The Deception Channel One

2 Corinthians 11:1-6

“I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.”

As one ages it brings many blessings and also many challenges, opportunities and the realization that you are vulnerable in many areas as well as ignorant about many things.  I’m often reminded how deceptive and cunning the devil is, and how he comes to us in so many forms or ways and speaks to us in a voice that sounds like our own.  I call it the deception Channel One, and I took that saying from Bill Gilliam who tried to teach me a beautiful truth, that is found in John 10:10.

The deception Channel One, works really well, a voice that sounds much like your own tells you how great you are, how you deserve better than you have received and even puts lust in your heart to go for it no matter the cost.  That same voice might tell you of how little value you are, that you have always been a mess-up and if anyone got to know you they would dump you quickly.  In fact, it often suggests how much better things would be for your family and friends if you would kill yourself.  Yes, the false one first tells you to go for it, and then turns on you and says what a fool you were to have done so; one cannot win with the one who has a plan of destruction for your life and family.

That’s why it is so important to listen to Channel Two, the Holy Spirit of God, but it requires you to be still, to seek a quiet place and listen.  I’ve found it difficult maybe impossible to hear when my mind and heart is set on my plans and seeking my will with no regard for the will of my Father.

Do you understand that is the battleground for you, as it was for those the apostle Paul is addressing in chapter 11?  Jesus is the same today as in the time of Paul, and His love and grace are reaching out to whosoever will come.  But many have fashioned a Jesus that is a Republican who votes like them, but that is not the Jesus of the Scriptures, that Jesus is worldly and has evil in his heart.  Make sure that the Deceiver has not given you the Jesus you want and not the real, living Son of the Father, who is coming back to make right what is wrong and rule as King of Kings and LORD of Lords.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice