Masters of Illusion

Deception (noun) - the act of causing one to accept as truth, that which is not true.

The other day, I was taking a shower and sometimes in this quiet time, I pray and/or think.  This day, the topic of "deception" was on my mind and it went a little something this:  Sometimes, deception can be pretty obvious when it presents itself, but most of the times, it shows up unannounced and with very little fanfare. The reality is that deception rarely shows up like a lady in a red dress where it is readily identifiable.

Think of it like this.  When a magician performs a trick, the idea is to cause one to focus on one thing as the trick, while the trick is really "out of focus" from the act itself.  However, because you have been focusing your attention on the original presentation, you miss what really happened.  As long as a magician's secrets are not discovered, they can keep convincing people to come marvel at their illusions. The moment they can no longer trick the audience, their act is over.

As followers of Christ, we should be alert and aware all the time.  There will be false teachers and other people anxious to show us their full deck of cards, while they hide aces up their sleeve ready to work acts of deceit. The Word of God warns us of deception and its effects, but if we can never recognize it, where does that leave us?  The only way to recognize spiritual deception is to...

1. ...know who God (Yahweh) is;
2. ...have a true relationship with Yeshua the Christ and;
3. ...allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us in discernment.

 I believe that John sums things up very well in 1 John 2:18-20 when he says,

(18) Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. (19) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. (20) But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. (21) I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

Know this - purposeful deceit is dishonesty and a lie can never be the truth.  Keep your eyes open as deception will continue to get worst in the days ahead.

Until next time, be easy folks.

Antoine

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The Art of Self-Deception

About 8 years ago, I read a book called, "Why I Am A Christian" by Norman L. Gesler & Paul K. Hoffman.  It was some pretty tough reading as it is a methodical book, but it had some very good information in it.

In it, was a chapter called, Why I am Not an Atheist.  It was about a man who was raised in a Christian home as a child, later became an atheist and was then lead back to Christ.  He explained this topic from his own personal experience. As such, he started talking about how an atheist would deceive themselves into believing what they want even though they have knowledge otherwise. Below is a excerpt from this chapter:

"Self-deception means playing dumb. It means pretending to ourselves that we don't know what we really do; it means playing at being ignorant though we are really in the know. I suggest that we human beings play dumb with God. We lie to ourselves, and one of the things we lie about is our knowledge of his reality. Psalm 14 opens with a remark that is often misunderstood: 'The fool says in his heart There is no God.' The psalmist is not calling the man a fool for thinking there is no God but for telling himself there is no God, though deep in his mind he knows better. Unbelievers do not disbelieve, they reject".

What? OK, so let's get this straight. Humans can play dumb with Yahweh?! Well, in short - yes! Think about it.  Let's go beyond the atheist and look at it in a different perspective.   Every time you know that God says turn right and you "pretend" not to hear Him and you turn left, you are playing dumb. If you know the Holy Spirit told you to stop eating deep fried food when you know you have digestive problems, why do you continue to do it?

One thing about this concept is that the enemy knows if he can get you to question Yahweh's existence and/or will, he has a foothold in the door. If he can kindly assist you into ignoring what you know to be true, then he got you. All you have to do, is turn on a television, listen to the news, are read the internet.  People are bashing Yahweh's existence and believe that man has all the answers.  You are told that man is the superior being of reason, right?  In fact, some will read this and say that I and all those who believe in fairy tales are foolish.  We are not being reasonable for believing such things.  Some will say that we are not living in the real world and need to live in the modern world.  Well, I think Romans 1:19-21 says it best:

"(19) because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. (20) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, (21) because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened." (NKJV)

No one can deny Yahweh's existence.  In the end, if no one else knows, you know in the back of your mind what's right and true.  When you deceive yourself, you reject God and to reject Him is foolish.

Antoine E. Hall

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