False Testimony

Mark 14
53 They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together.
54 Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.
55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any.
56 Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.
57 Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him:
58 "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.' "
59 Yet even then their testimony did not agree.
60 Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?"
61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"
62 "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

It was a typical Tuesday morning or so I thought. I'm starting a book study of the Gospel according to Mark. And after reading the book through for the first time I went about my morning activities.

And email is a regular morning routine (actually it is an all day routine as I check my email numerous times during the day). On Tuesday morning I received an email regarding one of the candidates in this year's Presidential election. And the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart regarding this one particular email.

It was an email that had been started and then forwarded . . . probably to thousands and thousands of people by now . . . to someone I know, who sent it on to me.

Normally, I don't pay much attention to forwarded email. Rarely does it even get opened. Most of the time it heads straight for the technological equivalent of File 13 without a glance.

This email was particularly disturbing in that it contained a quote from one of the Presidential candidates regarding what he supposedly said at the funeral of former President Ronald Reagan.

I won't repeat what was in the quote, because, well, that's really immaterial to the point. The point is that what was contained in the quote was really unbelievable after the first reading. Surely this person is smart enough, after numerous years of public service, not to say something like this.

And the Holy Spirit reminded me of how the Jews were giving false testimonies regarding Jesus after He was betrayed and handed over to the Roman authorities in Mark 14.

But how many times do we (and I certainly include myself in the we), espec-ially in this technological age of the internet and email, pass along information that has been sent to us without ever checking the accuracy of the information.

You see not only did the Presidential candidate fail to utter the words, the quote was actually made up by the webmasters of an internet site that makes fun of this particular candidate. But people are forwarding it on to people as truth.

We have to be sure we are giving accurate and true testimonies of people. Even if we don't agree with them. Our disagreement does not give us free license to lie about them or send out false information.

May the "TRUTH" of the living Almighty God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ fill your souls today.

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995
by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission."