Deception by J. S. Jennings

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 24, 1885

Deception.

By J. S. Jennings

Or all the besetting sins of which fallen man is guilty, perhaps deception is the most common and abominable. This is the tempter which leads to plain, outspoken falsehood. This leads to theft, robbery, treason, and all the high-handed villainy which is perpetrated throughout our land. First commences the game of deception.

“*Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive.*”

If I have one word of advice which I regard more than another, it is this: Beware of deception. Don't put a false construction on sentences; don't intimate what you do not mean; don't assert what you do not know to be true; don't make people believe you are honest when you are not; if you are led into an error, own it like a man. It is much better to confess our faults openly, than to create false impressions. We are liable to be deceived, but let us be careful not to deceive others. We cannot deceive the Almighty, nor create false impressions to confuse his understanding. Though we cannot be entirely free from the influence of sin, and though we may often be tempted, yet we can always strive to be free from the sin of deception.

[J. S. Jennings, in Gospel Herald.