The Consider Podcast

Confronting Pathological Lying In The Church

• The Consider Podcast Hosts Timothy & Jacob

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The movie Shattered Glass and the Sound Doctrine Church.

A lesson to learn.

One liar, many versions. We unpack Shattered Glass, Proverbs, and John 8 to show how deception fractures communities and how to respond with courage.

www.consider.info

SPEAKER_00:

The movie Shattered Glass and Pathological Liars in the Christian Community. Proverbs 26-26. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. Pathological liars can create significant disruption within the church. With the rise of the Internet, these deceitful individuals can easily organize themselves, leading to widespread manipulation at an alarming rate. It is, therefore, not surprising that the evil one would align these individuals with God's faithful in order to stir up persecution against those who love the truth. Nothing produces more combat than a man who has the truth in the inmost part and pathological lies. Psalm 516 shows us the prayer of a righteous man. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. The movie Shattered Glass is worth viewing as it provides insight into the extreme nature of these pathological liars. This true story illustrates how some people are incapable of recognizing their falsehoods and stubbornly cling to their lies at a level comparable to the pathological lie. Consequently, one should never anticipate complete success in disproving these fabrications unless the person repents with godly sorrow for years. Such individuals are precisely the kind that Seattle's King County and other prosecutors exploit for their own selfish interests. As Jesus declared in John 8 44, you belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. How to deal with pathological liars. Such liars are only revealed within the community, church, or ministry when such are gathered before the Lord. Pathological liars manipulate each person individually, tailoring their deceptions for each specific individual to deceive, control, and take evil aim at their audience of influence. Thus, when these individuals gather with others they have deceived, it allows for the exposure of the multi-level lies. Such individuals thrive on meeting new individuals because these new acquaintances are unaware of the danger. You will often see these liars in the public arena, such as marketing, politics, legal occupations, financial advisors, and ministry. This allows the pathological liar an unlimited supply of individuals to fool. That is, they can feed their sinful lusts to lie on a never-ending pool of fresh victims. At Sound Doctrine Church, these liars were presented before the congregation in hopes of leading them to repentance. This is the hope and the power of walking in the light. See 1 John 1 7. Several of these pathological liars were identified at Sound Doctrine Church over the decades, but unfortunately, they resisted and hardened their hearts against repentance. Thus, they leave the church with fresh lies, preying on those ignorant of the real situations. If you are suffering due to such liars, do not try to confront them individually to expose the lies or to learn the truth on your own. As you will see in the movie Shattered Glass, it is very difficult to unseat lies once a person has accepted those falsehoods. After all, the person would have to humble themselves and admit they were taken in. It is only through the power of God in a communal setting that there is any chance of uncovering the lies. Only in this way can each member reveal to the group the lie or lies they were told. Proverbs 26-26. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. This is why God warns, in no uncertain terms, that even listening to a false witness may cost a person heaven. Listening to such lies, or failing to repent of having listened to these pathological liars, will cost you eternal life. Those who are false witnesses and those who listen to them will be destroyed forever. So says the living God. Proverbs 21, 28. A false witness will perish, and whoever listens to him will be destroyed forever. The Consider Podcast, examining today's wisdom, folly, and madness. www.consider.info.

SPEAKER_05:

There's 16,800 magazines in this country. But only one calls itself the in-flight magazine of Air Force One. And that's the thrill of working at the New Republic.

SPEAKER_04:

This kid he hacked his way into the company called Juked Micronics and posted the salary of every Juked employee on Juke's website. Saying the big bad bionic boy has been here, baby. I want a trip to Disney World.

SPEAKER_03:

It's funny. Why didn't you get this? I don't know. Do you have phone numbers for all your sources on the hack haven't beats? Because somebody must do some kind of follow-up story.

SPEAKER_02:

Called all the hackers I know, asking if any had heard of a hacker by the name of Big Bad Bionic Boy. Nothing.

SPEAKER_05:

He's made some pretty serious charges. This looks very suspicious to me. I'm increasingly beginning to believe that I've been duped.

SPEAKER_00:

The new republic's snobbiest rag in the business and gets completely snowed.

SPEAKER_05:

Have you thought about the impact this might have? If you fire him, people will leave. I go, Chuck, why didn't you back me up? He goes, I'm sorry, Steve. I gotta protect the magazine.

SPEAKER_03:

There are political considerations. The young conservatives piece. Is that true? This wasn't an isolated incident. He ended as fiction after fiction, and we printed them all as facts. What you're telling me is impossible. If you were a stranger to you, you'd dig and you'd bury him.

SPEAKER_02:

But there is one thing in the story that checks out. What's that? There does appear to be a state in the union named Nevada.

SPEAKER_01:

Hayden Christensen.

SPEAKER_04:

You're my editor. You're supposed to support me.

SPEAKER_01:

Peter Sarsgaard.

SPEAKER_04:

This thing blows. There isn't gonna be a magazine anymore. I didn't do anything wrong. You saw my notes, everything was in there. They're gonna have all this too.

SPEAKER_03:

You didn't do anything wrong! I really wish you'd stop saying that. Shattered glass.