THE SIN OF LYING IN GOD’S NAME
A Call to Repentance
By Gary Ray Branscome
“Do not add to his words, lest he reprove
you, and you are found to be a liar. // All liars, will have their part in the
lake that burns with fire”
(Proverbs 30:6, Revelation 21:8).
On more than one occasion I have
encountered someone who was very intent on keeping God’s law, and yet came
across to others as harsh, unloving, critical and rude. Because such people
want very much to believe that they are righteous they often wind up being
critical of others while blinding themselves to their own sins. They usually
have certain rules that they follow, while ignoring or justifying sins that they
do not think are important. At the same time, there are those who go to the
opposite extreme of tolerating open and manifest sin in the name of love, while
being critical of anyone who openly condemns such sin. In either case, it is
hard to help such people or counsel them because they tend to become angry when
shown their faults.
That being said, the purpose of this
essay is to expose one area of sin that is usually ignored, the sin of speaking
falsely in God’s name. Some may get angry with me because they do not want to
believe that they are guilty of that sin. Others may condemn what I say because
my approach does not fit their ideas of tolerance. However, what I am going to say
needs to be said, because falsehood and deception are tools of the devil, and
they hinder the work of the Gospel.
The Sin of Adding to God’s Word
One of the most obvious ways in which
people add to God’s Word is by claiming that they have a new revelation. Such
claims are common among the cults. However, I have often heard Christians say,
“God told me” to do this or that. Now, while such claims may come across as pious,
they open people up to satanic influence. Many years ago I heard a radio
preacher say, “God told me that Jesus will return in 1985”. Yet it is obvious
that he was lying in God’s name. I heard another preacher who, in talking about
his call to the ministry, said that because he did not obey the call when God
first called him to preach, God caused his firstborn child to die. Have you
ever heard anything worse! What kind of ogre does he think God is? That is pure
slander of God. What would an unbeliever in the congregation think? Yet that
kind of thing goes on all of the time. In some churches people are being taught
that God will speak to them through feelings and impressions, and that they
must “obey” what “He says,” or He may punish them. However, that is a lie! Those
who teach that would place people back under the law, with this one difference; they have replaced the written law with an
unwritten law. In either case, the curse that Paul warned about in his epistle
to the Galatians still applies (Galatians 1:6-9).
Other ways in which people add to
God’s Word have to do with reading ideas into the text of Scripture, coming up
with explanations that are not in Scripture, teaching their own interpretations
and conclusions as the Word of God, and claiming that the words mean something
other than what they say.
For example: The seven churches spoken
of in Revelation 1:10–3:22, were seven actual congregations that existed in
We see another example at the
beginning of Revelation chapter four. There John hears a voice saying, “come up here”. Now, there is absolutely nothing in the text
to indicate that anyone besides John heard that voice. In fact, we are
specifically told that the voice John heard was the same voice that he heard in
Revelation 1:10. And, that clearly was not a future voice, but a voice that he
heard almost two thousand years ago. Nevertheless, there are people who claim
that the words “come up here,” which John heard are calling the saints from the
grave. If that is what you have been taught then read the text, for it says no
such thing. That idea is pure imagination, and again those who teach it are
committing the sin of adding to God’s Word.
Another example can be found in
Revelation 7:14-17. Those verses speak of a “great tribulation”. However, the
claim that that tribulation is yet in the future, and will only last seven
years is pure fantasy. The Bible says no such thing. Those who teach that
doctrine are adding to God’s Word.
At this point we need to ask. How can
people be so blind? Why are they unable to see that the text does not say what
they claim it says? And, the reason for their blindness lies in a delusion, a
delusion that leads them to think that they can figure out the meaning of
prophesies the Bible has not explained. As a result, they cannot tell the
difference between what the Bible plainly says and what they think it means.
The Sin of Subtracting from God’s Word
Since I just explained why those who
read a resurrection into the words, “come up here” are adding to God’s Word;
let me show how those same people subtract from God’s Word (Revelation 4:1). When
people add an idea to God’s Word, it usually winds up contradicting what the
Bible says elsewhere. And, in this case, that idea contradicts Christ who
plainly said that He would raise up believers, “on the
last day” (John
There are a number of passages in
Scripture that plainly tell us that Christ is God. Cults that deny He is God
subtract from Scripture by explaining those passages away. (See John 1:1-18,
1John
Christ plainly said, “My kingdom is
not of this world” (John
First John 2:1-2 says, “We have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for
our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” However,
those who deny that Christ died for the sins of all men subtract from Scripture
by explaining that passage away. Moreover, by explaining it away they make it
of no effect, at least for those who are deceived by them (Mark
Both those who add to God’s Word and
those who subtract from it are lying in God’s name, because they are either claiming
that he said what He did not say, or denying that He said what He said.
The Sin of Self-deification
Deep down, the motivation of those who
add to and take from God’s Word is always the desire to make themselves God.
When they add to God’s Word they are trying to make themselves God by teaching
their word as God’s Word. When they take away from God’s Word they are
attempting to make themselves God by overruling what He has said, as if they
are the real authority (Genesis 3:1).
Sometimes they use Scripture in order
to manipulate people, by telling them that they have to dress a certain way,
wear their hair a certain way, or only marry people of the same race. At other
times they twist Scripture to support the bogus claim that church members must
obey the pastor, or that ordained pastors are the only ones who are able to
understand Scripture. Instead of leading people to turn from man’s word to
God’s Word, they teach their own opinions and private interpretations as if the
ministry existed to exalt them rather than Christ and provide them with a forum
for advancing their own opinions. In any case they are trying to make
themselves into God by exalting themselves over others. And, when they twist
Scripture to do this they wind up lying in God’s name.
The Sin of Professing Oneself to be Wise
Although the entire body of doctrine (all
of the teachings necessary to the work of the ministry and the salvation of souls) is
stated in Scripture in words so clear that they need no interpretation, sin
often blinds people to what the Bible plainly says. At the same time, Satan
uses the many passages of Scripture that are difficult to understand to lead
people away from what the Bible says. One way he does this is by having them
profess themselves to be wise, profess to know more than they possibly could
know, claim to have the answers to questions that the Bible does not answer, and
in general confuse the distinction between man’s word and God’s Word.
No one denies the fact that many
things in Scripture are hard to understand, or that the Bible leaves us with
many unanswered questions. However, the Biblical approach to these difficulties
is to humbly admit our ignorance, and concentrate on those teachings that are
so clearly set forth in the words of Scripture that they need no
interpretation.
“The Holy Ghost has arranged
Holy Scripture in such a magnificent and wholesome way that through the clear
passages He appeases the hunger and through the dark passages He prevents
loathing. For hardly anything is derived from those obscure
passages but what is stated elsewhere most clearly.” (Augustine,
Quoted in Baier-Walther, I, 168.)
“Correctly defined, open questions are such questions
as inevitably arise in our study of Scripture doctrines but are not answered by
Scripture at all or at least not clearly. And Scripture enjoins us to let them
remain open questions. If we presume to answer them and ask men to accept our
opinion as divine truth, we would be rejecting those Scripture passages which
forbid us to add anything to God’s Word (Deut. 4:2;
Whenever we go beyond the plain teaching
of God’s Word, whether it be in regard to Bible prophesy or any other topic, if
we add to or take from what the Bible says then we have departed from the Word
of God and are lying in God’s name.
Conclusion
If we are to be faithful to God, we
must first learn to be our own worst critic. We must be intent on finding and
eliminating our own mistakes before anyone else does and before teaching them
to others. And, the clear passages of Scripture, the doctrinal truths so
plainly stated that they need no interpretation, are the standard by which
every opinion is to be judged (Isaiah 8:20).
Because Jesus said that He would raise up believers on the “last day,” every interpretation
that says otherwise is to be rejected (John
“The first and foremost duty of
the exegete consists in holding the flighty spirit of man to the simple word of
Scripture and, where he has departed from it, to lead him back to the simple
word of Scripture.” [From
“Christian Dogmatics”, by Francis Pieper, Volume one,
page 360]