Confronting Pathological Lying In The Church

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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.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
The movie Shattered Glass and Pathological Liars in
the Christian Community.
Proverbs 26-26.
His malice may be concealed bydeception, but his wickedness
will be exposed in the assembly.
Pathological liars can createsignificant disruption within
the church.

(00:20):
With the rise of the Internet,these deceitful individuals can
easily organize themselves,leading to widespread
manipulation at an alarmingrate.
It is, therefore, not surprisingthat the evil one would align
these individuals with God'sfaithful in order to stir up
persecution against those wholove the truth.

(00:41):
Nothing produces more combatthan a man who has the truth in
the inmost part and pathologicallies.
Psalm 516 shows us the prayer ofa righteous man.
Surely you desire truth in theinner parts.
You teach me wisdom in theinmost place.
The movie Shattered Glass isworth viewing as it provides

(01:03):
insight into the extreme natureof these pathological liars.
This true story illustrates howsome people are incapable of
recognizing their falsehoods andstubbornly cling to their lies
at a level comparable to thepathological lie.
Consequently, one should neveranticipate complete success in
disproving these fabricationsunless the person repents with

(01:25):
godly sorrow for years.
Such individuals are preciselythe kind that Seattle's King
County and other prosecutorsexploit for their own selfish
interests.
As Jesus declared in John 8 44,you belong to your father, the
devil, and you want to carry outyour father's desire.
He was a murderer from thebeginning, not holding to the

(01:46):
truth, for there is no truth inhim.
When he lies, he speaks hisnative language, for he is a
liar and the father of lies.
How to deal with pathologicalliars.
Such liars are only revealedwithin the community, church, or
ministry when such are gatheredbefore the Lord.

(02:07):
Pathological liars manipulateeach person individually,
tailoring their deceptions foreach specific individual to
deceive, control, and take evilaim at their audience of
influence.
Thus, when these individualsgather with others they have
deceived, it allows for theexposure of the multi-level

(02:28):
lies.
Such individuals thrive onmeeting new individuals because
these new acquaintances areunaware of the danger.
You will often see these liarsin the public arena, such as
marketing, politics, legaloccupations, financial advisors,
and ministry.
This allows the pathologicalliar an unlimited supply of

(02:51):
individuals to fool.
That is, they can feed theirsinful lusts to lie on a
never-ending pool of freshvictims.
At Sound Doctrine Church, theseliars were presented before the
congregation in hopes of leadingthem to repentance.
This is the hope and the powerof walking in the light.

(03:12):
See 1 John 1 7.
Several of these pathologicalliars were identified at Sound
Doctrine Church over thedecades, but unfortunately, they
resisted and hardened theirhearts against repentance.
Thus, they leave the church withfresh lies, preying on those
ignorant of the real situations.
If you are suffering due to suchliars, do not try to confront

(03:35):
them individually to expose thelies or to learn the truth on
your own.
As you will see in the movieShattered Glass, it is very
difficult to unseat lies once aperson has accepted those
falsehoods.
After all, the person would haveto humble themselves and admit
they were taken in.
It is only through the power ofGod in a communal setting that

(03:59):
there is any chance ofuncovering the lies.
Only in this way can each memberreveal to the group the lie or
lies they were told.
Proverbs 26-26.
His malice may be concealed bydeception, but his wickedness
will be exposed in the assembly.
This is why God warns, in nouncertain terms, that even

(04:20):
listening to a false witness maycost a person heaven.
Listening to such lies, orfailing to repent of having
listened to these pathologicalliars, will cost you eternal
life.
Those who are false witnessesand those who listen to them
will be destroyed forever.
So says the living God.
Proverbs 21, 28.

(04:42):
A false witness will perish, andwhoever listens to him will be
destroyed forever.
The Consider Podcast, examiningtoday's wisdom, folly, and
madness.
www.consider.info.

SPEAKER_05 (05:08):
There's 16,800 magazines in this country.
But only one calls itself thein-flight magazine of Air Force
One.
And that's the thrill of workingat the New Republic.

SPEAKER_04 (05:22):
This kid he hacked his way into the company called
Juked Micronics and posted thesalary of every Juked employee
on Juke's website.
Saying the big bad bionic boyhas been here, baby.
I want a trip to Disney World.

SPEAKER_03 (05:40):
It's funny.
Why didn't you get this?
I don't know.
Do you have phone numbers forall your sources on the hack
haven't beats?
Because somebody must do somekind of follow-up story.

SPEAKER_02 (05:50):
Called all the hackers I know, asking if any
had heard of a hacker by thename of Big Bad Bionic Boy.
Nothing.

SPEAKER_05 (05:55):
He's made some pretty serious charges.
This looks very suspicious tome.
I'm increasingly beginning tobelieve that I've been duped.

SPEAKER_00 (06:01):
The new republic's snobbiest rag in the business
and gets completely snowed.

SPEAKER_05 (06:05):
Have you thought about the impact this might
have?
If you fire him, people willleave.
I go, Chuck, why didn't you backme up?
He goes, I'm sorry, Steve.
I gotta protect the magazine.

SPEAKER_03 (06:14):
There are political considerations.
The young conservatives piece.
Is that true?
This wasn't an isolatedincident.
He ended as fiction afterfiction, and we printed them all
as facts.
What you're telling me isimpossible.
If you were a stranger to you,you'd dig and you'd bury him.

SPEAKER_02 (06:28):
But there is one thing in the story that checks
out.
What's that?
There does appear to be a statein the union named Nevada.

SPEAKER_01 (06:35):
Hayden Christensen.

SPEAKER_04 (06:37):
You're my editor.
You're supposed to support me.

SPEAKER_01 (06:39):
Peter Sarsgaard.

SPEAKER_04 (06:40):
This thing blows.
There isn't gonna be a magazineanymore.
I didn't do anything wrong.
You saw my notes, everything wasin there.
They're gonna have all this too.

SPEAKER_03 (06:47):
You didn't do anything wrong! I really wish
you'd stop saying that.
Shattered glass.