*Jack’s Winning Word 3/7/22

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”  (8^th Commandment)  Before the recent invasion of Ukraine, there was talk of Russia planting false flags.  I’ve since learned that, planting a false flag  means using tactics to mislead people.  Political parties do it in our country all the time.  One of the 10 commandments seems to say that God doesn’t approve of false flags..  In Proverbs 6 there’s a list of things that the Lord doesn’t like, and one is a lying tongue. Extenuating circumstances may call for false flags, but….  What do you think?  ;-)  Jack 

FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  No, I don’t believe lying is good and God is right on this one.  If a person or country feels like they have to lie to save or protect a million lives or something, still, in my opinion, there will be consequences and need for deep repentance, especially before God and in front of neighbor(s).  Truth is basis for authentic trust between God and people and we need to work towards that, praying first of all God gives us the grace to discern the truth first of all in ourselves so that we can have truthful loving motivations and actions with each other.  The people who would bomb Ukraine and plant false flags on Ukraine’s land show a face that is more self-serving than other directed I think and there will be consequences but I reflect on your WW on the more personal level too, we need to be about truth and how to build trust—lots impossible with humans but not with God and with God’s help.  Appreciate God setting the path for us to walk in, same path Putin has too.  Thought-provoking WW again this morning, Pastor Freed.  Enjoy a blessed day.===JACK:  So... you believe in ALWAYS telling the truth, no matter what the consequences?  Always?  No exceptions?

FROM WILLMAR REV:  The other day an elderly lady waked up to me while perched at a high table in Starbucks and asked if I knew what turned out to be a mutual acquaintance of ours, a widower; however, I did not know this lady asking. The person she was asking about had left our little city and moved up to another town some miles away to be close to family. I thought the person had died, called the church office to verify that information and they thought the same, and I relayed that to the inquirer who was deeply sorry to hear this and went on to shop in Target. 15-20 minutes later the church office called me back to say the old gentleman was still living at 87 years of age in the city spoken of earlier.   You think I could find that lady shopping in Target after hearing this? I stopped three or four thinking it might have one of them to no avail and even stopped one lady twice. Up and down aisle, retracing steps, but all to no avail. Now there will most likely come a time this dear lady or someone else she's spoken to sharing my "unintentional false flag of information" will say to this gentleman, a pastor in Willmar and his office told me you were dead! 0;-/  ===JACK:  Now....if you had purposely tried to mislead the lady, that would have been a different story.  You gave her the best information you had at the time.  Only God is omniscient! ===REV:  Yes, He is and I had good intentions…but it did make for good story with me trying to “find the needle in the haystack” to correct it?! 0;-)===JACK:  If God gave out "brownie points"  He'd call you to the head of the line.

 

FROM HONEST JOHN:  That was interesting.   I have never heard of a “false flag”.   I wonder if that applies to “flag football” or the game of “capture the flag”?  ===JACK: :  In debate were you ever allowed to plant a false flag in order to mislead the opposition?  Is everything FAIR in love and war?  As a pastor, did you ever find yourself in the position of fudging the truth?  I know that I have.  That's why I subscribe to Situation Ethics ( up to a point.