Have you ever encountered a fast talker? Someone who seems to speak just a little too fast and seems to be just a little too quick to have an answer as you're trying to navigate your way through a transaction? It's almost as if they've practiced, or experienced, every possible response someone might have, and they developed a line to put the conversation back on track to getting something more from the person they're talking to.
I traveled with a friend to a basketball camp one year and we stopped at his grandmother's apartment in New York City on the way. While there, we took a trip to Coney Island and met a fast talker running a booth where you'd throw darts to pop balloons and get a prize. Of course, as you probably are already aware, this sort of booth was rigged against the unsuspecting player and the guy fast talked his way into getting about twenty bucks out of my friend, with about a two dollar prize as the only thing to show for it. Long story short, my friend was pretty upset about it, his grandmother found out what happened, and she got his money back. (the booth operator quickly found out he didn't want to mess with her!)
This man was a perfect example of having a sly, or deceitful, tongue. Now, this is something you may personally encounter, for example, at a similar booth, or sometimes people say a "used car salesman," or maybe some other situation. However, as you may well know, there are many other examples of such a sly tongue in more public forums, focused less on the fast talking and more on the "sweet" talking.
There are many scriptures on deceitful tongues. There are warnings, psalms of deliverance, and descriptions of some things they may attempt to deceive you on. These scriptures talk about the wicked having deceitful tongues, full of cursing and oppression, trouble and iniquity (Psalm 10:7). They talk about those that don't seek peace, but devise deceitful words against those that live quietly (Psalm 35:20).
Even more than that, the scriptures talk about something getting more and more prevalent in this age. Something that we were warned about by Jesus Himself (Matthew 24:37, Luke 17:26). What we're seeing today is wickedness of man growing great in the earth, with more and more hearts of the world being on evil continually (Genesis 6:5).
There is a growing movement in the world of what is called humanism. If you're not aware, according to the American Humanist Association, who's catch phrase is "Good without a God," by the way, it's a philosophy focused on living ethically and aspiring to a greater good, without theism or other supernatural beliefs.
Now, you may think that sort of philosophy would be so obviously wrong that it would be easy for a believer to stay away from. There's no way someone would be deceived into joining, or even associating, with such an organization. It's not about believers being deceived into that though, it's about being deceived by the fruits of such an organization.
For example, did you know that one of the tenets of humanism is obtaining knowledge of the world using science? Seems pretty benign, right? But when you hear phrases like, "trust the science," you realize this focus and belief system leads you down the path of deceit. We've recognized previously that science can't actually prove anything. It's based on observation of the physical world, when we know there is a spiritual aspect also at work. It uses hypotheses, or guesses, and can only disprove those guesses. If you develop a hypothesis and run thousands of experiments, and every one of those experiments doesn't disprove the hypothesis you haven't proven anything. You've only shown that your hypothesis is one possible explanation of how things work.
Let's look at another tenet. Humanists believe that ethical values come from human need and interest. For example, if someone is hungry and can't afford food the ethical thing is to provide them food. There's nothing wrong with that, right? Unfortunately, when you play this out, you come to views that involve forcefully taking what someone has to give to someone that doesn't. They call it a more "equitable society," and promote things like higher taxes on the rich, even when they already pay their fair share according to IRS data.
The problem is, for this particular view, when you get your ethics from what some other person thinks is right based on what they see, your ethics can change based on the situation or how beliefs change over time. Whereas when you get your ethics from a higher power, from Yehovah, they are unchanging and perfect. In fact, from this humanist tenet you can logic your way into views that include pro-choice. After all, if someone views another's circumstance by which they became pregnant as warranting the ability to choose whether or not they bring the pregnancy to term, they believe that person should have the right to terminate that pregnancy. In fact, ethically it would be wrong, in that view, to prevent them from terminating it. When, in actuality, that baby is a life no different from a full grown adult you meet on the street....who of course they would say is ethically wrong to murder.
Yes, this tenet is the same one that also promotes non-heterosexual lifestyles and non-binary genders. I mean, it would be wrong to keep someone from having those lifestyles or being transgender if they feel like that's what they should do, right? And therefore, anyone that doesn't believe those views or embrace them is wrong as well, and they're labeled trans/homo-phobic.
Why is this important? Why should we be able to identify these things as believers? Because there are more things being promoted these days; things that are not the "standard" items mentioned above. I watched a video clip of someone at the World Economic Forum today talking about promoting safety of children. I want children to be safe, and I imagine you do as well. However, this individual, in almost the same breath, talked about rethinking basic human rights, like free speech. To be plain, they were using a topic that I would say almost everyone agrees with in order to promote removing rights of individuals, without actually coming out and saying, "I want to control people by taking away their rights."
There are going to be more things like this being spoken by sly tongues. These are people that do not seek God, and have tongues of deceit, like the serpent in the garden. There is no fear of Yehovah in them (Romans 3:11,13,18). But, in the end, their goal is destruction and misery (Romans 3:16). Being wise, and not being deceived by these sly tongues, our charge is the same as Paul's was to the church in Corinth.
Having the truth of Christ, we are to not stop spreading this truth. Our goal, out of love for those blinded by sly tongues, is to cut off the opportunity for those sly tongues to deceive them (2 Corinthians 11:10-12). There are those sly tongues even in churches today, promoting pro-choice, sexual immorality, and the corruption of God's creation through "genders" that are not male or female. These tongues are those false apostles transforming themselves into apostles of Christ like Satan transforming himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
Do not let these people deceive you with these empty words (Ephesians 5:6), and save as many as you can from those spewing them! These empty words are being spoken of everywhere, and there are building blocks at the very foundation of society and education, laid over the course of decades, that lead well meaning believers down the path of believing, and even promoting, them. It is not easy, but to truly seek the truth you must question everything and make your foundation the Word of Yehovah, especially as evil grows in influence and strength and permeates every aspect of the world. When you find it, spread that truth!
Shabbat shalom and God bless you!
-Rob and Sara Gene
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