Protection from Deception

In my last article titled “WHAT’S GOING ON” I wrote about the importance of having a Biblical understanding and purposely developing a Biblical World View as a protection from deception.  It is extremely important that we become purposeful in our quest for Biblical truth lest we drift along with the busy currents of life and find ourselves in a precarious place.

Here are some things we must consider:

1. Deception is real.

2. Its author is satan, who first led a rebellion in Heaven.

3. It is constantly using mankind to deceive all of mankind.

4. Mass deception will increase in the last days.

5. There will be a great Apostasy in the Last Days. (Falling away from the Church by not attending and from sound theology)

6. There will be a personage known as the anti-Christ who will be the greatest of all deceivers.

7. Jesus warned us to not be deceived or mis-led!

8. No one is immune from its clutches.  

The greatest tragedy with those deceived is they do not recognize that they are deceived.  In other words, we don’t know what we don’t know --so I would like to present some positive, proactive steps we can all take to turn our security systems on.  But in order to do so, we must all admit that we are probably in one degree or another of deception -- being anywhere from slightly to majorly deceived.  

HOW DOES DECEPTION WORK?

One of the greatest and most pernicious deceivers in the religious realm in recent decades was Jim Jones.  The so-called Rev. Jim Jones became a major figure in America in the 1970’s and was well respected by persons great and small.  Politicians and VIPS from all over were anxious to rub elbows and have their pictures taken with Jones.   Jones rode high in the limelight, but only for a short time then his prestige and popularity all crumbled with the most shocking mass suicide-murder in modern American history.  The blood of 909 men, women and children are on his hands, including his own wife who was also forced by Jones to commit suicide along with the others. 

HOW DOES DECEPTION START?

According to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones; “Jones developed an intense interest in religion, primarily because he found making friends difficult.  Childhood acquaintances later recalled Jones as being a "really weird kid" who was "obsessed with religion ... obsessed with death".  They alleged that he frequently held funerals for small animals on his parents' property and had stabbed a cat to death.  He was a voracious reader who studied Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, Mahatma Gandhi, and Adolf Hitler carefully; noting the strengths and weaknesses of each.  In 1951, Jones began attending gatherings of the Communist Party USA in Indianapolis and was frustrated with ostracism of open communists in the United States, especially during the trial of convicted traitors, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. What many were not aware of, was that Jones was a full-on Communist who was also frustrated with Americans for rejecting Communism.  Wikipedia quotes him: - during a seminal moment for Jones in which he asked himself, "How can I demonstrate my Marxism? The thought was, infiltrate the church."

Any Bible-believing Christian would have been repulsed hearing Jones declaring, “BE HEALED IN THE NAME OF SOCIALISM!!!” as he prayed for the sick!  Jesus taught us to always pray in HIS name!

Jones was quite surprised when a Methodist superintendent helped him become a Methodist student pastor in 1952. Later, Jones, needing a religious headliner, organized a mammoth religious convention to take place on June 11 through June 15, 1956, in a cavernous Indianapolis hall called Cadle Tabernacle. To draw the crowds, he arranged to share the pulpit with Rev. William M. Branham, a very well-known healing evangelist and religious author, who at the time was as highly revered as Oral Roberts. Though not a true believer in Christ, Jones nevertheless acted the part, and his popularity exploded as he fought for racial integration; and along with his move to California, which brought him into a much larger spotlight and popularity with people such as First Lady Roselyn Carter, then-and-now Gov. Jerry Brown of California, Harvey Milk, (the extremely controversial homosexual San Franciscan), along with a host of many others.

 At this time, Jones had developed a large number of followers, and he gradually began to exercise such great control on them that he was able to shame and beat them publicly, coerce them to sign over their lands and properties to him, and even had them signing false confessions that he made up, even signing blank pieces of paper!  He also began a somewhat open sexual perversion with women, single and married, and with boys.  If that wasn’t enough, he quickly moved into his next level of control by using public punishment and public humiliation to scold and “discipline” his disciples.  He began to use vulgarities publicly, and later he began to test and condition his followers for his final performance by summoning the people together to have them drink what he told them was a poisonous drink.   Afterwards he would tell them that it wasn’t poison. 

Beginning to feel negative pressure, he decided to move his “The People’s Temple” to Guyana, where he was investigated by Congressman Leo Ryan and staff.  On Nov. 18, 1978 when Ryan was leaving, Jones ordered his guards to kill him and his staff as they were leaving.  Immediately afterwards, he called all his Jonestown followers together and ordered them to drink the poison, resulting in the death of the 909 men, women and children in the Jonestown compound!  

What a horrible and shocking tragedy for America, but one which could have been prevented.  In this case and the case of all others, all the warning signs were there, but few followers were strong enough to resist the leader’s shame and scorn, nor the shame and ostracizing from their peers, even if they did become suspicious of a serious problem.  It has often been said that a con man cannot con an honest man, but a person is conned when they give in to their inner weakness of greed.  However, anyone can be taken by the wily schemes of schemers, but they are less likely to be hornswoggled if they will study and prepare themselves before they find themselves in a compromising situation.  As our Lord Jesus has instructed, “…the truth will set you free.” and to keep from deception, we must continually seek the Truth in Jesus Christ and His Word, the Bible.  These words of Truth build a strength and confidence in our lives which makes us far less a candidate from deception. Bear in mind that much of the New Testament epistles were written to warn us of the false teachers, false prophets and false doctrine that were active then and active now!  

Some years ago, an elderly woman in our church related her Jim Jones story to me.  She lived in San Francisco not far from Jones’ People’s Temple and would attend some of the meetings there out of curiosity, but she said she always felt something just didn’t seem right.  Though it appeared good and exciting on the surface, there seemed to be something that “just didn’t seem right.” There were “miracles” that seemed genuine but “it just didn’t seem right” to her.  For a person who is Biblically ignorant or malnourished, that may be hard to pinpoint since they don’t have the Word of God to guide them as she did. 

                                                                    

PROTECTION STEPS FROM DECEPTION

Some of the signs of an unhealthy spiritual leader.

How do we recognize inappropriate behavior of spiritual leaders?  Here are some things to look out for.

While Jones was the poster boy of modern deceivers, most deceivers will use at least some of his methods, so we can learn much from his morbid life.

1. Do they truly have Christ’s and your best interest in heart?  Or are they using their position to manipulate you to do their will by fear, intimidation, and embarrassment or by any other negative means?  This type of behavior goes beyond encouragement or trying to “stretch” a person so that they may grow in their calling and gifting.  This type of control gets much more personal to the point where they are controlling people’s personal lives.   

2. As mentioned, fear is a major control factor.  “You have committed the unpardonable sin!”  “God doesn’t love you anymore!” is frequently used.

3. Boasting and flaunting their spirituality.  “God told me “____.”  God just said to me “_____.” (Fill in the blank).  This type of assuredness leaves NO room for anyone to judge the words or actions since the leader just proclaimed “God told me!”  The Bible teaches us to judge all things to see if they are so. Even Paul said that “we see in part and we know in part.”  “We see through a darkened glass.”  “I think I have the mind of the Lord.”  Far better for us to say, “I believe the Lord might be saying.” Or “I think the Lord is saying”.  This allows others to discern and it also shows that the leader is comfortable and confident enough in not having to present him/her self as being the spiritual know-it-all big cheese!   

4. Are they living a dual life of “holiness” when behind the pulpit and then another life of flirting, lavish spending, critical spirit, malicious gossip and sexual inappropriateness, etc.?  We will know them by the character of their life, not by how “anointed” they seem to be!

5. Intimidation.   “If you don’t do what I want, I will ____(threat)”.  Often this is more of an insinuation than a bold threat.

6. Embarrassment.  Public humiliation is a powerful tool used.  I have heard of the pastor instructing husbands to bring their wives up front and spank them or other deeply humiliating actions in front of the congregation. 

7. They will often turn others against you so as to use peer pressure and bullying to keep you from leaving.  Guilt, intimidation and accusations will be used against you and the usual means of control.

                                                                  

A RECENT TRAGEDY EXPERIENCED BY A FRIEND

Some of you have your own stories that you could tell.  One tragic story was told to me while writing this article by a young woman I’ll call Joy.  We hadn’t see Joy since she was a little girl when her family moved away, until recently.  She told us how, sadly, her family was drawn into a cult led by two “prophetesses” who gained their trust by elevating themselves and manipulating the Scriptures. They made claims that they are the ones who hear from God and the others don’t, and thereby they were able to deceive their followers.  This is a universal tactic that all oppressive leaders employ.  Having gained trust by this form of intimidation, it is pretty easy to maneuver on to the next step, which is to use the people in one way or the other.  Joy and her family are paying a high price from being under the controlling and manipulating “spiritual” guidance of the “prophetesses”.  Under the control and sway of their leaders, her parents and whole family was torn apart and what was once a loving and caring Christian family is now in shambles due to the control of the “prophetesses” or to use the correct term, the witches. They also went on to deliberately destroy Joy’s marriage to teach her a lesson for questioning them, and then went on to predict that Joy was going to react in a very angry manner which would be proof to everyone of how unholy and sinful she is.  Of course Joy would be angry! Who wouldn’t be?!  She was righteously angry!  After all, her husband was stolen away from her and then given to her sister by these vicious devils -- a double insult to injury!  Joy was also told that she now had sinned and there was no more forgiveness for her.  Can you believe that?! 

This type of manipulation is so common in all cults, and we would all do well to recognize it for what it is -- witchcraft!  (The definition of witchcraft is to control or manipulate a person for the controller’s benefit.)  Let’s not be fooled, there are plenty of  witches in churches today; people who use whatever means they need to get others to control others to do their bidding.  Thankfully, Joy and some of her family have recognized the wicked behavior of these witches and are recovering, but some have not.  The cost of being deceived is always high.  Remember, John 10:10, “The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come to give you life and life more abundantly.” This was clearly the devil's work.

 In his newest book, “Playing with Holy Fire”, Dr. Michael Brown, noted that gullibility was one of the hallmark weaknesses of the Pentecostal-Charismatic church. (He says this as insider, not an outsider.) “It’s the flip side of one of our hallmark strengths, which is faith. But it is a dangerous flip side. God calls us to discernment, to mature faith. Everything must be tested by the Word of God.”

“If we believe whatever our leaders tell us, no matter how outlandish, we could end up in a Jim Jones-type personality cult. If we test things by the Word of God (and by other practical tools the Lord gives us), we will save ourselves a lot of trouble.”

OTHER THINGS TO EXAMINE

1.    ALL deceivers use some truth and good as their primary tool to deceive!  They deceive by using a noble and good-hearted cause as the foundation for their mission and will continually justify their controlling behavior under that guise. “The end justifies their means.”  Remember, 99% of rat poison is not harmful. It is the 1% that kills!

2.     “You shall know them by their fruits.”  Not what their words are alone, but what is their character and personal life like?

3.   What is their message, and does it comply with Scripture or contradict?  Do they preach Christ’s Cross?  Do they deny there is a hell, or do they teach only the few that follow them will be saved?  Or do they teach everyone will be saved?  If any of these--flee!

4.   Who are they preaching or focusing on?  Countless deceivers use Jesus Christ as a smokescreen to camouflage their true selfish motives.

5.      Is it the Gospel as St. Paul preached?  Is Jesus  Christ the focus or is the leader? (Galatians 1:6-10).

6.      Does their life and message build others up, or does it tear them down?  Does it bring hope, love -- or fear and intimidation? Do they serve others, or does it cause others to serve them?

If you recognize more than a few of these warnings in a pastor, boss, spouse, etc., please be aware that you are most likely dealing with witchcraft!  Witchcraft is a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:20), and you are likely up against a spirit.  The Biblical definition of witchcraft is to control another person by manipulation, intimidation, humiliation, blackmail, ostracism, or by any other ungodly means.  Always be aware that you cannot ever please the person.  It will always be your fault, and the more you try to please them and the more you submit, the more power they will have over you and the more they will seek to take!  It is dark, evil and destructive to all who fall into their web.  It is the work of the devil, for as Jesus warned: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:10-11

If you see these symptoms-------Flee as quickly as possible!

Galatians 1:6-9 reads:  “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all.  Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse!”

“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (Galatians 3:1).

If you find yourself in a church or group that fits some of these warnings, counsel with another trusted spiritual leader and take their advice to leave, DON’T STAY! instead GET OUT NOW!  Leave and do not allow yourself to feel guilty!  Don’t allow others to shame you into staying or returning, it is not worth the risk!  Bear in mind that there are untold numbers of Christians who force themselves to stay in churches that should be considered dangerous churches.  A dangerous church is one that is under bad leaders, bad or false doctrine and teaching, and churches that are “dry” where the congregants are not challenged with Biblical truths and as a result they are stunted and not growing spiritually. You might ask “Why?” Most of the time it is because of relationships in the church.  Friends, family and family tradition keep far too many people tied to a church that actually hinders their spiritual growth! Listen! Life here is too short and the consequences too serious to allow ourselves to stay in compromised situations. There are many good, sound churches, and men and women of great Biblical integrity, teaching and caring for their flock in a Godly manner, creating a safe and healthy Christlike atmosphere.  Don’t risk or waste your precious time and life “foolin’” around with the imposters!  Leave quickly and get into a church where the shepherd will take good care of Christ’s sheep!  God Bless You!

Pastor Gary A. Smith