DECEPTION

 

WHEN THE LIE BECOMES TRUTH…

 

“In the last days perilous times will come.” 2 Timothy 3:1

That should not surprise us. In fact, the closer we get to the end, the more obvious it becomes that the fundamental things the great I AM established through creation are being challenged, questioned and defied.

Look at what is happening around us. Things once accepted as fundamental truths are being redefined. Man and woman, as God created them, are no longer simply understood as biological realities but have become matters of personal identity and choice. Marriage, which God established between a man and a woman, has also been redefined.

The authority of the Word of God is challenged because mankind believes we have evolved beyond what God established. We are told that society has progressed and that what God established thousands of years ago is no longer relevant to the world we live in today.

But deception is not free. There is a cost to believing a lie, and the most dangerous thing about deception is that you don't necessarily realise you are being deceived. That is precisely how deception works. A lie is a falsehood presented to you, but a delusion is a falsehood you have accepted as truth. You have reasoned it through, convinced yourself it makes sense, and eventually come to believe it.

Once that happens, you no longer believe you are believing a lie. You believe you have discovered the truth.

The pinnacle of this deception is found in the final events described in Revelation, when Satan deceives mankind into receiving the mark of the beast and worshipping his image. He exalts himself above God and presents himself as God. Yet even this remains within the sovereignty of God. Satan may deceive, but God remains God.

Satan's objective has always been to oppose God, exalt himself, place himself above every object of worship, and ultimately present himself as God.

“And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.” Revelation 19:20

“and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:10

But deception didn't begin with the beast, the mark or the final judgement. If we want to understand how deception works, we have to go right back to where it began. That takes us all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

Satan didn't come to Eve and simply tell her to reject God. He didn't need to. He introduced a question about what God had already said: “Did God actually say...?”

That question changed everything. Once Eve began to question God's words, she became open to another explanation. Satan offered her a different way of looking at what God had established, and that is where the deception began.

What makes this so important is that Satan's approach hasn't changed. He doesn't always need to tell us that God is wrong. Sometimes all he needs to do is get us to question what God has said. Once we begin to question it, we can start looking for another answer.

And that other answer can sound very convincing. It can appeal to our reasoning, our desire for independence and our belief that we are thinking for ourselves, even though we have simply accepted another version of the truth.

That is the danger. The lie begins to look like truth, not because it has actually become truth, but because it has become accepted.

And perhaps that is where this becomes personal for each of us, including me. It is easy to look at the world and point out where others have been deceived. It is much harder to pause and ask whether there are areas in my own life where I have allowed my thinking to take precedence over what God has said.

Have I accepted something simply because the world has accepted it? Have I convinced myself that something is right because it seems to make sense to me? Have I taken something I want to believe and then searched for reasons to support it?

And if I discovered that something I sincerely believed was contrary to the Word of God, would I be willing to revise my understanding, or would I try to revise the Word of God to fit my understanding?

Those are difficult questions, but perhaps we need to ask them because the greatest danger is not merely that the world is being deceived. The danger is that I can be deceived too.

Jesus said, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17

Perhaps the prayer we need to pray is not simply that God would show us where the world is being deceived. Perhaps we should be asking Him to show us where we might be deceived ourselves.

David understood this when he prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” Psalm 139:23–24

Perhaps that is where we should all begin, because deception becomes most dangerous when we are so convinced of our own rightness that we no longer allow ourselves to be questioned.

If I am willing to let God search me, challenge me and correct me through His Word, I leave the door open for truth to expose whatever has taken its place.

And when everything around us urges us to trust ourselves, perhaps the most important thing we can do is return to the One who created us, gave us His Word, and knows the difference between what we believe to be true and what is actually true.

Signing off

Tyrone

Scripture references: Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:24; Genesis 3:1–6; 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4; Revelation 13:11–18; Revelation 14:9–11; Revelation 20:7–10.