We Teach Our Kids Not to Lie, Yet We Are Deceived Daily

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Discover Who Deceives Us, the Consequences of Allowing Ourselves to be Deceived, and How to Avoid Doing So

Deceit. Doesn’t the mere mention of the word just make you cringe? And yet deceit seems to be all around us.

In December 2021, my husband and I returned to the United States from a two-and-one-half year missionary assignment in Costa Rica. If you count back that amount of time, you will quickly realize we went to Costa Rica approximately six months before the pandemic hit the world. As the world changed dramatically in response to COVID-19, we sat in a country where we could not communicate very well so our sources for news were limited to the Internet. You are likely already realizing that during that time the news media came under severe attack as being “fake news.” Who could we believe?

Even after returning to the United States, it remains difficult to determine who is telling the truth about current events. But at least we have one tool to help us assess what is true. We can observe. We can go to the grocery store and see that there is in fact a shortage on baby formula. We can experience the long waits for buying almost any luxury items such as new furniture and electronics, which confirms the supply chain issues.

In our world today, we are faced with deceit daily, if not hourly. And yet, we are commanded to avoid being deceived.

Commandment not to be Deceived

You may be scratching your head wondering where a commandment against being deceived appears in the Bible. We all recognize that we are commanded not to deceive. After all, don’t the Ten Commandments say, “Thou shalt not lie”? Well, actually it reads, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” [Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:20.] But God told Moses in Leviticus 19:11, “Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.” So, you are correct that we are commanded to avoid deceiving people.

Where am I finding the command not to be deceived? First, consider what it takes to be a scriptural command. Must God say it, or must it be written by God’s hand? Must Jesus say it? No, no and no. Remember that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”  [2 Timothy 3:16.] Therefore, if scripture directs us to do or refrain from doing something, it has the weight of a command.

Two apostles addressed being deceived. The apostle Paul directed Christians to “be not deceived” three times (1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Galatians 6:7). And both Paul and the apostle John commanded, “Let no man deceive you” a total of three times (Ephesians 5:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 John 3:7). Although neither God nor Jesus directly commanded that we not be deceived, the apostles’ scriptural commands carry the same weight based on 2 Timothy 3:16.

Consequences of Being Deceived

Why did God inspire two apostles to command us not to be deceived?  To answer that question, we must understand the consequences of being deceived.

If you have read many of my blog posts, you know that I absolutely believe in having confidence in God, meaning that I can trust Him to hold my hand, guide me with His eyes, broaden the path beneath my feet so I do not slip from the path of salvation.  I can have this confidence when I strive to walk according to Jesus’s teachings and in the Spirit. Albeit, scripture tells us that we can be deceived.

If I allow myself to be deceived, I become vulnerable to turning aside and serving or worshipping other gods (Deuteronomy 11:16), to being carried about with every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14), to losing the intensity of my love for God and for others (Matthew 24:11-12), and I become subject to the wrath of God (Ephesians 5:6-7).

Please realize that the warning about the wrath of God is a New Testament teaching.  We are very accustomed to seeing the wrath of God in the Old Testament but seldom see it in the New Testament because we know that Jesus died for all of us and His blood covers our sin when we accept Him as Savior.  But here we see that the wrath of God remains a consequence of disobedience even after Jesus’s death and resurrection. So, allowing ourselves to be deceived provokes pretty serious consequences.

Avoiding Deception

How can we avoid being deceived if we do not know who might deceive us? Many of these deceivers will be very familiar to you.  However, you might find one or two that causes you to pause and say, “Oh? Oh!”

I am confident you are not surprised that Satan is a deceiver (Revelation 12:9).  So, how do we protect ourselves from Satan’s deception?  James 4:7 tells us to “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” To avoid Satan’s deception, we must do two things:  1) submit to God; and 2) resist the devil.

You are also probably not surprised that there are and will be false prophets and false Christs in the world (Matthew 24:11-12, 24). How do we keep from being deceived by them?  Jesus provides a test to determine if someone is a false prophet in Matthew 7:15-20.

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  Ye shall know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Matthew 7:15-20

The first step to knowing if someone is a false prophet or false Christ is to assess the fruit in the person’s life. Can we tell what is good fruit and what is bad fruit?  Some things are obvious, such as the fruit of the spirit:  love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22-23). Also, those things that we are to think on according to Paul in Philippians 4:8-9 are also good fruit:  whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and are of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy.  These things are the work of the Holy Spirit and are evidence of good fruit.  If a person’s life (not only actions but also speech) produces these good works, then the prophet is not a false prophet.

The works of the flesh are bad fruit:  adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such (Galatians 5:19-21).  Also, the people Paul describes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:2-7 illustrate bad fruit:  “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”  If a person’s life produces these types of fruit, then they are false prophets.  We are to avoid these false prophets and certainly not allow ourselves to be deceived by them.

Returning to the question about who deceives us, it probably isn’t any surprise that there are people in the world that are deceivers.  Yes, the false prophets are people who deceive.  And we probably expect evil people to be deceivers (2 Timothy 3:13).  But have you considered that any who do not confess Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh (2 John 1:7) and those that stir up contentions (divisions and offences) are deceivers (Romans 16:17-18)? 

You likely know people who do not believe that Jesus was God robed in flesh and who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come to Earth in flesh.  You likely also know people who are often stirring up problems among people in the church, in your family, in your workplace, in your neighborhood. 

We need to be careful with how much influence we allow these people to have in our lives. These people are deceivers and if we are not careful, and we fail to take anything they claim back to scripture or the source to ensure its accuracy, we may find ourselves deceived.  In fact, look again at what Paul tells us to do to avoid being deceived by these people in Romans 16:17:  We are to avoid them!

There is someone else that we need to be very careful about in order to avoid being deceived. We have been commanded by the apostles Paul and John not to be deceived and to let no man deceive us.  Most people know that Satan is a deceiver and that there are false prophets and other people who are deceivers.  But have you ever considered that each of us is vulnerable to deceiving ourselves? How do we deceive ourselves?  By thinking too highly of ourselves (Galatians 6:3), confessing to be Christian but failing to control our tongues (James 1:26), and believing that we have not sinned (1 John 1:8).  In all these situations, we deceive ourselves. 

The secret to avoid deceiving ourselves and being deceived by others lies in James 1:22-25.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

James 1:22-25

This scripture sums up for us everything we need to know in order to avoid being deceived by ourselves, by other men, including false prophets, those that stir up contentions, and those that do not confess Jesus Christ came in the flesh, and by Satan.  If we take seriously the opportunities we have to hear the word and then apply that word to our lives, obeying it and putting it into practice, then we will have all we need to avoid being deceived by anyone, including ourselves.

Remember the consequences of being deceived.  If we allow ourselves to be deceived, we become vulnerable to turning aside and serving or worshipping other gods, being carried about with every wind of doctrine, losing the intensity of our love for God and for others, and we become subject to the wrath of God.

If we want to walk with confidence in God, we need to hear His word, study His word, apply His word to our lives, pray His Word, and resist or avoid the influence of those that are deceivers.  When we do these things, then God shall bless our deeds.

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