Liar

"Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them." 

~ Hebrews 13:7-9 NKJV

 
I recently watched a documentary about three people who escaped from cults.

Yeah, I can be a nerd, but that's another story.

These people, a young man and two women, had horrible things done to them, all in the name of "truth."

They were abused, raped, convinced to mistreat their family members, persuaded to abandon their families...

All because of a horrible lie.

Today, we’re too quick to trust.

You’ve probably seen and heard the liars on T.V., those men and women who convince people that Jesus is some sort of magic genie ready to grant wishes, that the way of the cross is like skipping through a field loaded with daisies and buttercups. That there's no such need for repentance, but merely for you to turn from your "self-reliance." That whatever sinful urgings you have are to be embraced, because God "made" you the way you are. I think these people forgot that "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9, NKJV).

(Rabbit trail, but if you want to know why it annoys me to no end when someone says, "Oh, I know so-and-so's heart, they mean well," read that verse again).

We’ve only to read Acts to see what wolves those people are. I could be wrong, but I don't think Peter, Paul, and Silas felt like this whole Christianity thing was a buttercup stroll.

But we fall for it, time and time again. We fall for the lies, the deception, because instead of checking to make sure it can stand up with what God’s infallible Word says, we grasp at them like the pretty little baubles they are.

But Satan rarely comes at us obviously.

Instead he likes to package his deceptions in bright paper and glitter. He knows we fall easier for pretty little lies than blatant ones.

I could be wrong, but I think one of the reasons God tells us through the author of Hebrews that Jesus is the same always is to warn us against these liars.

If you hear someone talking about something, and it doesn't line up with what the Bible says about God, then you know they're lying.

If you hear someone saying that there is another authority greater than God and His Word, you know they are the messenger of Satan.

Run far away from these people.

Don't let them deceive you with their lies.

Don't listen to them.

Their pretty little baubles will be their destruction.

Instead, look for the people in your life who follow God's Word.

Look for the people who look to what the Bible says, and follow the instructions.

Let these people be your guides. But, as I mentioned before, make sure you check them against the authority of the Scripture as well. Even Christians whose hearts are set to do God's Will make mistakes (i.e. King David, he made some huge ones).

In short, the Only One you should ever trust completely is God. You can be confident He'll never lie to you.