The old wise cracking author Mark Twain once said – “It is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” How true both sides of that statement are! By nature, people are simultaneously susceptible to lies, and resistant to correction.
The Fall in the Garden of Eden demonstrates man’s gullibility. And so Paul lamented to the Corinthian church – “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (2Cor. 11:3) The amazing thing is that Eve’s nature had an advantage over ours, in that she was not yet corrupted by sin. Her mental, emotional, and spiritual faculties still worked as God had originally designed them. However, we (the descendants of Adam and Eve) have had all of our inner faculties marred and damaged by the Fall. We have inherited a fallen nature that distorts our thinking, misinforms our will, causes our affections to be misplaced, and that has inhibited our connection to God. O how easily Satan can fool the world of fallen men! And even we who have been born again, who have been spiritually quickened to life, who have access to the mind of Christ, and have the Holy Spirit living within our breasts can still be misled. With all of our advantages, we still yet live within our fallen flesh, still have carnal thought processes, and are daily needful of having our understanding renewed (Rom. 12:2). We are still susceptible to lies and thus must be on our guard.
However, gullibility wouldn’t prove as fatal in the end if it weren’t for our unwillingness to be exposed in our errors. O the great sin of man is his pride! We have but to: “Humble [ourselves] in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (Jam. 4:10) But how many would rather be wrong, than to be proven wrong? How many would rather be told a lie, than be told they have believed a lie? This too is because of man’s fallen nature. Man does not really love the truth; his version of the “truth” is whatever affirms himself. He wants only to think well of himself, even if that means living according to a lie. With solemnity, Pr. 14:12 warns – “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” An unwillingness to see the truth, an unwillingness to be instructed, an unwillingness to be humbled – this is the way of death!
But it is not enough for us to bemoan the state of others in these things. It is all too easy to see the speck in our brother’s eye, while being blind to the log in our own. Do you recognize the immense amount of heresy that abounds in our world? Do you believe that the enemy of your soul is masterfully cunning and crafty? Do you confess that all men are susceptible to being misled? And yet do you consider yourself completely safe from being deceived? Are you so delusional? I admonish you then – take heed! Times of great deception are trying times, and they are proving times. God is trying you even now by the onslaught of heretical doctrines He has sovereignly allowed to permeate this world. 2Thess. 2:11-12 says – “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” He is seeking to know your love for the truth. Being prideful, believing you are above being deceived, and being unwilling to receive biblical reproof for error demonstrates a love for self rather than a love for the truth. O what a seductress heresy is! First she courts you with a supple lie. Once tasted, she then demands your undivided devotion. She will not permit you to allow people to speak ill of her. Soon you feel you must defend her honor to defend your own. O what a snare, what a trap! O the cunning adversary that prowls about us! Take heed then that your pride does not condemn you to being permanently united to deception.
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