Let No Man Deceive You!
With Enticing Words…
In Matthew 24:4 Jesus issues a very clear warning. One that should caution us just as much today as it did the believers then!
“Take heed that no man deceive you”
Be mindful of the fact that Jesus wasn’t making a suggestion, but rather issuing a direct command to remind us that getting deceived is a distinct and real possibility! The very last thing any of us needs is to get tricked; and I don’t just mean trick or treat tricked; I’m talking about getting hoodwinked, duped, bamboozled or beguiled.
The only thing worse is to discover, after you’ve been seduced, that it was someone you know and trust. That is really bad news but it could still be even worse! You may have prevented it! If you’ve ever had it happen to you, then you know what I mean. Is there anything that can be done to ensure a repeat performance doesn’t happen? Sure there is, just keep reading!
It may come as a total surprise but God has already clearly addressed this topic at considerable length, in the Bible. In the King James Version, the English words “deceit”, “deceive” and “deceived'' appear no fewer than ninety-two times! More than enough, I suspect, that we might learn to recognize and avoid being scammed.
Let’s look at a recent example of deceit that has caught a lot of people unawares. Our specific point of interest will be the aftermath caused by a certain virus that has been beguiling people for several years now. This over-blown public health situation, that has falsely been labeled a pandemic, is arguably the most well planned and executed worldwide deception EVER! As a result the unprepared, unwary, uninitiated and the unwilling to acknowledge what is right before their eyes, have been duped, inveigled and hornswoggled with mainly catastrophic results.
Some of you reading this may have already fallen for this ruse way back during the memorable “two weeks to flatten the curve” fiction that signaled the start of the whole charade.
Right about now you may be all fired up because you think you are far too smart to have possibly been deceived. Well, here’s a little quiz to see if you’re right:
Have you worn a face mask for any reason during the past three years but before that time you wouldn’t have even thought of something so bizarre? If so…..you’ve been DECEIVED.
Have you verbally accosted family members, coworkers, friends, and complete strangers who refused to get inline with the narrative? If so…you’ve been DECEIVED.
Did you receive an inoculation containing an unproven substance just because you were told it was “safe and effective”? If so….you’ve been DECEIVED.
Do you believe that the president, the media, the doctors and big Pharma are telling you the truth? If so…..you’re being totally DECEIVED
This quiz could be much, much longer, but I think you get my drift. Very little of what has happened, or what the media has reported about this situation is true! We’ve all been given a pig in a poke! To believe any of this malarkey is like placing a wheelbarrow in your driveway and then being totally convinced that it is a Cadillac! For the past three years we have, by any sensible, logical, level headed, intelligent and reasonable measure been subjected to a massive FRAUD, a FAKE, a SCAM and of course…A DECEPTION!! So what do we do now?
The swindlers, and there are many, have very methodically, orderly and SECRETLY planned this trickery for many years and have now successfully employed threats, terror, propaganda and flat out lies to sow, fertilize and nurture massive fear.
Their goal has been to revise, restyle, reorient, reconstruct and recreate the perception of reality for millions of unsuspecting people the world over; replacing it with something they refer to as the “new normal”. I will concede that it is quite new, but it is light years on the far side of normal because IT’S A DECEPTION!!
How did this happen? Why did it happen? When will it end? Can it be reversed? What happens if we can’t reverse it? Why doesn’t any of it make sense? The questions are endless but there’s only one answer.
There’s that word “deceive” again, appearing right alongside such unsavory things as “every wind of doctrine”, “sleight of men” and “cunning craftiness”. The lack of sound doctrine coupled with dishonest men who are crafty and cunning has driven the total chaos that has accompanied the skulduggery.
For many people the world over, the highly publicized “new normal” has brought with it mostly new fears. It has settled like a thick blanket of fog, clouding vision, choking out rational thinking and putting a screeching halt to freedom. One day everything seemed fine and then overnight, fueled by propaganda, lies, and threats everything changed.
We were locked down, losing our jobs, social distancing, wearing a mask, afraid to talk to anyone, and now we’re being coerced, threatened, bullied, bribed and mandated into submitting to an untested hypodermic poke that these liars claim is “safe and effective” although it has already killed tens of thousands who believed the lie!
Many people are, for lack of a better description, “shell shocked”. They have witnessed life altering changes but are helpless to explain them without a deeper understanding of God and His Word! The causes driving the changes are so well camouflaged, tucked neatly away somewhere beyond man’s five-senses ability to comprehend. They can’t be seen, heard, tasted, smelled or touched and therefore they remain invisible! There is, however, a staggering amount of power behind this deception.
Those in charge keep calling it a killer, but what is it really? I think it would be safe to say that so far it has proven to be a mostly benign and it didn’t occur naturally. It was specifically developed in a laboratory as part of a larger clandestine program of deception and lies! It was chosen for one reason and one reason only. It is the bait, the lure, the decoy, the snare used to trap the unsuspecting. It has been DECEPTION all along, and from all indications it has been a rousing, over-the-top success.
Now let’s back pedal and assess the Scriptures we’ve covered so far. As we read them, pay close attention to the word “deceive”. In Colossians 2:4 the word beguile is the Greek word as deceive.
Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Colossians 2:4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
Ephesians 4:14 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;
Now slowly roll your mind’s eye 180°to reflect upon the past three years. What you will see staring back at you is one undeniable and irrefutable verity. We have been, and still are being, subjected to the very essence of the word deception! And there appears to be no letting up anytime soon and there’s a good reason for that. The methods being employed by the enemy are bringing about the desired result so why change anything.
Ephesians 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
The word “deceive” has trickled down to us over a couple of millennia via the Latin word “decipere” which means to catch, ensnare or to cheat. Our English word “deceive” means:
“To cause someone to believe something that is not true, typically in order to gain some personal advantage”.
This cannot be accomplished with any degree of certainty without first setting a snare. In the case of the aforementioned situation, that was accomplished during the initial delivery phase when we in America were all told that 2 million people would surely die if we didn’t implement some drastic plan to offset it. We took the bait, hook, line and sinker and we’ve been going downhill ever since.
A snare is defined as “a device for catching small animals and birds, usually with a rope or wire that tightens around the animal”. I believe you can readily discern from this definition that the key to a snare’s effectiveness is deception. A snare is hidden until it’s too late to escape from it.
God never sets a snare for us!! In spite of what some men teach, God doesn’t test us either. He provides us with ALL the knowledge we will EVER need UP FRONT!! If we knew the Bible well enough, would could avoid most, if not ALL, of the devil’s snares before we got caught.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Even though the entire world appears to be ensnared at this point in time, believers don’t have to be! The first part of II Thessalonians 2:3 says…
Let no man deceive you by any means…
We are more than conquerors in all situations according to Romans 8:37 but we cannot live by what God says if we don’t KNOW what He says! It is time to quit being ignorant!
II Timothy 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
There will be a sad outcome for all the evil men and seducers. The Bible teaches that we will all reap what we sow. Farmers do not expect to receive what they haven’t sown. If they sow corn, then naturally they would expect to reap corn. The evil men who sow discord and propaganda and lies and fear will logically reap what they have sown. They are not bigger than God!
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Charles Dickens once said,
“I so abhor, and from my soul detest, that bad spirit, no matter by what class or sect it may be entertained, which would strip life of its healthful graces, rob youth of its innocent pleasures, pluck from maturity and age their pleasant ornaments, and make existence but a narrow path to the grave…”
The method and/or extent to which the world has been temporarily stripped of its “healthful graces” and robbed of its “innocent pleasures” only accentuates to a greater degree the fundamental and unchanging truth of God and His Word. We are instructed multiple times…