What happens if...a person’s life was built on a lie?

It is not that uncommon of a storyline to be woven in to novels or movies, be it fiction or non-fiction. Someone grows up convinced of one thing only to discover years later when the truth came out that the “facts” were entirely different. I mean, it has happened. Take for example when babies are ‘swapped’ at birth, be it on purpose or accidentally, and decades later they find out the ‘truth’. That would be quite a bit to take in, no doubt. Anyone know someone personally whose life has ‘hit a speed-bump’ after taking one of those popular DNA/Ancestry test kits?

We could use a host of examples to build such a storyline that could encompass so many different scenarios. But I’m more interested in focusing on one particular ‘storyline’ here today. And many....if not most who may come across this post...will not appreciate this. I get it. But I’m going to present it anyway...and if there is any truth to be gleaned, it will be God who ‘reveals’ it to us.

What if much of our ‘faith experience’ was built on...a lie, a falsehood...a deceptive teaching or man-made doctrine? And before you get offended and ‘scroll on past’ here, at least consider this one question: Why are you so confident that this could not happen to you? Is it spiritual pride? Are you so sure you are ‘standing firm that you could not be deceived’? (1 Cor. 10:12). How many times are we warned in scripture that ‘brethren can be deceived’? (James 1:16) Did Jesus not suggest that it was possible that even the ‘very elect could be deceived’? (Matt. 24:24)

As I opened up the other day with my post, I’m not asking anyone to believe anything I share here...but just be open to examining the scripture I present so as to see if what is written bears any truth or not. (Act 17:11)

Have you ever read that stern rebuke Jesus gave the religious establishment of His day...when he pronounced a ‘Woe to you hypocrites...’ because they would travel land and sea to make one convert...but because of their false teaching, they ‘made them a two-fold child of hell’. (Matt. 23:15).Have you ever stopped to ask what on earth Jesus even meant by that?

Nope...back up. We need to talk about this a moment...go read that verse again.

Jesus is accusing these folks...who were already wanting to dismiss Him as a heretic...of making such great efforts to gain a ‘convert’. Yet...because they thought they were ‘saving’, perhaps, a lost soul, that because of their mis-guided teaching, they actually made them doubly bound to being ‘lost’ because while they might have ‘plucked them off the wrong path’, they then set them on another ‘wrong path’ that would ensure their end destruction just as those leaders were on...according to Jesus. And for the record, this was one of many ‘woes’ He rebuked them with in that lecture.

 So could this possibly happen today...to us...in our ‘church world’?

“No”, you say? And why is that?

For all those who claim to be ‘in the know’ and are convinced we are in the ‘last days’ (which I am not disputing), are you not familiar with what Paul warned would happen with the ‘coming of the lawless one’ there in 2 Thess. 2:9? He details how much ‘unrighteous deception’ will be occurring ‘among those who perish...because they did not receive the love of the truth’. (10)

Let’s read on....”And for this reason...God ...will send them ‘strong delusion’, that they may believe the lie...” (vs.11)

Do we all know what a ‘delusion’ is? It’s a false belief that contradicts reality. And who are we told will send this? You might underline that in your Bible if you have not done so previously.

And Why...does God ‘send this’?

So “that they all may be condemned who did not...believe the truth...but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (vs. 12). I wonder if the underlying influence here, is not so much the reluctance of the people to ‘believe the truth’ as much as it is their true desire which is to continue finding ‘pleasure in unrighteousness’. Sort of like those folks there in John 3:19-20 who had no interest in coming to the light (truth) because they just loved the darkness more. Jesus pointed that out for us there in John’s gospel.

What’s that old saying about whether to ‘seek forgiveness after the fact instead of asking for permission to begin with’? The point behind that mindset reveals the intent of the heart. “I’m going to do this whether it is right or wrong because I ‘want’ to do this. I’ll deal with the aftermath later and ask for forgiveness”. Why, Jesus pointed out how the Pharisees had a similar intent there in John 8:44, adding the claim that because this was their true motive, they were in fact, children of the devil, while all along, they were convinced they were ‘God’s chosen’.

Please. Stop. And. Ponder. This.

So what is the ‘big lie’ or deception that I would suggest many have been duped by or bought in to, even living out years of ‘sincere faith’ believing in this falsehood?

That’s easy to answer as it is the same point I continue to circle back and repeat over and over, and that is the fact that Jesus came to set us free of sin so that we could truly ‘go and sin no more’. (John 8:32-36)

And if you just happened to sense ‘something’ rise up inside you, almost like a ‘kick’ when you read that, I would even go as far to say that might be evidence of that lie having become a ‘stronghold’ in your heart and it is not about to let the ‘word of God’ enter in...to set you free.

But you can be; free, that is. Because that is what Jesus came to do...set us all free. (Luke 4:18) And it’s the ‘word of truth’ that sets us free so that we might be free indeed. And healed, and delivered...and ‘saved’. “He ‘sent His word and healed them.” (Ps. 107:20). Verses 10-11 there in Ps. 107 tells you their condition prior and why they were ‘bound in afflictions and irons’ as well.

So what happens every so often...when His word is sown into men’s hearts? You might look up Luke 8:12 right now and see for yourself. It’s from the parable of the sower and Jesus said that ‘devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be _______? Be what? Why Mark includes the adverb how the enemy comes ‘immediately’. (Mark 4:15)

Have you ever wondered just how the ‘devil’ does that...comes immediately and snatches that word from your heart? Well, consider this: Suppose what you are reading here is making even the slightest impression on your heart given it’s scripture you are looking up and reading. I can almost see a little sprig of a tiny root wanting to pop out, much like what happens when you put some seeds on a wet paper towel for a few days. Because you profess to love Jesus and His word, you are slightly inspired to give some time to this and look up more verses as you ‘dive a little deeper’. And you have every intention of doing that very thing...AFTER...you watch that three hour game later today...or finish that fiction novel you’ve been wrapped up in. Or maybe after you clean out that shed or back closet that has been screaming for your attention for weeks. Then...you’ll sit down and open up that Bible and examine this further.

Yeah...I know. Been there, Done that. Let me know how that works out for you. :- )

I also need to say...once again: this is not about us ‘trying harder to do better’. Good gracious...I think we’ve all come to the conclusion time and time again that no matter how hard we ‘try’, we continue to fail in our own strength. This is why we needed to be ‘born again’ and become partakers of His divine nature so that we could...’do the will of God’. (John 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:1-4; Rom. 8:29; 1 Pet. 4:1-2)

We just somehow missed that ‘exit’ that leads to a far more ‘narrow path’ where we have to ‘die to self’; as in ‘decrease so He might increase’ in us. (John 3:30). The problem is, we see so many others bypassing that exit...as they keep flying down that ‘wide road’ as if they seem to know where they are going. And certainly that many people could not be wrong, could they? Why not go read Matt. 7:13-14 again and draw your own conclusion. 

 Yeah...that would be a tough truth to embrace...to wake up one morning and find out your whole life had been built upon a ‘lie’, after the ‘facts’ had come out proving you were switched at birth (or whatever scenario you want to write in there). No doubt, there would be plenty of mental and emotional wrestling matches that would take place internally. And the biggest opponent in that match would probably be named ‘Denial’.

Just know...I’m not here to ‘prove’ anything to anyone. All I’ve been called and compelled to do...is present Biblical truth and scripture for you to examine yourself. What you do with it is between you and God. Have a blessed day. :- )