Seeing, Believing and Being Deceived
 Most
everyone is familiar with the old saying, “Seeing
is believing”. Actually, this old saying belongs
in the category of old wives tales along with the “cleanliness
is next go godliness” thing. Now, we would admit
being clean is good, but its close association with
godliness is not in the least bit scriptural. And that,
in spite of the Pharisaical practice of many washings.
Slight-of-hand tricks often fool observers
into believing in magic, but there is no such thing
as magic. A fellow soldier of years gone by was an amateur
magician and he could pull a quarter from behind any
person’s ear. He showed several of us the simple
deception and, with enough practice, anyone could pull
it off. Once again, though, what we saw was not the
truth. More importantly, the seeing/believing phenomena
can be much more serious than mere games. It can make
twists and turns with implications that are far from
being simply entertaining.
Deception often comes from another
angle, too, such as instances where something that is
indeed true is being portrayed as being false. Thus,
it can bleed over into philosophy and religion with
little effort, and the results can determine a person’s
eternal destiny. Consider the life of Jesus.
The four gospels are filled with accounts
of the life of our Lord. From His virgin birth to His
resurrection multitudes witnessed not only His miracles,
but His selfless, godly and absolutely perfect life.
No one could question His actions or His motives. Even
His enemies knew they would have to manufacture offenses
and hire or force people to give false testimony about
Him. Instead of a trick of some kind being portrayed
as being a fact, the all together perfect life of Jesus
Christ was portrayed as being insincere, false and evil.
In one instance the work of Jesus was
labeled as being the work of Satan (Matthew 12:22ff).
That a miracle had occurred was not the question. The
question in the hearts of the religious leaders was
the source of the power associated with the miracle.
The people who witnessed it were amazed at the miracle
and wondered if He might even be the Messiah. Actually,
the hearts of the religious leaders were already made
up regarding the person and work of Jesus, so no matter
what He did they would not attribute it to God.
How could this happen? How could seemingly
smart people look Deity directly in the eye and call
Him evil? If rightly considered it was very easy for
them to do this. And this is the part some people (even
some Christians) have a hard time accepting. When a
person’s heart is cold, hard, godless and filled
with deception (especially the self-imposed variety)
it is easy for that person to see the truth point-blank
and, with a stone face, simply deny it.
A couple examples should suffice. First,
consider the West’s response to Islam. There is
no question whatsoever that Islam is our enemy, not
terrorism. It is equally easy to see that Islam is a
religion of persecution where human dignity and the
sanctity of human life mean absolutely nothing at all.
How many places has Islam gone and brought freedom and
equality with it? What has this bloody religion from
hell done to improve the lot and life of any of its
slaves? The answer, of course, is none! Both their leadership
and their followers rejoice in the deaths of Jewish
and American citizens while they proclaim their undeniable
and irrevocable goal of world subjugation.
Yet, from Europe to the U.S., national
leaders kow-tow to this religion of hate. I know of
not one major leader in the free world that has the
testosterone to speak the truth about Islam in spite
of the overwhelming evidence the whole world can clearly
see. Evidence the whole world clearly sees and yet flatly
denies. It is nothing less than frustrating —
even maddening — to hear leaders of states that
have been mercilessly attacked by Moslems in the name
of Islam continue to call it a “religion of peace
that has been hijacked by extremists”.
The Islamists admit their purpose and
demonstrate their means. The West hears their words,
sees their blood lust and responds by shaking their
heads and saying, “Yes, I hear their words and
see their murders, but that is just the Moslem way.
If we would just become more accommodating to the Islamic
faith we could all get along…” At times
it is very difficult to restrain one’s fury and
frustration. In fact, if it were not for the Messianic
theocracy that is coming to this earth the situation
would be nothing less than hopeless.
Consider also the indoctrination of
our young people into the cult of evolution. In most
every biology class in our land students are being force-fed
the ridiculous idea that humanity evolved from lower
life-forms. While every basic law of nature, every aspect
of plain logic and every scrap of genuine evidence rules
against it, yet this degrading and pernicious theory
is not only taught, but force-fed into the minds of
kids from elementary through graduate school every day
the sun rises. A professor of geology or archaeology
will examine an arrow head and definitively announce
its human construction based upon its symmetry, purpose
of design, and other evidence both internal and external.
But, when that same professor examines the complexity
of a living cell (millions of times more complex than
an arrow head) he will, with equal intensity, announce
its source as random selection.
How can this be? How generally intelligent
people can look a man in the eye and call him the descendant
of a monkey is beyond comprehension, yet it is done
every day in the halls of the most prestigious of academic
institutions. Why? The answer is actually simple. If
evolution is a lie (and it is!), there is only one alternative,
and that is to believe in and teach origins from the
creation perspective. And that, folks, is something
mainstream, secular and humanist academics would rather
be skinned alive and burned at the stake before admitting.
You see, evidence means nothing. The
important factor in any investigation of this sort is
the condition of the heart. The heart is the key! If
it is filled with even a degree of intellectual honesty
the evidence is allowed to stand on its own merit providing
it own correct conclusions. However, if the heart comes
equipped with a sort of filter, a template if you will,
that heart will void, extinguish and otherwise ignore
the obvious in favor of a humanist predisposition —
that is, it does not matter what God has said and done,
unregenerate humanity is going to shake his puny fist
in the face of God, spin on his heel and do it his way!
Once this is understood the answer
to an oft-asked question is quickly and reasonably answered.
At times people ask what is it that will cause those
left behind after the rapture to deny the obvious hand
of God in tribulation events and fall headlong into
the Jesus-hating, Jew-hating agenda of the anti-Christ.
The evidence that will clearly show God’s providence
in those events will mean nothing to most of the earth-dwellers
for two reasons. First, many will be given “...a
deluding influence so that they might believe what is
false, in order that they all may be judged who did
not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness”
(2 Thessalonians 2:11,12 NASB).
Second, many will not need to be deluded
because their hearts will have already been deceived.
The evidence of the rapture will be brushed off with
some off-the-wall explanations such as UFO invasions,
and those who will know the truth will first be ridiculed,
then persecuted and then killed if they persist in declaring
the truth.
It is very possible that any number
of the presently deluded and hard-hearted will witness
the rapture, see the post-rapture evidence, hear the
truth and still deny everything as they experience the
unprecedented tribulation of those days. Because the
rapture of the church is imminent (and well within this
generation in my opinion), there will be any number
of people we may know personally going into the tribulation
with their eyes and ears wide shut. As Jesus said, "Therefore
I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they
do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor
do they understand (Matthew 13:13 NASB).
Like many of you my prayer list has
names of special people on it. In the last several months
one of the specific prayers for some of them has been
that they will, in faith, ask God for discernment (James
1:5,6). I am quickly coming to the place where I believe
spiritual discernment should be among the top priorities
for Christians. And, the reason is Christians are the
major targets for satanic deception. Satan does not
much concern himself with what unbelievers think; it
simply does not matter much to him. However, if he can
deceive a believer, especially one respected and admired,
he can impact a multiplicity of people. The only defense
is to know what God has said, to take a stand on it
without compromise and to have the spiritual maturity
to correctly discern what is being heard and read from
any source.
As we watch Christian TV, listen to
Christian radio and read Christian periodicals we must
never let our guard down. Folks, and this is both embarrassing
and painful to say, there is a lot of “religion”
being spoon-fed to gullible people under the guise of
biblical truth that is anything but biblical truth.
And, it is being done by some very famous and popular
Christian (?) teachers. At times it is done for the
sake of being politically correct, at times it is for
financial gain and at other times it is simply because
these teachers do not want to offend the lost. Offend
the lost?! Christianity by nature offends the lost because
it declares the rottenness of the unregenerate human
heart. Not what most people want to hear!
Can we possibly think God is pleased
that someone who calls himself a teacher of truth will
skew what the Almighty has plainly said in order to
not offend someone? Can we possibly think such methods
meet God’s approval? How can a so-called servant
of God think for one moment this tommyrot is beneficial
to a lost and dying world? Yet, it is done on a regular
basis every day. Purposefully being offensive to people
must never be part of our work. However, we must never
forget the gospel is both a stumbling block and an offense
to most people (1 Corinthians 1:23).
We are reminded of what Peter said
about Satan, Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your
adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8 NASB). Peter
is not describing the appearance of Satan — he
is giving us his character and nature, for he appears
as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). When it
comes to spiritual matters deception is at every turn
because of the enemy’s efforts. Our belief system,
therefore, must be based upon biblical truth and not
solely upon what we might see and hear. No matter the
source. DLM |
