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LYING

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 17, 1868

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 32, No. 21.

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LYING.

By John Nevins Andrews

The sin of lying is peculiarly heinous in the sight of God. When the different classes that are shut out of the holy city, and cast into the devouring fire, are enumerated, a special emphasis is placed upon those who are guilty of falsehood.
Rev. xxi, 8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and ALL LIARS, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.”
Rev. xxii, 15: “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and WHOSOEVER LOVETH and MAKETH A LIE,”
No doubt ALL murderers shall have part in the lake of fire; but the Spirit of God saw fit to thus designate the liars rather than the murderers. And those who love as well as those who commit any of the vile crimes enumerated in these texts shall certainly be left outside the city of God; yet this is marked only in the case of lying.
Among men, lying, if not too mischievous and vile, is counted a small sin, a trivial wrong which is of little consequence. But it is not thus in the sight of the God of truth. One reason besides that of its own intrinsic wickedness is that it is an element that enters into almost every sin that men commit.
1. Every sin of fraud, overreaching, and dishonesty, has a lie for its heart.
2. Nearly every sin of every kind has a lie in it, either expressed or implied.
3. Sins committed in secret are lies of awful magnitude. Their authors pass for upright men, when such is, in many respects, the opposite of the truth.
4. Even open sins are embraced in this category of falsehood. They are in violation of solemn vows to God, and sacred pledges to men, which at some period of life every one has made.
Our world is full of lying. Even the people of God are stained with this sin. There are lying acts as well as lying words. There are lies told when every word that is uttered is true, yet that is suppressed which would present the thing in an entirely different light.
Let us remember the fearful emphasis placed by the Holy Spirit upon the fate of liars. ALL LIARS shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.
“Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.” Ps. xv, 1, 2. J. N. ANDREWS.