We should first agree on what is deceit. Lies are the very basis of every form of deceit.

You lie when you avoid the truth, exaggerate the truth, disguise or alter the truth or cast doubt on the truth. In a U.S. court of Law, you have to solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. At one time in our history this phrase would end with..." so help you God", which has now been mostly replaced with..." under pains and penalties of perjury".

Lying and deceit are two sides of the same coin. A lie may be defined in a number of ways, but in every way, a lie is a form of deceit, a type of deception, and an attempt to deceive. A lie is one of the means by which one is deceived. Some definitions of a lie include;

An untrue assertion expressed as truth. ·
To deny others access to knowledge to which they are entitled.·
A false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth.

A lie then can be best described as a deliberate misrepresentation of the truth to advantage someone at the expense of another.

Are there any biblical examples of this? Yes, many! In the last post, we read how God was going to take the kingdom from the line of David due to the sins of Solomon. Jeroboam was anointed to be the king over the 10 northern tribes, leaving only 2 to Solomon’s son.

1 Kings 12:25-33 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel.

Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. "If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."

So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt." He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

Jeroboam, rather than trusting God, who gave him his kingship, Jeroboam consciously, deliberately created his own religion. He took some of his religious ideas from all the idolatry that Solomon brought into Israel.

People will follow almost any leader that comes into power, especially those who lead them into false worship. Just like sheep, people are easing deceived by their own lusts, desires, and material pleasures. What did God think about all of this?

1 Kings 13:1-6 Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. He cried against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar, altar, thus says the LORD, 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'" Then he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which the LORD has spoken, 'Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.'"

Now when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him." But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. The altar also was split apart and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

The king said to the man of God, "Please entreat the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before.

What have we just read?

First, Jeroboam was actually worshiping the god he created.

Second, although he knew of God, he had no fear of God nor of His messengers.

Third, when the warning became reality, who did Jeroboam cry out to? He asked the prophet to entreat his God. It is quite apparent that the God of the universe was not his god.

Unfortunately, Jeroboam learned nothing from this encounter.

1 Kings 14:1-14 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. 1Ki 14:2 Jeroboam said to his wife, "Arise now, and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh; behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who spoke concerning me that I would be king over this people. "Take ten loaves with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy."

Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age. Now the LORD had said to Ahijah, "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. You shall say thus and thus to her, for it will be when she arrives that she will pretend to be another woman."

When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you with a harsh message. "Go, say to Jeroboam,

'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—yet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only that which was right in My sight; you also have done more evil than all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back— therefore behold, I am bringing calamity on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male person, both bond and free in Israel, and I will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone.

"Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs will eat. And he who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat; for the LORD has spoken it."' "Now you, arise, go to your house. When your feet enter the city the child will die. "All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's family will come to the grave, because in him something good was found toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. "Moreover, the LORD will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this day and from now on.

The deceiver deceived himself. Jeroboam sought God only when his god could not help him. Of course, his god couldn’t help anyone. Yet, he knew exactly what to do, who to go to, and which god to seek. But, God will not accommodate the prayers of those who don’t fear and worship Him alone.

This is exactly what happens today. People go about their lives content until some problem arises. It is then and only then, they realize that only God can solve their problem. But, God will not solve their problem but will let them know of an even bigger problem.

They will not only suffer the earthly consequences of their sin, but will also suffer the eternal consequences of their sins. Yet, they persist in their pursuit of their own gods. They are hopelessly deceived.

You need to seriously examine your beliefs,which may indeed be based on very convincing, subtle lies; these lies have been perpetuated for many years, even centuries. The oldest lies are the hardest to overcome. The lies, which are continually promoted as truth, are very difficult to determine. The lies that appeal to our sensual, sinful natures are extremely hard to resist. The lies, that go unchallenged and unquestioned for years, are thereby nearly impossible to refute.

We should first agree on what is deceit. Lies are the very basis of every form of deceit.

Lying and deceit are two sides of the same coin. A lie may be defined in a number of ways, but in every way, a lie is a form of deceit, a type of deception, and an attempt to deceive. A lie is one of the means by which one is deceived. Some definitions of a lie include;

An untrue assertion expressed as truth. ·

To deny others access to knowledge to which they are entitled.·

A false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth.

A lie then can be best described as a deliberate misrepresentation of the truth to advantage someone at the expense of another.

Are there any biblical examples of this? Yes, many! In the last post, we read how God was going to take the kingdom from the line of David due to the sins of Solomon. Jeroboam was anointed to be the king over the 10 northern tribes, leaving only 2 to Solomon’s son.

1 Kings 12:25-33 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel.

So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt." He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

Jeroboam, rather than trusting God, who gave him his kingship, Jeroboam consciously, deliberately created his own religion. He took some of his religious ideas from all the idolatry that Solomon brought into Israel.

People will follow almost any leader that comes into power, especially those who lead them into false worship. Just like sheep, people are easing deceived by their own lusts, desires, and material pleasures. What did God think about all of this?

The king said to the man of God, "Please entreat the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before.

What have we just read?

First, Jeroboam was actually worshiping the god he created.

Second, although he knew of God, he had no fear of God nor of His messengers.

Third, when the warning became reality, who did Jeroboam cry out to? He asked the prophet to entreat his God. It is quite apparent that the God of the universe was not his god.

Unfortunately, Jeroboam learned nothing from this encounter.

When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you with a harsh message. "Go, say to Jeroboam,

The deceiver deceived himself. Jeroboam sought God only when his god could not help him. Of course, his god couldn’t help anyone. Yet, he knew exactly what to do, who to go to, and which god to seek. But, God will not accommodate the prayers of those who don’t fear and worship Him alone.

This is exactly what happens today. People go about their lives content until some problem arises. It is then and only then, they realize that only God can solve their problem. But, God will not solve their problem but will let them know of an even bigger problem.

They will not only suffer the earthly consequences of their sin, but will also suffer the eternal consequences of their sins. Yet, they persist in their pursuit of their own gods. They are hopelessly deceived.