“A STRONG DELUSION”
Adolf Hitler’s chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbles, was unfortunately correct when he said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
In 2 Thessalonians 2:11, Paul, speaking of those who reject God’s truth, states, “For this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie.” According to the Pulpit Commentary, “For this reason” means “on account of their being destitute of a love of the truth,” “strong delusion” means “a working of error,” and “the lie” is defined as “falsehood and delusion of all manner.”
The Dutchmen have a proverb: “When God intends to destroy a man, He first puts out his eyes.” Dr. William Hendriksen, who served for ten years at Calvin Seminary as Professor of New Testament Literature, wrote concerning 2 Thessalonians 2:11, “ The men of the end-time, who harden themselves against the love for the truth, will suffer the penalty of being hardened. God will send a deluding energy into the hearts of those who stubbornly refused to accept His redemptive truth.”
Demosthenes stated, “The easiest thing of all is to deceive one’s self; for what a man wishes, he generally believes to be true.” The Scriptural definition of “deception” is “to wander from the way.” To be deceived is to wander from the way of the truth of God. For anyone living in the Middle East, to wander from the path was lethal. If a person wandered from the well-trodden path, he went of into a trackless desert where there was no water, no path, and no landmarks. Usually, wandering meant perishing. Arthur W. Pink admonished, “Scripture speaks of ‘the spirit of error’ (1 John 4:6). There is a lying spirit who controls the blind, that leads the blind, and, in consequence, they ‘both fall into the ditch’.”
Travelers say that in South America there is a leaf of which starving men will chew, because it gives them a sensation of having been fed. It causes all desire for food to depart, and hunger pains are relieved. However, death is not defeated. The leaf contains a drug, but no nourishment. It satisfies a man’s craving, but it does not satisfy his need. He is deceived, thinking that he has nourishment, but is actually dying for lack of it. As expressed in 2 Timothy 3:7, “Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Poet Edwin Arlington Robinson said, “The world is a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions of bewildered infants are trying to spell God with the wrong blocks.” Remember, “If 50 million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing!”
Dave Arnold, Pastor, Gulf Coast Worship Center, New Port Richey, Florida
www.davidarnoldonline.org
2 comments:
Demosthenes stated, “The easiest thing of all is to deceive one’s self; for what a man wishes, he generally believes to be true.”
This can be related to sticking your head in the sand I guess. When you want something to be true so bad that you ignore all the signs or refuse to study or go after the truth, willingly deceiving yourself. Willingly... interesting.
My favorite quote from C.S. Lewis, paraphrased. "The only problem with trying to make yourself stupider than you already are is that you often succeed."
haha.
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