United Church of God

Letter From Dan Dowd - July 22, 2022

Letter From Dan Dowd

July 22, 2022

Sabbath Thought - Deception

The Eiffel Tower is one of the most recognized, and visited, landmarks in the world.  The tower was originally planned to be dismantled after the 1889 World's Fair, but it proved to be such a hit with the public, that the French government decided to keep the landmark.  In 1925, Victor Lustig, a notorious con man, traveled to France. While staying in Paris, he chanced upon a newspaper article discussing the problems faced with maintaining the Eiffel Tower.  This article gave him the inspiration for a new con.  Even though the French government recognized the public attraction to the Eiffel Tower, it began to fall into disrepair, and the city was finding it increasingly expensive to maintain the structure.  The article that Lustig read made a passing comment that overall public opinion that the monument might be moving towards calls for its removal.  Lustig produced fake government stationery and credentials, and then contacted a group of scrap metal dealers, identifying himself as the Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs.  He convinced the men that the upkeep of the Eiffel Tower was becoming too much for Paris and that the French government wished to sell it for scrap, but that because such a deal would be controversial and likely spark public outcry, nothing could be disclosed until all the details were thought out.  Lustig identified himself as being in charge of selecting the dealer who would receive ownership of the structure.  He ended up "selling" the Tower to one of the scrap metal dealers for around 70,000 francs (about $900,000 in today's value).  He promptly fled the country.

Have you ever been deceived?  Deception is a variation on lying - the difference is that deception has the intent to defraud us of something.  It is important for us to be on the alert for deception in our calling as it was the first thing Jesus talked about when the disciples asked about end-time events (Matthew 24:4-5).  The word translated "deceive" is planao in the Greek, and means: to lead astray, or to cause to wander.  Metaphorically, it means: to lead away from the truth, to lead to sin.

How possible would it be for any of us to be deceived?  A "good" lie has truth in it, but the "best" lie is truth that leaves the wrong impression or understanding, and usually involves something the recipient wants to hear (Romans 16:18).  Another aspect of discerning deception is to consider what the other person gets from what they are asking you to do.  One of the major reasons Victor Lustig was able to get someone to "buy" the Eiffel Tower, was because he convinced the buyer that if he paid a bribe to Lustig he would steer the contract their way.  Satan is very persuasive (Colossians 2:4).

What is the counter to deception?  Discernment.  Discernment is not only important in order to detect deceit, but also to see when we are deceiving ourselves.  We cannot change what we do not see.  The hardest prayer to pray is to ask God to gently correct us when we don't see our own shortcomings (Jeremiah 10:23-24).  The best tool we have against deception is to have God show us the truth.  God's Spirit gives us insight not possible on a human level (1 Corinthians 2:14, Hebrews 5:14, Philippians 1:9). 

Christ told us that there would be a great falling away toward the end-time (2 Thessalonians 2:3).  We are also told that heresies must come in order for God to discern who is approved by Him (1 Corinthians 11:19).  Heresies will come as well to reveal the man of sin - the one in the end-time who will do the will of Satan.  Are we praying and practicing discernment to not be deceived, as Christ encouraged us to in Matthew 24?

Deception is all around us.  We are lied to in politics, in advertising, in business - and if we are not careful we even lie to ourselves.  God doesn't want us to be deceived.  We are reassured in Matthew 24:24 that it would not be possible to deceive God's elect, but how do we make what could be possible into what is not possible?  By staying close to God!

Let's make sure we take heed that no one deceives us.

I wish you a deeply meaningful Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

22 July, 2022