The 4 Aspects Of Deception

The 4 Aspects of Deception

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

We as humans have a very damaging trait and that is our susceptibility to deception. Deception is the systematic inducement of false beliefs in others to accomplish some outcome other than the truth. Deception constitutes the misinterpretation of situations by one individual and a consequence to another or poses costs to the receiver and benefits to the deceiver. Deception is a very methodical way of tricking you or to put it Biblically the wiles of the devil as Ephesians 6:11 says. We are living in a time of unprecedented deception, with the advancement of A.I. artificial intelligence it is extremely easy to be deceived, and the risk of deceptions is astronomical. The Bible speaks often of this problem of deception and warns us against being deceived.

Deception is an effective tactic used by the devil. Jesus said of him in John 8:44 “When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it”. He is the father of lies and deception is the systematic inducement of false beliefs (LIES) in others to accomplish some outcome other than the truth. Satan used deception to first introduce sin in the beginning when he said in Genesis 3:4 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die”. This deception continues today and we as Christians today are not immune from the devil’s tricks and deceptive ways, and I would stand on scripture and say like Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtle than any” because he has had more time to practice and hone his craftiness.

Today I want to teach on the 4 aspects of deception.

PRAYER

SCRIPTURES: - 2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ”.

This scripture expresses how Paul feared the possibility of the people of the church of Corinth falling victim and being deceived by the devil as Eve was. Also, we today must not underestimate Satan’s deceptions and tactics he uses to deceive so many. Revelation 12:9 says, “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”. Remember in Genesis 3:1 he was the serpent in Revelation 12:9 he is the great dragon he grew he had a lot of practice at deception and has really homed in on how to deceive.

Now I titled this lesson The 4 Aspects of Deception and so often when we preach on deception and being deceived, we will focus on Why and neglect the How, the Who, the When, the Where, and the What. Today I want to deal with 4 aspects of deception that will deal more with the who how and what aspects of deception. The 4 aspects I will be dealing with are 1) the victim of deception 2) the participants of deception 3) the deniers of deception 4) the victors of deception.

TEXT: - Galatians 6:7 says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. Matthew 24:11 says, “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many”. Acts 20:29-30 says, “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also, of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them”.

1. Victim of Deception: - One of the greatest tactics the devil uses that makes him so deceptive is that he has others who are aiding him in his work. WATCH THIS: - 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 says, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works”. Now these will be those whom you might not initially suspect, they will be disguised as servants of righteousness, they will speak flattering words and sound really good can preach hold your attention and are full excitement, they have titles as prophet apostle’s evangelist and such but those are often just disguises of sheep’s clothing over raving wolves. Let me give a couple of quick examples: - 1 When my wife and I first moved to Florida we started attending this church and had been going for a couple of months by this time we didn’t go in announcing I was a Bishop or anything just we had recently moved from Ohio with my job and was looking for a church. They had this young preacher there that called himself prophet whatever and he preached pretty good then he started to call people up and so-call prophecy over their lives and he called me and I went up and he said “God told me to tell you to read your Bible because he is going to call you into the ministry and you one day will be preaching the word of God like me”. I didn’t say anything to him, the next day I asked the pastor could we talk and he said sure can you meet me at Wendy’s which was right down from the church I said sure I walked in with my Degree, My Bishopric Consecration Certificate, Letter of Recommendation from the General Board and set it on the table he looked at it and his mouth dropped open. I said your prophet was wrong, I have been doing this for years. The other story is a so-called prophet told me and my wife over 25 years ago that God said to sow so much money into this ministry and we would see a 100-fold blessing – well Abraham only had to wait 25 years we still haven’t received ours – we being young were literally victims of deception.