Free from Deception

By Eli Lee

November 1, 2021

THIS WAS WRITTEN BY A DEAR BROTHER THAT HAS EXPERINCED THE BLESSING OF BEING SET FREE FROM BEING DECEIVED.

I hate being wrong! It annoys me when I am wrong, especially if it is on a big issue. The truth of the matter is, we all hate being wrong. We sometimes argue because we want to prove that we are right. Being right makes us feel good.

Have you ever unknowingly been wrong, and when you found out, you were devastated? Imagine for a minute, being wrong about the most important  issue in your life, and not knowing it. Then, after it is too late, you realize that you could have done something to make it turn out well instead of the worst disaster imaginable...if only you would have known.

I distinctly remember the biggest issue that I have been wrong on in my entire life. I was wrong for 32 years. I believed that I was doing the best I could to be in right standing with God so that I could go to heaven when I died. I was doing what I was told that I needed to do to gain God’s approval by everyone I knew, including my pastor and my father. How could I be wrong?

It wasn't until God Himself showed me the hopelessness of my situation through sickness and a near-death experience, that I realized how wrong and how lost I really was. Upon realizing it, I cried out to God with all my heart to save me from my lost and wrong condition, and He did. He put his Holy Spirit in my heart to speak to me and communicate His heart with me. It is through the communication of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that I now have a confidence that cannot be shaken by anyone. I now know God, and trust Him further than any people or religion, even though I have been excommunicated and shunned by my own father and everyone that I had confidence in. I have been told that I have been deceived and am going to hell.

People who are deceived don't know that they are deceived - if they knew, they wouldn't be deceived anymore. Because of this, I want to ask you; What if you are wrong about where you will spend eternity? Do you KNOW that you are right on this issue? If so, how do you know? Is it because your parents told you that you are on the right track? Or is it because your pastor told you that if you do certain things and say a little prayer, then you are a Christian and will go to heaven when you die? Or is it because you have confirmation from the Holy Spirit within you? “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13).

Listen, it is not that I get a kick out of destroying people's bliss, but this is an issue that you just can't afford to be wrong on. Unless you get your confirmation from the Holy Spirit within you and the Word of God, don't trust it, because anything less than God could be mistaken. Since God is the one who will be letting you into heaven to dwell with Him forever or reject you into hell for not believing in his Son, why wouldn't you go directly to Him through His Son Jesus Christ to get your confirmation? Through Him is the only way that you will get to heaven.

If your parents or your pastor told you exactly how to be saved, and you did it because they said you needed to, you are going to miss heaven! If your relationship with Him is not personal before you die, you will not have a relationship with Him for all of eternity.
The reason it is so important to get our confirmation directly from God as to whether we are right or wrong on this issue, is because we can believe with our mind and still not believe with all of our heart, mind, and soul. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37).

If we just believe with our mind, we can learn all the right things about God, and even practice doing the right things, like I did the first 32 years of my life. My faith was in religion  plus Christ, but not in Christ alone. I admired Him, but I did not love Him. A.W. Tozer said, "The Devil is a better Theologian than any of us, and is a devil still."

Unless we believe with all of our heart, mind, and soul, we will not be obedient to what Jesus told us to do. We will still be more interested in fulfilling our needs and wants than we will be about going and making disciples because our focus will still be on earthly things. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

So, if going to heaven is important to you, examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

According to recent studies by Christian leaders, more than 80% of Christians in the United States are likely without Christ in their heart. That breaks my heart! We only have one life to get it right. Don't settle with “maybe,” or “I think so,” on this matter! No pleasures in this world can compare to the value of eternal life, or with the peace and joy we experience in this life from being obedient and in unity with Christ. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

 

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