“Liar, liar, pants on fire!” is a familiar childhood refrain. Somewhere the other day, I stumbled on this catchphrase augmented with the suggestion that it would be more interesting if liars’ pants actually did ignite in fiery flames when they told lies. Just imagine such a spectacle. Where might one train his vision to witness that phenomenon?
I can envision it now. While watching the evening news broadcast, suddenly the anchorman’s trousers bursts into flames. Certainly, political speeches would be a lot more interesting if the politicians’ pants began smoking and then flamed whenever they lied; doubtlessly few would escape being singed. Surely, nearly every car salesman (and most other smooth-talking salespeople) would appear charred and emit a burnt aroma.
The religious arena wouldn’t be spared either; how many denominational pastors as well as some Gospel preachers would find themselves on fire when they spewed forth untruths instead of the unadulterated Word of God? The burning hot pulpits behind which those heralds stand to speak lies might combust and serve as kindling; how many church houses would evidence fire and smoke damage?
Telling lies has become so commonplace that one is almost naïve to believe at face value anything anyone says. For instance, the so-called good guys (e.g., police, leading characters) in family television programs tell lies all the time, as though that was normal and a right thing to do.
Friends, God takes a whole different viewpoint to telling lies. Lying is not a trivial matter, but rather, it is a serious threat to the spiritual wellbeing of everyone who tells lies. In both the Old Testament and in the New Testament, God forbids lying. “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another” (Leviticus 19:11 NKJV). “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds” (Colossians 3:9). Everyone ought to be able to rely upon whatever a child of God – today, a Christian – says. God’s strong disdain for lying is prominent in a well-known biblical citation. “These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6:16-19). Notice also Proverbs 12:22, which reads, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight.”
Several additional Scriptures, likewise, provide the same exhortations against liars. Revelation 21:8 concisely demonstrates the weighty burden of the sin of lying as God views it. He places the liar in the same category of murderers, sexually immoral people and idolaters, whose end is the same – an eternal habitation in a devil’s hell. “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” So-called little white lies and lies of every other imaginable rationalization produce the same categorical result as “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Liar, liar pants on fire – maybe not literally now, but literally and eternally from Judgment Day onward. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Repentance and baptism for the non-Christian (Acts 2:38) or repentance and prayer for the Christian (Acts 8:22) can erase the guilt of all past sins, including telling lies.
