thing. I would get a red flag reminder. Mentally. Quite simply, I began to hear in my head – ‘that’s a lie’, or ‘Really?’ and then ‘ Stop!’ My hunger for truth became a longing. I even researched about Truth. I wrote about Truth. Truth is part of Who God Is, and I wanted to be in His camp.
Unfortunately, being a liar is becoming a seductive pattern more and more in our world today.
“Become a verbal assassin and watch your stock rise. Every foolish remark, every critical comment, every unkind tweet is a way of proclaiming, ‘I can say what I want because God’s law doesn’t apply to me.’ Verbal assassins attack because they think they can get away with it. “ Ray Pritchard
Truth simply cannot compete with hoaxes, rumors, or those little white lies. By every common metric, falsehood consistently dominates the truth on Twitter, Fake news and false rumors reach more people, penetrate deeper into the social network, and spread much faster than accurate stories. It’s pandemic.
(May I plead with you dear reader, that if you are struggling with being a part of this, seek God’s help to change you.)
Now, I don’t want to be aligned to the enemy. I don’t want to offend God. Deceit is the opposite of Who God Is. He knows what lying does to me, He knows what lying can do to the people around me. Lying destroys people, His creatures. Our Father in heaven is all about returning us to how He designed us: in His Image.
This became my goal:
Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him. Colossians 3:9-10 NLT
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