Let’s have a good look
Perhaps as much for my own record, as for instruction, I am going to talk about the anatomy of deception. I am not sure if this teaching will profit people or not, because those who are deceived often times have very personal agendas for embracing it.
First of all, in order to be deceived, you have to know the truth. There has to be somewhere to fall from. Therefore, people who retreat into the shadows must have known the light. We see this, to varying degrees, happen to all Christ’s disciples, except perhaps, John the beloved. It is common to justify all sorts of half truths or outright lies, when the pressure is on.
(On the bright side of things, though, all but one chose to repent and was saved. God is merciful to those who seek His mercy.)
What do you want that’s not God’s will?
Secondly, there is usually something at stake, which is not God’s will. You either don’t want to do something God is asking you to do or you don’t want to give up something He wants you to give up. Thus, your goal and God’s desire conflict, making the lie you want to believe more attractive than the truth you already know.
Thirdly, there is always an element of self interest at play, a desire that can only survive in darkness, because in the light, you cannot pretend it is okay. Deception becomes a refuge from the guilt you might otherwise feel resulting from the actions your taking.
Fourthly, when you have decided the thing you want is more important than God’s will, natural minded justification comes into play. You reason out why what you want, contrary to the plain will of God, is not only acceptable, but even preferable to what your Lord wants.
It’s a long way home
Fifthly, and this is the really dangerous part, because you received not a love of the truth, God gives you over to strong delusion until you believe the lie. Once this happens, unless you are brought to a crisis point in your life, you may never rise above your deception again.
The whole church of Laodicia, in the book of Revelation, is deceived. They believe they are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. Yet, in God’s eyes they are lacking everything and to be saved, they will have to pay a terrible price.
In conclusion, there are none so blind as those who refuse to see, none so deaf as those who willfully cover their ears so they cannot hear. You can always repent while there is yet breath within you, but the deeper you sink into deception, the greater the loss you suffer to break free of it.
Finally, it is better to sacrifice now, the way God desires, than to hedge your bets and keep one foot in the natural world, “just in case” His Spirit doesn’t work out. Always, the quickest way to your blessing is the way His Spirit leads, even if it puts you right up against the Red Sea. Amen.
We should have known better
Paradise by Within Temptation
(for those with ears to hear, these two ladies and song composers represent fallen Seraphs and Angels, trapped by the fallout from the war in heaven, realizing it was a mistake to follow Lucifer. I don’t know if they understand this consciously, but there it is.
They draw, though imperfectly, from an vast sea of emerging truth, the Rhema, themes and revelations OF ETERNITY, that can be clearly heard in some of their compositions.)
