Have We All Been Deceived?

If today’s question caught your eye, I am sure you would be able to say: “I sure have.” It is a truthful saying that we have all been deceived in life. Probably in more ways than you might realize. The Bible says:

⁹And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelation 12:9)

We are told that Satan (who is called the Great Dragon, the Old Serpent, and the Devil) has deceived the whole world. Satan, who once was the covering Cherubim over the Throne of God became the deceiver of the entire world. Which is quite a statement considering that it impossible for any one of us to deceive the entire world. Sure, I may deceive my friends, my family, those whom I know and have close contact with. I may even deceive those I do not know and have never met through social media such as this BLOG. But to deceive the entire world, that is quite a feat.

Deception comes in many forms, however. Consider the game of Poker which employs deception by each player in order to separate as much of the other players money from them as possible. You go into the game knowing that other players are intentionally trying to deceive you, and yet you play anyway. Consider deception in a court of law. While courts (Judges and Jurys) administer justice (under the law – Justice is a topic for another post), the main purpose of the trail phase is to determine guilt or innocence. And there would be no need for a trial if there were no ambiguity or deception. When you cheat on a test in a classroom, you practice deception. When corporations, lawyers, and politicians rely upon the use of fine print in laws and contracts they expect you to be bound by, they practice deception. And whenever we seek to hide illicit and illegal activities, we practice deception. Deception can be personal (person to person), a group event (a game of poker or a court of law), or an impersonal ploy against many (corporations – in advertising, sales contracts or politicians).

Deception can be annoying at times. Consider the Republican Party endorsed fund raising site: WinRed. When you visit the site without redirection it looks harmless enough. Navigated to directly it will even allow you to make donations directly to candidates, the Federal party, or even local State causes (and races). However, if you are redirected to the site from a candidate’s campaign, you get something quite different: WinRed. You may get a form prepopulated with a donation amount (meant to deceive you into donating a fixed amount. You may get a form disguised as a petition or poll. However, when you try and submit the form, nothing happens because you have not selected a donation amount. You want to participate in the process, let elected leaders know what you think. You answer their usually poorly worded polls, you attempt to sign lame petitions, and what you discover is your opinion does not matter, your signature is worthless, and your elected leaders really do not care for anything other than your money. And whatever means they may use to separate your money from you, is worth it to them.

And here is one more side note on deception, we might practice it unintentionally. In other words, we might employ others to believe the lie that we ourselves believe to be true. And a great example of that is Biblical Creation versus Evolution. I personally believe that the Biblical account of Creation is literal and that the entire universe was created in just six 24 hour days. And counting Biblical generations out from a literal 7 days of creation gives you an age of the Universe of ~6,000+ years. And I espouse that because that is what I really believe is truth. I am not trying to deceive you or anyone else. However, I have a friend, who also believes the Bible, who believes that the Universe is much older than that because the science (that is used to support Evolutionary theory) says that it is. This science estimates the age of the Universe to be closer to 13.8 trillion years (Earth years) old. Which is a lot older than 6,000 years. And my friend, who would only desire that you place your faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God, believes that the age of the Earth is older because he believes the science is truth. One of us is deceived, and one of us espouses that deception, not as intent to deceive, but rather because we have been decived.

Deception is inherent in our nature. It is foundational in our makeup. It is part of the human condition. At its core, deception is intended to separate you from the truth. And on the global scale of eternity this is the most important thing in your life. The greatest deception ever perpetrated in human history is when Satan, the Devil, that Old Serpent deceived Eve concerning the truthfulness and sincerity of God.

And isn’t it a great Joy to know that God does not want your money, your (good) works, or for you to sign His petition. As a matter of fact, when you come to Jehovah God, you will find that He is far richer than all our money combined, He has already completed the work and our sins are forgiven, and there is no petition to sign, only your faith to be invested. Would it not be great if we could invest our faith in our elected leaders and receive from them security for our Nation, prosperity in our economy, and peace in the world? All without them asking for donations, signing petitions, or answering polls?

With Jehovah God you can. On the scale of eternity. There is no deception with God. Only Truth. Would you like to spend eternity in Heaven? Place your Faith in The Way, The Truth, and The Life … Jesus Christ. Yeshua, the Son of the most high God.