The Great Deception

"In his image of perfection, joy, bliss, it was paradise
But I can hear the ploy, the hiss (no more being nice)
Of the serpent who slithers in the grass
And calls into question, the giver of the task (are you sure)
I know they brew over me (I'm the beast of the field)
But how can I persuade them (gotta get us out their minds)
Make'em think that they are animals (make'em think they are the king)
Then I can degrade them (then I got'em, I got'em)
This is my plot, but I'll have to use their appetites to twist them in a knot
(Tell'em they can be like God) Then maybe I can win
If I could use Adam's appetite to make him sin"


-Flame, "The Great Deception"


Going through my homefeed on facebook I came across a pretty offensive picture that one of my friends had put up. It troubled me greatly. It was a half naked women and a joke about how many men noticed nothing else in the picture. The first thing that came to my mind was this, "convince them you're just an animal." The deception of our world is this, to degrade the image God created us and to put us into bondage of our flesh. We have been degraded as animals, and allowed our appetites to feed like we are animals. 


The main ideology within academics is secular humanism, a degradation of humanity, we evolved from animals and as such, we may be degraded into the appetite of a mammal. Morality is not beyond our reach but it is also not necessary for us to attain, since we are just animals, and therefore we will always fall back into the instinct of appetite. 


The second portion of the deception is to make us believe we are the rulers of our lives. We are the rulers of humanity, within Christian circles, we are the rulers of the churches and not Christ. We are God. This side of deception is found in our pride and arrogance. Because of our decision to disobey we handed ourselves over to become animals and have been chained to the arrogance so we remain stuck in degradation and pride, thinking we can be like God, and remain hopeless because of it. As Flame continues,


"From the dawn of history, the mystery of lawlessness
Hijack the cosmic order, interrupted flawlessness
Introduce fallenness and now the servant-king
Who used to rule the land forfeited everything
And now the image bearers, Adam and Eve
Gave up their authority and were forced to leave
The sanctuary of Eden, The world was the kingdom
But Adam brought the curse
Because of his disobedience
Now demonic powers, rule the universeSatan is the leader, and death is the curse"




We are hopeless. Except. . .




"The Father sent Jesus, to come press reverse"




Yet there is no easy reverse button and so,




"he had to hit the wilderness first
To overcome temptation, overcome sin
These are the things that are common to man
And that's exactly what he did, after the resurrection
The safest place to be is in Him for protection
For perfection
For correction
To escape the great deception"




As I am continually bombarded with the great deception beaming into my eyes, and constantly talking in my ear, I have a hope that Jesus has provided a way for me to escape it. My fallen animal instincts may remain with me, and my arrogance to keep me chain to them may continue to tempt me, but as Lecrae tells his sin, "Yeah I know, but I'm dead to you, and one day I will be present with Jesus who died and bled from you" so I tell mine. We may have handed the world over to the great deceiver, but we still have a choice to escape it, and because of God's love and perfection through Jesus Christ, I am forgiven for degrading the image of God and have been set free from the bondage of my arrogance. God has saved me and I have escaped the great deception.

God is so gracious

God is so gracious towards me.

I sit in my car saying with tears, "You are so patient. I am so fallen. You are so gracious. I am so corrupted. How loving You are. How unloving I am. How often I fall short, You have triumphed above and beyond me."

I have not won victory over my sin or my shortcomings. Jesus has won victory over it. I am following in step with him in the assurance that when He has began a good work in me, He will carry it on into completion at the day Jesus returns.

I do nothing apart from God.

:-)

Wisdom from a Sister

Some wisdom I love getting by texts. These two are from a sister in Christ. . .

"Just read those verses and yes I see the hatred. It's like they've been told the truth about themselves. It's now displayed for all to see and they can't stand it. I see that same attitude in some of my students. They don't want me to call them out and if I do they want me to feel bad, like it's my fault somehow they did poorly on a test but its not. It's their responsibility.

What makes the situation so traumatic is Jesus was giving up his life for them. Taking responsibility for their actions. And yet still just the sting of truth causes walls to be built and bitterness and hatred to grow."

Yesterday I received this one, which is in reference to Corrie Ten Boom in her biography, The Hiding place. . ,

"You know what amazes me even more than Corrie forgiving the jailer? She sought out to forgive more and more people following him. The first guy she ran into but the others she made it part of her mission in carrying out God's will. That's what happens when we have experienced forgiveness. We have a calling to give others that same grace and forgiveness. It is an obligation, a choice, an act of obedience and a response to love. This is the life lived in Christ. No experience or wrong gives us a free pass on forgiving others. Even the victim."