DELUSION

Would you know if someone was trying to deceive you or even outright lie to you?  Can you tell when an eloquent speaking politician promises something whether or not they are going to live up to or follow through with what they say?  Do you believe something to be true just because it is written or maybe you learned about it at a College or University?  Are you ever deceived by what some authority or maybe even some family member tells you?  How can you know for sure whether something is real and true?  Could it be that you are being DELUDED?…

Each one of us has at some point trusted someone or something that was said, only to later learn that we were misled, if not outright deceived.  A brother or sister may trick you into believing something that really isn’t true.  A family member or professed friend may turn on you and fail to live up to what they have said.  Even a pastor may lead you to believe something that you later learn is not actually true.  When this repeatedly happens to someone, they will likely have difficulty fostering any healthy relationship.  With so much dishonesty out there today and even allegations of dishonesty, it becomes easy to slip into a sense of sarcasm about life or even skepticism.  If you are not very careful, you can even come to the place of deceiving or deluding yourself.

There is a reality and there are things that can be known as facts.  This is the way we all live if we have any function in this world, even if we try to philosophically deny it.  If you eat food, travel in any way or interact with any people, you know there is a reality.  You may wish to also review my 05-23-08 Blog:  “THINKING What?” for further thinking there.  There is a scientific method that enables us to test ideas and verify them through ongoing observation   When it comes to the reality of things that cannot be seen (and we do know that many things are real that cannot be physically seen), we do need some kind of way to verify what is actually true.  When it comes to reality, there is the physical reality and there is also a non-physical or spiritual reality.  From the reality of evil in the world, we know there is also deception and delusion.

Dear friend, the objective Word of God (the Bible) says that there is an enemy that we all have who seeks to delude us.  2 Corinthians 4:4 says that this enemy “blinds the mind.”  Just think of the best and most creative way you would be able to trick or deceive someone and multiply that by a being who has much more power, much more experience and even helpers to accomplish his deceptions.  Do you think that you have it all figured out and are just as much, if not more clever than the devil himself?  He wants to defeat you by blinding your mind to the spiritual reality.  He wants you to excuse your own behavior that your conscience even tells you is wrong and lead you to think that you have no sinful nature.  I John 1:8 says that when we promote our own goodness and even come to say we have no sinful nature we are deceiving ourselves.  The devil wants to confuse you and even has a spectrum of religious, “worldly” and even “good” choices for you to follow.  The Bible does give us an objective record of this spiritual reality and what righteousness really is.  We do not have this of our own, but need to trust in the Person of Jesus Christ and what He did to pay for our sins (see the Gospel tab above).

Please THINK with me here and be certain that you are not deluded!  There is a “strong delusion” coming and most everyone left in the world will fall for it (c.f. 2 Thessalonians 2).