What you need:

1 Volunteer

A spool of thread

A pair of scissors

The Lesson

Do you know that one of the commandments is “Thou Shalt Not Lie”? God does not want us to lie. We should always tell the truth.

Proverbs 19:5 says

A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.

A false witness shall not be unpunished. A false witness is someone who makes something up instead of telling the truth. Sooner or later, they will get caught. God always knows if we are telling the truth or not.

He that speaks lies shall not escape. Do you know sometimes we can get trapped in our own lies? We might think it’s just a small lie, and it’s not a big deal. Soon we find ourselves telling more and more lies until we can’t escape.

I have a volunteer who is going to help us learn how we can get trapped in our own lies. Everybody give ____ a big hand.

_________would never cut school, but for our lesson, we’re going to pretend that he cut school today.

Put your hands together and I’m going to wrap this thread around your hands like hand cuffs.

_________’s mother asks him if he had a good day at school. He tells her yes. That’s a lie. (Wrap the thread around the volunteer’s wrists one time.)

_______ just told one lie. That didn’t seem too bad to him. Let’s see if he can break that thread that represents the lie. (The volunteer can easily break out of it.)

It’s bad to even tell one lie, but sometimes, one lie can lead to another. Put your hands back out here ______.

(As you tell the following story of events, continue to wrap thread around the volunteer’s wrists. You want lots of layers around them.)

So, in our story, _______ blank cut school.

He told his mother he had a good day at school. That was a lie.

She asked him what he learned about, and he said, history. That’s another lie.

What did you learn about history his mother asked, and he said George Washington. That’s another lie.

Where is your homework, his mother asked, and he said the teacher didn’t give homework today. That’s another lie.

Why didn’t the teacher give you homework, his mother asked, and he said it’s her birthday. That’s another lie.

I think I’ll call your teacher and wish her a happy birthday, his mother said. He said you can’t do that; she said she won’t be home for the rest of the day. That’s another lie.

Maybe I’ll bake her a cake and take it to school for her tomorrow, his mother said. He said you can’t do that; she’s on a diet. That’s another lie.

His mother said, the little boy next door said he didn’t see you today at school. He said, he never sees me at school. He needs glasses. That’s another lie.

His mother said, the little boy next door said your teacher assigned a lot of homework today. He said, he doesn’t hear too good either. I think he needs a hearing aide too. He’s got it all mixed up. That’s another lie.

His mother said she was worried about the little boy next door. She went next door to talk to his mother.

_______, while your mother is next door see if you can break these threads around your wrists. They are too strong. You cannot escape your own lies. (After giving the volunteer an opportunity to try to break the threads, cut them off.)

Everybody give ______ a big hand.