DECEPTION, DELUSION AND DAMNATION
It is a pleasure to present another two part article by Bud Hancock. If only your leaders displayed such Biblically based wisdom, your world would not be in such a terminal mess.
Gibber! Gibber!
Chugley
Deception, Delusion and Damnation – Part One
By Bud Hancock
Introduction
Deception:
(a) the act of causing someone to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid: the act of deceiving
(b) an instance of actions and or schemes fabricated to mislead and or delude someone into errantly believing a lie or inaccuracy
Delusion:
(a) An idiosyncratic belief or impression maintained despite being contradicted by reality or rational argument, typically as a symptom of mental disorder – Oxford Living Dictionary
(b) A false personal belief that is not subject to reason or contradictory evidence and is not explained by a person’s usual cultural and religious concepts (so that, for example, it is not an article of faith). A delusion may be firmly maintained in the face of incontrovertible evidence that it is false. Delusions are a frequent feature of schizophrenia. – MedicineNet.com
Damnation:
(a) the act of sending someone to hell or the state of being in hell
b) To condemn to everlasting punishment or another terrible fate in the afterlife; doom
Deception and the Church
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 KJV)
Now that we know exactly what the definitions of deception and delusion are, let’s examine what Paul stated in the above scripture from his second letter to the Church at Thessalonica.
He was explaining to them that they should not be alarmed, thinking that the Day of Christ was ‘at hand’. Obviously, they had been led to believe (deceived) that that event was upon them. Likely, some evil servants of Satan had infiltrated the body of Thessalonian believers and were using deception to convince them of a lie, that being that the rapture of the church was at hand, or had already occurred. We all know that Satan is a liar and the father of lies, so the perpetrator of the deception was a tool (useful idiot) he was using to further his wicked agenda. If he could get them to accept the lie, they would become deluded, altering their beliefs and getting into contradiction with God’s truth. Paul explained where they had missed it and reiterated the teaching he had given them when he was with them at some point in the past.
Due to Paul’s evangelism and teaching among them, the Thessalonian Church had already received the truth, and exhibited the love of the truth. Paul was exhorting these new believers to stay in tune with God’s truth which had been given to them at the direction of the Holy Spirit. As he has always done, Satan, through one or more of his followers, planned to get them just a little bit off in their thinking, just enough to alter their path and their relationship with God. His deception, like all deception, begins with a lie. Sometimes it may seem to be a small thing, but the result of receiving the lie is that it immediately starts replacing the truth in a believer’s heart. Had Satan been successful, the believers at Thessalonica would have become deceived, and delusion would have followed the deception, with the saints believing something other than the truth presented by Paul. But God, in His infinite knowledge, had other plans and he instructed Paul to reaffirm the teaching provided earlier. The hope, as we read this scripture, is that all those saints at Thessalonica heard Paul and got back on track, in line with the Truth they had been taught and joyfully received.
Deception may come in many forms, but it always tries to supplant the truth with a lie. Anyone who does not have a good grasp of the truth, and who cannot seem to separate the lie from the truth in his or her own mind, will easily be deceived. Once the deception has taken root, it will lead to delusion, a personal belief that the lie IS the truth and once that root begins to grow, changing the false, faulty belief becomes more difficult and less likely to happen.
One of the more obvious delusions that have almost crippled some mainline denominations in Christianity is that God is finished with the descendants of Abraham, and the Church is the new Israel. This delusion came from the acceptance of a lie and has caused a great many Christians to forsake the truth that God still has magnificent plans for the Jewish people. For this to have happened, those who accepted the lie must have taken their focus off the Truth of God’s Word. This is what Paul was cautioning the believers at Thessalonica against.
Deception and Delusion in the World
Many recent events have caused a lot of anxiety, confusion and hostility among the various cultural elements in American society, and indeed throughout the world. Most of these events involve terrorist incidents, or domestic shootings that left many people dead and wounded, one of them being the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017. Very soon after all these events occurred, the extreme left-leaning people, accompanied by the MSM, began to jump on the gun-control wagon and have another go at blaming the senseless deaths on ‘evil guns’ and on lack of gun control, or some other equally lame reason. Personally, I have NEVER seen an evil gun. It is just an inanimate object capable of no action until it is in the hands of a person, If the person is evil, then, yes, the action of the evil person can produce evil, but the gun cannot be blamed. These events naturally stay at the forefront of news reporting for weeks, sometimes longer, and provide the multitudes who seek not the truth with a forum to further their unreasonable, illogical ideas and accusations.
In the instance of the Las Vegas shooting, I listened to these people spout their unreasonable, uncontrolled vitriol, some of it aimed at President Trump, as though he could somehow be to blame for such a tragedy. I began wondering how so many people could look at the event and reach so many improbable, illogical conclusions, to the point that they are ready go on a massive witch hunt for the perpetrators, when they have no idea who is truly to blame. It occurred to me that they might be hoping, by virtue of their incessant loud bellowing and with the assistance of the MSM, to convince others that they must be right. If this is true, they are working to deceive those who may not yet have formed an opinion on the subject.
Since the unbelievers in the world have little to no grasp of the truth and seem to live in an alternate reality of their own creation, it is hardly shocking that they so easily are deceived and readily accept the delusion that follows deception. They willingly become prisoners of the deceivers who intend to keep them bound in their deception. In John 8:31-32, Jesus told us how to prevent this from happening: “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Unless they come to know the truth, the Word of God, and remain in that truth, they will remain prisoners of Satan’s lies and deception, as well as the lies and deception of evil men.
The delusion Paul mentions in verse eleven of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, is a state of being that God himself will send upon the wicked of the world, those who ‘refuse to receive the love of the truth’ (verse 10). This delusion will dovetail perfectly with the false doctrine of the Antichrist when he is revealed. The result is that a great multitude of people will follow the antichrist in his insane attempt to overthrow God and His Son. These deluded ones will possibly be the greatest enemies of the Church when real persecution begins, especially in America. Those who are true believers and suffer persecution at the hands of the wicked will reap the reward of ‘receiving the Truth’, but, according to verse 12 above, those who refuse the Truth will accept Satan’s deception and the delusion sent from God with the result being their eternal damnation.
All who would avoid damnation must receive the Truth of God’s Word. And the only way you and I can avoid the deception that Satan would use to lead believers astray is to remain committed to the Truth and totally focused on it, refusing to ‘let no man deceive you by any means’. This warning from Paul was very timely for the Church at Thessalonica, but even more necessary for believers today.
Blessings!
Deception, Delusion and Damnation – Part Two
By Bud Hancock
Some months ago, I wrote the original article, “Deception, Delusion and Damnation”, and I thought that was that. But so many life-changing events have occurred in the intervening time period, both in our nation and around the world, that I felt the need to follow up that article with more detail.
2 Thessalonians 2:10-13 (KJV), “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness….”
Unless a person has been secluded far away from all news media (possibly NOT a bad thing) in the past 10 years, he or she will have an understanding, at least somewhat, that we are living in a totally changed world now. Deception, the first word in the title of this article, became a mortal enemy of the human race when our original ‘parents’, Adam and Eve, bowed down to the serpent, Satan, and forfeited their God-given right to take dominion over the earth. Through deception, at which Satan is the absolute master, we all lost more that day than we may ever know. Satan has had nearly six thousand years to perfect his craft even further, and throughout those centuries, he picked up a little help along the way in the form of men and women who fell for his lies, and became deceivers themselves.
Deception is the use of deceit, which by its very definition is a devilish practice. According to Dictionary.com, deceit means: “concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating”. Many people who are suffering from deception are unaware that they have been deceived. An expert at deception is able to convince people of one thing when the opposite is closer to the truth.
Deception, the Deadly Weapon
The Cutlass, once the most deadly weapon
First, let me say there is nothing good about deception. It is an act that can only bring harm and produces nothing of moral value. We are warned many times in scripture to “Take heed that no man deceive you…” (Matthew 24:4 KJV). God knows how dangerous it is to even entertain a thought that could be considered deceptive.
From my own perspective, the worst thing about deception is its deliberateness; deception is never an accident, because if ‘accidental deception’ were possible, it would be ‘unintentional’, not deliberate, and could possibly be excused. Satan is the master of deception and always has been. The first recorded use of deception was a deliberate act intended to cause the fall of the entire human race (Genesis 3:1-19 KJV). It is intended to dupe trusting, unsuspecting persons into believing a lie, or lies, by presenting something as true when it’s as far from truth as it can be.
The accelerating speed at which deception is occurring is evident in the current ‘debate’ on the gender of human beings, mainly the question of whether a person born a biological male, with all male physical attributes, is truly a male, or a person born a biological female with all the female physical attributes, is truly a female. In all my years, I would never have thought that such a subject would, or even COULD, be ‘debated’. But this has become one of the hot button topics in nearly every country. Personally, I am satisfied with “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27 KJV). Now, reason, logic and rationality should tell anyone with an IQ of room temperature that this is a settled fact; all one needs to do is look at a human and be convinced of their biological sex. But no, now the deceivers are able to convince a person born as a male that, because he ‘feels like he is a woman’, then he can BE a woman. This is the most outlandish perversion of God’s word, intended solely to deceive, delude and damn a person to eternal hell, and unbeknownst to those accepting the lie, it is working and they WILL end up in hell. This issue is proof that the delusion inflicted by Satan is nearly complete (see the definition of delusion in the next section on ‘Delusion, The Next Step’).
Every person, even one who claims to be an atheist, has a ‘belief system’, a system of beliefs gained from life experiences, education, inherent knowledge (common sense) etc. This system of beliefs is what tends to guide a person’s decisions throughout his or her life. Some of the beliefs become habits, either for good or bad. Habits developed as a result of having and following a strong, moral belief system are definitely good. However, When accepted as ‘truth/fact’, deception can cause a person to change his or her belief system, and thus the decisions he or she might make in life, some of which produce bad habits.
The act of deceiving a person is the most nefarious practice one can ever commit since it may cause one, or many, to fall and lose their souls, based on the demand the deception makes to believe lies over truth/facts.
Delusion, The Next Step
As bad as deception is, there is a much worse state that usually follows: delusion. According to Dictionary.com, the definition of ‘delude’ is: “To cause to hold a false belief; deceive thoroughly”. Delusion is defined as: “the state of being deluded, a false belief or opinion; a fixed false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact: a paranoid delusion”. Based on these definitions, we could paraphrase and say that to be deluded is to be so completely deceived that a person’s belief system is altered for the worse, possibly permanently.
Some people suffer from self-deception, leading to self-delusion, defined by Merriam-Webster as: “the act of deluding oneself or the state of being deluded by oneself”. This state is a result of allowing thoughts contrary to God’s word to take up residence in a person’s mind and was covered by Paul: “ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2 KJV).
However, the Bible clearly states that God Himself will not only allow people to become deluded as a result of their sinful ways, but will also send ‘strong’ delusion upon them. “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 KJV). In this passage Paul is teaching the believers in Thessalonica that God will deal with all those who accept the lies presented by an antichrist system and those who are a part of that system.
Based on this passage, it seems that God has made His mind up about those on whom the ‘strong delusion’ will be sent. He says that as a result of that delusion, they will be damned. As ominous as this sounds, anyone who wants to avoid the deception and delusion that lead to damnation must be aware that they do have a choice. Even when Jesus was instructing His disciples, He said, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” (Matthew 24:4 KJV). It’s interesting that the word translated ‘heed’ is from the Greek word “blepo (blep-o), (Strong’s 991), and it means to ‘look on, beware, perceive, regard, see’. The Lord is telling His disciples, and by extension, us, to always be aware of what you are seeing, hearing and allowing into your mind, and thereby into your spirit. So it is possible to avoid deception but it requires a constant awareness of everything you permit to have any effect on your established belief system.
The bottom line could be stated thus: If anything you are being told, or are reading, regardless of the source, does not line up with God’s word, you must reject it outright, and do nothing with it until a further examination can be done using God’s word as your guide. And, deception is not always from an apparent satanic source; it could even be from well-meaning brothers or sisters who have allowed deception into their minds and have failed to vet the source of it. That may be why Jesus said, “Let no man…..” meaning we must even be careful what we hear and accept from seemingly religious sources. Trust me, the wolves in sheep’s clothing that Jesus mentioned are as much at work today as they were when He said these words: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matthew 7:15 KJV). He may have used the word ‘wolves’ due to the way wolves work when hunting. Whether a lone wolf, or a pack of wolves, they will kill and destroy everything in sight that appears to be vulnerable and edible, sometimes wiping out entire herds of good animals. They do not always kill due to hunger, but because they are ‘wolves’ and that is their nature.
Conclusion
The warnings we have from Jesus, Paul and others in the word are obvious: deception is deadly, and because it offers lies as ‘truth, it plants a seed of doubt of everything a person previously held as ‘truth’. Unless it is dealt with immediately and with biblical guidance, it can, and usually will, lead to delusion, a state causing an altered belief system, usually substituting lies for truth, likely on a permanent basis. Damnation, the state after delusion, hardly needs further explanation; it is a permanent state, with eternal suffering in a place no human should ever see and from which there is no redemption, especially if God sends that delusion as a result of a person’s repeated dismissal of truth and right. All believers are subject to deception, that terrible state of accepting and believing a lie, but, by God’s grace, we can avoid it by using God’s word as the guide into all truth.
Blessings!
Born and raised in a small textile town in North Carolina, Bud Hancock’s family moved to Michigan in the hope of finding better employment with General Motors. After graduating from high school, Bud began an apprenticeship with General Motors to become a Metal Modelmaker. Retiring after a 30 year career, which included an eight year stint as a Meteorologist, he and his wife moved back to North Carolina to be near his elderly parents. Shortly thereafter, with both of his parents having passed, he started a new career in the bank security/ATM business, advancing from an entry level technician to one of two North Carolina customer service managers for his employer. Retiring again after 13 years, he and his wife of 51 years relocated to Tennessee where Bud began writing articles specializing in Bible teaching and geopolitical issues. At age 75, he and his wife relocated to South Carolina with their Miniature Schnauzer, Baxter. Bud continues to study God’s word and write articles on Christian living and geopolitical issues from the Biblical end times perspective.