You may remember the scandal from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in which a French ice skating judge scored a Russian pair higher than the Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier, who had turned in what was widely considered a superior performance. But do you know how the truth came out? With many tears and much loud wailing.
The French judge at the center of the scandal, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, was called into a meeting with the other judges just twelve hours after the skating event, on February 12, 2002. At one point the head referee, Ron Pfenning, passed around a sheet of paper that underscored the responsibility of judges to perform their duties with honesty and integrity. The French woman broke down.
Teary-eyed from the beginning, Le Gougne now began to cry out loud and to let loose an avalanche of words. “You don’t understand,” she said. “We’re under an awful lot of pressure. My federation, my president Didier, I had to put the Russians first.” She was referring to Didier Gailhaguet, then president of the French Figure Skating Federation, whom she alleged instructed her in advance how to score the event.
Le Gougne’s wailing in the meeting went on for several minutes. Finally it grew so loud that another person in the room covered the crack around the door with tape to keep people on the outside from hearing what was going on inside.1
And what was going on? The wailing was the sound of a conscience catching up with someone who was guilty of conspiring to cheat others. She was a deceiver found out.
To her credit, Le Gougne felt badly about what she had done. Others involved in various kinds of deceit seemingly do a better job of keeping their conscience pushed down and out of sight.
Of course, all persons are guilty of deceit to some extent. After all, we are told, “the human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Our race has participated in deception since Adam and Eve went along with the serpent’s lies about the fruit God had placed off-limits. But some of us have a more serious problem in this area of deception. Some of us are serial deceivers.
Does that describe you? If so, where is your biggest problem with deception? Do you tell falsehoods when it serves your purpose? Do you pretend to be what you are not? Do you tell people what they want to hear about themselves, even when it is not true? Do you cheat to gain an advantage in a contest? Do you trick others for profit?
Watch out! Scripture tells us,
You [God] will destroy those who tell lies. The LORD detests murderers and deceivers. —Psalm 5:6
We know how tempting it can be to shade the truth or present oneself in a false light for selfish reasons. Nevertheless, each of us must give up deception and learn the ways of honesty and integrity.
Truth Decay
The image of the early Christian church in the opening pages of Acts is for the most part an attractive picture of faith, unity, and love. But in the midst of all this exemplary godliness, one event struck a jarring note, and it had to do with lying.
But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.
Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”
As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.
About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?”
“Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.”
And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.”
Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened. —Acts 5:1–11
Fear, indeed, should be the reaction of anyone perpetrating dishonesty. God does not usually respond to lying by sending instant death. But lying is a form of deception that consistently earns His condemnation, for untruth interferes with justice and integrity in human relations.
One particular form of lying—perjury, or lying in a legal proceeding—made it into the Ten Commandments: “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).2 But both Testaments reflect how seriously God views the sin of lying. Consider this sampling:
Keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies! —Psalm 34:13
I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house, and liars will not stay in my presence. —Psalm 101:7
A false witness will not go unpunished, nor will a liar escape. —Proverbs 19:5
Stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. —Ephesians 4:253
Don’t lie to each other. —Colossians 3:9
When we lie, we are not motivated by God but rather by His enemy. The Devil is the sponsor of untruth. Jesus testified that Satan “has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Reading all this, you may excuse your own dishonesty by calling it a “white lie”—a small, insignificant untruth that could not hurt a fly. Or, you may think you have escaped guilt through lying by implication instead of by telling a falsehood outright. And what about half-truths? Ananias and Sapphira discovered to their peril that a half-truth equates to a whole lie. Let us, then, always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We will be doing ourselves a favor.
The truth wants to be free. It has a way of escaping into daylight despite every attempt to keep it trapped under a lid—ask any politician who has tried to prevent a scandal from reaching public notice. Benjamin Franklin said, “A lie stands on one leg, truth on two.” In the plain words of Scripture, “Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed” (Proverbs 12:19). Just as God knows every time we counterfeit the truth, so other people usually find out as well.
The practice of lying can easily develop into a habit over time. But truth telling can become a habit too. If your character has suffered from truth decay, resolve with Job, “As long as I live,…my tongue will speak no lies” (Job 27:3–4).
Equally as serious as lying is another form of deception: hypocrisy, or pretending to be better than we are.
The Mask of Goodness
Some years ago I (Henry) taught a college-age Sunday school class. One young man in the class often said, “I am very devoted to the Lord. Because my body is the Lord’s, I want to take care of it. I don’t stay up late; I’m careful what I eat; I exercise regularly; and I don’t drink, smoke, or chase women.”
We all listened and nodded. “Good for you,” we would say.
Then one day, at an airport many miles from home, I saw this model student standing in front of the terminal building. Guess what? He had a cigar in his mouth and was puffing away as happy as could be. So much for taking good care of his body.
I walked up to chat with him. When he saw me coming, he did a strange thing. He stuck that cigar—still smoking—in his pocket!
Now, one would think that a young man would be glad to see his Sunday school teacher, especially so far from home. But the opposite was true in this case: my student seemed ill at ease and in a hurry to be off. A bit mischievously (that was my sin), I kept him talking as long as I could, until the smoke began curling up from his pocket.4
My student was a hypocrite. Are you? Do you act at church like your family gets along great, when in fact fighting is raging all the time at home? Do you pretend to have a profound relationship with God, when the truth is that your devotional life is about as substantial as a mirage? Do you let people assume that you are a highly moral being, even though you are sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend every weekend?
Hypocrisy is an add-on sin. If you are struggling with any other sin listed in this book, and then you lie about it through words or pretense, you have added hypocrisy to your burden of guilt. And even worse, if you have deluded yourself into believing that you are a godly person despite your sins, then you have let hypocrisy join hands with its favorite partner, self-righteousness.
Jesus reserved His harshest language for religious people who pretended to be holier than they were. Matthew 23, in fact, is one long diatribe against the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Christ said of these religious leaders, “They don’t practice what they teach” and “Everything they do is for show” (verses 3, 5).
The Greek word used in the New Testament for “hypocrite” was originally applied to Greek and Roman actors. Following the convention of the day, these actors would play their parts while wearing large masks. In other words, the faces that theatergoers saw were not the real faces of the actors—those were hidden underneath.
So it is with hypocrites today: they put one face forward while hiding their real face from view. They “will act religious” but “reject the power that could make them godly” (2 Timothy 3:5). They “claim they know God” yet “deny Him by the way they live” (Titus 1:16).
Be honest about who you are. Authenticity puts you at a place where God may begin working with you to make things better. You might be surprised by how much people will still like you if you are honest about your failings. (There’s a good chance they can smell the cigar smoke rising from your pocket anyway!)
“Get rid of all evil behavior.” declared Peter. “Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy…” (1 Peter 2:1).
Hypocrisy is making yourself look better than you are. Flattery, on the other hand, is making others look better than they are. It is another form of deception.
Buttering Up
Darrin followed his boss into the conference room, and for a while the two of them were the only ones there.
“Is that a new jacket you’re wearing, Mr. Gardner?” asked Darrin. “It’s really stylish. I’d like to get one like that myself.” Actually, Darrin considered the pattern in the sport coat to be way too busy.
Darrin’s boss, Blaine Gardner, smiled and acknowledged the purchase of a new sport coat.
As Blaine started setting up his PowerPoint presentation, he passed the time by asking Darrin what Darrin thought about the proposal Blaine had circulated.
“It’s great, Mr. Gardner!” said Darrin, even though he and all of his coworkers really believed the proposal would be far more costly to implement than management realized. “I think this will give us the market share we’ve been aiming for.”
As Kirsten entered the room and overheard the final remarks, she rolled her eyes at Scott trailing behind her. Darrin was at it again, buttering up the boss.
The two-faced nature of deception is perhaps more evident in flattery than in any other form of deceit. Flattery is praising someone else untruthfully in the hope of gaining something by it, whether that gain is a promotion at work, mercy from a traffic cop, or even something as basic as attention from a friend. Flattery always has an ulterior motive.
Complimenting others is a neglected art form; we encourage praising the good in others. Flattery, however, goes beyond the honest compliment, using falsehood in an attempt to satisfy a selfish desire. As a result, it is destructive to relationships in the long run. “A lying tongue hates its victims, and flattering words cause ruin” (Proverbs 26:28).
The apostle Paul set an example of refusing to stoop to flattery. He told the congregation in Thessalonica, “Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money!” (1 Thessalonians 2:4–5).
Before praising another, stop and ask yourself: Is what I am planning to say true? Why do I want to say it? Taking time to evaluate your words carefully before saying them can help you keep your compliments within the bounds of truth. Your conscience will be your guide.
Your conscience will also guide you away from related forms of deception, fraud and cheating, if you will let it.
Unfair Advantage
Today, Frank W. Abagnale is sought after by governments and corporations as an expert on detecting forgery, embezzlement, and document falsification. But between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, he was one of the world’s most successful con artists. He cashed $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in all fifty states and twenty-six foreign countries. He also successfully posed as an airline pilot, an attorney, a college professor, and a pediatrician before being apprehended by the French police. His life of crime was portrayed in the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can.
Like Abagnale, some people are frauds, impostors, and cheats. These people are practicing some of the most self-serving forms of deceptions out there. They are obscuring the truth while trying to gain an advantage at another’s expense.
The problem of fraud in business came to public attention in recent years with a wave of corporate scandals. Enron’s Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were suspected of accounting fraud. WorldCom’s Bernard Ebbers was charged with securities fraud. Tyco boss Dennis Kozlowski was said to have used company money as his own. Such behaviors are hardly victimless crimes, as they have resulted in real losses to employees and small investors—not to mention the credibility of the US corporate world.
Do you think business fraud is a new problem? Think again. The Bible frequently takes on fraud in terms of businesspeople cheating their customers. For example, the prophet Amos railed against some of his fellow Israelites,
You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales. And you mix the grain you sell with chaff swept from the floor. Then you enslave poor people for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals.—Amos 8:5–65
What’s so bad about fraud is that it frequently is a means for those with more wealth and power to oppress those who are less well-placed in society. God will always be on the side of the weak in such a situation.
Fraud is a perennial problem. Most are not committing fraud on the scale Amos mentions—or, certainly, on the scale of some modern-day CEOs lost to hubris. Instead, we commit fraud on the micro level. It goes by the label of “cheating.”
Tim Schutt, crew chief for NASCAR driver Mike McLaughlin, became a Christian during a retreat for members of the racing world and shortly afterward ran up against the temptation to cheat. McLaughlin’s car was not performing as Tim wished, and so Tim decided to add a small device that was outlawed by NASCAR. Tim justified his decision to himself on the basis that many of the cars McLaughlin would be up against already had the hard-to-detect device.
Tim crawled under McLaughlin’s No. 20 car and started to install the device. “I got halfway through putting it on,” recalled Tim, “and that verse ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God’ came flashing in red in front of me, and whoa, that was it. I said, ‘I’m leaving this up to you, God.’”6 Schutt did not install the device.
As it turned out, McLaughlin won his next race anyway. When we choose to go against the trend of society and refuse to cheat, the outcome may not always be as positive for us. We may, in fact, lose whatever contest lies before us. But if we put God and His will first, determining to follow the rules no matter what, then in His eyes we will be winners every time. That’s the virtue of honesty.
The Best Policy
In 1948, while on my way to my wedding with Vonette Zachary, I (Bill) passed through the city of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, where my grandparents had lived for many years. Suddenly, I remembered my need to purchase gifts for the wedding party, and I stopped at a jewelry store.
Before looking for the items I wanted, I asked the owner if he would cash an out-of-state check.
“I’m sorry, sir.” He shook his head courteously. “It’s against our policy.”
“I understand,” I said and turned to walk out of the store.
He called after me, “Do you know anyone in this city?”
“No. My grandfather used to live here, but he’s been dead for several years.”
“What was his name?”
“Sam Bright.”
“Sam Bright was the most honorable man I have ever known!” he exclaimed. “If you’re anything like your grandfather, I will sell you anything in this store. And I’ll take your check!”
I was moved by this experience. Although my grandfather had been gone for many years, he had left a legacy of integrity.
What legacy are we leaving? What reputation are we building for ourselves? One act of deceit can make others distrust us. A pattern of deceit is hard to overcome. But with God’s help, any deceiver can begin to establish new patterns of honesty.
Shortly before his execution by the Nazis, the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer looked to the future. He said, “What the church will need, what our century will need, are not people of genius, not brilliant tacticians or strategists, but simple, straightforward, honest men and women.” If anything, these words are more relevant today than at the time of World War II.
We deceive because we are worried about what will happen to us if we choose to tell the truth. What we find, though, is that when we practice deceit we disappoint God, chip away at our own self-respect, and run the risk of a worse reaction from others when they find out the truth later. The proper response is to trust God to care for us as we honor His command to be truth tellers. There is, in fact, no peace to be had without truth.
A. W. Tozer said, “A guileless mind is a great treasure; it is worth any price.” Are you willing to pay the price? It means forgoing the easy payoffs that deceit can seem to bring, choosing instead the slow and steady dividends of making your word your bond.
Give up the too-easy and too-costly habit of deceit. Embrace instead the policy of honesty at all times.
Soul Prescription for Deceit
Are you struggling with being deceitful in some way? We have outlined a five-step process to help you repent and heal in this area of your life. Take all the time you need with each of the steps below.
Step 1: Adopt a Correct View of God
God is truth. To view Him in any other way will only serve to justify your deceitful behavior.
- God is absolute truth. He cannot lie and He does not change His standards.
God is not a man, so He does not lie.—Numbers 23:19 - God is righteous, and He abhors dishonesty in every form.
Because what you say is false and your visions are a lie, I will stand against you, says the Sovereign LORD. —Ezekiel 13:8
What is your view of God with respect to honesty and dishonesty? Go to Scripture and review every passage that talks about God’s truthfulness. Don’t fool yourself. God will not tolerate lies and deceitfulness.
Step 2: Revise Your False Beliefs
If you believe that your deceitfulness is justified or excusable for any reason, you are wrong. Perhaps mistaken views of yourself, other people, or how life works are making it harder for you to be truthful.
- Do you believe your “little white lies” do no harm?
Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow.—Proverbs 25:18 - Do you believe others are yours to “use”?
Do to others as you would like them to do to you. —Luke 6:31 - Do you believe the end justifies the means and thus makes your deceitfulness okay?
Stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. —Ephesians 4:25
Use scriptural truth about deceitfulness and honesty to expose errors in your thinking. Ask the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth, to help you first understand the truth and then speak the truth to others.
Step 3: Repent of Your Sin
In what way are you deceitful? Identify it specifically. Then if you are prepared to give up this sin, pray a prayer of confession. A model prayer is presented below for your use, or you can pray in your own words.
God of truth, I have been deceitful by _________. This was a sin against You, and I am sorry for it. Please forgive me. Make me clean again, and fill me with Your power to help me remain clean of deceitfulness from this point on. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.
If you have harmed others with your sin, apologize to them. Seek reconciliation and offer restitution where appropriate.
Step 4: Defend against Spiritual Attacks
Your spiritual enemies—the world, the flesh, and the Devil—would like nothing better than to see you backslide into a pattern of deceitfulness. Beware of their wiles!
- The world system does not value honesty the way God does. The world’s values would tell us to use deceitfulness if it will help us get ahead. We can overcome such an influence by immersing ourselves in God’s value system. Develop the importance He places on honesty.
- Your flesh, or sinful nature, will tempt you to enjoy that self-reliant feeling that comes with trying to manipulate events through deceit. Do not give in to the craving! Your flesh is dead. You are a spiritual being now, living according to the Holy Spirit.
- Satan will make it as easy and as appealing for you to deceive others as possible. Put on the “belt of truth” (Ephesians 6:14) to help you discern true from false and remain committed to truth telling.
Be ever vigilant in defense against your spiritual foes. The attacks will not cease. Accessing the great power of God will empower you to be successful in every battle.
Step 5: Flee Temptation
You will never be able to completely avoid the temptation to return to your old deceitful ways. But there are specific steps you can take to reduce your exposure and susceptibility to temptation.
- Focus on your relationship with God.
Spend time regularly cultivating your relationship with God. In particular, make Bible study a consistent discipline in your life. Constant exposure to the truth will make you a more truthful person. - Latch on to God’s promises.
Identify assurances in Scripture that make you more confident of winning over your sin of deceitfulness. Store assurances away in your mind as ammunition when the battle with temptation comes. - God has given both His promise and His oath.
These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. —Hebrews 6:18 - Establish safeguards.
Why not make holiness as easy for yourself as possible?
Think of ways you can cut off common temptations. Here are examples of the kinds of changes you can make for the better:
- If you cheat on your taxes, hire a tax preparer next year and make all your records available to this person
- If you defraud your employer by falsifying your time sheet, ask a friend on your work team to verify its accuracy each week.
- If you naturally resort to flattery, practice ahead of time what you can say in favor of a person without lying.
- Ask a trusted Christian friend to hold you accountable in your commitment to not deceive others.
- Expect victory.
You are a new person in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit lives in you. He wants to create an honest heart in you. Seek His help as you eliminate deceit and adopt honesty in your life. As long as you are cooperating with Him, you cannot lose! Praise God!
Visit www.SoulPrescription.com for more insights and resources, and to download a free leader’s guide for small group Bible studies.