Deception

12/7/11 Wednesday
Talked to the DAR’s lady yesterday and she finally got the report back from the psychologist. My IQ test score is 112, up from the 99 I scored last time. Not up as high as I hoped but any improvement is appreciated. Still a far cry from the genius level my IQ registered at 40 years ago. It’s frustrating for me to be above average on one hand but unable to complete a project or to remember what I need to do on the other. This is the difficulty with traumatic brain injuries, difficult for others in that they can detect intelligence and assume the person is “Just fine” but can’t comprehend why this intelligent person doesn’t perform well. In this world of great judgmentalism, where many prefer to look down on others and find faults instead of even trying to understand, there is little compassion. This Jesus predicted saying that in the last days the love of many will grow cold.

(Mathew 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.)

How we see this everywhere we turn. There is so much deception that it is glorified in the programs we watch on TV, movies, and amazingly enough even on the advertisements used to sell us products. It is so accepted that most of us don’t even recognize it. Here’s an example, how many of you have heard the advertising campaigns used to convince you to go to Las Vegas? What’s the motto? “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” and the examples used always extol secrecy, where you can go do things that you might not normally do and keep it hidden in the darkness, keep it from view of family or friends. Do you not understand that this promotes living a lie and encourages people to practice living a double life? I lived that kind of life before, and choose now to live a life that has no shame, one I can be proud of without any need to run or hide. I desire to be exposed to the world with no secrets or shame, to live a life my God can be happy with.

We find so many these days being exposed, to their great shame and chagrin. Politicians running for president have their secrets brought out into the light of the world, though some of that could well be purposeful manipulation by their enemies, lies created to hurt and destroy. There have been the recent revelations of famous coaches who turned out to be pedophiles exploiting children. The pastor of a mega church exposed having many homosexual relationships. While it is sad and disconcerting to hear about all of these failures of human dignity the fact is that NONE of us have any secrets before the living God. We will ALL stand before Him in judgment, where all these things will be laid out.

I was talking to Cherie about this as we did our short devotional this morning. We have both been hurt by others, who have not practiced what they professed to believe. “Cherie, when I think about them and what they have done I get sad, not angry. For I know that they must answer to God for their hypocrisy and that can be a terrifying thing.” I explained to her. “So our desire needs to be for them, to love them and pray that when they stand before God they are found approved and lacking nothing”

There is, in the Christian churches, often teachings presented that lead people to think they will be exempt from any judgment or responsibilities for their actions, no accountability. This too was predicted. Paul, in his last days before he was to be put to death for his belief in Jesus, wrote this to Timothy “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom : preach the word ; be ready in season and out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine ; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:1-4)

So, confident that they are exempt from any kind of judgment, many in the church seem eager to judge others, to look down their nose at them, to talk about them and tear others down, and to forget the greatest command of our Lord, who died for all of us. That commandment is to “Love your neighbor as yourself”. The greatest deception is the one where we deceive ourselves, and it is the most dangerous. So I would like to have you read what Jesus, the Son of God who died so that we may have life, says.

"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats ; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat ; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink ; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink ? 38 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels ; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat ; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink ; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 44 "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Do you not yet understand? This is the way our judge, Jesus, sees it. How we treat others, Jesus regards as how we treat HIM!!! So in your conversations and especially in your thoughts, think of others as the representatives of Jesus. “Oh, but this person is trash. He/she is evil doing all kinds of deplorable things” you might say. Really? So tell me, does God love that person? Did Jesus not die for the whole world, all of them, including you? So who are you to judge another? Have you forgotten from where you have been brought from. Hear these words Jesus spoke to the apostle John.
”I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false ; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. 4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first ; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place -unless you repent.”

This is found in Revelation chapter 2 and is a message to the church. It doesn’t matter how many things you do for God, for it is not what you do but why you do it that matters. Understand that I was made alive from death for a purpose, and that purpose is to tell the truth no matter how unpopular it is. Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought.