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Spiritual
deception
O what a tangled web we weave
D
eception is something we hate
but something we cannot
avoid, for there is deception
everywhere. When sin entered the
world, Eve explained: “The serpent
deceived me, and I ate” (Gen. 3:13).
Satan is called ‘the deceiver of the whole
world’ (Rev. 12:9) – no more so than
when people do not believe that he exists.
We were made for truth - what Simone
Weil beautifully called “the radiant
manifestation of reality”. Yet somehow
we are immersed in deception.
Television deceives us, advertisements
lead us to Vanity Fair, educators deceive
us, politicians seem to be able to do
little else to us, false teachers abound in
the church, and, worst of all, we
deceive ourselves. In Paul’s testimony,
even God’s law can be used to deceive
us: “sin, seizing an opportunity through
the commandment, deceived me and
through it killed me” (Rom. 7:11).
We deceive ourselves mainly because we
are proud and it suits us to deceive
ourselves. Paul warned the Corinthians:
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone
among you thinks that he is wise in this
age, let him become a fool that he may
become wise” (1 Cor. 3:18).
How many human beings have
deceived themselves that they could
mingle with worldly people without
doing harm to themselves? We tell
ourselves: “They may indulge in folly,
but I know better deep down and can
handle this.” But we deceive ourselves,
for bad company ruins good morals (1
Cor. 15:33). We deceive ourselves that
we can sow indifference and selfishness
and reap all kinds of wonders, but, alas,
“whatever one sows, that will he also
reap” (Gal. 6:7).
Because we come into the world with a
corrupt nature, and are more ready to
believe falsehood than God’s truth, we
are prone to deception. We easily
deceive ourselves regarding immorality,
impurity, and covetousness, and the
judgment of God, but the Word of
God tells us: “Let no one deceive you
with empty words, for because of these
things the wrath of God comes upon
the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6).
We can profess the name of Christ,
indulge in an ungodly lifestyle, and
delude ourselves that we will inherit the
kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal.
5:19-21). Such a sad state of affairs has
probably been quite common down
through the ages, but at no time more
so than today when trusting in Jesus as
Saviour is often equated with believing
that He will help me cope with life. We
can hear something that sounds
Christian, believe it, and carry on
unchanged, as though the Holy Spirit –
the Spirit who makes holy – had never
come into it. Hence James tells us to “be
doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).
Deception can come upon us regarding
events leading up to the second coming
of Christ. Some Thessalonian believers
had given up work, thinking that there
was no point to it as the Day had come
(2 Thess. 2:3). They have not been the
last group in the history of
Christendom to be deluded in this area.
By definition, the workings of
temptation deceive us. We tend to
minimise it or evade our responsibility
for overcoming it. Sin is just a problem
in our lives, and sins are rather like
mistakes. In any case, no one is perfect.
However, James tells us that desire leads
to sin, and sin leads to death. We ought
not to be deceived regarding this (James
1:13-16).
We deceive ourselves if we say we have
no sin, and the truth is not in us (1
John 1:8). Grace is not lawlessness. It is
free, but, as Bonhoeffer said, it is not
cheap. Christ did not save His people
so that they could continue in
unrighteousness but in order to practise
righteousness (1 John 3:7). To believe
otherwise is to be deceived, no matter
how evangelical we try to sound.
Now we come to the most damning
and beguiling aspect of deception. This
may be best illustrated through
recounting the conversion of Arthur
Pink. Pink was raised in a Christian
home, but sometime in his youth he
embraced the tenets of Theosophy. By
1908, at the age of 22, he had become a
medium, and practised clairvoyance,
divination, and magical healing.
As was his custom, he came home from
a Theosophy meeting one night, but
this particular night his father greeted
him with the text: “There is a way
which seemeth right unto a man, but
the end thereof are the ways of death”
(Prov. 14:12). Pink was struck, indeed
convicted, and was so disturbed that he
did not leave his room for three days
until he could profess Jesus Christ as
the Son of God and the Saviour.
That is the truly terrible thing about
deception. We can be deceived when
we think we are doing right. And we
only know we have been deceived after
we have been delivered from deception.
Are you deceived? Virtually nobody
believes that he is, but God tells us that
many are.
Peter Barnes is editor of AP.
the
Peter Barnes
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