THE BIG DECEPTION

Think of a time when you were deceived. Who deceived you? What happened? We have all met with someone who was so convincing that they actually tried to or did change our mind about something we felt strongly about. What were the consequences?

Deceived in a relationship is perhaps one of the most heart breaking and one that it takes awhile to recover from. In college there was a thing called "late dating". A guy would date you, bring you back to the dorm at the right time, then go out with someone who had a later curfew. I was convinced I'd found the love of my life only to discover from overhearing some upper class women talking that he, a real charmer, was also seeing someone and had given her an engagement ring. I was crushed.

Then there was the dishonest investor who wanted to sell me gold and silver. It was a scam plane and simple but he made it sound like I was going to become a millionaire. Something just didn't feel right, although a lot of my friends bought into this. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit gave me a nudge and brought in a person from my church who clued me in on the danger. A couple of years later I found that the investor, a real charmer, was serving a sentence.

The deceiver is described throughout scripture. His story doesn't end in the Garden. This was only the beginning and he becomes more crafty with each generation:

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5

Listen carefully to scripture and to discernment from the Holy Spirit. Pray before accepting what may seem questionable. Pray through relationships and business dealing. Ask God to protect you from the deceiver in all you think and do.

This is another lenten opportunity...to reflect on the work of the deceiver in your life, what happened and how can you prevent him from getting hold on you. Pray for your family and friends that they are not deceived. Like in the Garden, God is the one who planted the tree and is the one to seek in what is right and wrong. The deceiver still stalks us like a hungry tiger. Don't be caught in the BIG DECEPTION.