Jesus speaking: “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand." Matthew 24:23-25 (NKJ)
Over the years, this passage has brought me to consider carefully the potential of anyone to be deceived by the craftiness of the evil ones - craftiness that's been highly honed over the preceding millenia up to this point in time. To underestimate it or stand unguarded against it could leave one suffering undesirable consequence. What would it take to deceive the elect - the ones who should know to be on their guard - the ones who should know where to find the truth? Just how powerful would that kind of deception have to be? And are we in any way deceived already about anything relating to our God or about ourselves? How do we know?
I think the answers to those questions depend on a couple of things. The first that comes to mind is something that I've harped about a number of times because of it's undeniable importance: have we read the bible for ourselves in its entirety - drawing in truth from it with diligence to know what God's made available for us to know for so many reasons? Including our defense? As much as the world may protest against the fact in order to defend its own lusts and perversions, there is only one truth and one author of that truth - The God who created the heavens and the earth from nothing by the word of His mouth. He's the same God who by the Holy Spirit inspired and dictated the truth to men that He carefully chose to write it down for us. Do we actually know it because we sought it out personally? Or have we just heard about it from someone else? What have we been taught? Does it align with what God actually said from scripture? (And as for the second thing) Do we know it because we personally sought it out in context in scripture and asked the Holy Spirit to give us the interpretation of it and the application of it to our lives?
I think it's true that we have a tendency to put things in a particular order in our hearts and minds as we learn about and understand them. They become woven together in a particular order that together create a portrait of life, truth and reality as we understand it. Everything that we've read, seen, heard, were told - absorbed from one source or another, comes together to create that portrait. But what if there's a flaw in our view of reality and how things go together, or an incompleteness, in that portrait? Where is the source - the unchanging standard of truth that we have the grace and great privilege to check these things against and thereby gain confidence and comfort before The Lord? Not only has He given us His Word, but through Christ, also the Holy Spirit to give each of us the understanding of it and to bring it to life within us - properly filling out and correcting our view of life, truth and true reality within us.
There have been those in history who sought to control who was permitted to read what God intended for all people. This was because they understood that by controlling the interpretation of God's Word, they were able to give themselves power over those who feared God. If in doubt, research the German monk and theologian Martin Luther who revolted against some of them and nailed his 95 theses to a church door in 1517- sparking The Protestant Reformation. Or look up William Tyndale who was strangled and then burned at the stake in 1536 because he dared to translate the scriptures into English so that so many millions after him could read the truth of God for themselves. God has given us a great privilege to know the truth and has raised up so many good people over time to defend it and proclaim it. But not all who proclaim it these days are free from other influence or from the possibility of mistakes. Add to those things the fact that false prophets do exist in the world.
These are only some of the reasons why why it's so important for us to read the bible for ourselves in its entirety. Subtle changes, minor misinterpretations, quotes out of context - these are edits of God's truth that have the potential to so easily become lies - even if unintentional. And the "father of lies", as God refers to satan, uses these things against the elect if the elect remains unarmed against him - that's to say nothing of how mercilessly he uses them against those who don't actually know God, but claim to, in order for him to keep power over them. Then there are those who are caught up completely and only in this world...
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." 1 Corinthians 18-21 (NKJ)
"The wisdom of the world"... to God it's nothing more than foolishness. I know that it sounds harsh, but given that our only reason for having been given life is to have right relationship with God while walking in obedience to Him, all of the things that the world holds in high esteem outside of that have no value or worth - they perish along with men and the time that they invested in them. Don't just believe me - search it out! If you study the word of God - digesting it all in context, you begin to realize that this life IS all about Him and our relationship with Him - nothing else. So it's worth asking myself and ourselves at times - am I in any way deceived about what I think I know? The world has its own assurance - built on the alter of its own perceived wisdom and truth, but it - with all of its misguided values, truth and wisdom, will crash into the absolute wisdom and truth of the unchanging, Only True Author of these things one day coming. I believe that the more that we learn the truth about God and His standards, the more that we recognize how far that the world has actually drifted wickedly away from Him. We need to see it and make sure that we're not guilty of being caught up in it!
"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NKJ)
The world carries on in its own way, but there's a day coming when God will flip the world's script and bring it to account for its error. The worldly within it will be forced to stand before the actual truth on that day. And I think that it's possible that many deceived may find themselves there also. So many things are passed from generation to generation and are just presumed to be so, but the wise, without malice or self righteousness, will subject even those things to the scripture found within the pages of the bible that God has offered us. There are a great number of people that do not have access to the bible that many others of us do. I do and I personally do not want to have to give an account of my carelessness against the truth - to be made to answer for my lack of personally seeking out My Lord and The Truth in the gracious gift of both to be found in scripture. He provides for us a fortress against deception. I believe that if we're wise, we'll run to it and digest its every fiber of wisdom found within it so that we may have the true life that God intended and find true safety and peace of mind within it. I think that there may be a day in the future when access to the bible may be restricted even here. The world does not like the actual truth as God has declared it. We need to draw it in while we can so that the Holy Spirit can give us revelation from it always and defense against deception. Run what I've said and everything in your life through the sieve of God's word to find the truth of everything, ... that is, ... if you have it in you.
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJ)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it." Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (NKJ)
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