Deception Drive

But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.

(Jeremiah 44:17)

Look at the image on the left: do you remember Jim Jones and his cult, with those 900 comitting suicide in Guyana in the late 70's? They started out hailing this man as a miracle worker, but they met their demise as they sank futher and further into apostasy.

We have been looking at the remnant Jews who tried to escape Babylonian captivity by going to Egypt, even after God had told them not to. Protecting yourself by running to “Egypt” won’t work. Running away from God is impossible (Jonah) (Psalm 139:7). It is like those who plan an “out” by waiting until people vanish at the rapture to get saved. They are under a strong delusion, on several fronts.

Deception can be very subtle. If you place a frog in a pan of boiling water, he will jump out immediately. However, if you place him in a pan with cool water, and then slowly turn up the heat, soon you will have frog legs for dinner.

Now let’s look closer and see just how deceived these people were, and how certain things can blindside us. In Jeremiah 44:17 we see the “T’s” of idolatry that the Jews used as justification to Jeremiah as to why they would not heed the word of the Lord. We will compare this with its pragmatic outworking of today, and the “scriptural justification” some might use to keep from being obedient. People feel as if they can begin to obey when they get things set the way they want, but God doesn’t work that way. Partial obedience is disobedience, and delayed obedience is also disobedience. See if you recognize any of these reasons for rebellion.

1) Testimony / “out of our own mouths” – who are you to tell us, we are just as much a Christian as you, we are righteous in this, you are the false teacher, the Lord orders our steps!

2) Togetherness / “we” – we need unity, division is bad, your doctrine causes strife, can’t we just get along, Jesus wants us together no matter what, what about John 17?

3) Tradition / “our fathers” – always done it this way – Jesus never changes

4) Teachers / “our kings and princes” – doing as we were taught, just submitting to authority

5) Totality / “city of Judah” – this is a universal doctrine or practice, everybody’s doing it, why would we be the ones to get punished for it, mouth of two or three, multitude of counselors, all the other prophets are saying peace, three fold cord not easily broken, etc.

6) Treachery / “streets of Jerusalem” – out in the open, we are not doing anything wrong or anything in secret, we aren’t hiding it, everybody knows it, no harm in this we are doing it for good reasons, we are doing it in faith, we see the fruit of the Spirit

7) Treasure / “plenty” – prosperity as the measure, it works, don’t trash what God is blessing

The truth is that we may see blessing, but in spite of, not because of what we are doing. Some churches these days are trying to justify all types of treachery, and promoting things such as yoga, labyrinths, burning incense, contemplative prayer, and the like. They do these things under the guise of finding more ways to be intimate with God. However, their idolatry shows itself in their self-indulgence and licentiousness, with their justification of tattoos, piercing, cussing, etc. They justify trying to be like the culture by saying that it allows them to be more able to identify with those whom they witness to, but we are supposed to be identifying with Jesus, not them. We shouldn’t try to show that Christianity is “cool”. Yes you can have a tattoo and go to heaven, but we don’t need to get a tattoo to show others the way to heaven. Do you see the difference, the subtle deception that can creep in? It is the same for all seven points here.

“Christian coolness” is not evangelical relevance, it may be cultural relevance, but it is worldliness, not Christian maturity. It is irresponsible. It is compromising the integrity of the Christian witness. More often than not, those who would emphasize Christian liberty are actually just exercising the old man. The converts these people make are just converts to their idea of religion, but it is not authentic Christianity, it is a counterfeit. They have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof to live a holy life and break away from the world. They are lovers of self and pleasures more than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:4-5).

All true knowledge of God is born out of obedience – John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion. Character determines revelation – Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Obedience doesn’t get you a reward for being good, what it does is keep you from getting the wrong perspective, you stay in the bread line and keep getting good food, wholesome and not leavened. You may “get away with” certain sins for a time, but they lead to a bigger problem, the idolatry of self, where you have a hard heart and cannot be broken, and are led into deception and perversion, apostasy and falling away. When you have gone as far as these Jews had, you’ve gone past the point of no return. You won’t stay alive on Deception Drive.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©