Sixth, is “A False Witness Who Pours Out Lies”.

    Once again, we go back to the root of all sin:  Pride.  A prideful person is quick to lie about others in order to make themselves look better.  If they accuse others falsely, they can blame others for something they did or something that they should have done.  I have heard this occur many times in the workplace.  Some will constantly be blaming others at work for their own lack of responsibility.  When things go wrong, they are always quick to point the finger.  It is what one co-worker of mine said: “They threw me under the bus.”  This means that they got blamed for something that they did not do and they were not responsible for in order for the lying person to look like a better worker.  They fail to shoulder the blame for something that they should have done or actually did do in order to accuse an innocent person who is not present to defend themselves. 

    A false witness will lie in court, perhaps even at the risk of perjury, just to get out of a crime that they committed, while assessing the blame on an innocent party.  A person who “pours out lies” loses all credibility in time and eventually, people will tend to not believe anything they say.  Lies catch up with a person because they have to speak other lies to cover up the first one and many times they become so entrapped by their many lies that they become like a fly ensnared in a web.  Their web gets so tangled up with their many lies that they often forget them all and it comes back to bite them.

    This is a very hurtful and disgusting way of lying to make someone else look bad, or to damage their character or their honor or honesty in order to accomplish a sinister goal.

Related to this is number seven, “one who stirs up conflict in the community”.

    Finally, this sin is one that has divided many churches.  Gossip is one way to stir up conflict and divide even the closest of friends.  A person who stirs up this conflict is like a person who throws gas on a fire that others are trying to put out.  It’s like dragging up old issues that might have been resolved but a person stirs up the issue over and over again.  When they are constantly stirring it up, like coals of a fire, it becomes hotter and hotter, and eventually erupts into a bonfire. Or, a person who deliberately grabs a stick and stirs up a bee’s nest. The person who is continually stirring up conflict is also a person who is full of pride.  They want others to get stung, while they are considered to be a person above reproach.  It will destroy a church and a community.

    These are the things that should not be any part of a Christian’s life or lifestyle. I would suggest that we go back and read all seven again, lest we forget.