SNEAKY DECEPTION

 DISCLAIMER: This is one of those blog posts that might step on your toes. I would encourage you before you even begin reading to put your steel toed shoes on.

Do you ever wonder why you can't figure out an answer to something you're experiencing in your life? Sometimes the answer is right in front of us, but the devil blinds us. (2 Corinthians 11:14) Recently I was remembering an encounter I had with a friend several years ago. I’ll call her Barb.

Barb was sharing that she was constantly having horrible nightmares. So, we kind of processed some of the typical questions. Then I went over for dinner one night. It was my first time at her home. As I looked around, I saw an obvious cause of her nightmares. She had a great big bookshelf FULL of all kinds of horror movies, heavy metal music and some new age type of mix stuff.

Seeing this, I mentioned to her that she should get rid of them or burn them. Her first response to me was, “I'll just sell them or take to Goodwill.” I said, “No you can't go dump that into somebody else's life who doesn't know any better.” Her response to me was, “Do you know how much money I have tied up in that?” I said, “Is it really worth what it would cost you or another person’s soul?”

You see, that's how deception works. There’s always an element of truth mixed in deception that captures us. It will usually be something we think will meet a need that we have in our life. Here is the challenge for today ask the Holy Spirit to help you do a “spiritual house cleaning”. Walk through your house asking the Holy Spirit if there's anything there that is causing an open door to evil spirits. And not just physical things in your home. Ask him to show you things in your mind that leave a door open to the enemy.

Believe me, nothing or no one is worth for or missing the complete freedom we could have in Jesus. Here are some scriptures to consider.

 ^“See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ.” (Col. 2:8 NKJV)

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth…? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1, 3 NKJV).

When we allow a major area of deception to remain in our lives it causes us to be easily deceived in other areas and causes us to not have the discernment that we could have. Consider the following two quotes.

+Followers of Jesus Christ must continually keep their balance by keeping their eyes on Him. The moment we turn our attention to the side, our steps weave and waver. If we try to follow anything or anybody but God, we can get off the narrow track altogether and it takes a lot of effort to get back where we belong.” (J.W. Goll)

On a website called another author says, “God warned His people of spiritual scams. “Let no one cheat you of your reward.” “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men” (Col. 2:8,18). “In their greed they will exploit you with false words” (2Pet. 2:3). Watching others being spiritually exploited is even more agonizing for the godly than a financial scam.” (https://www.biblequestions.org/bqar669.html)

Lastly, deception doesn't just come through people being deceptive spiritually with scripture. It's amazing how many people, Christians and non-Christians are deceived by get rich scams, false loan companies, meeting people online who they never get to meet in person, people giving sob stories telling you they need money, making excuses for why they can never follow through with things they say they're going to do because they don't intend to.

I close with this, as mentioned above walk through your home and do a “spiritual house cleansing” and in your prayer ask you if there is any other area of your life that you're being deceived. This is important because unchecked deception will make you easily susceptible to deception/scams in other areas of your life. We are in the last days. We need the gift of discernment to be strong in us more than ever.

Gleaning from Jude 1:20-23 below is a list of 7 Ways Christians Can Avoid Deception as explained at the following website. https://rosilindjukic.com/christians-avoid-deception/

1. Build yourself up in your most holy faith

2. Pray in the Holy Spirit

3. Keep yourself in the love of God

4. Look for mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads unto eternal life

5. Have compassion….but with discernment

6. Rescue others with fear, pulling them out of the fire

7. Hate sin

 Here is the list of traits to guard against from https://fightcybercrime.org/scams/imposter

• Their messages are poorly written, inconsistent, or vague.
• They ask you to start communicating by text or personal email, away from the original site you met on.
• After just a short amount of time, they profess their love or strong feelings for you.
• After gaining your trust, they start telling you stories of bad luck or illnesses.
• They indirectly or directly ask for money, especially in the form of gift cards or wire transfer, for things like medical bills, emergencies, car troubles or travel expenses to come visit you.
• They offer various excuses trying to explain why they can’t show you more photos of themselves or speak with you on video chat.
• They always make excuses as to why they can’t meet in person.
• When you do agree to meet, they cancel or postpone.