God cannot tell a lie; we know this because the bible tells
us so in many places. See Numbers 23:19 God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should
change his mind; 1 Samuel 15:29 He who is the Glory of Israel
does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should
change his mind; and similar verses in 2
Samuel 7:28, Psalm 119:160, Titus 1:2, and in God’s Promise to
Abraham, Hebrews 6:18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable
things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold
of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.
So, it is apparent that it is true that In
God We [can] Trust.
Or is it?
Let us look at the Bible and see what it
says.
We will skip the implied lies, or
misrepresentations, such as the admonition in Genesis 2:17 regarding eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and
Evil ‘… for when you eat from it you will
certainly die.’ Adam and Eve both
did eat of the fruit and did not die, save many years later. Such a warning is similar to ‘eat too much
red meat and do not exercise, and you will certainly die… just not soon’. That is why we will focus on where the Bible explicitly states deception.
Two books reference the same event of God
having deception done explicitly in His name: 1 Kings 22:23 & 2
Chronicles 18:22. In order to lure
Ahab to the battlefield in order to be killed, both books (and verses) state
the Lord sent out a deceiving spirit to be in the ‘mouths of the prophets’.
Specifically, those who were to speak on what God’s will was to be, even
the normal contrarian Micaiah, were to deceive Ahab. In a similar vein, Ezekiel 14:9 talks about prophets for false gods, however And if the prophet is enticed to utter a
prophecy, I the Lord have enticed that prophet,
and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people
Israel. Which is to say for
those already astray and those consorting those prophets, God will continue
their false belief in order for them to be punished.
2
Thessalonians 2:9 is more explicit with regard to the wicked and lawless For this reason God sends them a powerful
delusion so that they will believe the lie. Instead of mercy to correct the erroneous,
they are deceived by God in order to fall (or stay) in error and be
punished. How similar that is to Exodus 10:27 where the Lord hardened
Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let Moses’ people go, and the people of
Egypt were punished for the heart of Pharaoh that God hardened.
Does that sound like the work of a beneficent and
trustworthy God?
God shows His goodness in Psalm 5:4 For
you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people
are not welcome. However, it is the
same God who brings both good and evil as in Lamentations 3:38, Amos 3:6,
Job 2:10 and in Isaiah 45:7 I form the light
and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
Just like with anything else the Bible is
purported to say, it is true depending upon the selection used to support one’s
conclusion, while omitting the rest.
