The Biggest Liar

If you think you’re good at telling lies, you just might qualify to enter an annual competition in England called the World’s Biggest Liar. From around the world, competitors gather and have five minutes to tell the biggest and most convincing lie they can. No props or scripts can be used, and politicians and lawyers are excluded since they are deemed too skilled at telling “porkies.”

History is riddled with notorious liars, including Richard Nixon, Charles Ponzi, and P.T. Barnum. But nobody can top the list like Satan himself, whom Jesus called “a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). His biggest and most convincing lie was the one he told Eve at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Even though God told Adam and Eve that if they ate from that tree they would “surely die” (Genesis 2:17), the couple chose to believe the devil’s tale.

The single lie that sinful man is immortal has laid the foundation for the deceptive belief of Spiritualism—a movement based on the notion that the spirits of the dead roam the earth. This unbiblical teaching has swept millions into thinking they can communicate with the dead, even though the Bible says that the “soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).

Sadly, this twisted teaching was imported into the Christian faith through pagan philosophy—especially from Plato—during a time when the church was deep in apostasy. Today, the belief that the dead are conscious has paved the way for Christians to accept Spiritualism. After all, if the dead are alive and in the presence of God, why would they not come back to earth as ministering spirits?

The Bible not only exposes spiritualism as false but forbids anyone from trying to communicate with the dead (Leviticus 19:31). Jesus repeatedly dealt with “evil spirits” (Luke 7:21), and John the revelator tells how in the last days the “spirits of demons” will perform signs (Revelation 16:14).

Only as we stay close to the Word of God can we avoid being deceived by evil spirits that pretend to be spirits from heaven.

Apply It:

Think of a time you believed a lie. How did it affect your life?

Dig Deeper:

Deuteronomy 18:10, 11; Acts 19:12; Revelation 12:9

Key Bible Texts

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (Genesis 3:4 KJV)