DoublePortion_October2023_8.5x5.5_REV.indd

A lie led to the fall when Satan told Eve, “You will not surely die!” after eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:4). Later, Cain lied to the Lord by claiming he did not know about his brother’s whereabouts (Gen 4:9). Potiphar’s wife lied by saying Joseph tried to rape her when has was actually trying to avoid her sexual ad vances. Joseph went to prison as a result (Genesis 39:20). Scripture says, “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Ly ing lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Leviticus 19:11, Psalm 34:13, Proverbs 12:22) . Yet, as a USA Today poll reported, only 56% of Americans teach honesty to their children. Also, a Louis Harris poll revealed the unfortunate fact that 65% of high school students would cheat on an important exam. Recently, a noted physician said on a television talk show: “Lying is an important part of social life, and children who are unable to do it are children who may have devel opmental problems.” And that appeared over 30 years ago in the devotional booklet, Our Daily Bread. Was Gehazi brought up in a home where lying was allowed, perhaps even nurtured? We’ll never know.What we can say is that it looked as though his scheme had worked for a short while. Gather ing his apparent accumulation, he put the ill-gotten goods away in his house (2 Kings 5:24). Bernie Madoff was an American financier who orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in history, a lengthy and lucrative ca per that he finally admitted was “all just one big lie.” 2 Fabricating records in the asset management side of his business, he defrauded clients out of nearly $65,000,000,000. For years, the Madoffs enjoyed the fruits of this deceit. “Court documents show that Bernard Madoff and his wife Ruth lived a life of high luxury, with exclusive homes, yachts and other

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