Proverbs 21:6 commentary

6 ¶ The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.

Proverbs 10:2 has already told us;

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.

Proverbs 13:11 has said;

Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.

In fact, in this age of Christ’s Church we Christians are warned of something even more explanatory of the time in which we live;

1 Timothy 6:6 ¶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

This Proverb specifically talks about obtaining wealth by lies, deception, and fraud which, alas, appears to be one of the common ways in which such treasures are obtained. Investment bankers and traders use other people’s hard earned money which they naively placed at their disposal to engage in trades that relieve the investor of his cash and benefit the bankers and traders with great commissions on every transaction. It seems amazing to me that people still trust a system that appears to seek to impoverish them by playing and gambling with their hard earned money. In the end, though, such “success” on the part of the person doing the lying is simply the road to death. The person who finds such treasures in dishonesty and deception will think himself a success and very clever and neither in need of a Saviour nor feeling the need to repent of his wickedness. With each commission check the weeks and months tick off closer to the time of his death and the eventual facing of God in a fiery judgment for an eternity that knows no end to pain and humiliation. The road to his destruction is paved with the ruined finances of the people he decieved and the lives that had the potential to not suffer want that were led to poverty by his actions. Of course, we hope this represents a small minority of bankers and traders, don’t we?

This would apply to anyone who gains wealth, blind to his or her own need for repentance and salvation, dishonestly, by lying and fraud.

But there is a deeper meaning to this Proverb, perhaps. There are preachers and teachers who gain the treasures of souls won for Christ by lies and fraud. It is a common thing and has been since the days of the Bible’s writing, as Paul warns.

2Timothy 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Romans 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Many of them would even be using what I would call the right Bible and still be engaged in lies, fraud, and deception.

These lying so called men of God, like the old prophet in 1 Kings 13 who lied to the man of God resulting in the younger man’s death, are deceivers and speak “great swelling words of vanity”. They will tell people that you get saved by trusting Christ and believing in and on and just believing Him, as the Bible says very clearly in Romans 10, and then add a laundry list of other things you must do, in their opinion, which they have heard from other liars they admire, in order to “make it stick”.

And yes, new converts to Christ are likened to treasures. As Jesus warns His disciples about false teachers;

Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs (false male teachers; read 2 Peter chapter 2, Philippians 3:2; and Revelation 22:16) , neither cast ye your pearls (for believers and the people of God as precious stones see Exodus 28 with 1 Peter 4:5,6) before swine (false female teachers; again see 2 Peter, chapter 2 and pay close attention to verse 22), lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

These people will tell the new Christian that the most important thing once saved is that he or she come to church and go “soul winning” when, as Pastor David Peacock so aptly points out in his sermon “The Meaning of Revival” that is a lie. The most important thing is their relationship with Christ.

These lying so called men of God do not warn the new Christian that as soon as he received Christ as his Saviour he would be attacked by Satan and that the very first thing he or she must do is to start reading God’s word and praying for help and understanding. No, they’ll tell them at the end of a service to just be sure to be at church the next time the doors are open because if they’re in church they won’t be at the bars or in the street. Oft times, what happens is they never see the convert again unless they start banging on his door and shaming him into coming to church. The poor soul has been beaten, bruised, and battered by Satan and his own flesh and is more confused now than he was before he prayed for salvation.

These liars will tell the struggling convert to come to church, witness to the lost, and tithe in order to get close to Christ, a sort of religious “fake it to make it” process. But, you don’t do those things to get close to Christ. You do those things because you ARE close to Christ.

They’ll tell the convert that what he does and doesn’t do, his works and his separation from the world, will set him apart for God’s purpose. But, Christ says that God’s word sets us apart for Him.

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

The liars tell the new convert, the treasure to God, that the fruit, the proof of him or her having the Spirit of God in them is how close to 100% they attend church and how many souls they win for Christ. But, the Bible says that the Fruit of the Spirit is something the liar can’t control in Galatians 5:22-23;

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance:

The liars will take this treasure for God, this new creature, and tell him or her that church meetings are about anything BUT coming together as the body of Christ, the church, the house of God to worship God in spirit and truth with them speaking to God as a body in prayer and God speaking to them through the Pastor’s sermon from God’s word. Political agendas, control, pop psychology, and financial matters take precedence in the lying Pastor’s services over spiritual growth and worship.

Some of these liars will tell the new Christian that he or she doesn’t even need to unite with other believers to worship God. They’ll tell them to just sit tight in their easy chair and watch them on the TV, sending their offerings and gifts to the man on the idiot box. They’ll deny God’s treasure, the new Christian, the knowledge of the importance of uniting with other believers in worship and of hearing God’s words preached truthfully to inspire, exhort, and teach true doctrine in order to grow spiritually, loving God, and obeying God’s commands to love other Christians and have compassion for the lost. They will deny the need to be a witness to others for Christ because it doesn’t really matter what you believe, as long as you believe in something, a lie straight from Satan’s own tongue.

Their religion is a vain thing and they seek spiritual death, not only of themselves but of the people who come to them for guidance. They don’t teach the new converts, God’s treasures, to meet with God every day wherever they are. They insist that the only way to meet God is at a church service or in front of their face on the TV, and as Brother Peacock says, these Christians have no victory over sin because they are anemic, starving for the word of God that they need to feed themselves with throughout the weeks and days when they aren’t in church meetings hearing it preached.

Spiritual death, a spiritual life that is as cold as the grave and dependent on one emotional fix after another, is the end result. There is no joy in the believer’s life in Christ and when tribulation comes, as it always will, there is no capacity to deal with it by resting in Christ and trusting Him for the outcome.

The liars will hold a book they say is a Bible in their hands and say, “I’m now going to speak from God’s error free word”, but they don’t believe that such a thing even exists in the form of a book. In other words, they don’t believe the words that are coming out of their own mouths because they believe that only the original writings were given by inspiration, documents neither they nor any flesh and blood person on earth they know has ever seen, when the Holy Spirit has said explicitly that copies and translations can be given by inspiration, which is defined as understanding (not word for word dictation; See also 2 Peter 1:21; 2 Peter 3:15’s “according to the wisdom given unto him”.) in Job 32:8 (see also Jeremiah 36 and pay close attention to verse 32). No one in their right mind believes that Timothy had the originals of Moses’ writings or Jeremiah’s for that matter in 2 Timothy 3:14-17.

These men of corrupt minds and destitute of vision will take away the Bible as the focal point of the Christian’s communication with God; with them speaking to God in prayer and God speaking to them through His Bible. They deny the power of God’s word in changing the Christian’s life and make the new convert try to go it alone in this present, evil world like a small boat on a raging ocean with no oars.

The getting of treasures, new believers in Christ, by a lying tongue, 1-2-3 repeat after me salvation, phariseeistic judaizing, or feel good TV religion, is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death, and they have found it for millions of people who will never hear the gospel effectually laid out in front of their eyes because all they can see is the dog and pony show that is modern Christianity.