Pentecost Conference

Elias Aslaksen:

The more we dwell on this—truth, lying— the more we get out of it. We can say that this topic is a special truth among all other truths.

Proverbs 24:11-12: “If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’” it is a blatant, and does God not know that it is a lie? Doesn’t everyone know that the world is full of people who are afflicted by Satan in every possible way? However, if we do not sacrifice our life in order to help them, we are unfaithful and have fallen into judgment. If we say that we know nothing about it, we seek to lie ourselves out of it. Nevertheless, if we do away with lying, we are saved from all slothfulness, lack of love, and mercilessness. People like to use the phrase, “If I had only known of a truly needy person, I would have helped,” etc. You imagine that you have much love and that you are freed from money, but unfortunately, you are not aware of any needy person who is worthy. That is a hideous lie. There is likely not a single person present who is not aware of someone—if only he wants to be—who needs his help. However, what is lacking is love and a desire to give; therefore, people have no rest in God in this area. That is the truth. But if you say, “I don’t know anything about that,” then you are holding on to the lie, and you continue to be like other people. You are not being transformed. Here in this assembly we are above manifest lying, for example when someone says that he owns a farm and yet he does not have one. That kind of thing must “not even be mentioned among you,” for we belong to a holy, chosen, and precious assembly. Likewise we are also beyond talking about manifest adultery. But the lie that we are talking about here is of a more subtle kind.

Psalms 62:10: The sons of men are only a lie. Imagine that the dearest thing we have, our promising sons, are only a lie according to the flesh. Imagine! Our promising son, our splendid boy! Since we are only a lie according to the flesh ourselves, so too is everything we beget. This doesn’t just apply to the sons of the ungodly, but also to our sons. Therefore it is essential for them to seek God so they can be saved. Just try to pass a just judgment where several children are gathered. You cannot do it. You will hear them all shouting at the same time: “It wasn’t me; it wasn’t my fault!” Adults are not one iota better; they only know how to hide it more effectively. The whole thing is an entanglement of lies. There is only one escape from lying, and that is that the liar dies. The person who dies most quickly is also the first one to lay hold of the truth. John was quicker to die than all the others who were less truth-loving than he.

Go to any congregation and speak the truth—you can present it as gently and as lovingly as you want—it will seem to them as if a wolf had come in among them. That is how permeated they are by lying. Once I wrote to a brother, “Your prayer is pure hypocrisy.” As a rule, people pray a prayer that is not suitable for their state. Instead of praying and calling and crying out to God for salvation for themselves, they act as if everything is just fine, and so they say a nice prayer for the others. That is not prayer. It is an unadulterated lie.

I recommend that everyone dwell on this topic. It is a gold mine.

Andreas Nilsen:

Luke 9:24-25. There is something in us that will perish, and something that will not perish. Our spirit will not perish. However, everything that falls under the description of “flesh” is corruptible and must perish. God zealously desires our spirit, but He resists the flesh with its passions and desires. What would it profit us if we satisfied our flesh? One day we would have to acknowledge that we deceived ourselves and that our spirit had become the servant of a lie.

Isaiah 57:11. Endeavor to lay hold of that which is profitable. Gaining the entire world doesn’t count for anything; rather be finished with it.