The Gibeonites fashioned masterful disguises and played their parts exactly right to achieve their goal. God warns us about deception because it works!

The Gibeonites' pretense of coming from a distant land resulted in their slavery. Yet, through their influence, they contributed to Israel's destruction.

The world is so full of lying and other forms of deceit that 'bearing false witness' has become a way of life for the vast majority of humanity.

We cannot measure how much evil the tongue has perpetrated, for falsehoods disguised as truth have destroyed reputations and even nations.

A community can only be established upon a foundation of stability and truth. Our relationships must be based upon God's truth, producing faithfulness.

We must embody truth as did Jesus Christ, absolutely refusing to bear false witness in our words, our behavior, and our cumulative reputation.

Be wary of things and people that appear attractive and fair on the outside, but are actually foul and destructive underneath. Evaluate the fruit.

Consider two end-time, dominant forces: the Beast power of Revelation 13 and God. To whom will we yield to in the coming years?

Those who have made a covenant with God can be corrupted unless they make a concerted effort to know God, realizing He has the right to do as He pleases.

Probably the biblical character best exemplifying the narcissistic personality is David's son, Absalom, clearly a spoiled son in a dysfunctional family.

The apostle James says that the tongue can metaphorically start a dangerous fire. He warns that gossip, tale-bearing and being a busy-body is like murder.

Religious hucksters use the bait of self-gratification, selling non-essential or even heretical ideas. The elect resist deception by knowing the real article.