Can "Good" Christians Be Deceived?
- Thread starter Silk
- Start date
I didn't watch, but, yes, indeed anyone can be deceived if they're not walking in the Spirit. I start with myself. Sin clouds our ability to see the truth through the Holy Spirit because He's such a gentleman that He won't go where He's not invited - meaning our thoughts or actions on a subject.
I completely understand. I'm sure I'd fall too (because I have believed things that were not of God or His word). Hence the need to remain watchful and cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit, 1 John 2:27.
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Yes - absolutely.
Let's face it - you won't be on your guard if you haven't been burned before.... There's a reason that Jesus constantly warned his disciples "Be ye not deceived!"
The hardest thing for US to remember, when either we or our friends fall for some deception... While there may be very real consequences in our lives - Being DECEIVED is NOT the same as intentional blasphemy or Presumptuous, intentional sin...
The danger is falling out of fellowship because we feel tremendous fear, guilt, sadness, and shame.... We pull back out of fellowship and away from God - which makes us MORE vulnerable to attacks on ourselves.... Frequently, our Brothers and Sisters in Christ don't help the matter either - as they start swinging the big Hammer of "Well... YOU Blasphemed the Spirit! You are FOREVER unforgiven!" and drive them out of fellowship...
See... We don't understand the nature of this sort of thing.... If you CANNOT be forgiven - it's because you CANNOT Repent... and you cannot Repent because you cannot Humble yourself and seek the will of anyone OTHER than yourself... And.. People who are crying out to God with broken spirits only wanting to seek His will doesn't really fit the bill of "Unrepentant"....
The irony is that those truly "Blaspheming the Spirit" don't look or act like your usual, garden variety person who gets deceived.... Those truly caught up in intentional Blasphemy are CAREFULLY CRAFTING messages... They are carefully preparing... They are hunting for those whom they can deceive.... They are picking their "Mark" carefully before hand... They are fully aware of what they are doing....
Think of how a Wolf or a Lion hunts.... Do they walk right out in the open and start roaring? Nope! Why not? All the prey scatters... They are "Blown"... Instead, what do they do? They stay undetected... Unseen, unsmelled.... Completely hidden from all the available senses of the prey until that prey is ALREADY Caught!
See... The deer doesn't know the Wolf is there until the wolf's teeth are in the deer's neck.... If the deer knew - they wouldn't have gotten caught....
Let's face it - you won't be on your guard if you haven't been burned before.... There's a reason that Jesus constantly warned his disciples "Be ye not deceived!"
The hardest thing for US to remember, when either we or our friends fall for some deception... While there may be very real consequences in our lives - Being DECEIVED is NOT the same as intentional blasphemy or Presumptuous, intentional sin...
The danger is falling out of fellowship because we feel tremendous fear, guilt, sadness, and shame.... We pull back out of fellowship and away from God - which makes us MORE vulnerable to attacks on ourselves.... Frequently, our Brothers and Sisters in Christ don't help the matter either - as they start swinging the big Hammer of "Well... YOU Blasphemed the Spirit! You are FOREVER unforgiven!" and drive them out of fellowship...
See... We don't understand the nature of this sort of thing.... If you CANNOT be forgiven - it's because you CANNOT Repent... and you cannot Repent because you cannot Humble yourself and seek the will of anyone OTHER than yourself... And.. People who are crying out to God with broken spirits only wanting to seek His will doesn't really fit the bill of "Unrepentant"....
The irony is that those truly "Blaspheming the Spirit" don't look or act like your usual, garden variety person who gets deceived.... Those truly caught up in intentional Blasphemy are CAREFULLY CRAFTING messages... They are carefully preparing... They are hunting for those whom they can deceive.... They are picking their "Mark" carefully before hand... They are fully aware of what they are doing....
Think of how a Wolf or a Lion hunts.... Do they walk right out in the open and start roaring? Nope! Why not? All the prey scatters... They are "Blown"... Instead, what do they do? They stay undetected... Unseen, unsmelled.... Completely hidden from all the available senses of the prey until that prey is ALREADY Caught!
See... The deer doesn't know the Wolf is there until the wolf's teeth are in the deer's neck.... If the deer knew - they wouldn't have gotten caught....
I know I have been deceived in the past and I always loved God. But I was always more open to deception because I really hadn't studied scripture. I knew the stories and didn't think I needed to read it over and over. And when I did go back to reading it - all I saw and stuck on was what I thought were contradictions. And then, with the HS's guidance, I saw no contradictions at all and then I realized I was ravenous - literally starving for truth. I was no longer just looking thru my "self" glasses. And I was not content with what sounds good or avoiding what I didn't want to hear. And even then - I can still be wobbled off the path. I do this for myself - not anyone else.
I may never find time to watch such a long video! I think any Christian can be deceived. Because every person is still in flesh. Until death..
And every time some one disagrees with me on something, they are being deceived.. Because I have figured out everything and I am 100% right.. okay!!
This came to mind:
(1 Thessalonians 5:21) Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
Yes, we can be drawn away and deceived...I think it is so important to be in the Bible everyday and pray as much as possible. On my best day, I am still drowning in sin and always will be while I am walking this earth. The lifeline I have is God's word and communication with him through prayer. I ask Him daily to keep my feet on level ground. I am so thankful that He has mercy on me, a sinner.
(1 Thessalonians 5:21) Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
Yes, we can be drawn away and deceived...I think it is so important to be in the Bible everyday and pray as much as possible. On my best day, I am still drowning in sin and always will be while I am walking this earth. The lifeline I have is God's word and communication with him through prayer. I ask Him daily to keep my feet on level ground. I am so thankful that He has mercy on me, a sinner.
And "assumption" is the key to delusion.
I would tend to be very careful with Mrs. Michaelson. I know that back in the 70-90's she did a lot of damage spiritually to a lot of people through New Age occultism.
I hope she had repented but I do not know enough now to comment. She was at one time Hal Lindsey's sister in law so maybe he had some kind of positive effect on her.
That is exactly what she did - she repented of her occult ways and she recounts how resistant she was to seeing that she had been led astray. The video is her testimony against these ways and those who are promoting it. I found it moving (the video) and she now sounds like John MacArthur. It is worth the time to watch it because she is entirely aware of common practice with such misleaders. I tried to get her book, "The Beautiful Side of Evil" because this is her changed mind against all those practices. It is with Hal Lindsay she wrote the book. It's not in ebook form and they want outrageous prices for a used paperback. I think it was written in the late 80's. (1986) which falls in line with what you posted.
She is a believer who was led wrong. She loved Jesus and assumed that what came to her was of God. Her intent was to be a "good" christian but she did not read the Word. She is trying to warn others not to make the same mistakes.
Wonderful and that sounds like she has done the right thing!
Here's one caution that's valuable for us to think about when rolling through this sort of thing....
We don't learn to recognize deception by studying the deception..... We learn to recognize the Truth by studying TRUTH.....
For example... An agent who has the job of checking for counterfeit money... He learns to spot counterfeits by studying every possible aspect of the REAL currency.... The more familiar he becomes with the Genuine Article - the more adept he becomes at spotting fakes.... and to be an expert at detecting fakes - you have to be amazingly intimately familiar with the real thing....
Why? When you study deception - you don't necessarily learn anything at all about The True Article! All you learn about is the deception - how it works, what it does, etc...
And... What is the GENUINE ARTICLE? It's God revealed through the Holy Scripture.... As we learn more about the nature of God through the Scripture and interaction with God Himself - we become more adept at recognizing the subtle trickery behind deceptions....
One recent one I ran across from a prominent preacher with a successful ministry... and it's very subtle... Good Doctrine IS the Gospel! Wait a minute... No... Jesus, Son of God crucified and risen from the dead, given for our sins is the Gospel... Teaching good doctrine is a fine thing and all - but the doctrine itself is NOT the Gospel....
We don't learn to recognize deception by studying the deception..... We learn to recognize the Truth by studying TRUTH.....
For example... An agent who has the job of checking for counterfeit money... He learns to spot counterfeits by studying every possible aspect of the REAL currency.... The more familiar he becomes with the Genuine Article - the more adept he becomes at spotting fakes.... and to be an expert at detecting fakes - you have to be amazingly intimately familiar with the real thing....
Why? When you study deception - you don't necessarily learn anything at all about The True Article! All you learn about is the deception - how it works, what it does, etc...
And... What is the GENUINE ARTICLE? It's God revealed through the Holy Scripture.... As we learn more about the nature of God through the Scripture and interaction with God Himself - we become more adept at recognizing the subtle trickery behind deceptions....
One recent one I ran across from a prominent preacher with a successful ministry... and it's very subtle... Good Doctrine IS the Gospel! Wait a minute... No... Jesus, Son of God crucified and risen from the dead, given for our sins is the Gospel... Teaching good doctrine is a fine thing and all - but the doctrine itself is NOT the Gospel....
I couldn't agree more @JohnC - I would only add that in context scripture and Holy Spirit guidance is necessary to understanding scripture. Still, I think that well intentioned, good christians can still be deceived. Scripture is the main part of our spiritual armor and we need to put it on daily.