Are You Deception-Proof?

I'll get right into the message this afternoon with the question, are you deception-proof? Or could someone come along with a clever argument that is actually wrong and deceive you? Or would you be able to quickly recognize it as being error? What if a new person or maybe an old-timer came along with an idea that is not really biblical? Would you be able to recognize it and not be deceived by it? Brethren, the truth is that many people down through history have been deceived. Think of this. Many have sincerely followed error thinking that they were following the truth. I'm sure that all of us would like to not have that happen to us. So are you deception-proof? If we were to make a study of deception, it would have to begin with Lucifer the archangel. Lucifer the archangel was created perfect. It says in Ezekiel 28, just perfect, no flaw. He was full of wisdom, full of beauty. Yet this archangel deceived himself into thinking that he was smarter than God and more powerful than God. No doubt that he could run the universe better than God, do a better job than God was doing. He was sincere about it. He sincerely, and to this day, he still believes he could do a better job than God. He's still fighting against God, and he was able to deceive one-third of the angels. He was sincere. He and one-third of the angels, thinking that they could just rise up, they could push God off of his throne, and they could take over, and they could begin to run the universe better than God was doing it. Well, we know that God thrust him back down. He greatly underestimated the boss, his Creator. Jesus later would say that he remembered seeing Satan thrust as lightning. That's how fast God thrust Satan down. That's how much greater God was than all of these angels. He just thrust them right back down toward the earth like lightning.

Satan was here when Adam and Eve were created. We know that in Genesis chapter 3, he was able to get through to Adam and Eve and deceive them. Especially, he was able to deceive Eve, it says, first of all, and then Eve was able to persuade her husband to go along with it. So God put mankind outside the garden, and man has been on his own, developing his own civilization. Satan has been able to deceive all of mankind. How thorough a job has Satan done? Revelation 12 verse 9 says the whole world has been deceived by Satan. The history of deception goes back to Lucifer and brings us forward to where we are now. What about us in the church? What about the church of God? Satan would like to deceive no one more than to deceive those that are in the church of God. He knows we're Sabbath keepers. We're not going to the church on Sunday. He knows we keep the holy days. We don't keep Christmas and Easter. He knows where the church of God is, and he would like to deceive people. He'd like to deceive everybody, the whole church, if he could. But since he's not able to do that, he would like to deceive one here and one there, a little group here and there, as many as he is able to get through to. God's church has always had to fight deception from Satan, and we continue to fight that same battle. Let's go back to the early church. Satan tried to deceive members of the early church. Go back to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. The apostle Paul was afraid that some of the people in Corinth, in the church of God, were not actually deception-proof, and that Satan might be able to get through to them. Let's read about that. 2 Corinthians 11.1 All that you would bear with me in a little folly, and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. Do you know that God's ministers are jealous? But it's a godly jealousy. We don't want you to be deceived. We want you to be able to resist Satan's deception. We're jealous if anything begins to go the wrong way. It goes on to say, I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But verse 3 now, 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. In other words, Paul was afraid that some of the people were not deception-proof. Satan might be able to get through to them and begin to influence their thinking and deceive them. And he went on to explain some of the ways in verse 4. For if he who comes, brethren, sometimes that means human beings that Satan is working through. If he who comes, a false minister or teacher, comes preaching another Jesus whom we have not preached. One that's different than the Jesus Christ of the Bible, different than the one revealed in the Gospels, another Jesus whom we've not preached. Would you receive another Jesus? I mean, one that is different than the one revealed in the Bible, the one that we've heard about in the Church of God and learned about.

Or if you receive a different spirit, and the Bible does say we are to test the spirits whether they be of God, if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, you know, you can... When somebody begins to come with another spirit, you can pick up on it and you begin to kind of back up on your heels a little bit and you say, huh, where is this person coming from? They all are sensitive to whether people are coming at us straight from the shoulder or whether they're trying to sneak something in on us. Another spirit, a different spirit. So Paul was concerned that these Corinthians might receive a different spirit which they had not received. Or a different gospel which you have not accepted, a different gospel than the good news about God's kingdom and how we may be a part of God's family. But the last part of verse 4, notice, he was afraid that you may well put up with it. If somebody comes preaching another Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel, you might put up with it. You know what that shows, brethren? When somebody comes into the church of God here, and they begin to have a different gospel, a different message, different teaching, or a different spirit or another Jesus, you, as members of the church, and I, as the pastor, we will not put up with it. We will not accept it. And how do we do that? We stand up to it. We say, hey, wait a minute. That is not what the Bible says. Would you be skillful at doing that? Now, maybe if the person is, you know, teachable, that's one thing, you might be able to handle that in a very diplomatic way. Otherwise, you might just need to come pretty straightforwardly and say, well, that's not what the Bible teaches. And so this verse, or these verses, are saying that we should not put up with it. The ministry and the membership should not accept someone coming to our services and preaching a different message than what we have heard. But Paul was afraid then that some of the Corinthians were not deception-proof.

You know, Jesus prophesied, let's go to Matthew 24, that there would be religious deception here at the end time. And he warned us about it in the Olivet prophecy, given from the Mount of Olives, from which the prophecy gets its name. The Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24, and Jesus was asked about the sign of His coming and the end of the age in verse 3.

In verse 4, the very first thing he warned about, Take heed that no one deceives you. Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying other ministers of Christ, that they've been sent by Christ, and saying that Jesus is the Christ, and yet will deceive many. So we are warned then not to let that happen to us, the very first thing Jesus warned about.

Brother, let me ask you, the members of the Church of God that are really, really acquainted with God's Word, and let's say have studied their Bibles, and are close to God and led by His Spirit, is it possible to deceive them? You know, let's skip on down to verse 23. If anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there, do not believe it.

So we are not just to believe that Christ has come, and He's kind of heading away somewhere in a desert or some secret area, and we're not to either get involved in those who set dates. We don't know when Christ is going to return. It may be in just a few more years. It could be. Or it may be quite a number of years. We simply don't know. And, you know, it's good for us to realize that.

Verse 24, false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders. Would we follow someone doing miracles? But notice the elect will not be members of God's Church who are strong and growing and close to God. It goes on to say, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. That verse indicates the elect. And I think the King James translation says the very elect. So the very elect of God are not going to be deceived by some false prophet doing signs and wonders. And at the end of this age, there will be signs and wonders. Verses in Revelation indicate that the false prophet is able to do signs and wonders, even pull down fire from heaven. And people will be deceived by it. But why will the elect not be deceived? Because they know the truth. This man may be very appealing. He may be very smooth-talking. He will draw people in. They'll think he's a good person. The way he talks, the love he shows. But when he says, we should all worship together. We all ought to be coming to church every Sunday morning together. The elect of God are going to know better because they understand the Sabbath. And so this individual, though, is going to be able to pull people from the world into following him because of miracles.

But the elect of God will not be deceived by him. How is it the elect will not be deceived because they love the truth? Let's go to 2 Thessalonians 2.

I'll tell you how we can be deception-proof. Well, we're going to show that it's actually pretty simple to understand, but it does take a lot of effort on our part.

In 2 Thessalonians 2, and let's just read it beginning in verse 1, and we'll skip on down a little bit and get down to verses 10 and 11. Verse 1, Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him, we ask you... Now this is referring then to the second coming of Christ. And so Paul says, we ask you not to be soon shaken, in mind or troubled. It's because some people were coming along saying that Christ had already come, and some were shaken by that, either by spirit or word or letter, as if from us, a forgery, as though the day of Christ had come. Some were actually coming around in Thessalonica, saying that the day of Christ's coming had already occurred. And some people in the church were shaken in mind or troubled, so Paul was writing about that. And so he went on to say, verse 3, Let no one deceive you by any means. I tell you what, that is a very good verse to remember. Let no one deceive you by any means. I don't want to be deceived to you. I don't want you to be deceived. I know that none of us want to be deceived. So Paul says, let no one deceive you by any means. Things have to happen before Christ returns, he says. That day will not come unless the falling away comes first, a falling away from the truth and the church. And the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, the false prophet of revelation, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped so that he sets his God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. So this great false prophet is going to set up his headquarters in Jerusalem and sit in something called the temple of God. And he's going to claim to be God, and he'll be doing these signs and these wonders, and people are going to follow him. Verse 8, The lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. And how will we be able then to resist such deception, which the world is going to certainly become victim to? Most people are going to follow and believe this is a man of God. Well, verse 10 gives us the key, with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Notice that. There's the key then to becoming deception-proof, the love of the truth. If we love the truth, and we're going to say that the truth is God's Word, the Bible, then we will not be pulled in by the religious deception that is ahead of us at the end of this age.

So God's people, it is possible for us to be deception-proof, and yet it's going to take some effort on our part if we are to be able to remain steadfast. It means that we will love the truth, and to love the truth means that we must know the truth. More about that a little bit later. The church has always had to resist and do battle against deception, and lies, and unsound doctrine. I want us to take about maybe 10 minutes or so to study some verses in Timothy and Titus, letters that Paul wrote to ministers. I want you to notice how prevalent you find verses with sound versus unsound doctrine. It's amazing! First Timothy, we'll begin in First Timothy chapter 1. Sound versus unsound doctrine. First Timothy chapter 1 and verse 3. As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine. So some were teaching another doctrine. Timothy was to charge them, order them, that they not do that. Nor give heed to fables and endless genealogists which cause disputes rather than godly edification, which is in faith. We're not so much into genealogists today, but apparently some of the people back in that time were. So Paul is warning against it.

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and sincere faith. Verse 6 now, From which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk. King James version says, vain, jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. Sometimes people do want to become teachers and don't really understand the truth at all. And so Paul is warning against that. A couple of false teachers of that time are even named. Let's go down to verse 18. This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some, having rejected, concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck. And then he names a couple, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I deliver to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. And that deliver to Satan obviously means to put them back in Satan's world, put them out of the church. Just tell them they don't belong in the church if they're teaching these other doctrines. Let's go to chapter 4. He warns about false teaching in our time. 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry. And somehow felt that it's better not to marry. And abstain from foods which God created to be received. Some have gone to vegetarianism, thinking that is a superior way and that it's wrong to eat meats. And so he has to warn about these false teachings that would come along. But now notice in verse 16, chapter 4 and verse 16, Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. So a little verse here with good admonitions for each and every one of us. Take heed to yourself. That verse is talking to me and to you. Take heed to yourself, brethren, and to the doctrine. The doctrine would be the teachings of God's Word. Continue in them. Continue in these doctrines that have been taught to us from God's Word.

For in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Of course, this is written to a minister of God. Let's go to chapter 6. We're going to very quickly read through these verses, but we see how many instructions there are here. Sound versus unsound doctrine. Chapter 6 and verse 3, If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud.

Many times people that get into other doctrines, their own personal doctrines, do have pride involved. And they fall in love with their doctrine. And it's kind of hard to get them off of it. He is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, and evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men, of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain from such withdrawal yourself.

And so we have these instructions, then, that we need to beware of those who would teach a false doctrine. And you know, the book began with a warning about it, and the book ends the last two verses of the book. Verse 20, chapter 6 and verse 20, O Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust.

I say, O brethren, guard what has been committed to your trust as well, avoiding the profane and vain babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. By professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith. And so, again and again, in this letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy, Paul warns about unsound teaching from false teachers who would come along and try to influence the brethren.

Let's go to chapter 1 of the next book, 2 Timothy, chapter 1 and verse 13. Hold fast the pattern of sound words. Good instruction for all of us who speak at services to always make sure we hold fast the pattern of sound words, which you have heard from me in faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. As you know, all those in Asia have turned from me, he said, among whom are Phyjalas and Hermogenes.

Let's skip on down to chapter 2 and verse 1. Therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Skipping on down to verse 14, remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.

Apparently they had a lot of that going on, and we've had some of that in our time. I've even known people to bring the Greek and the Hebrew, trying to prove their point. There can be a striving about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Verse 15, be diligent to present yourselves approved to God. A worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Obviously then God's word can be wrongly understood or wrongly put together. But shun, profane, and vain babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness, and their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetas are of this sort. So again he names these two individuals who have strayed concerning the truth. And what were they saying? That the resurrection is already past. These two men believed and they were telling other people the resurrection has already taken place. And you know, that's sad, isn't it?

The sad thing is that they were teachers, and they were teaching other people that the resurrection has already taken place. But you know, there's one thing that's sadder than them believing it and teaching it. Some people believe them. Look at the last part of this verse. Saying the resurrection has already passed and they overthrow the faith of some. So brethren, when somebody comes along with a false idea or teaching, you and I need to be able to recognize it to say, well, that is error.

That's not what the Bible teaches. We need to know the Bible so well that nobody could come along with a false teaching of any type and be able to influence our thinking. We should be so mature in Bible knowledge and understanding that nobody can come along and pull the wool over our eyes. You can tell a little child that the moon is made out of cheese. You can tell him this big old fat guy comes down from the North Pole and comes down chimneys and leaves toys. But you can't tell adults that. Adults know better. And those who understand God's Word become adults in understanding God's Word.

You can't pull the wool over their eyes. We need to, as we heard in the first message, to be mature and not babes in understanding of God's Word. Okay, well, let's move on forward to chapter 3 now. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 9. Well, let's see. Chapter 3 and verse 6. But of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Now, as Janus and Jambres resisted Moses, so did these also resist the truth. It's just the truth that is going to actually help us to be deception-proof. Men of corrupt minds disapproved concerning the faith, but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs was also. But you've carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, perseverance. So Paul was happy that Timothy had done that. And he goes on down in verse 12. All that desire to live godly will suffer persecution.

But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. So we have to be on the alert. Deception is not going to get any easier or any less, but instead it's going to get worse. As for you, continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing of whom you've learned them, and that from a childhood you've known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation.

All scriptures given by inspiration, it's profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. So here's what we need to base every idea and every belief in our way of life on the Holy Scriptures. Let's skip on over to now chapter 4 and verse 2. 2 Timothy 4 verse 2. Preach the Word. That's one thing that we who speak at God's church can feel absolutely safe about, and that is when we preach God's Word.

Hide behind the Scriptures, as the way one person put it. Preach the Word of God. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But according to their own desires, they will have itching ears and heap up for themselves teachers. They will turn their ears away from the truth, against the truth that we must understand and cling to. But they will turn their ears from the truth and be turned aside to fables.

Be watchful, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist. So, you know, warning after warning. Well, what about Titus? Let's read a few verses in the book of Titus. Titus chapter 1 and verse 9. Part of the instructions for elders. Titus chapter 1 and verse 9. Holding fast the faithful Word as He has been taught. You know, that's one of the qualifications for an elder. And it is simply to hold fast to the faithful Word as He has been taught. You know, I'm really teaching the same things today that I learned at Ambassador College.

Way back in the 19... late 1950s. Same message. Oh, I think we understand it more fully. And we should. But it's the same message, the same doctrines, and the same teachings as been. Same ones that Mr. Armstrong taught and those who helped Mr. Armstrong taught at Ambassador College. But that's what we all want to do, isn't it, brethren? Holding fast the faithful Word as we have been taught. Just as the ministry is to do. That He may... the minister...

the minister may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict. For there are many insubordinate, many, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain. The church had its problems back at that time. There were people going around. They would subvert a whole household and get people believing things that were not right.

So, Paul is warning about that. In chapter 2 and verse 1, Titus 2 and verse 1, But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. And skipping on down to verse 7, In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing integrity.

That means in Bible teachings, then, absolute integrity. Just everything able to prove it to be true from the Scriptures. Integrity, reverence, incorruptibility. That's what we want. We want. That's what we want our teachings to be. And that's what the United Church of God strives for. Incorruptibility to the very best of our ability, humanly speaking, and with God's help. Then verse 8, sound speech which cannot be condemned. That one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. So that's what we're striving for in the Church of God. Again, it's sound doctrine versus unsound doctrine.

In verse 15, speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. And then in chapter 3 and verse 9, But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man. The Greek is heretic, and I believe the King James Version is also heretic. Reject a heretic after the first and second admonition. That means a person that does have other teachings and doctrines should not be allowed to be a part of the Church. Reject him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. Of course, we try to help an individual, and if he's willing to be taught, if he's willing to change, and we've seen that to happen, then that person would certainly be very welcome to be a part of God's Church. But, brethren, isn't it amazing, Titus and Timothy, just how much there is about sound doctrine versus unsound doctrine? I tell you, they faced heretics and deceivers and false teachers back in the early Church, and we faced the same thing today. Mr. Armstrong faced it, and we continue to face it in the United Church of God. The question for us is, are we deception-proof? God will let our faith and the strength of our understanding of the Bible be tested. What is truth? Jesus said in John 17, verse 17, Thy Word is truth. Here it is. Thy Word is truth. We read that every word is inspired of God. And Jesus said that we are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. I tell you what, when you look at the Bible here, every word of God, that's a lot. And to be able, then, to be deception-proof, we need to study this book from Genesis 1 all the way through to Revelation 22, the last verse of the Bible. There's so much that we yet need to learn and grow in, including myself after all these years. We need to keep studying God's Word and keep growing in it, if we are to live by every word. But the more we understand these words, then the more deception-proof we become.

And if somebody comes along mishandling the Bible, or they come along with a little different spirit than what we have received and have in God's Church, we recognize it. Let's turn over to 2 Corinthians 4. And there are those that mishandle the Word of God. But those who are skillful and have studied their Bibles and really understand the Bible will be able to see that this is misusing God's Word. It is not correctly handling the Word of God. You know, just recently my wife and I were working on a puzzle. In fact, I think it's still on the table. It's not complete. But some of the pieces seem to fit in place. But then when you start looking at the color and the pattern, you say, well, no, that seems to fit, but it's really not the right piece. I mean, the ones that made this puzzle, it's a 1,000-picer, deliberately made it hard and wasting a lot of my time. But, you know, God's Word is like that. You can kind of put it together and it seems to fit, and so many people have done that. But when you look at it closely, those who are skillful and look at it closely, they see the pattern is not correct. So they have to take it out, and later on they'll find where that piece fits. Well, God's Word is like that. Different doctrines and teachings are also like that. In 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 1, Therefore, since we have this ministry, Paul is talking about himself. Since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. And so, you know, God's ministry, we face many challenges, many problems come along, but we do not lose heart. Verse 2, but we have renounced, God's true ministers have, we have renounced the hidden things of shame. We don't come in through the back door. We don't...it's all right out front, straight from the shoulder. We have renounced the hidden things of shame. Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully. It is possible that someone can claim to be a minister of God and walk in craftiness, doing things on the sly, and doing things in a subtle type manner. That is not God's way of doing it. Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully.

But by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, the image of God, should shine to them. And verse 5 goes on to say, we do not preach ourselves.

God's ministers do not talk a lot about themselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. So we preach God's Word. Preach the Word. So, brethren, how are we going to become deception-proof and that nobody will be able to come along and deceive us? We have to really get to know this Book. We do study the Bible often. Even every day would be ideal. But study this Book often. On the Sabbath, there's a lot of extra time to study the Bible.

The Bible is an exciting book to study and get to know. As we become more firmly rooted and grounded in the truth of the Bible, guess what? We become more and more deception-proof. So as we grow and mature spiritually, no one is going to be able to deceive us. We're going to pick up if something is not quite in line with the Bible. It can be ever so subtle, but we'll pick up if something is not right here. This doesn't square with all that I've learned from the Scriptures.

A good place to start for someone that is relatively new is to prove beyond the doubt each of the fundamental beliefs of the Bible. We have 20 of these fundamental beliefs in the United Church of God Constitution. It's in this booklet, Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God. If we study these and we have whole booklets on some of these, including the Sabbath and the Holy Days and the Church and the Millennium and how God exists, God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit not being a person. There's not a trinity that is taught in the Bible.

So if we're strong and firm in these things, then we have a foundation from which to build in becoming deception-proof. And then we go on to add the other things in the Bible, there are things in regard to doctrines and judgments and prophecy. God's Church expounds on basic doctrines. God's Church expounds on prophecy. We add a lot of other things on top of those 20 fundamental beliefs. The Church of God makes judgments. What are judgments? Well, it's taking God's law and principles of God's law and applying them to circumstances that we face.

And then with God's Spirit guiding and directing, making decisions based upon God's law. Judgment on tithing, for example, is the Church has judged that a person may calculate his tithe on the net income instead of the gross income. But our statement of belief says if anyone wants to calculate on the gross income, of course, he is free to do so. But a person may calculate, we believe, on his net income.

So that's a judgment the Church has made based upon circumstances that we exist under today, where so much of your income is taken before you even... and you never see it. It's taken before it even gets to you. So there are judgments, and I think sometime it would be good to go over some of the judgments of the Church. The early Church had to make judgments. Circumcision, whether to require the Gentiles to be circumcised, was a judgment. And the judgment of the Church was that, based on circumstances more than Old Testament Scriptures, was that the Gentiles should not be required...

need not be required to be circumcised to be a part of the Church. Because so many of the Gentiles who had become a part of the Church had received God's Spirit in their uncircumcised state. So they looked at all that God had done in the early Church, and they said, well, it's obvious what the decision or judgment should be. Now, not everybody accepted that judgment. It does say that those in Antioch rejoiced, but there were many people that did not accept that judgment. And they fought against it. You can read about it in other verses in the New Testament. But there are judgments, and we come to have a faith and confidence that God is guiding in these judgments.

All the judgments that God's Church has made down through the years do fit within Biblical laws and principles that we read about in the Bible. Let's go to 1 Timothy 3. I think it's important then, in being deception proof, that we realize that God does guide His ministry in making judgments and decisions.

And those decisions and judgments will always fit within God's law and within the Scriptures. 1 Timothy 3, verse 15, If I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God. Brethren, this is the house of God, and this is the Church of the living God.

That's where we are here today. This is the Church of the living God, but it goes on the same. The pillar and ground or foundation of the truth. So, you know, God's ministry is always very conscientious in the way it teaches the basic doctrines of the Bible, to be faithful to it, to not take away one thing from it, not to add one thing to it.

And in all the laws and the statutes, the prophecies of the Bible, and in judgments that are made, then God's ministry and God's Church is always very conscientious that it is the truth. It's really God's Spirit guiding and directing and showing us what we should do and what we should teach.

So, you know, God continues to teach us and to guide us with the truth from His Word. And our spiritual education is ongoing. None of us knows everything about the Bible. None of us is perfected yet in biblical understanding or knowledge. But day by day we should be growing in it.

And the more we learn and the more we grow, guess what? The more deception-proof we become.

The more we are led by God's Spirit, we just become more rooted and more grounded and built up in God's Word. So, are you deception-proof? We could also ask, are you solidly rooted in Bible understanding? Are you being built up day by day with more and more Bible understanding? Are you established and grounded in the truth of God's Word? If so, then you are deception-proof.