Can A Christian Be Deceived? Nah! I KNOW I Won’t Be
Ξ September 7th, 2007 | → 17 Comments | ∇ Christian Living, End Times, Growing In The Lord, New Christians |
Welcome back!
After yesterday, I was wondering if this particular subject would actually be written today. During my Bible study time yesterday and this morning, the words “do not be deceived” kept running through my head. Usually when that happens, God wants me to pay particular attention to where that’s written.
I have been writing here about the Book of James for the last few days and God will not allow me to leave the first chapter yet. There are three notations about being deceived in James 1.
The first one comes when he says that we are not to be deceived, that only God is the giver of the good gifts. That reminds me of a person who is able to buy a pretty expensive car with a loan. Then, when they get it home, they call their Christian friends and tell them what a blessing God has given them. That’s a self-deception. God does not give a person debt which is what happens when you sign for a car loan. God gives GOOD gifts. Now if that same person had gotten a gift of a car, that would be God’s good gift.
The second instance of deceive is found in James 1:22 where it says that we are to be doers of the word not hearers only because if you only hear, you deceive yourself. That brought to mind a person who goes and sits in church every week. They are quite faithful in that. They love everything in the preacher’s sermon, nothing bothers them in the least. It’s all a joy every week.
But the problem is that they simply sit and listen. When they go home, do they do anything all week to help anyone? Do they teach someone about the Lord? Usually the answer is no. I call them Pew Potatoes (couch potatoes? Yeah.). They love everything about church. However, if they were truly listening and the preacher was speaking God’s word, something should have been uncomfortable at times. That would be God teaching. When God teaches, it isn’t always comfortable but it sure is going to change your life!
Then a person would want to share with friends and family what they have learned. Some of my most enjoyable times have been after a church service when we could sit and talk about what we learned from the sermon. It is absolutely amazing to find out that although each had heard the same sermon, each one has learned a different lesson. That never ceases to amaze me!!
The third time deceived is mentioned, is when God says that if a person thinks they are religious and do not stop their tongue, they deceive themselves. I can picture the one person who is sitting in church that believes they have not sinned all week but do look around at all the sin that’s running rampant in the church. The person decides to tell someone about it trying to get support in their thinking. Pretty soon the tongues of others are wagging just like the first person’s did. That’s called “gossip”. God is so against that. He says that if a person feels righteous and religious but does not watch what they say, it means nothing and that person is deceived.
You know, I used to think that I was not going to be deceived because I read the scriptures a few times. HA! That in itself is a deception. I used to think that I could spot the anti-christ with no sweat at all. Not really. As long as we are deficient in any part of the scriptures and getting to know God, then we are open to a deceptive spirit who will convince us that what we are doing is right, no matter what happens, no matter who it might hurt in the process.
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Do you believe that? Good saying. Perhaps we need to feel that way since God says that we are renewed each day (Eph. 4:22-24)and by the washing of the water of the Word! I praise God that He is so faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him. We need to learn to be DOERS of the Word and not just hearers. Hearers are everywhere. Doers are few and far between. We need the doers for our army of God! It’s time to march!
For more information about getting to know the Lord better, please come to Lura’s Bookcase where you will find many articles on learning to grow in the Lord Jesus! Thank you for reading.
17 Comments
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Good words! I find that people are deceived quite often by “false prophets”. See, even Satan knows what the Bible says and can quote it. It’s up to us to keep our armor shining and in good repair so we can discern what is the WHOLE truth and what is not.
Thanks for this post!
Thank you, Ann, for adding to whats’ been written. You are so right. I’m frustrated right now with those who believe everything they read and hear in the news. People simply do not want to see how deceived they are by a biased news reporter.
Thank you for visiting.
You can read ,argued, and discussed and find that not everybody believed in the same thing about what is written in the Bible.
The more you learnt , the more you will become confused.
The best way is to be liked little children and be simple and loved your neighbour as yourself.
That sums up what God wants us to be.
More than that is making religion a legalistic one.
Best regards
Laura
Yes, we must be like little children when we go to God about everything. But we must also take the responsibility to learn all we can from God’s Word as He has told us to do. He also told us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. I cannot see how if we do not study and learn by reading the Bible.
No, not everyone will believe the same. In fact, I would be surprised if they did all believe the same things. BUT we do have basic things that are believed by Christians. That is, that Jesus died on the cross for you and me. His sacrifice is so that I do not have to die in sin. I thank my Lord Jesus that He did that for me. We believe that if we ask Him into our hearts, He will come in and live with us. He is the Savior, Master and Lord.
Those things are believed by all Christians that I have ever known.
I have to disagree with you that the more you learn the more you become confused. That is not true at all. I have been learning things from God for many years and I am not confused about what He teaches me at all.
Thank you for visiting.
You have the right to disagree and hold onto your perspective. I can accept that.That is why when you believe in Jesus, you can disagree with others and others should accept your views.
Gods laws can all be summarised into two laws. Love God with all your heart, soul and spirit. Love your neigbour as yourself.
We are saved not by our works or knowing all of God’s laws. No one is righteous for all have sinned before God. Our salvation is by the grace of God… given freely and not by how much we obeyed the laws or how righteous we try to be.
The laws was given to showed that we have sinned…God did not expect all to follow the laws..it is impossible.
What you learned today may not hold true somewhere down the road. As a christian we each have different levels of faith….
The most important thing about God is allowing Jesus to live in your life and changed us into a better person.
There is no point in arguing about theology or what the Bible says…to each his own.
You and your God only. What others think about us is immaterial.
This is what I believed. You have a right to a different ideology or belief.
I didn’t mean to upset you. I actually do believe a great deal of what you just said. When confusion comes, it’s usually because something has not become clear in a person’s mind and spirit.
Because we are human, of course things will change in our lives. If that were not so, we would not grow in the Lord. And, yes, we all are on different levels of faith. As a matter of fact, we are usually on different levels in each area of faith. It’s a human thing. The problem with humans is that they tend to want to look down on those who aren’t at the same level. Sigh.
However, I am not certain why you are upset but I am sorry if I did that to you. We actually do believe basically the same things, you know.
Thank you for being so passionate about this and for coming back.
Sorry If I appear to be upset but actually I am not upset.You dont have to apologise.Instead I should apologise to you.
No one can deceived us, it is only ourself ,that is our worst enemy.
You chosed to believe in whatever you want…no one can make you believed what you dont want.
We cannot force anyone and neither can anyone forced us to believe even if the reason is right as stated by the Bible.You may disagree with me.
All I said is , the most important thing is love…and not theology or dogmas, it can only make you disagree with others .Others see it differently ,and so I shall let them believed in their own beliefs.
Thank you for your reply and no hard feelings..
God Bless!
Glad to hear that you aren’t upset. Sorta sounded like it at first. Glad that’s not the case.
Thank you for telling me and thank you for coming back!
Whether we are deceived or not , only on judgement day will we know if what we did was right or wrong.
You may think you were right…
We will all stand before God and be judged by Him.
Your tittle is bordering on the arrogant.
A Christian will forever be tempted and be deceived . Only the Son of God cannot be deceived.
Will you be deceived? Is just like asking will you sin?. You wont be deceived is same as saying I wont sin….
If you think you are strong and wont be deceived, then the Devil will make you fall….Many great and famous evangelist have fallen and in disgraced…..
This is my views only and you can disagree with me…LOL!
I think that we can know that we are doing right or wrong if we are in the Lord. He tells us clearly in the Word of God what is and is not acceptable. I do, of course, miss it a lot. But I am forgiven.
I thought my title was pretty much on the mark. We can be deceived and very easily if we do not stay in the Word of God and pray and talk with Him each day.
As for standing before God, as the Word states, I will be standing before Jesus Who is my Lord and Savior. His sacrifice on the cross is what gives me the honor of being before Him instead of the judgment seat of Christ at the end of all things.
Christians can be tempted. Jesus was tempted. But, can we overcome that. The answer is YES! Can we be deceived. Again, the answer is yes. That’s why we have to continue to study and pray…for that protection promised by the Lord.
And that’s my views for the day. LOL! Thank you, Laura, for making this much more interesting.
By the way, the title is actually sort of giving a view of someone who does not believe that they can be deceived. It’s a tongue in cheek thing.
Quote :”I think that we can know that we are doing right or wrong if we are in the Lord.”Unquote.
I think I will have to disagree with you .At that moment in time ,you think you were right but in the walk with the Lord, He will show you later that what you thought was right was infact wrong…
The Bible maybe clear to you on certain things but there are many grey areas. It is not just black and white.. and not as simple as you think.
Sometimes other’s can quote the Bible to prove their points but in everything , it is love and not what the Bible says. God is love and Bible is God’s words which is love….and if what you do is not love, it is not God’s words.
Quote; We can be deceived and very easily if we do not stay in the Word of God and pray and talk with Him each day. Unquote
We can still be deceived because Satan is wiser than you ..LOL!
Anyway, thanks for the discussions. You can think your way is right….till one day God reveals to you.
Laura, according to you then, we will never be right about anything..ever. We will stand before the Lord condemned because we thought we knew what He wanted but we didn’t. That simply goes against the scriptures.
Apparently, I will not be able to say anything that you are going to agree with.
Apparently, you think I see the Bible as being simple. I don’t. However, it should be. What we see now is cloudy, yes. But, we do have things that are definite. If that were not true, NO ONE would know for certain that they were saved. I cannot believe that.
Quote: We can still be deceived because Satan is wiser than you ..LOL!
You are giving satan more credit than he deserves. In the scriptures, it tells me that I can have him UNDER MY FEET. If that’s wise, I don’t want it.
(Rom 16:20) And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Again, you are saying that I think my way is right but that I will find out how wrong I am but what you are saying is so arrogant. You do come across as being the only one right in all this. That’s so
arrogant. Sigh. I hope that’s not what you see in what I am trying to say because it is not.
However, I will say this. I was called of God to preach and teach. I am doing what I was called to do. I do hear from the Lord which agrees with the scriptures. I do believe that we do some things right in this world as long as we listen to God and follow what He has declared for us to do.
If we are never right…ever…which is what you have said, then what on earth is the use in trying to do anything at all????? Why not simply hole up at home, eat and watch tv and forget that the world and God exist because the whole thing is useless. I cannot think of a better way to send people to hell than to tell them that they never do anything right.
Okay, time to put up or shut up. Give me scriptures for everything you have been saying. I live by what God has to say about all this. Tell me where it says that satan is wiser than we are. Tell me where it says that I will stand before God condemned because I didn’t know what He wanted. Tell me where it says that it’s love but not what the Bible says. (Your quote:Sometimes other’s can quote the Bible to prove their points but in everything , it is love and not what the Bible says.) When you can do this, I will be glad to respond. Until then, I have to respectfully decline to answer anymore.
Thanks for coming back.
quote:
“The Bible maybe clear to you on certain things but there are many grey areas. It is not just black and white.. and not as simple as you think.”
I’ve always found the Bible to be exceptionally clear. God has made it very clear that all have sinned, He has also made it equally clear that when we accept Jesus that state changes:
2 Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
We start out as sinners, but when we accept Jesus He makes us righteous. It is then up to us to study, pray and grow in the lord and not allow ourselves to be decieved.
Quote:
“We can still be deceived because Satan is wiser than you ..LOL!”
It’s true that we CAN be deceived, but it is also true that this deception is not a guarantee. Otherwise God’s word would not repeatedly tell us “be not deceived”.
Here’s just three references:
Deuteronomy 11:16, “Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;”
Luke 21:8, “And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.”
1 Corinthians 6:9, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,”
In each case you’ll see that the believer is instructed not to allow themselves to be deceived. Since God is not in the habit of requiring things of us that we cannot achieve, that means we CAN be deceived but only if we’re careless.
As for satan’s “wisdom”, he is already defeated by Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. All we need to do is resist him:
James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Thank you for clearing these things up. I agree with you about all of that. Thanks for commenting.
Whatever you chosed to believed , that is your right . Right or wrong it is not for me to tell you . I just spoke my opinions .You can accept or reject and it does not matter to me.
There is no need to get angry.
Carry on and do whatever you wish…You can take the Bible and throw at others who dont agree with you or you can quote scriptures in the Bible to back what you said…..what good if you know all those scriptures but have no love…. you are just an empty gong…..
Can you be right about everything? This is a factual statement and if you think you are right about God and religion,then I shall leave you alone.
Anyway, thanks for the replies.I am sorry if you dont agree with my perspective but it doesnt matter for I am a nobody ..
End of the line and goodbye .Topic closed for me.
I will have no hard feelings .No offence intended and my apologies if you feel slighted.
Not angry. No hard feelings here either. I simply did not think there was anything else to accomplish with this back and forth. I do disagree with you with all my heart. What you say is definitely against the scriptures I know. So, I am glad we had the back and forth. And nobody is mad. This is awesome!!
Thank you for visiting me for a while but it’s time to stop. It was fun while it lasted.