Friday, January 1, 2021

WE LIVE IN A DECEIVED WORLD

Discernment
Heritage Brief 53 - Rick Joyner

In the last few Briefs we addressed how science has refuted Darwinism, Freudian psychology, and Marxism. 

Darwinism, a “theory,” is refuted by the most basic laws of physics, which are laws, not theories. 

Freud and Marx are refuted by how they have never worked to bring about the results they claimed, but rather the opposite—every single time. 

So, why does much of the entire world still embrace these proven fallacies as if they are facts? 

One word explains it—deception

         Before we dig deeper into the terrible results that these three “doctrines of demons” have produced in mankind, we must address a crucial question: 

How do we discern the truth from deception? 

         First, we devote much more attention to knowing the truth than to discerning deception. 

There is a “Spirit of Truth” that we learn to discern that accompanies the truth. 

The truth has a certain dignity, even a nobility, that causes it to stand out from the clamor of all of the deceptions and delusions that try to shout down and veil the truth.

         The truth has the strength and confidence in its position to welcome debate. 

A deception will try to shout down, manipulate, threaten, or do almost anything to escape evaluation for obvious reasons—it will not stand up under scrutiny. 

When we see these methods of intimidation used by any agenda, we can be sure it is because it is a deception that cannot stand up under scrutiny. 

         Perhaps the most obvious contemporary example of a major deception or ruse is the way climate change has been presented. 

The overreactions of those who hold to this fallacy are so extreme that any thinking person, much more so any true scientific mind, has to be alarmed by the way climate change is presented. 

Not only is debate not tolerated, but the threats made to anyone who does not wholeheartedly and unquestionably embrace this theory are a telltale sign that there is deception at the core of this theory. 

         However, we have this factor to contend with: most people (estimates of as many as 80%) respond to strong, overbearing, and dominating authority. 

As the Apostle Paul wrote in II Corinthians 11:20, 

“You tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, devours you, takes advantage of you, if anyone exalts himself, or hits you in the face.” 

We conclude by this that carnal people respond to carnal authority, and most people, even most Christians, are still carnal, or “natural,” not spiritual in their thinking and behavior.

         What is the remedy? 

The Great Commission was to make disciples, not just converts. 

In the Great Commission Jesus defined what this meant when He said to teach them to observe everything that He has commanded. 

If we were to consider the things that Jesus said His disciples would be like, we might think that we have never even met one. 

         If we read the personal journals, other writings, and speeches of the Founders of our Republic, we would have to conclude that all but a few of them were not just disciples of Christ, but were as devout and resolute in their pursuit of Him as could be found since the early church. 

This was the obvious result of the First Great Awakening in which it was estimated that 80% of the population of the colonies had personally heard George Whitefield preach, had been in the revival meetings, and had such an uncommon devotion to knowing The Lord that it would be hard to find any other nation in history so devout as the American colonies. 

         The revisionist historians have sought to refute this truth, but the truth remains unyielding and provable by the original source materials from that period. 

These materials can still be found in abundance. 

It is very encouraging that there is now a groundswell movement in America to recover its true history.

         The Apostle Paul wrote that the Bereans were more “noble-minded” than others he had preached to. 

Why? Because they received his message with an open heart, but did not accept it just because Paul had preached it. 

The Bereans took everything he said and checked it out by the Scriptures. 

This is actually the root of the academic tradition of going to original sources to establish truth or facts.

         Spurgeon once said that he could find ten men who would die for The Bible for every one that would read it. 

We may rejoice at such a devotion to The Bible that so many would be willing to die for it, but what good does this do them if they are deceived because they do not know what is in it? 

It is a good thing to want to attend a church where the truth is preached without compromise, but no one is going to enjoy eternity because they knew someone who knew The Lord. 

We must all know Him for ourselves. 

We must also have the sincere devotion to His truth so that we go home and check out what is preached. 

This is not just to challenge the message, but if it is true, to fortify it in our hearts. 

         Can we say that we have this “noble-mindedness” of the Bereans if we will not sacrifice watching a few mindless sitcoms to take that time to search the Scriptures, and maybe original sources of historical information, to verify what we are being taught? 

With all of the sources of knowledge and information available to us at a keystroke today, we can each do this better and deeper than even the most studious theologians and historians of just a generation ago. 

Is this not at least part of what The Lord meant when He said that He saved His best wine for last? 

How tragic will it be if we do not take advantage of this?

         Even more than this, how tragic will it be that we did not take advantage of getting to know better the One who is The Truth?

         The Bible is the best gift God has given to men. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it, we could not know right from wrong. ~Abraham Lincoln

         America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.~President Woodrow Wilson

To request additional copies of this Heritage Brief, or to request a copy of our latest catalog, call 803-802-5544 ext. 266. To order other MorningStar books and resources online, visit store.morningstarministries.org

© 2021 by Rick Joyner. All rights reserved.

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