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The Father of Lies

Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. 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.

In the movie Advise and Consent, Henry Fonda played a character that asked his son to tell a caller that he was not home. His son asked him why he was lying to which the character responded its not a lie if the person you are telling knows it is a lie. In the TV show Seinfeld the character George Kastanza known for his ability to lie tried summoning his expertise to tell Jerry Seinfeld how to beat a lie detector. He said, “It’s not a lie if you believe it”.

In a way, these examples illustrate how accepting we are generally of that which is not true. It is almost expected that what is portrayed in advertising or told by salesmen should be suspect. There is almost a spectrum from those who speak what they have been told and believe that is in error to those who seek to benefit from their deceptions. Social media pages are almost always examples of little “Potemkin Villages”. It has been said that because men have a visual orientation and women have a hearing orientation that women wear makeup and men tell lies.

Humans have been given a choice. We can choose to follow God by trusting in Christ or we can live for self. The angels were also given a choice. Satan was said to be perfect until a point where he departed from God (Isa 14:12-14, Eze 28:13-17). In a way, Satan represents the consumptive darkness of self. Those who also follow this path can be said to have Satan for a “father”. This relationship may go further than just similarity perhaps entangling even Christians (2 Tim 2:26). Those who are disconnected from truth are vulnerable themselves to deceptions (2 Tim 3:13).

We are told that we are not unaware of Satan’s schemes (2 Cor 2:11). He sets the course of the world with the ultimate objective of trying to be like God and ruling the earth, however, using lies, force, and coercion. We can get a small picture of what the world will be like for the brief time of Satan’s administration (2 Thess 2:9-12).

We can know that God is light and there is no darkness in him (1 John 1:5). God looks at humanity as a crop (John 4:35), seeking those who are drawn to light and truth (John 3:21). Satan seeks those he can use. To this end he uses the attraction of comfort, ease, pleasure, and selfishness to draw people into constructing their own prison. The bible speaks of the dangers of pride, lust, and covetousness. These base motives are often what Satan exploits to draw us into captivity (2 Pet 2:19, 2 Tim 3:6).

Massive student debt justified by dreams of worldly success, marriages abandoned by dreams of sensual indulgence, and delusions of importance drawn from images of prominence and prestige all point to how easily Satan is able to use that which is not true to get us to move against our own best interests. The Christian who walks in truth and exercised discernment may be able to better avoid being sucked into schemes that advance Satan’s plans (Heb 5:14).

Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

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