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Introduction

Praise God for another day to share a thought with you. Today, I want to talk about deception because it is the major tool the devil is using against the church and the world at large. According to the scriptures, the devil deceived a third of the angels in Heaven, who had seen God’s glory and had been in His presence from the creation of the universe, and they rebelled against God. Therefore, God cast them with the devil out of Heaven to earth. Today, these are the demons that trouble humanity. The scripture says, “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” (Revelation 12:3-4).

In the same manner, the devil came after Eve with deception, making her husband Adam to fall into sin. God had told Adam not to eat from a particular tree in the garden of Eden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and he communicated the same to his wife, Eve. However, the devil twisted the statement and added a lie to the truth which was told to her. The devil, in fact, called God a liar, saying, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5).

The Three Methods of Deception

Deception emanates in three forms, which the devil has always used throughout time. The three forms of deception are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh refers to the desire for physical pleasure, such as food, sex, or drugs. The lust of the eyes refers to the desire for material possessions, such as money, cars, or houses. The pride of life refers to the desire for power, status, or recognition. These three forms of deception are often used by the devil to tempt people to sin. The scripture says, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16).

The lust of the flesh is an attack on a person through their feeling for fleshly desires that are forbidden or ungodly. The lust of the eyes is an attack on a person through their sight for fleshly desires that are forbidden or ungodly, this doesn’t mean material things are bad but how you get them or putting them before God is what is not godly. The pride of life is an attack on a person through their feeling of self-importance and self-sufficiency. These three forms of deception are the major tools the devil uses against the church and the world at large.

Lucifer, also known as the devil or Satan, was created by God with great beauty and honor in Heaven. However, he desired to be like God and have a throne, and so he rebelled against God. The scripture says, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:12-15).

Lucifer deceived himself and one-third of the angels by promising them a greater position in his new kingdom. However, he was cast down to hell after a failed coup.

Lucifer in his fallen state as the devil then came against Adam and Eve with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Before the devil’s attack, Adam and Eve had been living in the Garden of Eden with the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and they had no desire to eat from the tree. However, when the devil came to tempt Eve, the scripture says, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Genesis 3:6).

To break it down further, see below the 3 attacks deduced from Genesis 3:6:
1. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food – The Lust of the Flesh
2. And that it was pleasant to the eyes – The Lust of the Eyes
3. And a tree to be desired to make one wise – The Pride of Life

Now Eve was deceived by the 3 forms of the devil’s attack, but as for Adam the devil was able to use the Pride of Life to make him sin because the scripture says, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1 Timothy 2:14).

So if Adam was not deceived what could have made him sin when he very well knew what he was doing was wrong? I said before it was due to the Pride of Life. Pride can make anyone that has it blinded to the truth even when they know it is the truth. Adam probably didn’t want to say NO to his wife because he did not want to offend her, but he was willing to offend God. We must realize that anyone whom we honour or reverence more than God will make us sin because in truth we are actually trying to satisfy our selfish pride to protect ourselves from the reaction of the other person. Remember the story of Samson and Delilah, that it was just for Samson to be free from the pressure of offending Delilah that he told her his secret even when he probably knew that she was going to use it against him. Self-pride is a pride that camouflages itself as an act of good when it is indeed in fact disobeying God. There are many people especially Christians and pastors who refuse to stand for the truth because they don’t want to offend the world with the truth of the bible because they want to protect their image to the world. This we must know is self-pride.

A pastor must be willing to tell his congregation the whole truth of the scriptures and not just tell them the beneficial part that is easy without telling of sin, righteousness, judgment, heaven, and hell which are the fundamentals of the gospel. Also, as Christians, we must say the truth at all times even though it will cost us to lose our dignity, fame, or even our lives in this world so that we can gain Christ. It is only when we are willing to give it all to Jesus that anyone can truly be free from deception. Jesus said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” (Luke 9:24).

The devil also tempted Jesus Christ with these three forms of deception because he wanted to stop Jesus from redeeming all he stole from mankind through the sin of Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve sinned, they gave their dominion of the earth to Satan and he boasted about this in one of his temptations to Jesus. The scripture says, “And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.” (Luke 4:5-6).

In the above temptation, the devil attacked Jesus using the lust of the eyes. Before this time, the devil had already tempted Jesus using the lust of the flesh, saying to Him, “If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.” (Luke 4:3). This happened after Jesus had finished a 40 day fast and was hungry (Luke 4:2).

When these two forms of temptations didn’t work, then the devil used the temptation from the Pride of Life against Him. In this temptation, the devil wanted Jesus out of pride to prove that He was the Son of God by forcing God to resolve a situation intentionally caused by the wrong motive. The devil even used the scripture to back his temptation, saying, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” (Luke 4:9-11).

What is Deception?

What we must learn from this last form of temptation, is that it is not just the action that counts when obeying the scriptures but the motive. If the motive for obeying God’s Word is birth out of selfishness, greed/covetousness, fear, or pride it is certainly going to be rejected by God as the truth. The scripture says, “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:” (1 Timothy 1:5).

Deception is the distortion or misrepresentation of the truth in order to gain an advantage over others. This was exactly what the devil has been doing and he is the master of it. In fact, Jesus called the devil the Father of lies, which means he is the originator and the best at this act. We can imagine that if the devil was able to deceive angels that dwelled in God’s presence, and Adam and Eve who had a personal relationship with God and had seen His glory, how much more the world that has not seen God? Jesus said the devil, “was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44).

In this generation, we have seen a rapid shift of people that once believed there is a God to the non-existence of God; and many countries that were founded on the scriptures are now rejecting the scriptures as the Word of God and the final authority. There are some that have even thrown the bible out of their schools which has further created a void for deception to thrive. At the moment, most of the world is being deceived and sadly many don’t even know it including the Church. The scripture says, “And 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).

The Three Waves of Deception

Jesus had warned the world before His departure of the coming waves of deception that the Church will face. He prophesied that there will be three waves of deception that will hit the Church and will cause many to fall away from Christianity.

1. First Wave of Deception

“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” (Matthew 24:4-5).

I believe the first wave of deception started just after the Church was birth. When we read the New Testament, we will notice that many of the writers warned about the growing deception in the early church that was causing division and confusion in some early churches. Paul addressing this once said, “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” (Acts 20:29-30).

The first wave of deception was full-blown at the beginning of the dark ages after the fall of the Roman Empire and it lasted until the end of the dark ages which was for about one thousand years (500AD – 1500AD). At that time, the knowledge of Christ was concealed from many and was only interpreted by special people who called themselves the oracle of God. Sadly, their interpretation of the scriptures was filled with the wrong motives to control the people, and this causes many to err from the faith.

2. Second Wave of Deception

“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” (Matthew 24:11).

Jesus afterward mentions the second wave of deception as the rise of false prophets in the body of Christ that will deceive many people. I believe this is the wave of deception the present generation is experiencing. There has been the rise of many false teachers and prophets in this generation that have turned the hearts of many towards the wrong things: wrong things like prosperity and material things rather than salvation in Jesus Christ and eternity with God. In a pretense of self-righteousness and will worship, some of these false prophets make people focus on works without the need for faith and a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In a show of false humility, some have also deprived people access to the provisions in the gospel of Jesus Christ; and they negate the message of sin, hell, and judgment for a message of grace and mercy that tolerates sin and voids true holiness. The scripture says when we see, “Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.” (1 Timothy 6:5).

The Church must return back to its root and focus on what is more important to God rather than trying to be part of a world built on carnal ordinances and controlled by a demonic system. So, for the Church to exclude, soft-pedal, or not preach vital scriptures that talk about sin, hell, and repentance just so that they can comfortably accommodate the world is a gross injustice to the price that Jesus paid for the salvation of the world. When last have you heard about sin, hell, or repentance? If your Church has never discussed any of the above, you need to prayerfully change it for your own good. The scripture says, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4).

It is true holiness that manifests the gospel's full power. In this generation where much of the gospel preached is void of holiness and just mere philosophy and rhyming of words, we should not be wondering why the power of God is not fully manifested in the churches today as in the days of the early church. We must realize that it is the power of God that the world needs to encounter at this time to get saved and not eloquent words that are empty of God’s power. For therein easily lies the deception of the devil. The devil knowing miracles are convincing in this generation has been capitalizing on it by mimicking or creating fake miracles to deceive many. The scripture says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, …, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

3. Third Wave of Deception

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” (Matthew 24:24)

The world will experience the third wave of deception immediately after the rapture which from all indications in the scriptures and signs of the end we now see, we can see the rapture happen anytime from now.

The Rapture is an event that the scripture says will occur before a time of great tribulation and cause the disappearance of faithful Christians all over the world because they would be taken out of the world to escape the horrors that will occur on earth.

It is at this time; deception will be at its highest because the devil will be given authority to reign on the earth for three and half years when the Church that is true believers and the Holy Spirit would have been taken out of the earth to Heaven. The scripture says, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. .... For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-7).

The devil at this time will possess a man to be called the Antichrist. He would do great signs and wonders with his false prophets and deceive nearly the whole world and even believers in Jesus Christ left behind would be easily deceived if not for the mercy of God.

Therefore, Beloved, we must not keep living in deception to assume there is still time to play around with the salvation of Jesus Christ. No one would like to be around during the great tribulation because it would be a really terrible time in the world, but right now we all have the opportunity to take the things of God with all seriousness and build a lasting relationship with Jesus Christ so that by God’s mercy we can escape the great tribulation.

Why Do People Fall for Deception?

1. Due to Self

The number one reason why people fall for deception is Selfishness. We said that the 3 forms of deception – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are all self-based (1 John 2:16). The Lust of the flesh is the desire to gratify one’s self at the expense of other things. The lust of the eyes is the desire to gratify one’s self with what one sees even though it might be unlawful or hurtful to others, and the pride of life is the desire to exalt one’s self above God and others.

The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes thrives in the physical while the pride of life cuts across the spiritual and physical aspects of life. That was why the devil and his fallen angels even though they had no flesh, fell for the pride of life. The scripture says regarding the devil, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” (Isaiah 14:12-14).

So we see the devil saying to himself;
1. I will ascend into heaven,
2. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:
3. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
4. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
5. I will be like the most High.

We can see how selfish the devil is when he used a total of Five I’s to describe his purpose. Selfishness is one of the devil’s greatest motives for his actions and it is also one of his greatest selling points to humanity. The devil has deceived the world and used the weakness of their flesh, which is– self - to deceive and control them; And that is why the whole world is the way it is today: the devil has capitalized on the selfishness of humanity towards each other to deceive and control them.

2. Being Simple

To be simple is to be unknowledgeable or immature. In the natural, maturity usually comes from knowledge acquired over time and the mental understanding that comes with physical growth. However, when it comes to spiritual things, maturity has more to do with experience gotten through the revelation of the Word of God and its continuous practice that transforms into a life of love. Therefore, maturity in Christians is measured by the character we have formed through practices of the Word of God to easily discern what is right from wrong, and act accordingly in love. The scripture says, “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:12-14).

In order words, we can have believers that have been born again for several years and are active in the church but were still babe Christians. This was the issue Paul was referring to in the above scripture where old believers in a particular Church at that time who ought to be teaching other believers still needed to be taught the basic doctrines of Christ. And as long as Christians don’t grow up, they remain candidates for the devil’s deception. The scripture says, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;” (Ephesians 4:14).

3. Bad Conscience

The next reason why many people fall for deception is because of a bad conscience. The conscience is the moral consciousness that helps a person discern between good and bad, or right and wrong. The conscience is the voice of the spirit speaking to the soul of a man, which feels like an internal prompting to do or warning not to do.

Now for a person that is not born again, the conscience is not a trusted guide to help discern what is good or bad because of the fallen nature in the natural man. However, when a person gets born again, the scripture says we have “our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22).

Therefore, a Christian’s conscience is a safe guide in this world. Have you ever had an internal feeling that makes you uncomfortable about what you are about to do or what you have just done? And after you do it you knew within yourself it was the wrong thing? That is probably your conscience prompting or warning you about your action. Therefore, the conscience is not something we want to ignore as Christians because ignoring it could be detrimental. The scripture says, “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:” (1 Timothy 1:19).

Moreover, when we ignore the prompting of our conscience continually, we get it seared so that it becomes insensitive to the same error next time. When this happens, we are said to have a bad conscience, which makes it an unsafe guide until we cleanse it with the blood of Jesus. The scripture says, “Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;” (1 Timothy 4:2).

4. Ensnared by the Devil

Now there are people trapped by the devil and enslaved in the deception of the devil, who hijacks them at his will to do his silly, evil works whenever he chooses. These are not just people of the world but can as well be carnal Christians whom the devil uses to cause division and sedition in the Church. Paul advising Timothy said, “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” (2 Timothy 2:25-26).

Some of these people might not only be trapped in the deception of the devil but might have demonic possessions which might never allow them to believe the truth until it is cast out. For such people, they are blinded from the truth and we will need to pray for them to see the truth for them to be delivered from the captivity of the devil. Without this happening, they might never be able to get saved. The scripture says, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Beloved, we need to pray for the salvation of the souls of the world because many are blinded from the truth, even at this time when we are closer to the second coming of Christ than ever. Especially, when the Lord has told me that the winning of souls to Christ through media (social media, Internet, TV, etc.) will soon be restricted in many nations so that many nations will pass laws that will prevent the conversion of people to Christianity in the coming years. Therefore, the Church needs to do more than it is doing at this time for the salvation of the souls of men.

Overcoming Deception

For us to be victorious in this life, we must, first of all, overcome the deception of the devil because that is all he has left. Jesus has defeated the devil on the cross of Calvary and rendered him powerless against anyone that is Born Again. However, the devil uses his wiles as his game-changer to overcome Christians. That is why the first armour mentioned in Ephesians 6:10-18 amongst the armour of God is the belt of truth. The scripture also says, we should “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11)

Therefore, the first step to overcoming the wiles or deception of the devil is to be Born again;

1. Get Born Again

It is only when a person is Born Again that they have a spirit that allows them to put on the armour of God because the armour of God is spiritual. Therefore, getting born again is the foundation for overcoming deception. The scripture says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Moreover, the deception of the devil is planned and concealed in the spirit realm before it is executed physically. Therefore, we will also need spiritual access to divine secrets to uncover and thwart these plans and traps of the devil through revelations and divine directions. These revelations and directions can only be given by the Holy Spirit who speaks to our spirit man. This simply means that anyone that is not Born Again does not have the ability to receive from God because they don’t have the spirit of Christ. The scripture says, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

For anyone to be Born Again, a person must first believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ, that He died and rose again from the dead. It is only then they can ask by a prayer of faith to receive the gift of eternal life that was made available through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The scripture says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9).

You can be Born Again right now by saying the prayer below:

Prayer of Salvation
Dear Lord, forgive me my sins and come into my life. I confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. Cleanse me with your precious blood and fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord, for doing this. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

If you said this prayer in faith, I believe you are Born Again and have been given the spirit of Christ to be able to bear the armour of God. Just keep thanking God and believing in your new status as a child of God. The scripture says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (John 1:12).

2. Let the Source of Truth be the Word of God and Depend on the Holy Spirit

Now that you are Born Again, you need to realize that the next thing you need to overcome deception is the truth which comes from the revelation of the knowledge of God. This is why scripture puts it as the first armour a Christian has to put on to defeat the devil.

In this world, we have various sources of information which we can mostly call facts because they are subject to change. Any truth is absolute and remains the same throughout time.

Today, the Church is divided mainly because they have different interpretations of some verses of scripture. However, every scripture has a precise meaning which is why the scripture says we should rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

Moreover, there can never be two meanings to any truth but only one. So, the only reason why we can have various meanings to a scripture of the Bible is due to private interpretation by different people with different mindsets. The scripture says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:20-21).

Normally, only an author can reveal the true meaning of any writing. The author of the scripture is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, He is the only person that can tell Christians the true meaning of scripture.

When we study the scripture and Holy Spirit reveals this truth usually through a time of meditation, this is revelation is known as a revealed Word of God which in Greek is called Epignosis. While the literal meaning of scripture which is accessible to anyone and subject to private interpretation is called in Greek Gnosis. Epignosis is an understanding that is only accessible to those that are Born Again because it involves spiritual understanding that involves our spirit and Holy Spirit.

One of the primary reasons many Christians do not have evidence from the Word of God even after many years of trying to obey the scriptures in their understanding of the truth is due to a lack of real truth. The truth will always produce results once it is put into action after a while and will always lead to liberty. On the other hand, lies might sometimes seem to produce quick results, but they will not last. Jesus said, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32).

If you have been a Christian for a while and have not noticed changes in your life even after obeying the Word of God, then maybe what is missing is a revelation of the truth. So why not humble yourself and pray for the help of the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth you need for your change? The scripture says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” (John 16:13).

3. Balancing the Truth with Love

Merely knowing the truth is not enough to overcome deception. If you are wondering how this is possible, then you must know that deception can also overcome someone when pride exist even in the presence of the truth. Adam was not deceived when the devil tempted Eve, but he fell due to pride. This was a kind of pride that we don't realize is actually pride. Having respect for a person over God is self-pride because people please others above God due to being more concerned about how others will feel toward them about their actions. Avoiding to say "No" because it will hurt someone's feelings even if it is the right thing is actual self-protection, which is actually pride. This is what made Adam sin despite knowing the truth. The scripture says, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1 Timothy 2:14).

Similarly, Moses, who had seen and talked to God face-to-face, got angry and disobeyed God out of pride. God had just given Moses an instruction to speak to a mountain to provide water for the Israelites who had been murmuring for water to drink in the desert. Instead of speaking to the mountain, Moses raised his voice in anger against his brethren, the Israelites, before striking the rock twice. Water did gush out alright for the Israelites to drink but the process that yielded this miracle was birthed out of disobedience, which consequently caused Moses to miss out on entering the promised land (Number 20:1-13). This is another example of how pride can overrule judgment and lead to sin."

In Luke 4, Jesus faced his third temptation which was a temptation of pride. The devil tried to use scripture to tempt Jesus into pride. The devil's quote was the Word of God, but the motive behind the action would have been pride if Jesus had done what the devil wanted in order to activate the scriptures. The devil told Jesus, “cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” (Luke 4:9-11).

Therefore, we have to be careful of pride and its subtlety because that is what also brought the devil to his knees. In simple definition, anything that we exalt above God for the sake of ourselves is pride. This simply means pride is born out of selfishness.

The only antidote for self is God’s Love. God’s love is completely selfless, which is why God gave his best to save mankind. The scripture tells us that “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

Therefore, the only way we can totally overcome deception after we know the truth is to act on it in love because that is what all of God’s commandments should tend towards. Any commandment or doctrine that does not promote the unity and love of God in the Church should be something that should be rejected by the Church to overcome disunity and deception in the body of Christ. The Church has to also be careful of doctrines that can cause Christians with weaker conscience to fall from faith especially when they are doctrines that will not affect the salvation of a Christian. The Scripture says, “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:” (1 Timothy 1:5).

4. Personalize the Truth

The truth I know cannot be the same as the truth you believe just because I told you. It's good that you believe, but you must do more to personalize it as your truth. Every Christian must have a spiritual revelation of that truth for it to be their own. This means that every truth must be a personal knowledge of the revealed Word, if it must be a truth that is born out of personal conviction and can stand the test of time. For example, I have had personal encounters with Jesus Christ, so I know He is real and He is Lord. No one can take that from me even with all the deception in the world because I have had personal experiences with Jesus Christ. However, my revelation of Jesus Christ can never be your truth because it will take you to have a similar experience to stand on this truth.

The revelation of Jesus Christ is not just for a special few people because God loves everyone equally. However, it will require a person to make the decision to love Him and align with God’s commandment to experience some levels of manifestation of God’s glory. Jesus said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21).

There was a time when Paul was preaching about Jesus Christ in Berea, and the people were hearing about the salvation of Jesus Christ for the first time. After they heard Paul, they didn’t just believe or reject what he preached, but they took out time to search the scripture to verify if what Paul was preaching was scriptural and they then concluded it was true. The Scripture says,” And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.” (Acts 17:10-12)

Therefore, it is the responsibility of every Christian to ensure that what is being preached to them is scriptural by reading the scriptures for themselves and depending on the revelation of the Holy Spirit, especially in these end times where deception is prevalent. However, many Christians do not take out time to read the scriptures for themselves because they are lazy or distracted to do so. The Scripture says, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12).

The truth is that no one can read the scriptures for you. The scriptures are also not meant to give a Christian knowledge alone but also strength. That’s why every Christian must read the scriptures for themselves for these two reasons.

Conclusion

We now know that deception is the work of the devil and he is using it greatly to deceive the whole world. The scripture tells of a time after the great tribulation when the devil’s influence over humanity will be taken away for a thousand years by locking him up in a bottomless pit. However, after he would be released for a short time before his final judgment, he would go out to deceive the world again. The scripture says, “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.” (Revelation 20:7-8).

Therefore, we must realize that the devil cannot change because deception is part of him and it's only with the truth and love of God that we can absolutely overcome him. Jesus Christ overcame the devil’s three forms of temptations through the Word of God. This means that the principal way we can overcome deception is by using the Word of God and ensuring it is done with the motive of love for God and for others.

The scripture says that Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection, had “delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:15).

Therefore, my prayer is for God to deliver anyone whom the devil has spiritually blinded from seeing the truth about Jesus Christ - who He is and what He has done to save humanity from their sins. I pray for those that the devil has been lying to that God does not love them to receive the delivering power of God and experience God’s eternal love today. In Jesus' name, Amen.

God bless you and Happy Celebration of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

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