THE ART OF DECEPTION
The Art of Deception has been used on battlefields ever since Eve was first deceived in the Garden of Eden. Eve’s mind was the first “battlefield” on earth where the deceptive tactics of the Serpent were utilized. In the “heavenlies” Lucifer used the “art of deception” deceiving himself into thinking He could usurp the Throne of God.
All deception is psychological. Webster defines deception as “the act of causing someone to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid.” Another definition for deception is “those measures designed to mislead the enemy by manipulation, distortion or falsification of evidence in order to induce the enemy to react in a manner prejudicial to the enemy’s interests.
Deception plays a big role in everyday life. It is an “art form” used in advertising, buying, selling, construction, invoicing, in relationships, on battlefields and is used at times in almost every aspect of life. Everywhere there are demon spirits the art of deception will be practiced. Everywhere there are human beings yielding to the will of demon spirits and/or carnal mindedness the art of deception will be present.
Every aspect of human life can be “infected” with deception and manipulative strategies because “above all things” the human heart without Christ can be and usually is “desperately wicked.” What you see is not always what you get. What you hear is not always the truth. What you don’t know won’t hurt you until the trap which has been set to deceive you has been sprung and then it is too late.
Every day, somewhere, some way, husbands deceive wives and/or wives deceive husbands. Bosses deceive employees—employees deceive bosses. Everyday salesmen, entrepreneurs, and other “greed or lust driven” people somewhere are using the art of deception to manipulate others. What you hear in the news can be biased and/or untrue, and usually is depending on who you listen to. Fake news is a multimillion dollar business. Governments are filled with politicians who lie and deceive others because of their lust for power and wealth.
When you watch a movie what you are seeing is not real. You are watching actors pretending to do something that is not actually happening in reality. Yet, you can become emotionally charged and even cry when your favorite star dies on the screen. You can get angry at an actor who is just pretending to hurt your favorite movie or television character.
Emotions can be easily manipulated by what we see on movie screens as well as in real life. A sad movie can make you cry even though what you are watching is not actually happening. A glad movie can make you feel good even though what you are watching is not really happening. The rehearsed scenes you are watching are manipulating your emotions. Music is added to effectuate different scenes in the movie to put you in diverse modes during different scenes.
Send me nineteen dollars a month and I will feed all these poor hungry people you see on the television screen in front of you. I promise to send each of them five dollars worth of food each month after I buy a 2 million dollar mansion, a Porsche, and a Lamborghini. The ability to change and or manipulate one’s emotions and attitudes are utilized in every aspect of life at home, on the job, or anywhere and everywhere people may congregate.
Even many church services are not immune to false advertising and false doctrines. I have seen ministers manipulate congregants to give for the wrong reasons and/or out of the wrong spirit. Sermons are not always “Spirit led” but “at times” demonically inspired “rhetoric.”
False doctrines are deceptive in nature and are designed by the Devil to keep Christians in bondage in certain areas of their lives. A “watered down” gospel is just as deceptive and injurious to the soul as any doctrine of demons.
Deception always obscures the truth in order to manipulate and/or control the soul of its intended victims. If you can control how people think and what people believe, you can manipulate them into doing about anything and everything you desire them to do.
Truth informs and transforms. Deception deforms and demonically conforms. Truth makes people free. Godly understanding helps people see. Deception always seeks to control and manipulate the soul. The word of truth sanctifies, cleanses, and makes people whole.
When people know and acknowledge the truth, the truth always sets them free. Deception keeps people in bondage to the false imaginations and thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. When the truth sets you free, you will indeed “truly be free.”
Confuse the mind, and godly reason and wisdom will be left behind. The deceptive looking fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil can only produce envy, strife, and every other evil work. It cannot and will not ever produce anything that is “truly” holy and valuable in life.
THE OPIATE OF THE MASSES
A few years ago I wrote a Book titled “Deception--- The Opiate of the Masses.” Carl Marx, who is regarded as the father of socialism, called religion “the opiate of the masses.” In a sense much of what Marx said about religion is true. All false religions are engendered by and propagated by deceiving evil spirits. The Devil uses deception as an “opioid” to lead many religious minded masses into “mass confusion.” Marx was just as deceived and confused by the evils spirits as those poor souls he wrote about. His socialistic ideologies would end up being the cause of over “one hundred million deaths” thru war, famine, despotic suppression, and subjugation of the masses.
Opiating the masses goes beyond just confusing and deceiving the religious. It reaches into every area of human thought, and enslaves the hearts and minds of billions of people on earth. No one is immune to the deceptive tactics and strategies of the Devil. Everyone’s thoughts are subject to “being taken captive” by the enemy if they have not been renewed in the “spirit of their minds.”
At times “captive thoughts” can, and do manipulate the desires, attitudes, and emotions” of many individuals.” The Bible tells us that the carnal mind is the enemy of God. “Every thought” that exalts itself against the knowledge of God is the enemy of God. For Christians to experience perfect love and perfect peace, ALL thoughts which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God must be “cast down.” Our thoughts must become thoughts that agree and “align” themselves with the knowledge of God.
Today we are inundated with fake news, lying politicians, false advertising, and false doctrines in many churches to name a few. The intolerant preach tolerance as long as it fits their agenda. Christians are being persecuted and martyred around the world today because the tolerant only tolerate their own brand of religion and/or political views. The deceivers deceive themselves into thinking they are right and everybody else is wrong if they do not think or act like they themselves do.
Today churches have been deceived into believing everything is ok as long as it feels good. If it feels good, there must not be anything wrong with doing it. If your heart does not condemn you, neither will God. Unfortunately, many churches have become “flesh driven” instead of Spirit led. Deception is the “opiate” that leads the “churchy masses” into mass confusion and sin.
The Bible tells us that “if we walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” Unfortunately, we do not see many who are walking in the Spirit, but we do see many in churches fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. When will all the confusion in the churches end? Will it all end? Unfortunately, the Bible tells us that in the last days evil men will grow more and more wicked deceiving themselves and being deceived.
The greatest tragedy is when the spirit of deception has taken over the podiums which once produced “holy fire” and the “call to repentance” for those who practiced dead and evil works. The greatest deception is found in the hearts of those who were once on fire for God, but the fire that once burned brightly within them has gone out. There can be no greater delusion than the delusion that comes and steals the fire of God that is burning deep within the soul of an individual.
Deception is truly the “opiate of the masses.” Many have fallen under the spell of Satan’s sensuous version of wisdom and understanding. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil cannot produce any “godly fruit.” The fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil has been used to deceive the masses since the beginning of time. Our battle is against the “deceptive tactics” that are rooted and grounded in the “cursed tree.” The strongholds the “Evil Tree” produces must be cast down in order for godly order, character, and purpose to rule and reign in our hearts and minds.