“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

-John 8:44, NIV

Jesus is saying these words to God’s people, the Jews.

This would be like Jesus speaking to church folk today saying that they are Devil-Spawn.

I think one of the most troublesome aspects of infidelity is the lies. They can cause some of the greatest damage leaving deep spiritual wounds that last far past the ending of a marriage. This is doubly true when those lies are coupled with religious language.

But such sort of lying is not new…

By engaging in deception, the cheater is declaring his or her allegiance to Satan. I say this based on these words from Jesus in John 8:44.

Cheaters are speaking Satan’s tongue:

Lies.

Once a habit is established, it is hard to change. I remember my old football coaches talking about how they rather get a player who did not know what to do than a player who had established a bad habit. It is much easier to teach a newbie than to unlearn something.

And it is impossible to change if that person is pridefully set in their bad habit unwilling to change.

That said, I do not think it is impossible for God to transform an adulterer or adulteress into a man or woman of God. However, I do think it is impossible outside of God’s miraculous power.

The natural tells us that we continue in our habits–which include weeks, months, or even years of lying and cheating in the case of an unfaithful spouse.

And this is as true for “church-people” or the externally religious as it was in Jesus’ day.

It can happen, but the default is not in the favor of it happening. A colt does not grow up to be an ape. Habitual liars and cheats do not naturally transform into truth-tellers or people of integrity.

And just because this cheater talks a religious game does not make him or her exempt from this spiritual reality.

They ought to be scared–just as the Jews in Jesus’ day ought to have been–when they realize that the only language they really know is the language of the Father of Lies.

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*A version of this post ran previously.