Tag: deceived

19.q. “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked”

Romans 6:21  But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 

Proverbs 1:30    Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

Proverbs 5:13  I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.

Jeremiah 17:10     “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

 Romans 1:32  Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Galatians 6:7-8    Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

The fruit of disregard, disobedience, indifference, and careless neglect of God, God’s Word, and things of God will fill the stomach of the hungering soul of the self-serving, self-worthy, and self-reliant.  In their heart, they feed on that which is pleasing to themselves without a single thought of God’s ways.  They determine within their own minds what is an acceptable and right way to live.  The driving force behind every decision is to bring pleasure and satisfaction and purpose to themselves.  They can appear to be good people and have others’ best interests behind their motives.  Yet deep down there is no thought of God, God’s Word, or things of God.  They are slaves to sin, their sinful nature, and to worldly passions.  Paul sends this letter to Roman Christians and tells them; “What fruit did you reap while you were pleasing the desires of your sinful nature?  You know very well that since you have come to the saving grace knowledge of Jesus Christ you became aware of how much you were enslaved to sin and when you look back at how you were living, you see it clearly and are ashamed of how selfish, self-reliant, self-worthy, and self-righteous you were.” 

It is very hard to tell a slave to live like a free man, but certainly, you can tell a free man to keep from living as a slave.  We should not revert back to sinful thoughts and actions.  We have been set free from the bondage of sin.  We have been set free to live to honor and glorify Jesus Christ.  We have been set free to rely on, cling to, and trust in Jesus Christ.  We have been set free to find purpose and satisfaction in Jesus Christ.  We have been set free to find peace, hope, and joy in Jesus Christ.  We have been set free to know the difference between things of God and things of this world.  It is in this freedom we choose what master we will serve.  We have been set free and we would do well to ask God every morning to expose what He sees in our heart that is not pleasing or honoring to Him, and to lead us on single-purpose paths away from sin and toward bringing Him honor and glory.

18.g. “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.”

John 13:2   During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

 Acts 5:3     But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit

 Ephesians 2:3   among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

 James 1:13-17   Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.  But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.  Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

 Mark 4:19     but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

 Romans 6:12    Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

Some people are like the ground on a hard-packed pathway. This is hard ground because people walked on it all the time and hardened it. When people are hard to the word of God, they allow no room for the seed of the word in their lives – it never enters.  “There are some that hear the word, but never meditate upon it, never lay it to their hearts, never cover it with second thoughts.” (Poole)  Some people are like the ground that is rocky but covered with a thin layer of dirt. They receive the seed of the word with a flash of enthusiasm that quickly burns out. Some people are like the seed that falls among the thorns. They receive the word but allow the interests and cares of this world to choke it out.

We ought to be able to rightly see and understand the world we live in, its lures, lies, fears, temptations, and false hopes.  But how is this to occur?  When we are in God’s Word.  When we hunger and thirst for His Word.  When we have surrendered our life in this world to victoriously living to bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ.  This does not happen by walking hand in hand with what this world has to offer or giving head nods toward Christian values, the bible, attending church, or listening to Christian music.  Head nods are not the same as a heart surrendered.  There is a big difference.  Head nods do not let the word of God into their heart.  These people play at being a Christian but there has never been a heart change that only comes through repenting, confessing, and surrender all hope of eternal life into the hands of Jesus Christ.  No thought of being good enough enters their thoughts.  They understand they were lost and without hope and then the Light of the Gospel flooded their heart and mind.  They realized there is only one way to eternal life and that is through hope and faith in Jesus Christ.  God’s Word allows them to see this world and what it has to offer.  This allows them to reject temptations that come at them in all kinds of forms.  Greed, lust, passion, hate, anger, fear, worry, pride, self-worth, and self-reliance are some of the many forms this world will tempt.  Hunger and thirst for His Word with a desire to live so that all you think, say, and do honor and glorify Jesus Christ.

17.c. “Even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

John 11:17  Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

 Romans 8:11    If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

 2 Corinthians 4:14    knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

 Philippians 3:20-21     But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,  who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

 1 Thessalonians 4:14     For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

 Revelation 20:10-15    and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.  Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.  Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.  And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

“Those that believe in Jesus Christ appear to die, but yet they live. They are not in the grave, they are forever with the Lord. They are not unconscious they are with their Lord in Paradise. Death cannot kill a believer, it can only usher him into a freer form of life.” “Death comes to the ungodly man as a penal infliction, but to the righteous as a summons to his Father’s palace: to the sinner it is an execution, to the saint an undressing. Death to the wicked is the King of terrors: death to the saint is the end of terrors, the commencement of glory.” (Spurgeon)

At death, there is rejoicing for those who believe and regret for those who reject and deny Jesus Christ.  Scripture is clear and yet so many reject the grace, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ. Denying Jesus Christ has earthly effects, but the most important is it has eternal consequences.  We never truly know when death will knock on our door.  We can be ready for that knock and rejoice to know our home is in heaven and we will be with Jesus forever more.

15.y. “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

John 6:65  And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

John 10:16    And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Ephesians 2:8-9    For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Titus 3:3-7     For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,  he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,  whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

James 1:16-18    Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

Raising children we often encourage them to try something on their own.  We teach them to walk without us holding onto their hand, we teach them to ride a bike without training wheels,  we teach them how to drive so they can drive on their own, we teach them how to eat, use the bathroom, read, work, help others, etc……  While raising them up we encourage their independence from things that hinder their full development or function.  We take them from new-born to adulthood and hopefully, we have helped them become a person who knows their limits, knows when to ask for help, and when not to be afraid to take on something new.  I am afraid that when we teach this independence without God’s Word they will grow in self-reliance and independence and will harden their hearts, close their eyes, and become deaf to the calling of God.  When He calls upon them, will they see the need for salvation and forgiveness of sin?  Will they see Jesus Christ as redeemer savior? Will they hear God’s calling, repent, turn away from their sinful nature,  and believe?  It is so hard for us to understand how God is able to give us free will to choose and, at the same time, draw us to Himself.  But draw us He does.  He knocks at the door to our heart and soul.  He makes Jesus known to us.  He reveals His holiness and majesty. He makes us aware of His love.  And in all of this, some are drawn to Him and some turn away.  There are consequences.  There is eternal life for those who are drawn to Him and eternal damnation to those who reject His calling.  Independence and free will result in a choice for one or the other.

11.h. “The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might”

Micah 7:13  But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds. Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.  As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things.  The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God, and they shall be in fear of you.

Job 4:8    As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

Proverbs 1:31    therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

Isaiah 3:10-11    Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.  Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

Jeremiah 17:10    “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Jeremiah 21:14    I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds, declares the LORD; I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is around her.”

Galatians 6:7-8   Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

There is a time coming when all mankind will be held accountable for their deeds.  Some will see in their lifetime the fruit of their deeds falling back on them.  Others will pass on into eternity and it will be seeming to us that they beat the judgment due them.  God is not mocked and their deeds will catch up to them in eternity at the Great White Throne Judgment.  They are the ones who reject redemption through Jesus Christ, reject their sin, reject their need for repentance and forgiveness, and reject the gracious and merciful gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.  They have chosen wisdom of this world over the understanding, knowledge, and truth proclaimed in God’s Word.  We all were in this state before God, but He somehow softened our heart to the message of the gospel.  We were just like those who still reject Jesus Christ.  It is hard to say how God’s Word and Gospel cut straight into our heart but it most certainly did.  I still don’t know how a person could have had their eyes, heart, mind, and soul opened up to the gospel and the need for salvation, forgiveness, and redemption and then reject it.  But scripture is clear that there are those who do exactly that.  For those born again, their deeds should all be for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. Our Savior bought and paid for our sin at a great price and we should ever be mindful to live to honor that great sacrifice and gift of eternal life.

10.k. “I am weary with holding it in”

Jonah 1:1  Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

Exodus 4:13-14     But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”  Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

Jeremiah 20:7-9    O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.  For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.  If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

Ezekiel 3:14   The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me.

Luke 9:62     Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 9:16   For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

Have you ever come to a time in your life where you did what you knew the Lord wanted you to do but had bitterness in your heart?   Have you ever been led down a path in life by the Lord and then looked back at where you were before and had a want to go back there to easier times?  Have you ever felt the nudge of the Lord to clearly do something and said, “please send someone else”?  Have you ever just wanted to get away from what the Lord has asked you to do?  We read of many great men of God who felt as though they knew better or had enough and they threw up their arms in a full STOP.  We know when Jesus is leading us there are power, strength, and courage we get when our eyes are kept focused on Him.  It is when our focus is on the situation or our wants more than our want to humbly serve, honor, follow, trust, and obey Jesus Christ.

Not how Jeremiah and Paul put it; “there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in”, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

10. h. “The people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’”

Obadiah 1:1  Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!” Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?” Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.

Proverbs 16:18    Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 29:23    One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

Jeremiah 48:29-30    We have heard of the pride of Moab— he is very proud— of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.  I know his insolence, declares the LORD; his boasts are false, his deeds are false.

Malachi 1:4    If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’”

Obadiah wrote this shortest book of the Old Testament probably soon after the armies of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem (586 b.c.). During this conquest, the people of Edom helped capture fleeing Israelites and turn them over to the Babylonians. They even took up residence in some Judean villages. This angered the Lord, for the Edomites, as descendants of Esau, were related to the Israelites (Gen. 25:21-26, 30) and therefore should have helped them. Obadiah prophesied that Edom would be repaid for mistreating God’s people. Obadiah also asserted that God is sovereign over the nations and that the house of Jacob would be restored because of God’s covenant love for his people.

The spirit of pride is a parasite upon the souls of men. It never forgives. Nor will it receive forgiveness. So the human hearts over which it rules remain “unforgiven”. The Edomite nurses his anger; he “keeps his wrath forever”. And he never surrenders to God. He remains “unforgiven”. He never finds peace with God, peace with his fellow man, or peace with himself. Unless he repents, he cannot be saved from the wrath to come.  He goes to the judgment shaking his fist at God. And descends into the fires of hell in a torment that will last forever.

8.r. “I warn you, as I warned you before”

Revelation 21:8  But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Romans 1:29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,  foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

1 Corinthians 6:9   Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Galatians 5:19    Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

While John’s list is similar to those of Paul, it’s important to note that John begins with “cowards” and “unbelievers.” This appears to be an indirect appeal to all professing believers facing times of testing. John makes no distinction between those who deny Jesus under persecution and those who openly embrace pagan vices. Jurgen Roloff again writes, “In an effort to challenge the reliance of the addressees on their safe possession of salvation, John again makes it clear that, because of the magnitude of the promise received, the danger is all the more serious of being disobedient and faithless to Jesus. Whoever succumbs to it does not belong to those who stand in the Look of Life and is therefore fundamentally like God’s enemies, who stand in his judgment” (p. 238). This is not to suggest that the elect will fall away; rather it seems to be an affirmation that those who merely profess Christianity may expect to be exposed under the withering heat of persecution so that their true nature as unbelievers is made clear.

Phillips, Rob. The Searcher’s Guide to the Apocalypse:

8.l. Signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast

Revelation 19:17   Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

Now, as the birds hover en masse over the battlefield at the angel’s beckoning, John sees the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against His army (v. 19). Their resistance to Christ belies their delusional belief that they have an opportunity to win – and worse, their apparent conviction that they are in the right. What compels sinful men and women to entertain the notion that they can defeat the Almighty or change the course of human history?  Joseph A. Seiss comments: We may wonder how rational men could be carried with one impulse into an attempt so daring and so absurd; but when people put the truth from them, and submit themselves to the Devil’s lead, what is there of delusion and absurdity into which they are not liable to be carried? How many among us comfort and assure themselves in their selfishness and sins with the belief that either there is no God, or that he is too good and merciful to fulfill his threatenings upon transgressors? To this there needs to be added only one step more, to defy his judgments, and with that goes pledge of battle and declaration of war with his Omnipotence.

The Psalmist writes, “Why do the nations rebel and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and His Anointed One.” What is the Lord’s response to this human madness? “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them. Then He speaks to them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath” (Ps. 2:1-2, 4-5). Seiss once again remarks, “What failure of love, what exhaustion of grace, what emptying of the sea of his infinite mercies, what decay and withdrawal of all kindly interest and affection must have occurred that there should be this laugh!”. And yet for the beast and his armies, this is no laughing matter. In self-delusional futility; in the most vile hatred of a creature toward his Creator; in utter abandonment of all decency, the beast charges straight into the blade of the Jesus Christ’s sword.

J.F. Walvoord and R.B. Zuck comment: “The same inspired Word of God which so wonderfully describes the grace of God and the salvation which is available to all who believe is equally plain about the judgment of all who reject the grace of God. The tendency of liberal interpreters of the Bible to emphasize passages dealing with the love of God and to ignore passages dealing with His righteous judgment is completely unjustified. The passages on judgment are just as inspired and accurate as those which develop the doctrines of grace and salvation. The Bible is clear that judgment awaits the wicked, and the second coming of Christ is the occasion for a worldwide judgment unparalleled in Scripture since the time of Noah’s flood”

Phillips, Rob. The Searcher’s Guide to the Apocalypse: A Verse-by-Verse Quest to Understand the Book of Revelation . Unknown. Kindle Edition.

8.h. All nations were deceived

Revelation 18:21  Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”

The world system in opposition to God will be utterly destroyed at the end of days. It is hard to imagine the rise of a one-world political, economic, and religious system in such a short time and even a bit harder to imagine it fall faster than it came about.  The indulgences, deceptions, lies, self-glorifying, and self-reliant ways of Babylon influenced the world.  This political, economic, and religious God-denying and defying systems fed the sinful nature of the people a lie to which they overwhelmingly chose to believe and follow.  The finality of God’s judgment against the people who have willingly chosen to follow these lies is seen in “NO MORE”.  Whatever the cause of this collapse at the perfect timing and hand of God, it will have an ending to all the world’s systems that arise out of those who wish to deny God His glory, honor, and power.  The end is near and those who put their trust and reliance on what this world has to offer will mourn, but not out of repentance to God, but out of a loss of what they had put their hope in.  Worldliness, prosperity, ease of life, financial security, self-reliance, self-satisfaction, self-worth, and self-centered,  living blind their eyes, and dull their hearing to the point of total rejection of God and the godly who trust in, rely on and cling to Him.  There is no time to wait.  There is no time to think you will have time later to make a decision to surrender yourself to Christ.  Every day that this decision is intentionally withheld gives your heart, mind, and soul the opportunity to start believing the lies and deceptions this world has to offer.  Choose Christ.  Seek forgiveness of sin.  Trust in His sacrifice on the cross for your redemption and salvation.  In Him, you will find what your soul aches for.  Peace, love, joy, hope, and rest.