DECEPTION: TWO-FOLD

DECEPTION:

The act of deceiving or misleading.

Artifice practiced; cheat

Deception is not one-sided. It is two-fold. It comes from within and from without.

Inward Deception

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?~Jeremiah 17:9

From this text, we learn that inward deception comes as a result of our wicked hearts. Our hearts are wicked because we are sinners. The Bible speaking about the human condition says:

For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 (glory=character)

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. 

What is man that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous?

Behold he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? {Job 14:4; Job 15:14-16}

These texts go on further to explain the evil nature of every human being and this we can conclude as a reason for inward deception or self-deception.

Outward Deception

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. {Revelation 12:9}

We note that the Devil exists and his habitation is the earth. He does not exist alone but with his angels. He has a mission and it is in deceiving the whole world. He is responsible for every deception that is in the world. Furthermore, none of us are immune to his deception. Every race, tribe, nation, and people is not immune, including you and I.

In follow-up articles we will seek to answer the following questions:

·         How can I gain victory over self-deceit (inward deception)

·         How do I determine what is deception?

·         How do I gain victory over the Devil?

·         Why does the devil use deception and what is his end goal?

·         What constitutes deception?