Tag: Delusion

29.f. ” See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit”

 

Colossians 2:2  that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

 Romans 11:33    Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

 2 Timothy 3:15-17   and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

 1 Corinthians 2:6-7   Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.  But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

 Matthew 10:26   “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

 Ephesians 3:9    and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,

 Colossians 2:8   See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11   The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,

For Paul, real riches were found in the believer’s full assurance. Many lack full assurance about the character of God and are unconvinced that He is really good and loving. Others lack full assurance of their salvation and wonder if their Christian life is for real. Great freedom and confidence comes when we come to this full assurance.  “You will only find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Jesus. He has them all.” It’s not wrong to seek after wisdom and knowledge; but we must seek it all in Jesus. Real wisdom is not hidden in secret books, but deposited in Jesus Christ so that all can access it. When Paul describes the truth of God with words like riches and treasures, he reminds us that God’s truth is precious and worthy of sacrificial seeking. (Guzik) 

It might sound simple, but deceivers are deceivers. They won’t announce their false doctrine as false doctrine, and it will often be similar enough to the truth to be dangerous. Combining The Word of God with worldly knowledge and wisdom will never end well.  Dilution of God’s Word will never lead us into deeper understanding, knowledge, and wisdom.  On the contrary, it will confuse, weaken, and leave us unsatisfied.  We never obtain complete wisdom, knowledge, and understanding but we certainly will grow and mature in it for our entire lives.  Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, we will mature if we are diligent in our intentional choice to humbly seek, surrender, obey, follow, trust, and rely on and in Jesus Christ, the mystery of God to man.

27.z. “Therefore do not become partners with them”

Ephesians 5:6  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 

 Matthew 24:4   And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.

 Mark 13:22   For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.

 Colossians 2:4   I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

 Colossians 2:8    See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12   and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,  in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

 1 John 4:1   Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

We live in a time that is not so different than any other time.  In most of our lives, we have seemingly have experienced peace and unrest, joy and unhappiness, great hope and great despair,  prosperity, and poverty, love and hate, understanding and confusion, calmness and fear, gain and loss, security and vulnerability, confidence and doubt, healing and sickness, accomplishment and failure, humbleness and pride, truth and lies ….. We have experienced and lived through times of unity and times of unrest. Such is life. God and His grace, mercy, and love are present through it all. Likewise, Satan and his lies, deceptions, and temptations are present in the world.   Making sense of what we experience, see, and hear requires discernment.  Discernment will dictate how we respond, react, and behave. With whatever we use to gain discernment we will set our feet down paths that will either humbly serve, follow, obey, trust, and honor and glorify Jesus Christ or yield to the deceptions, lies, and temptations of Satan. 

Scripture is very clear that we are responsible for what we say, think, and do.  More importantly is what we use or feed on to set in motion what we say, think, and do.  We get the free choice.  We choose rightly or wrongly in all situations of life.  We choose what to believe. We choose what we allow to influence our lives and cause us to act, think, and speak. God is always present and will be the rock, refuge, fortress, helper, guider… Heavenly Father to those who choose to believe, rely on, trust in, and cling to Him.  He will wrap them in His power, strength, and might. He will clothe them with truth, purity, joy, assurance, and love. He will guide, lead, and set their feet upon solid ground.  Satan on the other hand will do just the opposite. He will defeat, tempt, lie, cheat, boast, cause worry, hate, fear, confusion, disunity, unhappiness, division, and set their feet on shaky ground, without foundation or stability.

We must be able to discern what is right and wrong, true and false, Godly and ungodly. This will only happen when we surrender all we are, all we have, all we do, and all of our plans to the will of God with the single purpose of honoring and glorifying Him alone. We will experience much in this life and it is a much more blessed life to experience in the ever-loving arms of God.  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.  He will hold into account every single person for what they say, think, and do.  Make sure you know what is influencing your heart, mind, and soul.

12.j. “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.”

Habakkuk 2:18  “Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.” The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

Isaiah 42:17     They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”

Jeremiah 10:3-5     for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.  They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.  Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

Jeremiah 10:14-15    Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.  They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.

Romans 1:23-25     and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,  because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Psalms 115:4-8     Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.  They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.  They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.  They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.  Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

Isaiah 44:14-20    He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.  Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.  Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!”  And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”  They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.  No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”  He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

What is in the heart of man that they should even consider the need for an idol to worship?  Why is there a desire at all?  What is it they hope to gain by it?  Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”  Romans 1:19-20   “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”  Romans 1:28  “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”

Man is without excuse.  God makes Himself known to man.  He has shown them.  He has also given man the free choice to worship, honor, and glorify Him alone. Yet, man chooses to deny God and intentionally choose to make and worship man-made idols.  There is severe consequences for this choice both in this life and in eternity.  No excuse can be given.  No excuse will be accepted.  The intentional choice to deny God and honor, glorify, and worship Him has a beginning in the heart of every man that does so.  In this beginning, they make an intentional choice of self-reliance in what their hands have made or have been made by the hands of others.  They become more and more blind and deaf to God and things of God’s.  God is not mocked.  Man will reap the rewards of their decisions.  We do well to make sure things of this world do not become idols in our heart and mind.  God wants all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

I will harden his heart

Exodus 4:21  And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

Deuteronomy 2:30-33     But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day.

Joshua 11:20     For it was the LORD’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

Psalms 105:25    He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.

Isaiah 6:10     Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand wit

Isaiah 63:17     O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.

Romans 1:28    And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Romans 9:18    So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Romans 11:8-10     as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12     and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,  in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

1 Peter 2:8    and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

Ezekiel 3:6-11     not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you  But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.  Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”  Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.  And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.”

One of the more difficult biblical concepts to understand is that of God hardening the hearts and minds of certain people. What are we to make of texts like these, which explicitly or implicitly speak of God hardening the hearts of people? These questions involve very deep mysteries, mysteries about God’s sovereignty and how it interacts with our freedom.

There was a time when people thought that God was at the center of all things and they instinctively saw the hand of God in everything—even terrible things. Job said, The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised … if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil? (Job 1:21; 2:10) Thus the ancients would commonly attribute everything as coming from the hand of God, for He was the “first cause” of everything that happened.

The ancients were thus much more comfortable attributing things to God than we are. In speaking like this, they were not being superstitious or primitive in their thinking; rather, they were emphasizing that God was sovereign, omnipotent, and omnipresent, and that nothing happened apart from His sovereign will. They believed that God was the primary cause of all that existed.

We need to understand that the ancient biblical texts, while often speaking of God as hardening the hearts of sinners, do not mean to say that man had no role, no responsibility. Neither do they mean to say that God acts in a merely arbitrary way. Rather, the emphasis is on God’s sovereign power as the first cause of all that is. Hence He is often called the cause of all things and His hand is seen in everything.

 In man’s enlightened, superior, highly educated, and self-reliance, man moved himself to the center and God was gradually “escorted” to the periphery. Man’s manner of thinking and speaking began to shift to focusing on secondary causes (those related to man and nature). If something happens we look to natural causes, or in human situations, to the humans who caused it.

We are dealing with the mysterious interrelationship between God and Man, between God’s sovereignty and our freedom – Mysteries.   In the face of such mysteries we have to be very humble. We ought not to think more about the details than is proper for us, because, frankly, they are largely hidden from us.

Therefore, God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”

None of us can demand an absolute account from God for what He does. Even if He were to tell us, could our small, worldly minds ever really comprehend it? My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways, says the Lord. Yet we try to put God in a box we can humanly understand.

We should be careful to admit the limits of our knowledge when it comes to interpreting “hardening texts,” in which God hardens the hearts of certain people. These must be approached carefully, humbly, and with proper distinctions as to God’s sovereignty, our freedom, His mercy, His justice, His plans, and His purposes. (Charles Pope)

We do well to put God in the center of all things and man’s existence totally subjective to His sovereignty.

I will look to the LORD

Psalms 118:8  It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

Psalms 40:4   Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

Psalms 62:8-9   Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.  Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.

Jeremiah 17:5-7     Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.  He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.

Micah 7:5-7    Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms;  for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.  But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

In times of trouble, uncertainty, confusion we have a tendency to first rely on self (self reliance)  rather than God and will always lead us down a path away from God.  When we place God in the right place in our heart, mind, and soul – seeing Him as sovereign, mighty, powerful, all knowing and loving – our problems have a away of turning to deeper faith and peace that passes all worldly understanding.  I recently had two dear friends speak this into my life last week about an hour apart.  It is amazing to see how God speaks into our lives through His word and our friends. He knows the struggle we are running through our head a 1,000 times a day and in a single hour puts them to rest.   This is what was sent to me.

Okay.  I don’t mean to be preaching to the choir but……

This is from “Jesus Calling” devotional for today and I thought of you. 

Do not resist or run from the difficulties in your life.  These problems are not random mistakes they are blessings designed for your benefit and growth.   Embrace all the circumstances I allow in your life, trusting Me to bring good out of them.   View problems as opportunities to rely more fully on Me.  😇

AMEN!

God is Great

“for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”

Psalms 95:3  For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Psalms 86:8-10   There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.  All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.  For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

Psalms 96:4     For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.

Psalms 97:9    For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.

Psalms 145:3     Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

Jeremiah 10:6-7     There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.  Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.

Jeremiah 10:10     But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.  Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”  It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.  When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.  Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.  They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.  Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.

Isaiah 44:8    Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”

People believe many things contrary to God.  Much of what they believe is found in various types of media.  (TV, radio, books, internet, magazine articles, video’s) All proclaiming there is no God.  All of these comments are placed in these various forms of media by someone.  No one would believe they just appeared there by chance or developed on their own.  These authors have placed their thoughts for others to see – to convey a message.  Many who read/watch these have no doubt the author exists even though they have not met or seen this person(s).  God has communicated in a much grander way -through creation of all there is.  One only has to look up into the sky at night, or at a seed sprouting in the spring, or a new born baby, or the mountains, or laws of physics.  There is no delusion in His creation – it it there for all to see the work of His hand.  And yet there are those who choose to believe a lie proclaimed in some form of media by a person they have never met.  These people see the work of God’s creation and choose to call a “chance happening”.  God is very much alive and very real and ever present.  See God through His creation, know God through His word, and desire to live to honor, glorify, serve, follow and obey Him.

Who is Like you, oh God

“They are both stupid and foolish;”

“Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing”

Hosea 12:9
He destroys you, O Israel,
for you are against me, against your helper.
Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
Where are all your rulers—
those of whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
I gave you a king in my anger,
and I took him away in my wrath.

Deuteronomy 33:26
There is none like God, O Jeshurun,
who rides through the heavens to your help,
through the skies in his majesty.
The eternal God is your dwelling place,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
And he thrust out the enemy before you

Exodus 15:11
“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

1 Kings 8:23
“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart;

Jeremiah 10:7
There is none like you, O Lord;
you are great, and your name is great in might.
Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is none like you.
They are both stupid and foolish;

Isaiah 41:28
But when I look, there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
Behold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;

What replaces God in our lives to the point where we no longer see Him as ALIVE and AWESOME and OUR HOPE and OUR SHELTER and OUR REFUGE and OUR ROCK and OUR KING.  I imagine something gets lost in our culture where we can easily criticize our President without fear.  We can choose to not stand if he should come into a room. We can choose turn our back on him without any fear of retribution.  Speaking with a friend from Asia yesterday, he was telling me about the King in Thailand who passed away.  If you did not stand upon his entry into a room you would be thrown in jail.  For the next week it is mandatory to wear black and if you don’t you would be thrown in jail. In many countries the office of the King is regarded much higher than the President in our culture.  Is it possible this view of our President dilutes our perception on how we look at God, or how we think we should serve Him?  It would do us well to think deeply about God and our commitment to Him in line with His word and expectations for each of our lives.  How does the excuse “I’m sorry God, I was just to busy for years on end to give you more than a passing thought” sound?  Our heavenly King has asked us to desire to humbly serve Him with all our heart, mind and soul.  How does this happen unless we choose to know and understand Him?  How does this happen if we spend little or no time in His word?  How do we praise and worship Him without continually expanding our knowledge of Him?