There are several reasons people lie. The greatest overall reason is to serve oneself. The two predominant purposes are for the pursuit of power and the pursuit of wealth. The devil wants to rule the entire planet through these very pursuits. There have always been certain people throughout history who desired and attempted the same, and some have actually ruled great portions of the globe, but no one has ever ruled the entire planet.

         The devil uses these people very easily. He uses them because he owns them. He owns them because they fail (miserably) the three principal temptations that the Lord Jesus passed when He triumphed over Satan prior to the start of His ministry. These may be termed the three core temptations of mankind, since they strike directly at the human heart and at the heart of one’s prospective walk with and obedience toward God. The way a person responds to this three-pronged attack from the pitchfork guy gives an excellent indication of his or her future viability as a solid disciple of the Lord, otherwise known as a Real Christian. What follows is the scorecard of the losers:

Failed Temptation #1:

         Using one’s God-given talents to serve God and help people for one’s own personal enrichment. Living for self. Loving the world. Refusing to live for God: “MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD” [Matthew 4:4]. In this passage, the Lord is quoting from Deuteronomy:

         “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” [Deuteronomy 8:2-3]

Failed Temptation #2:

         Refusing to live by faith. Not trusting God. Having a hardened heart of unbelief: “YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST” [Matthew 4:7]. Again, the Lord quotes from Deuteronomy: “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah” [Deuteronomy 6:16]. It was at Massah when the following occurred:

         Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.” [Exodus 17:1-4]

Failed Temptation #3:

         Giving oneself over to the devil for personal glory and gain. The classic “selling of one’s soul.” Serving the devil instead of serving God. Lusting for power and wealth to the point of worshipping Satan: Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY’” [Matthew 4:10]. The Lord quoted from Deuteronomy for a third time:

         “You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.” [Deuteronomy 6:13]

         Eve was the first to be subjected to this exact line of temptation. She believed the lies of Satan. She then deceived Adam and he also believed the lies:

         When the woman saw that the tree was (1) good for food, and that it was (2) a delight to the eyes, and that (3) the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. [Genesis 3:6]

         Do not love the world (Kosmos) nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, (1) the lust of the flesh and (2) the lust of the eyes and (3) the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [1 John 2:15-16]

         The devil promises people power and wealth. He promises to allow them to fulfill their lusts. Unrepentant people desire these things. They want the same thing the devil wants. Therefore, the devil works in tandem with humanity to build and rule his illicit kingdom which opposes God in every way. He arranges venues whereby people can have their fill of power, wealth, and lust of all kinds. He and his demons also partake by entering into human bodies and fulfilling their lusts as well. Unrepentant people and demons make a covenant to work with one another to get what each craves. This is exactly what Adam and Eve did. They joined up with the devil against God in order to fulfill their sinful lusts. They ate of the forbidden tree.

         We are currently in a time when the greatest empire the world has ever seen is being built right before our eyes. This Kosmos is a worldwide economic empire that spans the globe. The devil has successfully convinced the majority of the world to go along with him in his efforts toward total rule. It is one thing to rule through certain very powerful and wealthy people and set them up as rulers under his authority. It is another thing, though, to deceive the vast majority of humanity to follow his lead by essentially promising them the same thing. All of the deceived want power and wealth and will give their lives for it, but most will only have a small portion or little at all. Yet, the dream is ever alive in their minds that they can have more, and get more, and be more.

         People are thus blinded through their pursuit of wealth and power. And because they are blind, they are deceived. As the deceived, the devil does whatever he wants with them. They are his puppets.

         “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” [Matthew 6:24]

         What the devil’s people never seem to realize, because they are so power-hungry and have such a love of money and are blinded by it, is that they will only live on this planet for a very short time. Their bodies will die. Even if they come into their fortune at a young age, they will eventually lose everything they’ve ever gained, which is strikingly temporal.

         Unrepentant people are easily deceived.

         Rulers and politicians have therefore learned that in order to be successful, all they have to do is fool the majority.

         This process is going on right now with reference to the presidential election. Every candidate except one is either lying about his past record, is downplaying it or trying to cover it up, or both. These men know all they must do is fool the majority. They also know that the majority do not take the time to educate themselves about the candidates. They know the majority will believe lies rather than the truth. They know the majority can be deceived by shiny packages and sleight of hand. They know they can be diverted and made to believe their spin. They are polished. They are excellent liars and posers. They are not what they seem to be. And they are supported by powerful and wealthy people behind the scenes.

         The truth can be out there. It can be put forth. It can be in the open light of day. It can be that it cannot be denied. But as long as the bad guys can fool the majority it doesn’t matter. If one wants to get elected, all he or she needs is an electoral majority. That’s all. The truth-tellers and truth-believers might make up a sizable segment of the electorate, but it never matters regarding getting elected as long as they remain a minority. Convincing the majority that the truth-tellers are idiots is all the deceivers must do.

         Of course, truth-tellers are always a distinct minority. They have eyes to see. They have ears to hear. They tell the truth. But the majority won’t buy it. They seem weird or different. From the perspective of the deceived majority, the Lord Jesus was the weirdest, kookiest, strangest, and most “different” Person who ever lived. He was soundly rejected by them.

         The duped majority would rather be lied to and deceived, and made to feel secure than deal with the truth. If a messenger happens to have bad news they would rather kill him and believe the lie that all is well. And though they possess a false security and a modicum of success for possibly several decades of life in this world, they will discover the opposite in the next. They will have lived their life for nothing. They will have lost their souls. This is not only dumb and dumber, it’s asinine.

         “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’” [Luke 12:20] [1]

         And worst of all? They will have to do the one thing they never wanted to do while alive:

         They will have to deal with The Truth.

         They will have to face God.

         © 2012 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [Part 2 of 3]

         The truth has no other agenda than to shine forth and light the way. The truth reveals darkness. The truth uncovers deception. The truth fights an ongoing and unceasing war against falsehood, lies, treachery, and betrayal.

         The truth exposes the hidden kingdom of the devil. 

         The whole world (Kosmos) lies in the power of the evil one. [1 John 5:19]  

         The majority of the people on this planet have always been under a thick cloud of deception. The people who want to rule over and enslave humanity must deceive them. They must lie and cheat. They must hoodwink, trick, and fool.

         If they don’t, they’re out of business. The truth is the one thing they are most afraid of, because it is the one thing that will reveal them for what they are. These evil, secretive people have always, whether they know it or not, taken their cue from the devil himself.

         “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.” [John 8:44-45]   

         The devil is the one who invented lying. He has always used lying as his principle tool for gaining power. Every single person who has joined his side or obeyed his suggestions has been deceived by his lies. These then end up using the devil’s very methods to deceive others.

         He shades the truth. He is always involved in a cover up. He uses ultra-brilliant slight-of-hand tactics to make people believe something false in order to keep them from knowing reality, to control them, and to make them subjects of his illicit kingdom. He establishes sin as the status-quo.

         Why in the world do so many people adamantly insist on engaging in behavior that will take them to hell? They are obviously deceived and have no clue regarding their eventual destination. Nobody in their right mind would want to lose their soul. If someone knew they were going to hell, wouldn’t they want to do something about it?

         Liars are in league with the devil. There are no exceptions. There are no “little white lies” that are innocent or good. Such lies are as harmful as all other lies. A lie is a lie. Liars learn their craft from the devil. It might be through an intermediary, of course, or through someone who has learned to lie and teaches others to do so.

         Some people teach lies they know are lies. The majority teach lies they believe are not lies. They think they are teaching truth. They have been deceived. They have been lied to unknowingly. They are enchanted by a spell and are completely unaware of it. This is the nature of deception. Some people are excellent liars. They have the ability to lie in such a way that the majority will always believe them.

         The majority, it appears, actually appreciate being lied to. They would much rather live in a fantasy world than face the truth. As long as the people they put their faith in keep telling them the kind of untruths that make them feel better about themselves and that the status-quo is correct, they rally around it. It gives them security. But it is a false security.

         Beware the ones you put your faith in. There is only One who will tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. He is not on television.

         Yet, it apparently doesn’t matter. Most people would much rather have a false sense of security than face the truth, which removes a false foundation. Facing the truth means facing reality. But facing reality is scary. It’s upsetting. It involves dealing with personal sin.

         It means facing God.

         Most people don’t want anything to do with facing God. That’s why the majority of people will go to hell. It is not only because they are deceived, it is because they are willingly deceived. God has sent truth-tellers into the world from the very beginning in an effort to counterattack the lies of the devil and set people free.

         “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” [John 8:31-32]

         It follows, then, that whoever does not continue in God’s Word and are not disciples of the Lord Jesus will not know the truth and will not be free.

         Truth-tellers are always misunderstood, lied about, gossiped about, smeared, cheated, libeled, slandered, and betrayed. This happens to all truth-tellers. Some have greater protection than others and are able to stay alive long enough to make an impact. Some actually have good success. But other truth-tellers are killed off early.

         Abel was a truth-teller and was killed at a relatively young age by his own brother. Cain was a liar and took his orders from the devil. The devil knew the Messiah would arrive through the righteous generational line of Abel. Cain killed his only chance at salvation! This was a perfect type of what happened when the Messiah came to His people.

         The ancient Hebrew prophets were truth-tellers. They were pretty much all killed by the lying jerks in power, one despicable Hebrew king after another, often after manipulating the majority of the people to do their bidding. In other words, the majority of the Hebrew people were actually in favor of killing the prophets. And the more prophets they killed, the more their country went down the drain.

         “Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’” [Luke 11:47-51] [1]

         The greatest truth-teller of all time is the Lord Jesus Himself. His own people crucified their Messiah after deceiving the Roman government about Him. Imagine that. Those evil people were such world-class lying manipulators they deceived even Rome! Pontius Pilate found no fault in the Lord according to Roman law. But Pilate relented because they threatened to lie to the Roman emperor about his loyalty. Pilate knew they would have been successful. He thus saved his own skin and condemned an innocent Man to death having no idea who He really was.

         © 2012 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [Part 1 of 3]

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[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.