One
of my consistent prayers is this: “Lord, give us a discerning heart
so that we are not deceived by others or by ourselves.” I also pray
that He increases our vision so we see the truth, increases our
hearing so we hear the truth, and increases our understanding of His
truth.
Sorry
to say it, but we can be a pretty gullible people at times. In fact,
a lot of the time. One of the greatest seductions of the current era
is that we are the power, rather than that we can be like Jesus, who
came to Earth in the flesh, not as God, but as a man with the power
of God within Him, through the grace of God our Father. Remember:
Jesus is God, but He didn’t act as God while here. He always turned
to and gave tribute to the Father as the one providing everything He
needed and the power to do everything He did, and did this because He
wanted us to know—it was imperative that we understand—we can do
the same things He did, through the grace of the Father. He told us
this was true, and He meant it. He was our perfect example. But, most
of us didn’t grasp that, for a variety of reasons. Yep—more
deception.
That
seductive deception I refer to above is a whole other topic I intend
to comment about at some other time. But I will say this: If you pay
attention, you’ll see the deceptions all around us. We’re being
fed these deceptions, especially children, who are so open to
influence. And these deceptions move us away from God’s truth in
tantalizing increments. Unless we’re paying attention and know what
to look for.
This
morning I caught the last 10 or so minutes of a program called The
Key That Unlocks the Bible. The minister kept talking about the key
of David that Christ gave to His disciples and His Church (which is
us). I looked up the Web site:
https://www.thetrumpet.com/programs/key-of-david/latest
and found the 27-minute program on the Home page, along with ways to
get the two writings he mentioned—for no cost. One is, of course,
The Key of David (176 pages). The other is The True History of God’s
True Church (233 pages). You can either download these books or get
them mailed to you. I like to turn pages and have a tangible book I
can retrieve from my shelves, so ordered them. In other words, I’m
suggesting them rather than recommending them, since I haven’t as
yet read them.
The
minister pointed out that Jesus warned us about deceptions and the
great deception: “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise,
and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible,
even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all
things.” ~ Mark 13:22-23
If
current events trouble you, right down to that, yes, thorny issue
called climate change, read Mark, chapter 13, in its entirety. Jesus
laid it all out for us. One truism has been espoused, but in a
different context than I intend: If you want to change the world,
start with yourself. From the biblical perspective, if you want to
help save others, start with yourself. Pay attention to how you’ve
been deceived (and still are), and in what way you’ve espoused
these deceptions—likely unknowingly. I speak from experience here,
as one deceived by all the New Age proclamations and falsehoods. Ask
the Lord to inform you. Knock and the door will be opened to you. But
you have to walk in willingly.
