Sadly, a previous prime minister of the UK has been pronounced guilty of deliberately misleading Parliament. This has caused havoc in British politics. It is serious stuff.

There are biblical examples of people ‘deliberately misleading’ other people for a seemingly good cause. For example, Rahab lied when she hid the Hebrew spies (Joshua 2:1-7), Hushai gave foolhardy advice to Absalom in order to protect king David (2 Samuel 17:1-14).

Years later, at his sham trial, Jesus was accused of misleading the Jews.

And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king”.

Luke 23:2

This was a completely false accusation, as the Bible says of Jesus:

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

1 Peter 2:22

Does truth matter? Indeed it does.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 1:18

In contrast, Jesus was :

‘full of truth’.

John 1:14

So we need to be very careful. The apostle John warned that by denying our sinfulness we actually accuse God of being a liar:

If we say we have not sinned, we make him [God] a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:10

He also says that

Whoever says “I know him [Jesus Christ]” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1 John 2:4

Now that is truly serious stuff!

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay