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Proverbs 26:18-28. Some proverbial warnings against deceit, stirring up trouble, and manipulation: the man who deceives his neighbor and then says "I was only joking!" is like a madman throwing firebrands; a quarrelsome man is like charcoal to hot embers; a whisperer promotes quarrels through his "delicious morsels"; to dissemble is hatred, and it shows deceit in the heart. Do not believe a dissembler, even when he speaks graciously, "for there are seven abominations in his heart," although his hatred is covered with guile. Eventually, his wickedness will be exposed, and he will fall into the pit he has dug.

 

(Looks at watch..... looks up....taps foot....."Ahem!") It seems like we have been waiting forever for all the liars and dissemblers to fall into the pits they have been digging. Meanwhile, a lot of innocent people are falling in their pits, and I am losing patience with it. I know that I have to trust God, I know that it will happen in God's time, that all of the wickedness will be exposed, but the damage these people are doing is tremendous. I am having a hard time with how long it is taking!

 

Even when some germ of truth actually bubbles to the surface, it is massaged, managed, filtered, and then memory-holed so that no one ever notices or points out that that it is in direct contradiction to what these same people have said to us before, in their mocking and self-righteous tone! It is so disheartening and so hard for regular people to find and know the truth.

 

We are being manipulated by wicked people with who speak graciously to hide their deceit. We know we can't believe them, but we also aren't being allowed to find out or even seek for the truth. Anyone who contradicts the "narrative" is called a conspiracy theorist, ridiculed, shut down, and silenced (which is a good sign that they are probably saying something close to the truth - the true loonies are allowed to talk away, because they are no real danger).

 

I love that the Bible actually calls out those who lie and manipulate and then say "I am only joking!"  I am reminded of Jon Stewart's "clown nose on/clown nose off" routine, where he would fall back on the "I'm just a comedian!" excuse after deceptively editing interviews, calling disagreement hatred, and spinning all things to be supportive of his politics, while mocking anyone who disagreed. He certainly was a trailblazer for today's excuses for late-night "comedians"!

 

We are being trained by deceitful people to be quarrelsome. For some reason (I truly believe it is the devil's influence), those in power want us fighting with and hating each other rather than coming together. I think it distracts us from what they are really doing (not that I know what they are doing, it is impossible to find out, but I do know when I'm being manipulated and lied to!)

 

They will fall into their own pits, I know, but it sure is taking a long time and causing a lot of suffering.