"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:16, Deuteronomy 5:20).

"Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your Elohim, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; YOUR LIPS HAVE SPOKEN LIES, YOUR TONGUE MUTTERS WICKEDNESS. No one calls for righteousness, and NO ONE PLEADS IN TRUTH: they trust in vanity, and SPEAK LIES; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no justice in their goings: they have made them crooked paths; whoever goes in it does not know peace. Therefore is justice far from us, neither does righteousness overtake us: we look for light, but, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity. We grope for the wall like the blind; yes, we grope as they that have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among them that are lusty we are as dead men. We roar all like bears, and moan severely like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our Elohim, speaking oppression and revolt, CONCEIVING AND UTTERING FROM THE HEART WORDS OF FALSEHOOD. And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands afar off; FOR TRUTH HAS FALLEN IN THE STREET, and uprightness cannot enter. Yes, TRUTH IS LACKING; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey. And Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice." (Isaiah 59:1-15).

A Universal Human Character Flaw

The scriptures we have just read to introduce this month’s feature section, Prophetic Trends, confirms that Yahweh intends humankind to tell the truth at all times. He begins this instruction with the negative commandment, "You shall not bear false witness." (A negative commandment forbids certain types of objectionable conduct.) The passages we have quoted relate to prophetic situations where lying, untruthfulness, and falsehood have become commonplace in the world.

For example, the priests and the prophets of ancient Israel were given to lying. The government leaders were also yielding to this evil, objectionable character trait.

Yahshua the Messiah pinpointed the source of lies when He said in John 8:44, "You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stands not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Can we identify the first instance recorded in the sacred Scriptures where a lie was told? It was near the creation. Turn to Genesis 3:4-5. "And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die: for Elohim knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil." Yahweh has warned all sinners that the consequences of sin is death. Satan, with his lies intends to deceive sinners into believing that sin will not receive the just reward of death.

Modern-Day Priests’ Weaknesses

During this month, Roman Catholic Pope John Paul 2nd, called a conference of all the American Cardinals at his headquarters, the Vatican in Rome. This was an emergency summit meeting quickly called to discuss the explosive current scandal of numerous priests molesting young children (especially boys). Simultaneously, yet another scandal has rocked the Roman Catholic Ch-rch and that is the broad-based accusation that priests in Africa are having sex with nuns.

The American Roman Catholic Ch-rch sex scandal erupted several months ago with the public trial of John Georghan, who was convicted of numerous counts of pedophilia. The Boston Globe newspaper bravely exposed the sin or crime of John Geoghan and the method that the Archdiocese had employed to conceal (cover up) this and other sex scandals. The Archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, upon learning of the sins of pedophilia perpetrated by priests, would then routinely reassign the priest to another parish. Sometimes, the priest was reassigned without even undergoing any psychological therapy. The Catholic Ch-rch sex scandal is of long duration. As far back as 1985, a Catholic priest in Louisiana was sentenced to 20 years for molesting dozens of children, who were thereafter awarded a combined $18 million in damages.

The ruling powers of Roman Catholicism have adopted an overall policy of denial and deception. They consider sexual violations of the moral code more as a moral failure than a crime, keeping it a religious matter. The Roman Catholic Ch-rch has always been very secretive and has policed itself through Canon Law. An obedient priest can move up in the hierarchy by being a submissive person. Cardinals take a vow before the Pope to keep in confidence anything that would cause a scandal or do harm to the ch-rch. The Vatican has told the bishops involved in judging sex abuse cases that they are on their own in finding solutions. But, if saving the ch-rch from scandal is the only motive, then the bishops who rule the 194 Dioceses in America are directly responsible for the priestly misconduct, since they have not moved strongly to stop it.

Why are they doing this? It has been suggested that the number of priests is continually falling and, therefore, the Roman Catholic Ch-rch needs to keep their priests active. One media commentator remarked that when the priests are ordained, they take a vow of submission to the bishop, looking to him as a father. Therefore, if they would be removed from the priesthood, the ch-rch must continue to care for this idle priest as long as he lives, yet simultaneously it must pay to hire another priest and also take care of him.

Where will this sordid situation end? The answer is that it will only end when Roman Catholicism takes a strong stand and removes any sinful priest from his position. In the meantime, many Catholics are questioning why their contributions are being used to pay damages for the priests’ sins.

Falsehoods in Middle Eastern Crisis

During the month of April, the United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell, made a diplomatic journey to the Middle East. He was trying to find a solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict. He visited various Arab Middle Eastern countries in an effort to strengthen the coalition to fight terrorism. It appears that most of the terrorists at this time are of the Muslim religion. Although the average individual here in the United States, and in many other countries, is playing ostrich (sticking their head in the sand) describing Islam as the peaceful religion, it is not! There are numerous commands in the Koran to kill the unbelievers. The Arabic word Jihad describes a holy war and such a holy war is derived completely out of the Koran. It is not merely some fanatical interpretation of the Koran, but rather the fundamental interpretation the individual would receive from reading the texts.

At the present time, the Palestinian Authority is circulating many falsehoods. First of all, they pretend to be calling for peace, yet, the Authority itself is standing behind the suicide bombers (the American authorities have now began using the term HOMICIDE BOMBERS). While telling the international community in English that they desire peace, they are exhorting their people in Arabic to commit terror. They have denied being responsible for the weapons on the Corine A, the ship that Iran sent to the Gulf of Eilot (or Gulf of Aqaba). The Palestinians and Yasser Arafat have denied that they ordered the weapons, yet conversely, the Palestinian Authority evidently paid for the weapons because Yasser Arafat personally signed the order and sent the funds. When the Israeli army made their recent incursion into the cities of the West Bank to find the terrorists and destroy them, they encountered stiff opposition by the Palestinian militants. In many instances, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) sent in the armored bulldozers to knock down houses used by the snipers. Then the Palestinians began accusing the Israelis of perpetrating massacres. However, the Israelis deny this charge. Colin Powell commented just today that he saw no evidence of mass graves or a massacre.

The world seems to be completely against Israel, just as the biblical prophecies indicate. Do you remember the message of Psalm 83 and the book of Obadiah? Zechariah 12:3 predicts that ALL THE NATIONS of the world will be gathered together against Jerusalem, and that time will be at the end of the age. It will be when the battle of Armageddon is fought. However, already the United Nations has entered the controversy and made some sweeping accusations against Israel. Would this not fulfill this prophecy? We believe that it would.

How can the Israelis endure this current onslaught of terrorism? The answer is that they must fight for their very lives. As one Israeli asked on American television, "Which nation is it that is still fighting for its independence 50 years after independence was granted.?"

Truth Falls Continually

We have just come through the tax filing deadline here in the United States. How many individuals, who filed their tax returns, did so absolutely truthfully? There is a growing percentage of people who are now untruthful in filing their tax returns, reports tell us.

How many people are brought to trial for a crime and the juries find it hard to distinguish between truth and lies? Many criminals will lie (perjure themselves) in an endeavor to keep out of prison. Many individuals are arrested for traffic violations, and yet they will lie and try to get out of their punishment. But then again, how many law enforcement agencies also persist in telling lies or in perverting the evidence?

The various governments of this world have told many untruths, both to their own citizens and to other nations. One can recall that during wars of the past, wherein propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation were widely used to confuse the enemy.

As you can clearly perceive by merely watching the newspapers, isn’t it true that truth continually is falling dead in the streets? We must answer in the affirmative. Yet, Almighty Yahweh is the Elohim of Truth. See Psalm 111:8.

Truth Will Prevail

When the Kingdom of Yahweh is established on this earth at the return of Yahshua the Messiah, it will be built on the solid foundation of Truth. Yahshua the Messiah tells His people in the book of Revelation that those who are guilty of vile sins and abominations will have their part in the lake burning with fire and brimstone. This will include all liars, Revelation 22:15. "Outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone that loves and makes a lie." See also Revelation 21:8.

All untruths, falsehoods, and lies will be kept outside of the coming Kingdom of Yahweh.

Remember that the Assemblies of Yahweh stands squarely on biblical sound doctrine just as it is stated and brought forth in the sacred Scriptures. May we assist you to learn the Truth of the Word of Yahweh? Don’t delay connecting with this ministry.

Today, such terrorist groups as Al Qaeda teach their people how to lie, according to the report in the U.S. news media. However, when one rejects the Truth of Yahweh’s Covenant, he or she will fall under the influence of Satan the Adversary and will follow his practices. Where will you be when the Messiah returns to reward every person for the fruits of their lives? Why not enter into the Covenant with Almighty Yahweh today to receive eternal life through the atoning blood of the sacrifice of Yahshua the Messiah?