Category: Deception

2/4/2025 1 Comment

Running Away

In Genesis, Jacob (whose name meant heel or supplanter) twice defrauded his brother, Esau. First, he manipulated Esau into giving him his birthright. Second, he stole Esau’s blessing by deceiving his aged and blind father, Isaac, into thinking he was his brother. So, it was ironic that years later, Jacob’s uncle Laban cheated him multiple times—first, by giving away of his daughters as brides, and second, by changing his wages on numerous occasions for rendered work. So, when God told Jacob to return to his own family, he seized the opportunity to leave while his uncle was shearing sheep. He did not give Laban the chance to say goodbye to his daughter and grandchildren, instead secretly fleeing.

1 Comment

10/19/2024 1 Comment

Den of Robbers

One of a person's most detrimental beliefs is that attending church offers a pass for bad behavior. The thinking runs like this. I attend church every Sunday. Therefore, God is pleased with me. He gets His due, and I can do whatever the hell I want during the rest of the week.

1 Comment

9/11/2024 1 Comment

Debating

Meditation
Jude 9--Yet Michael the archangel, when he was disputing with the Devil in a debate about Moses’ body, did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

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6/23/2024 2 Comments

Bad Company

Judas Iscariot had a great life going. Selected by Jesus, the world’s only perfect leader, he joined a team of eleven others to follow God’s Son. We don’t know much about Judas, but John 12:4-6 is revealing.
Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray Him), said, “Why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?” He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.
Was Judas a rebellious, immoral man? Or was he a confused follower who occasionally stole money for his pursuits? Why would he betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver when he could have prolonged their time together and continued his successful pilfering?

2 Comments

3/20/2024 1 Comment

Pretending

Alice* presented her plan for her organization to succeed if certain political events went differently than expected. Sadly, her presentation failed because she neglected to vet it with her peers, and her message needed to be clearer. It caused subordinates to question how in touch their senior leaders were with them.

One of the junior supervisors, Becky, wept as she shared her frustration with senior leadership’s inability to appreciate their needs. Her vulnerability encouraged many in the room to speak up with similar thoughts, and the atmosphere in the room became tense and somewhat awkward. Feeling overwhelmed, Becky left the meeting.

1 Comment

1/7/2024 0 Comments

Three Consequences of Sin and a Great Danger

Recently, I spoke with Jackson,* a sailor who was part of my ministry over three decades ago. He called to apologize over a series of texts that frankly were spawned from frustration and anger over racial issues he was troubled by. During our conversation, he linked his bondage to pornography to his father, who beat his wife, Jackson, and his older brother. His justification troubled me, and he permitted me to speak candidly.

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7/3/2023 1 Comment

"The Sparkle Creed"

Edina Community Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Edina, Minnesota, celebrated Pride Sunday led by their female pastor in reciting the sparkle creed whose words state:
I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads, and who saw everyone as a sibling child of God. I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.[1]
This creed is a gross perversion of theology. It represents the misguided attempts of a congregation to fit God into their inclusive agenda that will spare no expense to accommodate a world fully intent on making sexual sin something to celebrate and force upon all those who take God’s warnings seriously and strive to obey Him.

1 Comment

6/5/2023 1 Comment

Drinking the Living Water

If you have ever hiked in the mountains, you know that the higher you climb, the purer the water source will be. But as the streams flow downward, they become part of the forest, and now purification tablets are needed to protect against giardia parasites which can cause giardiasis. Continuing downward, the stream merges with other streams and becomes a river. More pollutants are added as waste flows into the river from drainage systems, and people throw their trash, dump chemicals, etc., into the water. So what is my point?

1 Comment

7/1/2022 0 Comments

Inability to See

Meditation
John 8:25-27—“Who are You?” they questioned. “Precisely what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them. I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the One who sent Me is true, and what I have heard from Him—these things I tell the world.” They did not know He was speaking to them about the Father.

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3/6/2022 0 Comments

Busted

Ralph wanted to go to the movies with his friends but attending cinemas was not allowed in his church. So, he concocted a story and asked his mother if she would give him a ride to his friend Harold's house the next day to attend his birthday party. She mentioned they would need to get Harold a birthday gift, but Ralph said he didn’t want any presents. His mother must have known that was strange. The next night it was pouring rain and Ralph’s mom suggested as they pulled up to a dark house that Harold's party must have been cancelled. Ralph assured her they were in the back part of the house and ran through the rain to the front door and knocked. When his buddy opened the door and let him in, Ralph’s mother drove off. But the night’s adventures were just beginning.

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12/22/2021 3 Comments

Four Things God Hates

St. Augustine wrote in Augustine Confessions:
"Thus they hate the truth for the sake of that other thing which they love because they take it for truth. They love truth when it enlightens them, they hate truth when it accuses them. Because they do not wish to be deceived and do wish to deceive, they love truth when it reveals itself, and hate it when it reveals them."
We like genuineness when it suits or helps us, but not so much when it exposes us or shows our wrong motives or conduct. Perhaps that is why there is a Jewish parable that says, “Truth is heavy, so few men carry it.”

3 Comments

3/22/2021 0 Comments

Baal

The Israelites were living in mountain hideouts, caves and strongholds to escape the Midianites, Amalekites and Qedemites who frequently attacked them (Judges 6:2,3). Before God would use a young man named Gideon to deliver Israel from these aggressive raiders, He needed to wrest the weakest house in the tribe of Manasseh from their allegiance to Baal. Gideon’s own father and family members were engaged in idol worship. So an angel of the LORD appeared to him and gave him a mission.

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10/26/2020 1 Comment

Don't Be Exploited

Alicia listened with rapt attention as Brother Berrie* encouraged his listeners to send as large a gift as possible to his ministry. She was amazed at the number of people healed by Berrie’s touch and their stirring testimonies. He was a magnificent speaker and she was certain he carried the blessing of heaven. Berrie told his listeners that by giving to him they would ensure themselves health—no sickness would overcome them. He said that God personally told him that the larger the gift his donors sent him guaranteed them a higher rewarded position in the afterlife because of the impact of his ministry. Though she was barely managing to keep her home together as a single mom, Alicia eagerly went online and gave $150 hard-earned dollars.

1 Comment

12/5/2019 0 Comments

Oscar's Vision

Oscar and Queta

Oscar, in September of 2003, had a vision where he was on the beach in a messed up condition when someone approached him, took him to the ocean, and began to cleanse him with ocean water. In the vision he stopped crying and felt an incredible peace. He asked the person helping him, “Who are you?” The person replied, “I’m God.” Oscar was a 3rd generation atheist on his mother’s side and 4th generation atheist on his father’s side. His vision began a religious quest in which he sampled Buddhism, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religions while maintaining his heavy lifestyle of partying and heavy alcohol consumption.

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7/17/2019 2 Comments

These Aren't My Pants!

I heard a story on the radio recently of a policeman who was searching a man. As he went through his pockets he discovered several bags full of illegal drugs. Before he could say anything, the man gave him an exasperated look and said, “These aren’t my pants!”

2 Comments

3/5/2018

Escaping Deception

Sam Daniels (not his real name) was a diehard Muslim born in Damascus, Syria to a devoted and committed Muslim middle-class family. Sam in his youth memorized the entire Quran. He graduated from a university in England as a civil engineer in 1987, and eventually found work in the United States, yet, despite every achievement he accomplished, he never had any lasting satisfaction.

1/17/2017 0 Comments

Say You're My Sister

Meditation
Genesis 12:10-13—There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine in the land was severe. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live. Please say you’re my sister so it will go well for me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.”

The story of Abraham would make a great movie. Knowing how attractive his wife was and what the Egyptians were like, he was correct in being concerned. Pharaoh’s

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6/30/2015

Twitter Lies

Operation Guardian is an exercise designed for selected Army units to practice search and rescue, decontamination, life-saving skills, convoy movement and set up and tear down of portable equipment. I had the opportunity to watch my soldiers train in Florida and Georgia. When I arrived in Ocala my staff briefed me that there were civilians seeking admittance to our training who were spreading reports that the exercise was a staging operation to bring in foreign occupation troops and remove American freedoms.

2/15/2014

The Trouble with Lying

The most pain I have suffered (in terms of damage inflicted by a person) was caused by the lying of someone I trusted. We opened up our home to be used as a rental managed by a friend. His vision was to help get men who were homeless off the streets. But instead of following the guidelines we established he began lying about what was happening with the residents as well as telling people that we had given him the home. Ultimately we had to go to court just to get possession of the house. His betrayal, lies, and the financial and emotional cost to my wife and me generated much suffering. I realize that compared to what many others throughout the world have suffered this was not so bad. Even so, it gave me a lasting memory of the harmful impact of lies.

8/7/2013

Gospel of Accommodation

Imagine if a few influential leaders suggested that traffic lights are too restrictive. They offend a percentage of drivers who feel trapped and forced to conform to other motorists. Three-way lights are insensitive to the needs of the color blind and old fashioned. Either do away with them or give each driver leeway to determine whether to brake or accelerate. Of course, if this really happened there would be an outcry by safety-minded drivers for the ruckus and accidents that would ensue.