Scripture tells us, “Do not deceive yourself” (1Cor 3:18; Jam 1;26), “Be not deceived by anyone” (Eph 5:6; 2Thes 2:3), and watch out for the great deceiver, Satan (Rev 12:9; 13:14; 19:20; 20:10) How do we deceive ourselves?
How can others deceive us?
How can Satan deceive us?
What is the common trait for getting deceived by ourselves, by someone else, or by Satan? “Ooooo, something shiny….”
So, how do we prevent being deceived? Cling to what is true. And what would that be?.Ps 119 The Internet? | Co-workers? | Newsweek? | God’s Word
Illustration. A trained dog who is told not to eat his treat won’t focus on the forbidden treat, but instead will put his eyes on his master. In similar fashion, we need to keep our eyes on our Master.
In brief, our hearts/minds are only truly known by our omniscient God. Satan can only guess real good ...
How far can Satan go to deceive someone?
Ps 139:1-4- O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
God knows everything about u. we maybe able to Hide it from our families and friends but not God.
Jn 2:23-25 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
- the Bible never explicitly says that Satan cannot know our thoughts, but it never shows him doing so; though he might be able to inject thoughts into someone’s mind, by God’s allowance, of course.
Satan & his demons may not be able to read and know our minds
like God does, but they can monitor our eye movements and our
checkbook, and tell where our heart is each and every day
Example. When Satan entered Judas we can only speculate that
deceptive greedy thoughts were given to him, but Judas was still
held accountable for acting on those thoughts ..................Mat 26:24
2. We succumb to our own lusts for pleasure, power, and greed, which
are often attributed to Satan as his lies and deceptions (e.g., Kings
Saul & David, Judas, Peter, Ananias & Sapphira) since he is known
as the father of all lies (John 8:44). Yet, we are totally accountable,
like Judas, for acting on any thoughts we have in our minds.
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- How do we tell if a thought is from Satan or from our own evil heart?
- What about the lying spirit that caused some false prophets to mislead King Ahab.................................................................. 1 Kings 22:22-23 First of all, it was God that allowed and even enabled the lying spirit to do what he did. We are not told how the spirit accomplished the job. We can only speculate it might’ve been temporary possession.
22 And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
- 23 Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.
And can
Satan even
read minds
and inject
thoughts into
our minds?
Romans 1:20 (KJV)
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:- Demons can ravish the bodies of believers and non-believers with disease & pain (e.g., Job). The demoniacs we see in Scripture seem to be in physical & mental torment, but even the possessed are held accountable for their actions – else, they would have an excuse before God for their sinful thoughts & actions .
- Several demons spoke through their hosts, which indicate they can inject thoughts into one’s mind for words and actions to come out (e.g., a legion of demons spoke to Christ in Mark 5, and after being expelled from the man he was noted to be in his “right mind”; & an evil spirit spoke to & assaulted some would-be exorcists in Acts 19.
- Conclusion. Christians can take comfort we cannot be possessed by demons, though we could be obsessed and afflicted by them.
1 John
4:1-3 Test the Spirits – HOW?
- The spirits in this context are not necessarily demonic or angelic, but the spirits of people. Our spirit is the real essence of who we are.
- Therefore, does someone’s spirit (the real individual) truly believe, according to the Bible, in CEvery belief or doctrine someone utters to us should be tested against the Bible. This is testing the spirits christ or not?
- Every belief or doctrine someone utters to us should be tested against the Bible. This is testing the spirits. We as God's people need to know what His word tell us and not just what others want us to believe. We have to search out the truth for ourselves. The antichrist will use every means that he or she can to get us to believe what they are saying it true. They will paint beautiful picture of what they are saying is true. but when it comes down to what we believe is true we better know that what they are telling us is from God and not what they want you to believe.
Tomorrow will do the rest of the lesson. Just ponder this though.: It is not the preacher or sunday school teacher or even mom and dad that is going to have to stand before the throne of God and me judged for what you and I believe and do in this life. Each of us will have to stand for ourselves.
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