It was one Sunday morning that a minister was called on to visit a young man, who was in soul trouble. The minister followed the messenger through one street and another till they arrived before the city prison. Both were admitted, and finally the minister found himself in a small cell in the presence of a young man about 20 years of age. The minister was astonished to find so young a man in such a place. But the latter began at once and said,
“I have listened this morning to the ringing of the church bells and I am reminded of the time when I was a happy and carefree Sunday school scholar, which, by the way, seems but a very short time. Had I continued to go, and had taken heed to God’s Word, I should have never come to this place. The beginning of my downward way was a lie I told my mother. A neighbor boy came to me one Sunday morning and asked me to go with him to fish. My mother heard it, and commanded me to go—not with the boy fishing—but to Sunday school. I deceived my mother and went with the boy to the water. It was the first time I lied to my mother. O, that it had been the last! From that time on, I seized every opportunity to lie to mother, till I got so hardened and ungodly that I lost all desire and love for Sunday school, and, sad to say, love to my mother, too. Thus I went on from bad to worse, and while intoxicated, I committed the crime for which I am here, a prisoner, behind the bars.”
Do you see, my dear young reader, what a lie will lead to? How it hardens the heart, unless it is confessed to God and man, and makes one despise God’s Word, and to think of it no more as the Holy Scriptures. A lie led this young man when a boy to disobey his parents and to become a criminal. God who has said, “Lie not one to another,” has also said,
“Honor thy father and mother,” and still further,
“Thou shalt not kill!”
But to the liar, God’s Word has ceased to be holy. He is in that wicked one’s power. So we also read that the devil is called the “father of lies.” It is said that liars shall not enter heaven, hut shall be outside with Satan in hell. We read that “Without are... murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” Revelation 22:1515For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. (Revelation 22:15).
“God is in heaven: would He know If I should tell a lie?”
“Yes; if thou saidst it soft and low, He’d hear it in the sky.”
ML 12/16/1945