Religious People Who Lie, Or The Barack Obama Emails

Wow, a lot has been going on over the last few days. I could go into much detail but will mention only a few things.

First, to all who have given or pledged help for my wife, thank you! We are close to having enough money for her to make the two trips. Gifts of love and support have come in from across the globe. We did not ask for money regarding myself or our children making one of the trips. If people designate gifts for that, great we will attend the inevitable funeral as a family. Again, ministry is tough, and while we don’t have all of the money for two trips, it is close. Close to $1,000 is needed, currently we are about $200 short. We have enough for her initial trip if all of the promised gifts come in, and will hopefully have a little time to raise the remainder for the funeral she will attend later. Click here to get more information about the situation with my wife.

Now to the other topic at hand; yesterday I took my son to see and hear Barack Obama. I know most are familiar with him and his run for the president. I posted at The Virtual Pew Live radio program Senator Obama’s speech from El Dorado Kansas. The second half of the program, a two hour special, Pastor David Jenkins of Servants of Grace Ministries and I speak about Biblical Leadership and the political environment. While we did not agree on everything, there were things we did agree on and we had a civil conversation.

The program had a larger than normal audience for a couple of reasons. I ran the entire speech by Senator Obama without interruption as well as the endorsement by Kansas Governor Kathleen Sabelious of Senator Obama. There was another reason the program had a large number of listeners. Yesterday while in El Dorado, I was interviewed by http://www.salon.com/. For those not familiar with Salon it is a very large web magazine that has a lot of respect from around the world. Their article on Senator Obama included a good amount of the interview with me, and the message boards for the article had some good exchange. There have also been various other publications that picked up my comments from the article. The interview is available at Salon and with a simple Google. The radio program is available by visiting the Virtual Pew Live radio program. You can also click here to see the article and letters from Salon.

As expected, I received a good number of emails today from people regarding my statements of liking and respecting Senator Obama, most of those from Christians. Unfortunately, most informed me of how he was a Muslim, against Christianity, and a number of other things. Many may have seen similar emails sent out by many in the Christian community. Here is my issue with virtually 100% of the comments leveled towards me today from Christians. The comments about Senator Obama are false, and easily proven to be untrue.

This got me to thinking about the responsibility to speak truth. I was reminded by various passages in the Bible regarding speaking truth and lying. Some of those passages follow.

By putting a bit into the mouth of a horse, we can turn the horse in different directions. It takes strong winds to move a large sailing ship, but the captain uses only a small rudder to make it go in any direction. Our tongues are small too, and yet they brag about big things.

It takes only a spark to start a forest fire! The tongue is like a spark. It is an evil power that dirties the rest of the body and sets a person's entire life on fire with flames that come from hell itself. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures can be tamed and have been tamed. But our tongues get out of control. They are restless and evil, and always spreading deadly poison.

My dear friends, with our tongues we speak both praises and curses. We praise our Lord and Father, and we curse people who were created to be like God, and this isn't right. Can clean water and dirty water both flow from the same spring? Can a fig tree produce olives or a grapevine produce figs? Does fresh water come from a well full of salt water? – James 3 3-12

We are part of the same body. Stop lying and start telling each other the truth. – Ephesians 4:25

Do not steal or tell lies or cheat others. - Leviticus 19:11

And stop lying to each other. You have given up your old way of life with its habits - Colossians 3:9

There are six or seven kinds of people the LORD doesn't like: Those who are too proud or tell lies or murder, those who make evil plans or are quick to do wrong, those who tell lies in court or stir up trouble in a family. - Proverbs 6:16-19

The LORD hates every liar, but he is the friend of all who can be trusted. - Proverbs 12:22

Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God. That's why he doesn't answer your prayers or let you see his face. Your talk is filled with lies and plans for violence; every finger on your hands is covered with blood. - Isaiah 59:2-3

Where do lies come from? I think the Bible answers that question.

Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies. - John 8:44

Peter said, "Why has Satan made you keep back some of the money from the sale of the property? Why have you lied to the Holy Spirit? - Acts 5:3

Then there are other passages:

I can't stand liars, but I love your Law. - Psalms 119:163

The godly hate lies; the wicked cause shame and disgrace. - Proverbs 13:5

I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house, and liars will not stay in my presence. - Psalms 101:7

An honest witness does not lie; a false witness breathes lies. - Proverbs 14:5

I know, I know, I have probably made my point. It is just that some who professes Jesus as their leader and forgiver often resort to telling lies. When confronted about those lies, they make excuses or something else. Here is the raw, uncut, truth. We all at times lie, either intentionally or unintentionally, that fact does not change the fact that a lie is a lie. I would go so far as to say a little white lie is the same as a great big, smack you in the mouth lie, a lie is a lie. We all make mistakes, but when we realize that mistake we should change our actions and make it known.

Here is the problem, can all of those who spoke lies about Proctor and Gamble take back the damage they did? Can all of those who have spread untrue rumors about their neighbor take back the damage they have done? Can all of those who are so caught up in their political party take back all of the lies they have spoken such as the lies regarding Barack Obama or others that have spread all over the net? Truth is I don’t think you can, all you can do is ask for forgiveness, and go to those you have harmed or spoken mistruth to and try and make it known that you made a mistake, you are sorry, and ask for forgiveness. The sad thing is these rumors spread like wildfire, whether about Obama, our most hated rock star, or whoever.

I challenge Christians to do something unique, are you ready for it? Speak truth, or shut up! If you refuse to do this, you need to realize, another biblical truth about practicing your sin.

So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. - 1 John 1:6

If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. - 1 John 2:4

But I will tell you what will happen to cowards and to everyone who is unfaithful or dirty-minded or who murders or is sexually immoral or uses witchcraft or worships idols or tells lies. They will be thrown into that lake of fire and burning sulfur. This is the second death. - Revelation 21:8

Now that is all, other than to say, if you want to see more references to lying from a Biblical perspective, visit: http://www.bible-topics.com/Lying.html

Here is Barack's response to the comments and the emails that are going around. If you see the video, click on it, otherwise you can click on the link. By the way, go to YouTube, type in Barack Obama Faith, and you will see a ton of videos that deal with the lies spread by many who call themselves Christian, as well as Obama's testimony videos. You can do this in a number of areas, but just wanted to post this one out as an example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkxsfXNrQ8c


Now regarding those emails, comments, hearing gossip, reread the verses above and think about appropriate things to do with your tongue.

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