{"id":90622,"date":"2021-03-09T10:34:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T15:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/"},"modified":"2023-10-30T01:05:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T05:05:47","slug":"deception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/","title":{"rendered":"Deception"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">God\u2019s\ndesire is that all people repent and be saved (<strong>2 Peter 3:9<\/strong>). At the same time,\nSatan, the \u201cfather of lies\u201d (<strong>John 8:44<\/strong>), deceives the very people who need to\naccept the truth. \u201c<strong>The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so\nthat they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ<\/strong>\u201d\n(<strong>2 Corinthians\n4:4<\/strong>). Surely, God could stop Satan\u2019s lies and give people a fighting\nchance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The\nBible presents a consistent picture of how sin and deception are related.\nWhat\u2019s revealed is that the way we tend to think of deceit is, well, a bit\ndeceived. Spiritually speaking, deception is deeper than merely being tricked\nor lied to. In order to be saved, one does not need any particular level of\nintelligence, philosophical ability, or wisdom (<strong>Galatians 3:28; 1 Corinthians 1:20, 26<\/strong>).\nIn fact, mankind has an unfortunate habit of using increased knowledge to\ndevelop more sophisticated ways to sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Key\nto understanding spiritual deception is the fact that we often choose what we\nwant to believe rather than what we should believe, even in the face of the\nevidence (<strong>Luke\n16:31<\/strong>). \u201cEven after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in\ntheir presence, they still would not believe in him\u201d (<strong>John 12:37<\/strong>). Notice that they would\nnot believe Jesus, despite the miracles. Their unbelief was willful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Eve\nis the earliest, clearest example of how spiritual deception really works. When\nthe serpent asks her, \u201c<strong>Did God really say\u2026?<\/strong>\u201d Eve responds by quoting what\nGod had said (<strong>Genesis\n3:1-3<\/strong>). She knows what to do and what not to do. The serpent then\ntempts her with what she can gain by eating from the tree (<strong>Genesis 3:4-5<\/strong>), and she notices\nother attractive aspects of the fruit (<strong>Genesis 3:6<\/strong>). Eve was lied to, and the serpent was\ncunning (<strong>2\nCorinthians 11:3<\/strong>), but she ultimately chose to disobey God, even\nthough she could quote the commandment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">When\nconfronted with her sin, Eve said, \u201c<strong>The serpent deceived me, and I ate<\/strong>\u201d (<strong>Genesis 3:13b<\/strong>).\nThe original Hebrew word for \u201cdeceived\u201d implies trickery and craftiness; it is\nsometimes translated \u201cseduced.\u201d Seduction is an appropriate way to think of the\ndeception of Eve\u2014she knew full well what God had said, but she chose to disobey\nbecause she wanted something that the serpent cleverly offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The\nsame dynamic is at work today. People who reject God do so because, in some\nway, they don&#8217;t really want to obey Him. We are tempted by our \u201c<strong>own evil desire<\/strong>\u201d\nfirst (<strong>James\n1:14<\/strong>). That\u2019s not to say every unbeliever is blatantly and\nspitefully turning from what is known to be true. But the unbeliever\u2019s desire\nfor self-satisfaction makes Satan\u2019s deception all the more potent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">God\nhas sent the Savior (<strong>John 3:16<\/strong>), He fills the world with signs of\nHimself (<strong>Romans\n1:20<\/strong>), He makes Himself available to those who seek Him (<strong>Deuteronomy 4:29<\/strong>),\nand He secures anyone who comes to Him (<strong>John 6:37<\/strong>). When men reject what is \u201c<strong>clearly seen<\/strong>\u201d\nof God (<strong>Romans\n1:20<\/strong>), it leads to a downward spiral of \u201c<strong>foolish hearts<\/strong>\u201d made dark (<strong>v 21<\/strong>),\nidolatry (<strong>v 22<\/strong>),\nand sexual impurity (<strong>v 24<\/strong>). Finally, mankind \u201cexchanged the truth of\nGod for a lie\u201d (<strong>v\n25<\/strong>). In other words, the spiritual deception of mankind is the\ndirect result of rejecting truth once held. The unbeliever has made an\nexchange\u2014the truth for a lie\u2014and the devil is happy to facilitate the swap by\npresenting the sinner with a wide array of lies from which to choose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Anyone\nwho resists God risks falling into spiritual deception (<strong>2 Thessalonians 2:8-10<\/strong>). Nature\nabhors a vacuum, and the void created by the eviction of truth will soon be\nfilled by something less than true. Give up the truth, and you\u2019ll believe just\nabout anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Eve\ndidn\u2019t sin because she was hopelessly outmatched by a demonic force, making her\ndo wrong when she thought she was doing right. Yes, she was lied to, but she\nchose to listen to the lie. That was followed by her longing look at what was\nforbidden and, finally, her taking the fruit in hopes of a better life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">All\nhuman sin is based in human choice (<strong>1 Corinthians 10:13<\/strong>). When we reject the truth, we\nmake ourselves vulnerable to the lie. Repeated rejection of spiritual truth\nbrings spiritual deception as a divine consequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">God\nallows spiritual deception as a form of punishment for willful sin, and in\norder to cultivate an awareness in our lives of how badly we need the One who\nis Himself Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ (<strong>John 14:6<\/strong>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>God\u2019s desire is that all people repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9). At the same time, Satan, the \u201cfather of lies\u201d (John 8:44), deceives the very people who need to accept the truth. \u201cThe god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[526],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Deception - Grace Evangelical Free Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deception - Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"God\u2019s desire is that all people repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9). At the same time, Satan, the \u201cfather of lies\u201d (John 8:44), deceives the very people who need to accept the truth. \u201cThe god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-09T15:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-30T05:05:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Raker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Raker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tony Raker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/person\/6785bcea471ae92fb3660d811c5c74ef\"},\"headline\":\"Deception\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-09T15:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-30T05:05:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/\"},\"wordCount\":744,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Issues &amp; Answers\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/\",\"name\":\"Deception - Grace Evangelical Free Church\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-09T15:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-30T05:05:47+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/\",\"name\":\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/gefc-logo-full-color-rgb.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/gefc-logo-full-color-rgb.svg\",\"width\":514,\"height\":259,\"caption\":\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/person\/6785bcea471ae92fb3660d811c5c74ef\",\"name\":\"Tony Raker\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/author\/pastor_admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Deception - Grace Evangelical Free Church","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Deception - Grace Evangelical Free Church","og_description":"God\u2019s desire is that all people repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9). At the same time, Satan, the \u201cfather of lies\u201d (John 8:44), deceives the very people who need to accept the truth. \u201cThe god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/","og_site_name":"Grace Evangelical Free Church","article_published_time":"2021-03-09T15:34:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-30T05:05:47+00:00","author":"Tony Raker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tony Raker","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/"},"author":{"name":"Tony Raker","@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/person\/6785bcea471ae92fb3660d811c5c74ef"},"headline":"Deception","datePublished":"2021-03-09T15:34:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-30T05:05:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/"},"wordCount":744,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Issues &amp; Answers"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/","url":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/","name":"Deception - Grace Evangelical Free Church","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-03-09T15:34:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-30T05:05:47+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/deception\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#website","url":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/","name":"Grace Evangelical Free Church","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization","name":"Grace Evangelical Free Church","url":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/gefc-logo-full-color-rgb.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/gefc-logo-full-color-rgb.svg","width":514,"height":259,"caption":"Grace Evangelical Free Church"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/person\/6785bcea471ae92fb3660d811c5c74ef","name":"Tony Raker","url":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/author\/pastor_admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90622"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90622"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104428,"href":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90622\/revisions\/104428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}