Sincerely Wrong



I was so confused, watching the election outcome speeches yesterday. Trump, Clinton and Obama all sounded the same, said similar things, 2 even quoted scripture!! How can these two sides (and then sides within sides) both appear so "good", so sincere, and be so opposite?? How can you be a hero and a villain at the same time? Lovely people, crying, hugging cheering and working so hard for "good" and yet, being so wrong in another person's eyes. Good people that I love and respect, seeing a totally different reality than I do. Aren't we watching the same movie??

There must be some kind of deception going on. No one is that great of an actor. Accept maybe Hitler, Mao or some other sort. I mean, the self deceiving kind. The kind where people really believe something that is really untrue...wrong...bad...not good...however you want to put it, but it really seems right and good to you. That is the scariest thing ever. What if you are doing that? What if I am doing that? One of us must be, because it is impossible for opposite things to both be right. Trump either hates women or he doesn't. Hillary broke the law or she didn't. We hear people saying all 4 possibilities are true...impossible. I'm talking about moral things, not preferences. Like, white men are either superior to all other races or they are not. It's beyond an opinion thing, and sometimes, allowing some people to go ahead with their opinion can be devastating to the whole world. Their opinion seems harmless. "As long as it doesn't affect me" we say. We let them into power, teach our children year after year after year and then...it affects us all.

I watched the speeches. I heard the sincere words, felt the sincere feelings of loss and fear, but the disconnect between their words and their beliefs was so apparent to me, I couldn't get past it. It's like watching another world from the outside, seeing something they cannot see and not being able to do anything about it. Not being able to share thoughts and ideas because of feelings and desires that overpower. Someone, either me or them is being deceived. Because I just can't believe that they are insincere, and I know I am not. So then, how do you spot a lie? How do you find the truth? How do we all finally see what is real and what is a facade? Or are you just ok with not knowing? Accepting more than one truth. Living in a maze of differing realities with no foundation, no assurance, no right or wrong and no reality. 

Being an outsider looking in at the US division, the deception is very apparent. I know it is universal. I know that no one is immune. But I also think most people are unaware of the possibility of being deceived. It's always someone else that is. Comments about how stupid the other people are for believing X about Y. A better comment might be to start asking people why they believe such things. We need to backtrack out of the weave of deception we've been led into.


So what is the antidote to deception?? How can I be sure that I am not believing a lie??

 "They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11

 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." Romans 1:18

  
The truth is suppressed because of unrighteousness.  
If I have some unconfessed, unrepentant sin  in my life, then I am susceptible to deception. 
I am opening myself up to being tricked by lies, born from my own flesh or the Evil One himself. A clear conscience before God will keep me seeing straight.

It's not a new thing...it's ancient...Eve, because of her desire for power and knowledge, opened herself up to being deceived and fell for it. 

May we be ever aware of the possibility of being duped. Sincerely believing something is right and good, when it isn't in God's eyes. Keeping righteousness at the forefront of our defensive strategy. We cannot know righteousness, if we do not know the true and only God of the Bible.


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