Jesus taught that as the end time approaches deception will be prevalent and many believers will be led astray. In fact, He warned against deception more than anything else. We need not live in fear that we will be deceived, but we should be incredibly vigilant in guarding our heart and mind against deceit, i.e. darkness.
All protection against deceit starts with a commitment to the truth. We must discover the truth and renew our minds by the washing of the water of the Word and an intention to live the truth.
All deception begins with darkness and darkness occurs as we leave the light. Jesus is the light! He is the only accurate representation of God and He provided the only accurate interpretation and application of God’s Word. To the degree that we interpret or apply God’s Word differently than how Jesus taught and modeled it, we are in darkness and we are creating a false image of God and His Word.
As long as Jesus’ life, teaching, death, burial and resurrection is the center of our life, the source of our image of God and the perfect representation and interpretation of God’s Word we will never go into darkness; therefore, it will be impossible for us to be deceived. To the degree, however, that we embrace our own opinions or the interpretations of others we will find ourselves in degrees of darkness, not being able to see and perceive what is true and what is false.
CLICK HERE to join me this week as we explore Coming Out of the Darkness. Establish your heart in the life, light and love of God!
Thank you Dr. Richards for putting the Word of God in the right perspective. It’s us believers responsibility to get into the Word and see the light and to experience the life that Jesus intends for His people to live! May God continue to bless your ministry!
Farah, The Bible tells us how to guard our heart from deception. It is all about our understanding of Jesus as Lord. Jesus is the life and the light of men. Most Christians will quote that statement with no idea of what that looks life in real life. If you haven’t already I would recommend you go to my website and listen to the free series Trifecta. If you’ve already listened to it you may want to download the full series. In my series I am able to go into much more detail than I am on our weekly broadcast.
But at the heart of this: since Jesus is the Word made flesh, then I have to realize that He is the only one that has ever had the perfect interpretation and application of everything God ever said. His life, teaching, death, burial and resurrection has to be my resources for understanding what God really meant in all of His commandments.
Since He said that we hang all the law and commandments on this: love God, love your neighbor and love yourself. The commandments show me how to do that, how to treat others, how to treat God and how to treat myself.
Its when we start accepting man’s interpretation and application of the Word that we get confused and deceived. Have n open heart listen to people, but then go back to your Bible and before you accept it as truth, see if it aligns with or contradicts Jesus’ interpretation and application of the Word. Blessings!