The Downward Spiral: Ep 6: Unmasking Deception: Anchoring in God's Truth

0:00 Welcome to another episode of Faith on the Go with the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host, Connie Morris, and today's episode is titled The Crossroads of Conviction and Deception. In this episode, we'll take a look at how deception can disguise itself as truth and how vital it is to be anchored in God's word to discern the difference. Have you ever stood at a crossroads? Have you ever stood at a crossroad, unsure of which path to take?

0:42 One path looks appealing, but something deep inside whispers that it may not be correct. That tension, that spiritual crossroad is where conviction meets deception. Wow. We've all been there, right? When one path looks like the right way, but something deep inside of us says, you know what? You might not want to go that way. And that tension, that delay, that hesitation is what we call that spiritual crossroad. And that's where conviction meets deception.

1:25 So today we'll explore how deception works to weaken our conviction and how we can stand firm in truth. The Bible warns us repeatedly about false teaching, spiritual distractions, and the danger of losing our focus. So go with me to Matthew 24, verses 4 through 5. Ooh, let's get ready. Jesus told them, don't let anyone mislead you. For many will come in my name, claiming I am the Messiah. They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars.

2:10 But don't panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won't follow immediately. I went too far. It says in Matthew 24, 4 through 5, it says, watch out that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name, claiming I am the Messiah and will deceive many. So we see here that deception will come at not knowing who the Messiah really is. Jesus himself knew that deception would be one of the greatest dangers in the last days. We covered in the first few episodes, probably part of the first episodes about the deception in the Garden of Eden.

2:58 So let's go back where deception began. We know it began in the Garden of Eden. What was the serpent's tactic? it. We know that Eve had to know what Adam told her, right? So the serpent didn't use force. He used words. He questions God's truth, distorted it, and presented Eve with a half truth. Can I hear a mic drop? Can I hear a mic drop? Come on now. The serpent tactic was not forced, was just words.

3:39 He questioned God's truth. He distorted it. He presented Eve with half-truth. What was the result? The result was Eve was convinced that the fruit would bring wisdom, but instead it brought separation from God. When you don't know the truth, the Bible tells us the truth will set you free. The truth will forget you from half-truths. Half-truths are what? Lies. there's a little lie in it. It's a lie. A little leaven leavens a whole lump. Deception always presents itself as an improvement or a shortcut to what God has already promised.

4:26 Come on, there is no shortcuts in the kingdom of God. What shortcuts to success or happiness have you tempted, been tempted to take that led you away from God. Come on now. How many have played the lottery? Come on now. How many have played the lottery? You know, we don't want to tithe and give, but we'll give our money to the lottery. We're always looking for a shortcut. There's a shortcut. Satan always will have a shortcut for you. So maybe there's other shortcuts. Mine was a shortcut. I worked at a 7-Eleven and the lines be out the door for a lottery.

5:08 Don't let it get over a million dollars. And then we're busy at that lottery machine. I mean, you hate to be on the lottery machine when it's up to like, when it's the biggest, it's the biggest amount, then it's many more people playing. I think that's the way they make their money. I don't know. But what other successes did you, what other shortcuts in your life, think about it, that you tried, that you were tempted to take, that led you away from God? Biblical warnings about deceptions. The Bible is filled with examples and warnings about deceptions. One is false prophets found in Jeremiah 23, 16.

5:52 Just because I have a little time, let's go there. Jeremiah 23, 16, because we want to read what the Bible says. Like I said, the devotions are for foundational, so you can get in your Bible and find out what God is saying to you. 23, 16, 16, 16. And it reads, this is what the Lord of heaven's army says to his people. Do not listen to these prophets when they prophesy to you, filling you with futile hopes. They are making up everything they say. They do not speak for the Lord.

6:34 Prophets who spoke that the people want to hear rather than the truth. So you also have to have a keen ear for the Lord. You must have a keen ear for the Lord. And sometimes there's, there's not sometimes there are false prophets out there that speak only what the people want to hear rather than truth. Now, if you are walking with the Lord, can I just get an amen here? That God is not always sugarcoating things. Matter of fact, he never sugarcoats anything. He has a way of speaking that sounds like it's a sugarcoat. But when it goes down, it goes down hard, bloop.

7:19 Remember like in Revelation when he has an irritated stomach. God just really doesn't mince words. When he wants you to do something, he means what he says. So when you have false prophets and you only want to hear good things, you're going to be misled. So beware of deception. Then we have here in Simon the Sorcerer, found in Acts 8 verses 9 to 24. He performed expressive acts, but was motivated by greed and self-glory and deceiving many. So a lot of times people perform who are gifted with God's gift and God has given them grace upon their lives, but they use it to profit from people.

8:08 They want to, you know, you ever bought something, they'll say, well, we'll send you this. We'll pray over it. We'll send you a prayer cloth. I think that's good in everything. But sometimes it's for profit. It's for profit. And so just beware. Just beware of deception. Beware of deception. So we are living in a time where deception has become more sophisticated. Social media, news, and even spiritual influencers can present ideas that sound biblical, but are very, very false. And that's why I'm always encouraging you to get out your Bible, read your Bible, get to know God's voice for you.

8:54 And it's so easy when someone's a false prophet, you're listening and you go, that don't even sound like that's in the Bible. You look it up, you study the scripture, and then you go like, that doesn't mean that. And then you go, beep, delete. You know, but you should have a pastor who speaks the word, who educates you, and then be in tune to what he is saying for his church and not just be, have itchy ears for everybody that's speaking the word of God, right? They're not teaching you something. If you're not learning something, everything else should be extra for your Bible study, you know, not where you're going out hungering for prophetic words.

9:35 You should be able to, God speaks to you. Say, Lord, I want a prophetic word. Give me something for this year. And I didn't ask for nothing for this year, but God was able to give me a word for this year. And I was like, thank you. This is powerful. I appreciate it. But let's continue. So we're talking about warnings and deception. We are living in a time where deception has become more sophisticated. Social media, news, even spiritual influencers can present ideas that sound biblical, but are false. Remember, it sounds biblical, but are false. And the ones that are tricked are the ones who do not pick up their Bible.

10:20 If you know your Bible, you go like, whoa. When people were speaking on, it's okay to fornicate. It's okay to do this and that. And you know how God is about holiness. So that don't even sound like God. And so to me, false prophet. How do we deal with modern day deception? What does it look like? Deception today doesn't always look evil. It could come like a self-help book, a motivational speech, or a social movement that sounds empowering but lacks spiritual truth. You can see that in a lot of churches that are online.

11:02 They get you jumping up and down like, yes, yes, yes. But then at the end of the day, what is the spiritual truth? How can I put this to work in my life? Because jumping up and down and getting excited about a word, nothing wrong with that. But it needs some solid foundation that I can stand on on Monday, right? Cultural lies, phrases like live your truth may sound freeing, but they remove the authority of God's truth. When we are living our truth, where do we get the authority to have a truth?

11:44 Our truth is based on the one and living truth, which is Jesus. So people say, well, that's not in my truth. Okay, that's what you want to say. So living your truth may sound freeing, but it removes the authority of God's truth. Number two is compromising the church. There's a growing trend of churches diluting brutal truth to attract larger audiences. But watering down the word leaves believers spiritually malnourished. And so the reason being is that we go back to the lazy Christian. We want to get fed only on Sunday. And think about this.

12:30 If you only ate on Sunday, you are going to be malnourished. Think about that in reality. If you really only eat on Sundays and maybe only on Wednesdays and you're not getting all the nutrition that you need for your body, for your spiritual soul. Your spirituality on Sunday, and then you come for just a little dibby-dabby on whatever day you have your midweek service, you will be malnourished and you will be weak and you will become a victim of the satanic kingdom. And so that means you have to eat your word.

13:11 Not only on a Sunday, but you got to eat it all during the week. I think the word of God that comes from our pastors on those Sundays or our midweek service should be like arm sharpening arm with arm iron sharpening iron with us. Right. Be like, yeah, that's good. I think I needed that. I needed that. That that's I didn't get that in my Bible study. It should add to us. It should just be encouraging to us. So are you consuming content that feeds your soul with truth or with disgusting lies or with lies disguised as truth?

13:53 How would you know is when you get into a fight, you ever like watching boxing and you can tell the ones who've been working out and the ones who just talk smack. The ones that's working out, they don't have much to say because they're saying, you just keep talking smack because I'm not going to be in the ring long because I get paid for this event. It don't matter if it lasts an hour, two hours, three hours, or about five minutes. So I'd rather get my pay in about five minutes. So let's just get it done. So you can tell those who are spiritually weak by what they've been eating during the week.

14:34 So how to guard against deception. So how do we guard our heart and mind against deception? Number one, you want to know the word of God. That's found in 2 Timothy verses 3, 16 through 17. I want to go there because this is a good scripture. I love it. 16 through 17. I'm going to read it. And it reads, All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize that what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

15:17 Verse 17, God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. The word of God teaches us what is true and and makes us realize what is wrong. So the Bible is the ultimate guide for truth. Number two, pray for discernment. James 1, 5. I'm going to go there too. James 1, 5. And James 1, 5 says, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. So ask God for wisdom and clarity.

15:58 Number three, stay humble. Deception thrives in pride. When we think we know it all, we become vulnerable. And number four, test every spirit. That's 1 John 4, 1. Dear friends, do not believe everything who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the Spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. Don't accept every teaching or idea at face value. You test every spirit. Write down what they say. Is it in the word of God?

16:40 Does that spirit of what they're saying connect with the spirit of God on the inside of you? And your spirit has to be full, right? You have to know that your spirit is full of truth and truth will check false quickly. You're walking a room and you felt like, dang, what's up? The truth will check the false quickly. I love that. As a, like I said, I'm a retired police officer and sometimes I'll be like, and I'm still in tune to the spirit that's being a police officer and also as a Christian, a double whammy and you walk in, you're like, something's not right here. I don't know what's up, but you stand in tune.

17:23 You stand on guard. You're guarding against deception. And so it says, so number one, how do you guard against deception? Know the word of God. Why the word of God is the ultimate truth. Pray for discernment. Stay humble and test every spirit. James 8.32 reads, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. God's truth frees you while deception enslaves you. So stay free. I like, I think it's in Galatians. get free, stay free. So once you understand what truth is, you don't ever want to be in a deception.

18:03 Deception, Eve got deceived by words. And so a lot of times we love to listen to different people talk. And then we listen to more people talk about God than we spend time us reading and listening to God on our own. And that is a way that you can become deceived. You have to know the voice of God. And when you know the voice of God to yourself, when someone else is speaking about your God, come on now, then you can say, that doesn't sound like my God. That doesn't sound like truth. That doesn't sound like the Bible. That doesn't sound like the Bible.

18:45 That doesn't sound like the Bible. Amen. And so we all have a personal story. So, you know, I remember following a trend that seemed harmless, but it began to distort my focus. It was a season where I was consumed by every popular message that promised instant breakthrough. You ever had that instant? You're buying all the books, self-help books on how to get your breakthrough, how to get your breakthrough. And you got songs on breakthrough, breakthrough, breakthrough, but something was off. I was chasing an emotional high rather than an actual spiritual growth. I wanted my breakthrough like yesterday, but I wasn't willing to spend the time getting to know God.

19:30 Because then when you're young, you're like, I want my breakthrough. I want my breakthrough. Remember the breakthrough season? I want my breakthrough. I want my breakthrough. Get your breakthrough. Get your breakthrough. Read your breakthrough book. Do your breakthrough confessions. And then, and I wasn't really looking for a relationship with God. I was looking for my breakthrough. I mean, no, that's not a way. And you can get caught up to not a way to get free, get caught up in emotional highs at church. Remember, a lot of times you get a good sermon preached and then you're giving out, you're like so into this and you'll get your breakthrough and on your emotional high, you're sowing into it and your breakthrough never comes. Why? Because God didn't tell you to do that.

20:12 So there's obedience in this too. Remember, freedom comes from your connection with God. You're hearing from God. If he tells you to sow, if you're already sowing and you're giving offerings and he tells you, this is what I want you to do. He's very specific. Then you do that. Then you got your promise breakthrough. But if you're doing it out of an emotional high, guess what? Once again, you've been deceived. I mean, you can raise your hand right now and say, I've been deceived. Right? So it wasn't until I turned to read the Bible and study how God blesses, right? And recognize that I have been deceived.

20:54 Unless you recognize, a lot of times people don't say, well, I'm never going to be deceived until you actually go like, you know what? I think I got a little bit of trickery in that one, you know? But now I'm really like, okay, I don't want that to happen again. And so allow the word to ground you, the word grounded me. I was able to walk away from the noise, from the hype and back into God's truth. And so if you had a story like that, please share it with me. A lot of times we'll get on that emotional high. We're going to get a breakthrough. It's going to be a breakthrough moment. It's a breakthrough year. God did say It's going to be a divine surprise and a jubilee year.

21:37 But he said you have to walk in obedience. You have to listen to him for his strategic plans. So it's still going to be obedience. And it's not going to be partial obedience. It has to be true obedience. It's going to be getting into his presence and seeking his face for what he has for you. And so stay grounded in the word. And get away from all the noise and listen to his voice. The Bible says that we know his voice and the stranger we will not follow. So pay attention to his voice. Get to know his voice.

22:18 Don't get so preoccupied or distracted with other voices out there. Get to know his voice. He will not lead you astray. He is a good shepherd. Jesus is the good shepherd. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you with humble hearts, asking for your guidance in a world filled with distractions and deceit. Open our eyes so that we can see what is true and give us discernment to recognize deception. Strengthen our conviction and help us cling to your word, your word, which is truth. We decree that your truth is our foundation, and we will not be swayed by falsehood or empty promises, but we'll get to know what your voice is, and we'll just follow your voice only, and not falsehood or empty promises.

23:15 In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for joining me today on Faith on the Go with our Faith on the Go series. If today's episode really blessed you, don't forget to share with someone who may need this reminder. Remember, stay grounded in the truth. It isn't just a one-time decision. It's a daily commitment to walk with God. Listen to his voice. Resist the noise of deception. Wow. Stay grounded in truth. This and resist the noise of deception. Noise. Why I say noise? Because it comes in voices.

23:58 You know the voice of your God and you will not be deceived. So join me next time as we continue this series. Until then, stay anchored in truth and walk confidently in God's promises. God bless you.