“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” (II Timothy 3:1-5)
There is deception in religion, in government, the media, the justice system, in advertising, and in just about every facet of life.
Deception is the act of deceiving someone, or a thing that deceives. Deceit, deceitfulness, duplicity, double-dealing, fraud, cheating, trickery, chicanery, deviousness, slyness, guile, bluff, lying, treachery are synonyms for deception.
There are con artists, liars, and thieves seeking to defraud us on a daily basis. Just think of the number of scam phone calls and spam emails you receive on a given day, or why most people are on the nightly news.
Where did deception start?
Jesus said it started with the devil.
“For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
Whether it is a person selling a product or themselves, deception makes our trust meter move into the red zone.
When researching the truth, one has to read many different articles before one can arrive at an informed conclusion. Just because it was written and published in a newspaper, in a book, or on the internet doesn’t make it gospel.
Unfortunately, scripture quoted from a pulpit doesn’t make it Truth either. Every cult quotes Scripture while they twist it or take it out of context to make it agree with their false teachings.
Did you know that the devil has false apostles, prophets, ministers, elders, and believers?
II Corinthians 11:13-15 says that these false workers can transform themselves into angels of light, just like the devil.
Many politicians and religious leaders speak words of butter today, while drawn swords issue from the heart. (Psalm 55:21)
How do you tell the truth from the error?
Jesus asked His Father to “Sanctify them by your Truth. Your Word is Truth.” (John 17:17) Jesus also taught His followers to pray the Lord’s Prayer including the words; “lead us not into testing, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:9-13)
In a society where the Bible is mocked and ridiculed as myths and man-made stories, is it any wonder why every man’s ways are right in his own eyes?
“It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” George Washington
“Who decides what is right and wrong in the world? Who has the authority to define morality for all of creation? It is not the courts, congress, the media, public opinion, the “politically correct” police, the “tolerance” brigade or even the church. The only answer has been, is and always will be Jesus Christ. You can find His opinion on a great variety of subjects in His best seller… The Bible.” Jeffrey E. Ramey
God has given us Jesus Christ as the only way to Eternal Life and as the only Truth. All teaching that advocates another way to God is a lie.
- Universalism teaches that all people will be saved and all ways lead to God.
- Prosperity Gospel teaches all are to be healthy and wealthy; if you are not then, you lack faith or have sin in your life.
- New Age teaches universal tolerance and doing whatever feels good because man is divine creating his reality and identity.
- Legalism teaches a formula for achieving salvation, punishing those who fail to keep all the rules. Imitating Christ takes second place to judging others for their lack of rule-keeping.
- Hyper-grace advocates freedom from legalism and from God’s standards, abusing grace as justification for sin.
- The Emerging Church teaches that we must adapt the Gospel to make it more appealing to modern culture. There is no hell, nor judgment or need for forgiveness.
Paul said the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (II Corinthians 4:4)
We need to pray that God opens the eyes of all who sincerely desire to know Him.
Only as those who know Christ in a personal relationship lift up their voices to God in intercession will the light of the Gospel shine to expose the darkness and its world of deception.
Only as you seek to know Jesus Christ as your God and Savior, will you have your eyes opened to the deception of the evil spirit world.
Only as we use the Bible as God’s Living Words to our hearts, will we see our sinfulness and our need to be saved by the only true God: Jesus Christ.
