Think about a time in your life when you were deceived.
Do you remember a time when someone knew what they were doing when they purposely conned you? Lying to you was on the agenda. Getting you to do something that was not best for you was the priority. It wasn’t fair or right, but it was still done.
There was even the sense that others were experiencing some unbelievable satisfaction in your going down the wrong road, with no brakes to keep you safe.
You might think of a time when they were deceived by a family member, so-called boyfriend or girlfriend, spouse, or business partner that proved to be someone other than who you thought they were. They were acting a part that did not match the conviction in their heart. As you reminisce, it is still hard to fathom how someone who claimed to care could be so cruel.
Living with that deception is still almost more than you can bear to think about. You weren’t raised to believe this was the way to treat someone. It certainly was not something you learned in Sunday School.
Have you ever been burned by outright lies with a purchase? Just because it happens all the time doesn’t take away the sting from the victim’s soul that went through this ordeal.
Sometimes, people get cheated out of a few bucks, and sometimes you buy something you think is genuine, only to learn later that it is a knockoff. You cannot buy a Rolex for $5, and you should not expect to receive something for nothing, especially when cheap comes wrapped in expensive packaging. There are no “great deals” when you attempt to sell your soul for rip-offs in return.
There will always be wolves disguised as sheep. Flesh parading behind Jesus’ face does not transform darkness into instant light.
Unfortunately, too many deeds of deception are done in places where devotion to Jesus is expected. This is the worst counterfeiting practiced on our planet.
Preachers appearing on television promise health and wealth if you invest your last few dollars to finance their million-dollar mansions built by the sea. Jesus didn’t have a roof over His head, and yet His servants are living high on the hog. There is something rotten in Denmark, and it isn’t kosher by heaven’s standards.
Deception can break your heart, mind and bank, but spiritual tomfoolery can crush your soul. A hypocritical pastor, an abusive church, a legalistic maniac, or phony friend can cause long-term psychological, spiritual damage. Such toxic deception has opened the door to atheism.
I have always tried to challenge those burned by this Bible thumping practice to not blame Jesus because some of His so-called disciples are deeply disturbed. If you are going to walk away from the Lord, make sure it is the real deal before you book a ticket out of dodge. Of all the knockoffs living among us are the painful peddlers who pawn a watered-down Gospel that has no promising news.
Just because some belief systems receive the majority of the crowd’s approval on television and radio, in bookstores and media outlets, and even behind pulpits and in classrooms of well-respected churches and Christian institutions, none of that makes it the truth. If you want to know God’s authentic word, be sure to have the one and only God of the word inside you.
An impostor is a person who practices deception under an assumed character, identity or name. Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr. was a prison warden, monk, lawyer, sheriff’s deputy, cancer researcher, teacher, religiously oriented psychologist, Baptist minister, and surgeon. In reality, he was none of those because he had a fascinating photographic memory that fueled his ability as “The Great Imposter.”
Demara, born in Massachusetts, faked his way through life. His most famous exploit was masquerading as Surgeon Joseph Cyr aboard the HMCS Cayuga, a Royal Canadian Navy destroyer used in the Korean War.
Throughout his time as a surgeon on the Cayuga, Demara performed many surgeries, including those on 16 injured soldiers. He would disappear to his room with a textbook on general surgery and proceed to speed-read the operation he was to perform, including major heart surgery. Amazingly, none of these patients died, and ironically, it was Demara’s skill as a surgeon that exposed him.
According to this article, a bullet removal from one wounded man made the papers, and when the real Dr. Joseph Cyr’s mother read that her son, who operated a civilian practice, was now in the war, she proceeded to contact him, only to be assured by him that he was indeed not in the armed forces. She immediately contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Demara was exposed for the fraud that he was.
What was hidden in his closet was exposed in the light. Deceivers hate to be exposed.
Unfortunately, masks are not only popular in pandemics. Our soul’s enemy loves to portray himself as something he isn’t.
The devil has a prime advantage because nobody believes in him anymore, which works in hell’s favor. He is the master of illusion and an expert in deception.
The influence of darkness has turned angels into demons, kings into animals, pastors into predators, and sheep into wolves. It can swagger with self-importance one minute before writhing in self-contempt the next. Lies have hats that can be worn for almost every occasion, and Christians have no business putting this nonsense into their heads and hearts.
Growing up, I watched a game show on television called “To Tell the Truth.” The program’s premise was that three people claimed to be a person, and the panel’s job was to ask questions to determine who was truthful about his or her identity. There would almost always be someone who was fooled by a feeling and duped by deception.
This is no time to be taking those chances when it comes to knowing Jesus. God did not play hide and seek with us. He invites every man and woman to enter a relationship with Him. Our eternal destiny narrows to the reality of whether we know Him or not.
Many claim to be experts about Jesus, but if it doesn’t match the One we can read about in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, it isn’t Him.
This is no game, and is instead a matter of life and death. Jesus will tell many on that day who claimed to do wonders in His Name to depart from Him because He never knew them. Salvation has nothing to do with what we know but is everything with who we know.
Jesus claimed to be the Way, Truth and Life and has made Himself available to everyone. Will you make a stand with your heart and assure you are not being fooled by cheap imitations?
There is nothing phony about God’s love for you. There is no fine print, just eternal grace for all who willingly follow Him.
ED. NOTE: The author is the senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Court House.
