Gino (28 Mar 2021)
"How do we keep ourselves from being deceived?"


Jesus warned four times, in the Olivet discourse, about being deceived:

Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
  5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
  11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
  24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Paul warned, at least these seven times, about being deceived:

I Corinthians 6:9b Be not deceived

I Corinthians 15:33a Be not deceived

Galatians 6:7a Be not deceived;

Ephesians 4:14b  by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Ephesians 5:6a Let no man deceive you with vain words:

II Thessalonians 2:3a Let no man deceive you by any means:

II Timothy 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

John also warned a couple times about being deceived:

I John 3:7a Little children, let no man deceive you:

II John 7a For many deceivers are entered into the world,

So, how are we keeping these 13 scriptures?
How do we keep ourselves from being deceived?
Do we not, like Eve, hang around where we shouldn't?
By hanging around the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, did she not greatly increase her risk of being deceived?
So, do we, like her, hang around websites and YouTube channels that are filled with false teachers and false prophets?
Do we tell ourselves that we chew it up, but spit out the bones?
Is that how Jesus, Paul, and John were saying to avoid being deceived?
Or do we judge what we see & hear? And by what criterion do we judge?
We, of course, would say, by the scriptures, but is that really so?
First, wouldn't the scriptures warn us to stay away?
Secondly, do we judge only those things that are right, by the scriptures, letting those things that are not right to slide?
Or worse yet, do we judge by what we agree with or disagree with?
Or even worse, by what we like or what we don't like?
So, what could go wrong?

Galatians 3:1a O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,

If all those Galatian Christians were bewitched, how much more could we, as we pick and choose what to see & hear on the internet?