Deception is an intriguing subject. The very nature of deception prevents the deceived person from recognizing that he is a victim of deception.
Deception is a liar. It causes one to believe that what is false is true. Deception is Satan's chief weapon against humanity. Deception is the counterfeit of Truth.
You will be free to the degree that you eliminate deception from your life.
How can you know if you are being deceived? You can know that you are being deceived if what you believe is contrary to Holy Scripture. God's Word, also known as the Bible, is absolute Truth. It is the standard by which all philosophies, all ideologies, all belief systems, all scientific hypotheses, and all methodologies must be measured to determine if they are true or not.
It is a little know fact that Christopher Columbus learned that the earth is round by reading the Book of Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 22 where Scripture says that "God sits above the circle of the earth." God tells us in this verse that the earth is round.
You say you do not believe the Holy Scriptures? Why not? Has your way of living worked? Has it brought you permanent fulfillment, peace, and joy? Be honest with yourself.
I was once like you. Lost and searching for meaning in life. I found it in Jesus Christ. And so can you!
I encourage you to explore God's Word for yourself. It is His manual for humanity. Just as you received a manual when you purchased your car or your washing machine, God has given us a manual to help us understand how we are made and how to live successfully in this world.
As always, if you have any questions, please write to me at maryann@maryanndiorio.com. Meanwhile, my prayer is that you will come to know how deeply Jesus Christ loves you!
Showing posts with label deception. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deception. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Are You Being Deceived?
No one likes to be deceived. Synonyms for deceived are tricked and betrayed. If you have ever been tricked or betrayed, you know that deception can make you very angry. Worst than that, deception can cost you greatly, even to the point of costing you your life.
Satan is the Arch-Deceiver. His desire is to trick you into believing a lie. Then, once you believe the lie, he betrays you, leaving you to the suffering, destruction, and even death that believing the lie has caused you.
One of the biggest lies that Satan uses to deceive is the lie that he doesn't exist. If you believe he doesn't exist, you won't be on the lookout for him. You won't consider him your enemy if you believe he doesn't exist.
The truth is that Satan does exist, and he is continually trying to thwart God's destiny for your life.
What is God's destiny for you? It is that you have a wonderful relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
God wants to bless you. Why? Because He loves you.
God created you for Himself. He wants you to be His child, and He wants to be your Father.
Satan hates this truth. Satan hates God and everything associated with God. For this reason, Satan wants to get back at God by destroying God's creation; namely, YOU!
My prayer is that you will recognize Satan's deception in your life. To do this, you will need God's power that becomes yours when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Jesus Christ is the only way by which you can establish a relationship with God the Father. You see, Jesus Christ represented you on the Cross at Calvary. He took your place. By rights, you and I should have been condemned to hell because of our sins. But Jesus gave His life in our place so that we would not have to spend eternity in hell.
Once you receive Jesus Christ, you become a new creature on the inside. The new creature you become is able to see the things of the spirit and to understand them. Until you accept Christ, you will not be able to understand the things that pertain to God. You will not be able to discern truth from error.
Accept Jesus Christ today as your Savior. He is coming back to earth soon. Only those who have received Him will be saved. All others will go to hell.
So, stop being deceived. You owe it to yourself to check out what I am saying. Do your own research. Ask God to show you the truth. When I did, He did.
Satan is the Arch-Deceiver. His desire is to trick you into believing a lie. Then, once you believe the lie, he betrays you, leaving you to the suffering, destruction, and even death that believing the lie has caused you.
One of the biggest lies that Satan uses to deceive is the lie that he doesn't exist. If you believe he doesn't exist, you won't be on the lookout for him. You won't consider him your enemy if you believe he doesn't exist.
The truth is that Satan does exist, and he is continually trying to thwart God's destiny for your life.
What is God's destiny for you? It is that you have a wonderful relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
God wants to bless you. Why? Because He loves you.
God created you for Himself. He wants you to be His child, and He wants to be your Father.
Satan hates this truth. Satan hates God and everything associated with God. For this reason, Satan wants to get back at God by destroying God's creation; namely, YOU!
My prayer is that you will recognize Satan's deception in your life. To do this, you will need God's power that becomes yours when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Jesus Christ is the only way by which you can establish a relationship with God the Father. You see, Jesus Christ represented you on the Cross at Calvary. He took your place. By rights, you and I should have been condemned to hell because of our sins. But Jesus gave His life in our place so that we would not have to spend eternity in hell.
Once you receive Jesus Christ, you become a new creature on the inside. The new creature you become is able to see the things of the spirit and to understand them. Until you accept Christ, you will not be able to understand the things that pertain to God. You will not be able to discern truth from error.
Accept Jesus Christ today as your Savior. He is coming back to earth soon. Only those who have received Him will be saved. All others will go to hell.
So, stop being deceived. You owe it to yourself to check out what I am saying. Do your own research. Ask God to show you the truth. When I did, He did.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Are You Thinking Straight?
Emotional problems result from believing lies. Since we were designed to function according to truth, any deviation from truth will cause us to malfunction, whether emotionally, physically, or spiritually.
So, the big question becomes What is truth? Truth is defined as "the actual state of a matter" (Dictionary.com). But herein lies the problem: Who determines what the actual state of a matter is?
For me, the actual state of a matter may be one thing; for you, it may be another.
What this means is that my truth may not be your truth, and vice versa. This way of thinking is called relativism and is a lie.
In our culture, man has taken it upon himself to determine the actual state of a matter. For example, it is common for people to say things like, "Abortion is not an option for me, but it may be an option for you". Many have determined that the actual state of the matter about abortion is that it is a viable option for terminating a pregnancy. Some have determined that the actual state of the matter about abortion is that abortion at any stage is murder.
The nature of Truth is that it applies to everyone everywhere, equally and indiscriminately. This means that Truth is absolute, just as gravity is absolute. No matter who you are, if you jump off a roof, you will go down.
Most people don't like the truth that Truth is absolute. In fact, they rebel against it. But what they don't understand is that by rebelling against absolute Truth, they are hurting themselves. That hurt may not show up right away, but it will always show up eventually.
Man was designed by God to function according to the laws of Truth. When man deviates from those laws and goes his own way, he will always suffer. There's no escaping this truth.
We need to understand that emotional problems result from rebelling against Truth and insisting upon creating our own truth. Any thinking pattern that deviates from God's thinking pattern will end up hurting us.
God's thinking pattern is found in His Word, the Holy Bible. If we want to learn how God thinks, then we must read His Word. As we change our thinking to align with God's thinking, we will be moving closer to the Truth and closer to emotional health.
So, the big question becomes What is truth? Truth is defined as "the actual state of a matter" (Dictionary.com). But herein lies the problem: Who determines what the actual state of a matter is?
For me, the actual state of a matter may be one thing; for you, it may be another.
What this means is that my truth may not be your truth, and vice versa. This way of thinking is called relativism and is a lie.
In our culture, man has taken it upon himself to determine the actual state of a matter. For example, it is common for people to say things like, "Abortion is not an option for me, but it may be an option for you". Many have determined that the actual state of the matter about abortion is that it is a viable option for terminating a pregnancy. Some have determined that the actual state of the matter about abortion is that abortion at any stage is murder.
The nature of Truth is that it applies to everyone everywhere, equally and indiscriminately. This means that Truth is absolute, just as gravity is absolute. No matter who you are, if you jump off a roof, you will go down.
Most people don't like the truth that Truth is absolute. In fact, they rebel against it. But what they don't understand is that by rebelling against absolute Truth, they are hurting themselves. That hurt may not show up right away, but it will always show up eventually.
Man was designed by God to function according to the laws of Truth. When man deviates from those laws and goes his own way, he will always suffer. There's no escaping this truth.
We need to understand that emotional problems result from rebelling against Truth and insisting upon creating our own truth. Any thinking pattern that deviates from God's thinking pattern will end up hurting us.
God's thinking pattern is found in His Word, the Holy Bible. If we want to learn how God thinks, then we must read His Word. As we change our thinking to align with God's thinking, we will be moving closer to the Truth and closer to emotional health.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
How to Identify the Lies You Are Believing
In this week's post, I am assuming that you have already accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord and that you are a believer. If you have not yet accepted Christ, I urge you to read last week's post entitled "Lies and How They Hinder You".
Today we're going to discuss how to identify the lies that you are believing and that are keeping you in bondage. Here is a basic rule of thumb in identifying lies: Any thought you have that contradicts what God says about you is a lie.
So how can you know what thoughts contradict what God says about you? Great question! A question to which there is an easy answer. But first let me tell you a story.
When a person trains to become a bank teller, she has to learn to recognize counterfeit money. But, amazingly, she never handles counterfeit money to learn what it feels like. She handles only real money. And she handles real money so often and so well that if a counterfeit bill should pass through her fingers, she would instantly recognize it as counterfeit. Why? Because she knows what real money feels like, and she can immediately recognize when false money is in her hands.
The same is true with us. If we handle God's Word (the Truth) often enough and well enough, we will instantly recognize the counterfeit (the Lie) that Satan sends our way.
So the first step in identifying the lies you are believing is to study the Bible. Read it. Memorize verses. Meditate on the Word. Saturate yourself with it as much as you can so that when Satan throws a lie at you, you will instantly recognize it as a counterfeit.
If you have not formed the habit of reading the Bible every day, start today. Begin with the Gospel of John in the New Testament. Read slowly and apply what you read to your personal life. As you do, you will be handling the Truth and you will be getting to know it well.
Next week, we'll explore what it means to want to get well.
Today we're going to discuss how to identify the lies that you are believing and that are keeping you in bondage. Here is a basic rule of thumb in identifying lies: Any thought you have that contradicts what God says about you is a lie.
So how can you know what thoughts contradict what God says about you? Great question! A question to which there is an easy answer. But first let me tell you a story.
When a person trains to become a bank teller, she has to learn to recognize counterfeit money. But, amazingly, she never handles counterfeit money to learn what it feels like. She handles only real money. And she handles real money so often and so well that if a counterfeit bill should pass through her fingers, she would instantly recognize it as counterfeit. Why? Because she knows what real money feels like, and she can immediately recognize when false money is in her hands.
The same is true with us. If we handle God's Word (the Truth) often enough and well enough, we will instantly recognize the counterfeit (the Lie) that Satan sends our way.
So the first step in identifying the lies you are believing is to study the Bible. Read it. Memorize verses. Meditate on the Word. Saturate yourself with it as much as you can so that when Satan throws a lie at you, you will instantly recognize it as a counterfeit.
If you have not formed the habit of reading the Bible every day, start today. Begin with the Gospel of John in the New Testament. Read slowly and apply what you read to your personal life. As you do, you will be handling the Truth and you will be getting to know it well.
Next week, we'll explore what it means to want to get well.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Lies and How They Hinder Us
If you're like a lot of people, you are walking around with deep emotional pain but you are keeping it to yourself. You may feel as though you're the only one going through what you're going through. Sometimes, you may even feel as though you're losing your mind. If this describes you, take heart. There is a reason for your dilemma, and there is a way out of it.
Please bear with me as I build a foundation for you. This foundation is important to your understanding of what follows and to getting free of your emotional pain.
You are a three-part being. You have a spirit, a soul, and a body. How do I know this? This information is found in the Holy Bible in the First Book of Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 23. I believe that the Bible is God's manual for man and explains who we are, how we function, and how we should live to create a successful life for ourselves.
When you were born into this world, your spirit was dead. In other words, it was separated from God by what is called original sin. Original sin is the state of separation from God that resulted when Adam and Eve sinned against God by disobeying Him. Their disobedience separated them from God and severed their relationship with Him. Because Adam and Eve could pass on to their children only what they were, we inherited their sin nature and are also born into this world separated from God.
But God the Father loved you so much that He sent Jesus Christ, His Son, to give you a new spirit so that you could be reconnected to God. That is the message of the Gospel, also called the Good News!
Now before you decide that all of this is nonsense, please hear me out.
Adam and Eve sinned because they believed a lie that Satan told them, the lie that God was holding out on them by commanding them not to eat the fruit of a certain tree in the Garden of Eden. In reality, God was protecting them. In disobeying God's command, Adam and Eve essentially called God a liar. The truth was that Satan was the liar.
And he still is. Satan is still whispering lies into people's minds, including yours. But you may not recognize them as Satan's lies. You probably think they are your own thoughts, and sometimes those thoughts drive you nuts.
If you are in bondage in any way to harassing thoughts, bad habits, or tormenting emotions, you can be sure that Satan has whispered lies into your mind and that you are believing those lies. The only way to get rid of the harassing thoughts, bad habits, or tormenting emotions is to identify the lies you are believing, renounce those lies, and replace them with the truth.
The first step in doing this is to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. If you have never done this, I urge you to do so now. None of what I will be talking about will make sense nor will it work unless you have accepted Christ. The reason is that Jesus Christ alone is the Truth. You will never be free without Jesus Christ because He is the Truth Who sets you free. He Himself said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). So pray this simple prayer with me now:
Lord Jesus, I come to You just as I am. I believe that You are the Son of God, that You died on a Cross for me, and that You rose from the dead. I receive You now as my Savior and Lord. Make of me what You created me to be. Set me free by Your power, by Your Spirit, and by Your Love. Amen.
If you prayed this prayer, please let me know so that I can send you some follow-up information. You may reach me at drmaryann@healingthehurtingheart.com.
In future blog posts, we will talk about some of the most common lies that keep people bound. And we will talk about how to identify those lies, renounce them, and replace them with the truth of God's Word.
If this post has helped you, please let me know. And please tell others about Healing the Hurting Heart.
Please bear with me as I build a foundation for you. This foundation is important to your understanding of what follows and to getting free of your emotional pain.
You are a three-part being. You have a spirit, a soul, and a body. How do I know this? This information is found in the Holy Bible in the First Book of Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 23. I believe that the Bible is God's manual for man and explains who we are, how we function, and how we should live to create a successful life for ourselves.
When you were born into this world, your spirit was dead. In other words, it was separated from God by what is called original sin. Original sin is the state of separation from God that resulted when Adam and Eve sinned against God by disobeying Him. Their disobedience separated them from God and severed their relationship with Him. Because Adam and Eve could pass on to their children only what they were, we inherited their sin nature and are also born into this world separated from God.
But God the Father loved you so much that He sent Jesus Christ, His Son, to give you a new spirit so that you could be reconnected to God. That is the message of the Gospel, also called the Good News!
Now before you decide that all of this is nonsense, please hear me out.
Adam and Eve sinned because they believed a lie that Satan told them, the lie that God was holding out on them by commanding them not to eat the fruit of a certain tree in the Garden of Eden. In reality, God was protecting them. In disobeying God's command, Adam and Eve essentially called God a liar. The truth was that Satan was the liar.
And he still is. Satan is still whispering lies into people's minds, including yours. But you may not recognize them as Satan's lies. You probably think they are your own thoughts, and sometimes those thoughts drive you nuts.
If you are in bondage in any way to harassing thoughts, bad habits, or tormenting emotions, you can be sure that Satan has whispered lies into your mind and that you are believing those lies. The only way to get rid of the harassing thoughts, bad habits, or tormenting emotions is to identify the lies you are believing, renounce those lies, and replace them with the truth.
The first step in doing this is to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. If you have never done this, I urge you to do so now. None of what I will be talking about will make sense nor will it work unless you have accepted Christ. The reason is that Jesus Christ alone is the Truth. You will never be free without Jesus Christ because He is the Truth Who sets you free. He Himself said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). So pray this simple prayer with me now:
Lord Jesus, I come to You just as I am. I believe that You are the Son of God, that You died on a Cross for me, and that You rose from the dead. I receive You now as my Savior and Lord. Make of me what You created me to be. Set me free by Your power, by Your Spirit, and by Your Love. Amen.
If you prayed this prayer, please let me know so that I can send you some follow-up information. You may reach me at drmaryann@healingthehurtingheart.com.
In future blog posts, we will talk about some of the most common lies that keep people bound. And we will talk about how to identify those lies, renounce them, and replace them with the truth of God's Word.
If this post has helped you, please let me know. And please tell others about Healing the Hurting Heart.
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