“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:9)

 

What a disturbing Bible verse! Here we are told that Satan, the ancient serpent, the one who was cast out of heaven for rebellion and thrown down to the earth, is the deceiver of the whole world. Other Bible verses tell us much more about him, including exactly why he was cast from heaven. We’ll get to those, but the point for now is simply that he is the “deceiver of the whole world.” (Sounds like that includes everyone).

 

Do not think for a single moment that because you are smart or careful or attentive that you are safe from deception, scams, lies, or fraud. None of us are. Deception is so prevalent in our day that it is almost impossible for someone to have never experienced it. While we are living in a broken and sin-filled world, deception abounds both physically and spiritually. Physically in that some would love to trick you into handing over your life savings, or access to your credit cards and bank accounts; and spiritually in that the master deceiver and his minions would find great pleasure in preventing you from discovering or enjoying the peace and fulfillment which comes only by knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. 

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Perhaps you’ve heard the adage:

 

Know Jesus, Know Peace

No Jesus, No Peace

 

Without Christ, a person can have no real peace. A person can have no true joy. A person cannot experience authentic love. Why? Because these are a few of the fruit of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Sadly enough, without Christ, without the Holy Spirit, love, joy and peace are superficial, and deception by the enemy is considerably simple. 

 

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our world, deception and fraud has become easier than ever before. A video of your child or grandchild in distress can easily be created from photos on social media, pleading with you to please send money or credit card information. You literally cannot see that it’s fake.

 

Satan’s domain (and deception) is tremendous; music, movies, information technology, sports, gambling, entertainment, government, education, health care, secret societies; almost anything one can imagine. His goal hasn’t changed: to destroy any relationship (or potential relationship) between a person and their Creator.

 

Deception has been around a very long time. In the Bible, we are warned repeatedly to remain attentive and cautious to not be led astray from the truth. Both the Old and the New Testaments contain multiple warnings about deception. Of the 27 books in the New Testament, 16 warn us about this in one way or another. False Christs, false doctrines, false denominations, other gospels, doctrines of devils; deception in more ways than a person can keep track of. 

 

Our world, which certainly includes the Christian realm, has been infiltrated by the evil one since the beginning. Here is an excellent parable told by Jesus explaining this phenomenon:

 

“He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matthew 13:24-30) 

 

Don’t feel bad if this parable is challenging to understand. Jesus’ disciples didn’t get it either. So, they asked for clarification: 

 

“And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:36-43)

 

For the time being, we are living in a broken world filled with sin and rebellion. Followers of Jesus and followers of the master of deception are existing together. How can we find the truth? Look to the One who said: “… “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)  

 

May our Lord Jesus Christ be praised and honored and glorified by all that we say, all that we think, and all that we do.