When Deception Is Loosed

The noise around us is getting louder. It is also becoming more rapidly paced in its release toward us. Our ears, minds and emotions are under a consistent barrage of global news, cultural philosophies and theological assertions from an innumerable number of sources. Recently, I decided to stop ingesting information from my normal stream of news feeds. My practice up to that point was to stay informed with what various people were saying about what was happening in the world around us. Every day, usually three or four times each day, I would intentionally scour the headlines on websites that range from hyper-conservative to far-left liberal. It felt important for me to know what others were being told. Eventually, I found that my own heart was becoming a little soured by too much of the nasty from the world around me. The chaotic news cycle was negatively impacting my mind, my mood and my spirit. So I cut it off. The sad reality is that most of our population lives daily with zero grounding in the wisdom of God and, because of this, they are highly susceptible to believing anything that they hear – from nuanced error to outright lies. People typically land in the place of listening to those who will reinforce to them what those people already believe. It is a rare person that will intentionally listen to those with whom they disagree in order to discover if there might be something that they themselves need to learn. We are now a culture of people who keep digging down into the same pit where they already live. They daily continue to mine down in the same direction and find in the end that, the deeper they dig, the farther away they move from the light at the top of their hole.

We are a nation of self-serving pit-diggers. Politically, philosophically and theologically, most of the people around you are growing accustomed to living in their self-dug holes.

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…” – 1 Timothy 4:1

In the verse above, the Apostle Paul releases a prophetic word given to him by the Holy Spirit. This prophecy covers the time in which Paul was living, all the way up to the time in which we are living. Notice that the alarm is sounded that, the closer we approach the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the more we will see people abandoning the faith that Jesus and the Apostles founded. That’s right, there will be a widespread, large-scale departing from true Christian beliefs. While a clear mark of our current generation is the undeniable abandonment of biblical morality, this defection that Paul is writing of is not primarily behavioral in nature. It is intellectual. Paul prophesies that the way people begin to think will result in mass defection from the saving faith taught to us in the Bible. People are being led astray in their understanding through the active influence of deceitful human spirits who are being used by wicked demonic spirits. Paul’s prophecy is that people will be taught out of the Christian faith. This will occur as demons infiltrate the primary spheres of communication and instruction that impact our culture. These literal demons will harness the minds and mouths of people who are in positions to influence others. Clearly, this will occur in the political realm. Anyone can see this happening in American politics today. If you do not see it, then you are likely already under some level of being deceived by the very activity of which Paul has written. Cultural voices that are not necessarily political in nature are also being energized into alignment with the agenda of Hell. From entertainment to literature to music of all genres to professors in universities…there is a proactive strategy from Satan to control the cultural, philosophical and theological narratives. Not immune from this comprehensive approach from the enemy are platforms and pulpits in our churches. That’s right, demons are proactively and successfully seasoning messages which are coming from innumerable Christian resources. Hell has declared that this season is go-time.

One of the emerging trends in the Western Church is the embracing of universalism. Simply defined, universalism is the system of belief that teaches that all human beings either are currently (or will eventually be) declared to be in a right standing with God. All human beings, according to universalism, are acceptable to God no matter what they might believe about Him.The atheist and the missionary are both right with God. The addict and fundamentalist are both accepted by God. The Muslim, the Jew, the Christian, the Buddhist and the Wiccan may all approach God with equal welcome. Embedded in this heresy is the satanic idea that people are inherently good. The biblical doctrine of human depravity is swept away and replaced with demonic reasonings that allow people to conclude that we are actually worthy on our own of God’s love, grace and acceptance. If it were not so deadly a doctrine, I might even laugh at the notion that someone who believes themselves to be a Jesus-follower could reach the conclusion that human beings are inherently good. This is, however, no laughing matter. If the demonic teaching of universalism (which is ALWAYS sourced in a misrepresentation of God’s love for people) is embraced by someone, then the next step which will eventually and most certainly follow is a complete rejection of the Bible and the God who authored it. The universalist discovers that the Bible is now irrelevant because they have created in their minds a version of God that is different than the revelation of Scripture. Once the Word of God is rejected, the universalist is free to continue his or her sculpting of the god that they are happily creating for themselves. Ironically, when all is said and done, the universalist’s god looks strangely similar to the universalist. At this point, the demons who initiated the entire deceptive process celebrate in hellish glee that another one has fallen victim to their eternal fraud. A counterfeit god has replaced the God of the bible and their mission has been successful again.

If people are good and acceptable to God on their own, why did Jesus die? Why was the will of the Father to sacrifice His Son? That seems like a wholly unnecessary waste if it was not needed. Worse yet, it would be cruel for God to offer up His Son on the cross. Good people don’t need a substitute or sacrifice for their sins.

If people are good, what do we do with a Bible that shows us that people are depraved, fallen, evil, rebellious and children of wrath by nature?

If everyone is ultimately saved by the God of love, then we need permission from somewhere to ignore, refute or dismiss the innumerable passages of Scripture that teach us that God is immeasurably holy, righteous, just and wrathful at the end of the age toward all that reject Him?

You see, when a young man begins to listen more to his own heart than he does the eternal Word of God, he makes himself his very own god. When a young woman can no longer bear the thought of being accountable to a holy God for her desires, decisions, declarations and demonstrations of what she feels is right, she makes herself her very own god. When any of us begin to reinterpret Scripture (or reject it altogether) in order to validate what we feel must be true of God, we enter into the beginnings of spiritual doom. This is not a slippery slope, friends. This demonic deception is for those who agree with it – a cliff from which they are pushed by the hand of Satan, entering into a free fall that ends with an inescapable crash.

Guard your mind. Submit yourself to what God says in His Word. Pulverize the rebellion out of your own heart. Call on the Lord for forgiveness for wanting to believe what pleases your fleshly thinking while rejecting the Word that will heal you.

The time is very short, and the enemy is moving in high-gear to bring to ruin those who have known the truth in their minds but never submitted their hearts to the glory, authority and supremacy of God.

And remember, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…” – 1 Timothy 4:1.

It is written as a warning to you and to me.