Deception

Matthew 15:14 

Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.

I remember I'd attended an event where I'd assisted with prophetic worship. I'd discerned that something was off in the atmosphere but I couldn't put a finger on it. 

Have you ever walked into a space in the natural and smelled a whiff of something pungent? 

And you asked yourself after sniffing a couple of times, 

"What is that? What is that smell?" 

This was how I felt, yet from a spiritual perspective.

 Shortly after worship, a man of God had come up to the podium to share his testimony about how God came through for him in a financial manner. Then he solicited everyone to sow an offering. I sowed a seed and sat back down still bothered by an alarm going off in my spirit. 

The man of God gave a brief introduction of who'd be speaking that night, a prophet from Africa whom he'd met some time ago. 

The prophet took to the pulpit and spoke for a few. Then he began to prophesy to a couple of individuals. He looked back at the choir stand where I was and called up the person to my immediate right and immediate left and prophesied to them. 

Afterwards, he asked who needed healing and probably half the people seated in the congregation got in line. 

I watched from the choir stand as he would ask each person what was their ailment. He then took some oil and laid hands on them.  

Then something happened, giving me pause and explained what I'd picked up. 

A man came up to him and he asked him what was his issue and the man told him diabetes. 

The prophet then told him that the doctor was only prescribing him medicine to take his money and that he needed to sow a $40 seed into his healing from diabetes. 

The man sowed the seed. 

My spirit went berserk. 

Another man came up to him and told the prophet about his ailment, I believe it was related to a slipped disc or some kind of back pain. The prophet told him the same thing, that the doctor was only prescribing him medicine to keep coming back to pay for it and that he needed to sow a seed into his healing. 

The only difference was, the prophet told the man that God had told him before he'd walked into the building that evening that 3 people needed to sow a seed into their healing and that this man was specifically one of them. He told the man that he needed to sow $100 into his healing. 

By this time, I was flabbergasted. 

The man looked at the prophet straight faced but I could read everything he was saying. He did not want to budge. Unfortunately, his wife didn't pick up her husband's non-verbal cues. She rushed back to her seat and retrieved her pocketbook to write a check for the amount. 

Po' tink tink. 

Matthew 24:24 

For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

And that is when it'd hit me what I'd sensed the entire time. 

DECEPTION.

It is a more convert tactic of the enemy. Typically used to lull people into a comatose or zombie state.  People will legit lose all cognizance under the rouse of deception.

In this particular case in contrast to what I'd witnessed, I've never read an account in the bible where Jesus told people to sow a seed into their healing. His disciples didn't require the afflicted do so either. Everyone's healing was financed by their faith. 

So what compelled this prophet from Africa to coerce these vulnerable men to sow coin into their healing?

Why, his harboring of the stinky serpent called deception! 

I've discovered that deception is permissibly granted access into the house of God, when people have not developed a true intimacy with the word of God. Simple as that. 

I shared with you all in Beyond the Thunderdome, that the sword of the spirit is the word of God which we need to have on our person at all times. 

We've got to eat, sleep, and drink the word or else risk being bamboozled. There is an infestation of deception found in the house of God which has people majoring in the minors while they are simultaneously being manipulated by twisted doctrine or worse the doctrine of whole demons. 

Right now, we have the community of super saints breaking out in seizures over a secular artist's recent conversion into Christianity and the project he dedicated to Jesus but are surprisingly silent about or purposely overlooking the deception that's going on in their church houses. They're submitted to people right now who are drip feeding them sugar water laced with deceit and treachery.

In Acts 8:9-14, there was a man by the name of Simon who it was recorded that he was a sorcerer for many years amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be great. 

It stated that everyone from the least to the greatest spoke of him as the "Great One--the Power of God."

They would listen to him closely because he'd for a long time astounded them with his magic. But then this account said, Apostle Philip came to town sharing the good news concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result many people were baptized. Simon ended up believing the message too and got baptized as well. He begin to follow Philip and became amazed by the miracles he performed. 

Apostle Peter and Apostle John was sent to help Philip pray for the new believers to receive Holy Spirit because they had not received it yet since they'd only been baptized. Simon saw how when they'd laid hands on the people they received Holy Spirit and offered to pay money to buy this power. 

Peter rebuked him and basically told him to get on somewhere and move around. Ha! 

There's a few nuggets I want to pull from this so keep up with me folks. If I happen to tick you off (if I haven't already), don't worry you'll live. Trust me. 

I'm planning my disappearance soon, so I'll be out of your hairs shortly. 

The people really thought Simon the sorcerer possessed the power of God because he could do magic. 

If I were to guess, he probably was very quick with his hands and great at creating illusions. 

They were deceived because they didn't know the gospel until Simon's whole operation was shut down when Philip came WITH THE GOSPEL! 

The Gospel is packed with the true power, authority, and anointing of God. 

People realized that there was actually an alternative to simply being entertained. 

They were being saved by the revelation of the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ. 

God's word untainted, shuts down any operation of deception any day.  

The gospel exposes weak foundations and faulty establishments. 

Let's take a look at the word deceive more closely. 

d e c E i V E. 

Well hello there? Anybody see that? 

Deceive which is the verb form of deception has a person's name in it of whom we all should know. 

The first woman to ever be deceived; EVE. 

Deception is nothing but the same scheme used in the initial fall of man. 

The only difference is, in the beginning, man KNEW THE WORD because he walked with Him. 

You see what I did there? 

Today, people don't even know the word. They just know CHURCH! Making it very easy to be led straight off a cliff! 

#Tragic

I'm not done. But I'm almost done.

Simon followed the men of God around. Chose to be baptized by them. Believed the authenticity of their power. But then wanted to BUY IT! 

Let me tell you something, the power of GOD can never be BOUGHT! 

If you find yourself being asked to PAY to experience the power of God in any capacity, 

YOU ARE BEING DECEIVED. 

If you think or if someone makes you believe that you can buy your way into the kingdom of God,
YOU ARE BEING DECEIVED. 

If you think that some ordination papers that you bought or the degree or certificate that you paid for will somehow give you access to God's authority and anointing,

YOU ARE DECEIVED. 

If you would prefer to rely on, zodiac signs and tarot cards, psychics and mediums instead of discernment and Holy Spirit. 

YOU ARE DECEIVED. 

If you think burning sage will help you above seeking Jesus and going to a therapist, 

YOU ARE DECEIVED.

If you're only interested in possessing the power, authority, and anointing of God to make a profit, 

YOU ARE MOST DEFINITELY DECEIVED. 

God is not some soggy lucky charm that you can flash to score duckets and tickle your fancy. God will entrust His power, authority, and anointing into people whom He can trust. 

He and what comes with Him, is not for sale. 

#Period

Let's stop the madness.

You can be gifted all you want. It does not mean you have power. You can draw people all you want, that does not mean you have authority. You can have the crowd going ham, that does not mean you have an anointing.

Just refer back to Simon the sorcerer.

If people want to see you more than they want to know Jesus, then it's not God's power. If people don't desire repentance after encountering you, then it's not God's authority. If people only respond to your presence and can't tell when Jesus is in the room, MY GOD that is not the anointing. 

Until you've come under the full submission of God's word, have denied self and allowed this combination to work in you, you will not have access to none of these nor the ability to even relay the mysteries of God to a people who don't know Him. 

 So here's our challenge! Let's smoke out any area in ourselves that have come under the influence of deception and let's disassociate from any activities, entities, and/or beliefs that has us operating or walking in deception. This is going to require placing our gifts on mute and holding ourselves up against the word of God as we die. 

This entire year, I have dismantled a few altars of deception in my own spaces. I've been challenging everything I believe and every behavior using the word. Most of these altars were put in place by associations. Others were used to plug holes left after severing some old

trauma bonds. Deep right? 

I remember I used to rock tough with somebody who would purposely give me wrong ungodly counsel so they could benefit from my confusion and decisions made in error. 

NOW, I've made a habit of scrutinizing WHY I do what I do. If it doesn't line up with a biblical principle and/or comes with peace, then it's too expensive to partake in and therefore, more than likely tied to DECEPTION. 

Anyway, it get's deep, complicated, and messy when you start digging for the root of the matter. 

What I'm trying to say is, it's not a good look to try to introduce men and women to God while walking in full blown deception. It's time to stop passing this thing around like a common cold. 

If we can be honest, deception could also be attributed to the deliberate attempt to preserve self for a myriad of reasons. 

The word of God tells us in Matthew 16:25, that if any man wants to save his life he will lose it. But if any man loses his life, he will gain it. 

Whether we've been walking in deception knowingly or unknowingly, we can make an intentional effort today to take the attention off of ourselves and back on Jesus so we can walk in light and truth!