Deception and Ignorance

I have been re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia lately.  I tend to do this every 2-3 years and every time it seems like I see something new.  I've been thinking about the issue of false teachers as I read The Last Battle.  I'd like to share some of my thoughts here.

A quick idea of how the story led me here,,.  An evil ape finds a lion skin, so he puts it on his stupid donkey friend and pretends that he has Aslan (Jesus) in a shed and fools the Narnians.  He begins giving orders that are very un-Aslan like.  In this story it's been a long time since Aslan has been seen in Narnia, but the creatures all know the old stories of how he defeated the witch and all the wonderful things he did.  The ape's version of Aslan is so different, but they still seem to believe the ape is telling the truth and Aslan is really selling them into slavery and the like.

I was struck by how this can be true in this reality as well.  How many crazy cult leaders have risen up over the years and fooled so many?  How many corruptions have there been within the church?  Sometimes they seem so out there, we wonder how anyone is fooled.

I think it is easy to see what you're looking for.  If you have it in your head that God is a big evil tyrant in the sky, it will be easier for you to believe someone that is spewing fear and wrath "from God."  If God is distant and un-knowable, you might be drawn to someone who claims to have a direct connection.  If you believe God is in a good mood and He loves you, you will dismiss the street corner preacher's warnings of doom and gloom.  So how do we know what we should believe?

The importance of the Bible seems to become more obvious here.  The best description I've heard for the purpose of the Bible is that it is meant to lead us into a relationship with the Author.  It's not a book of rules, it's not just a storybook, it's not a documentary of Jewish history .... it's a love letter.  It is imperative that we learn to read it with the intent to know our Heavenly Father.  To read each story and ask, what character qualities is God showing me here? Where is His love, His grace, His mercy?  Who is God?  What is He teaching me in this passage?

When we don't know who God is, the fear slingers can much more easily manipulate us.  I think back to the time before Martin Luther when the Catholic church was so corrupt.  Why?  Only the leaders had access to the Bible.  The general public was illiterate, or at least couldn't read the language the scriptures were written in, so all they could do was trust their leaders.  This was a pretty sickening time in church history where the religious leaders were selling salvation, amassing wealth at the expense of the ignorant people.  Martin Luther was a man brave enough to change the balance of power by translating the Bible into the common language.  When more people had access to the knowledge of who God is, the times were a changing.  ;)

I won't claim to know much about cults, but I've seen a few of my cop shows that deal with them, and in most cases, the cult leader is some guy who "hears from God" and passes along orders to the people.  He usually works with scare tactics, threatening loss of salvation or something like that.  I think it's pretty clear that when only one man can hear from God, we have a problem.  Jesus came that ALL of us could have direct access, so none of us should ever be in a position to listen to one single individual to know what God is saying.  We are all capable of hearing, so we are all responsible for the choices we make.  Never allow another person to take the place of your own personal relationship to God.  The people in our inner circle definitely can have input, but ultimately we need to hear from God for ourselves.

Another one, yes, mostly from Hollywood is the serial killers that are "doing God's work" as they run around killing people.  This one goes back to the issue of knowing God's character.  It's pretty simple to see that "thou shalt not murder" probably didn't come from the same guy telling you to murder people.  Also, the Westborough Baptist "church" that runs around flinging hatred and lies in the name of God, they are sickening!  They are the opposite of what Jesus taught, but they seem to believe they're doing His work.  Seems to me they're doing a pretty good job of turning people away from Christ if they believe what they're saying.  Jesus is perfect theology, and He never murdered any sinners, nor did He wave nasty picket signs.  He showed them grace and mercy and offered forgiveness and love.  If you knew that, you would be able to identify that voice in your head as "not God."  It's pretty simple, but so many are deceived.

[ I use Hollywood examples, knowing they aren't necessarily true, or even accurate because people watch these shows and movies, and on some level, believe them.  I have a passion to expose misinformation about God, so if there's any chance that people believe that God could be speaking to or through these people who do horrible things, I want to share my thoughts on the subject.  I would hate for anyone to dismiss God because of a belief system shaped by Hollywood.  Sounds silly, but I have run into people who seem to have done just that.]

Take the red pill.  There is an enemy out there and he hates you and he wants to keep you captive.  He wants to destroy you and keep you from the Love of the Father and he is an expert deceiver.  I don't believe in "scaring people into Heaven.  I don't think that works. But the devil will convince you there isn't a Heaven if you let him.  You owe it to yourself to seek out truth, to know that what you believe is true.  There is so much bad information out there, it is up to each of us to be diligent in finding truth.  If God is real, and in my experience He is very real, do you really want to put it off until it's too late? It's not about fear, it's about the ultimate love.  Do you have any idea what you're missing out on?  The devil and his minions will do all they can to keep you from truth.  He's a whiny baby who knows he's lost, and just wants to hurt God by stealing away His children.  Lies are the only power he has.  That's why the Bible tells us that the truth will set us free.  It's simple.  There is a promise that if you seek it, you will find it.  It's so worth it.  God isn't about rules, He's about freedom!

My encouragement with this one is to make sure you are investing time in getting to know God so that the chances of your being one of the deceived will be minimized.  God is right there waiting for you to talk to and hear from.  He wants relationship with you.  Take advantage of this incredible opportunity.  We live in a free country where we are able to read in the open and practice our faith.  Others don't have the same freedom, so don't waste yours.