DECEPTION Series - Part 1

DECEPTION - 1

WHICH BLESSING?

Written by: Pravin Moudgill

All references are from NKJV except where specified otherwise

God, or hell

God wants to me to possess Him. He wants me bless me with Himself. There is a precondition however: If I want Him then I must not have anything else.

• Ezek 44:28 “It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I am their inheritance. You shall give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession.” 

I can have everything else except God, but then I will end up in hell.

• Luke 9:25 “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” 

Cost of gaining Jesus

In order to gain Jesus I have to give up everything else.

• Phil 3:7-8 “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” 

If I decide that the only blessing I want is Christ Himself, then I have to first sit down and make a list of all the other blessings that I will have to give up.

• Luke 14:26-33 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  28…sit down first and count the cost…33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” 

I can begin to follow Him, I can begin my journey as a disciple only if I first understand the cost of following Him, and decide to pay the price. The decision has to be mine. He will then provide the willingness and the ability to follow.

Power of Satan

Satan is the ruler of the world Jn 12:31, 14:30, 16:11. He has authority to grant every blessing of the world.  

Note:  (All power, including the power that Satan exercises comes from God). 

Rev 13:15 “He (Satan) was granted power (by God) to give breath to the image of the beast.”

God grants power to bless to others also, to those who do not know Him, e.g. Mt 7:21-23.)

The blessings he grants will however cease when the world ceases.

The whole world

He can grant the whole world.

• Mt 4:8-9 “Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

False signs

Satan can do miracles, cast out demons, provide healing, promotion, and other blessings.

• Mt 24:24 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” 
• 2 Thess 2:9,  “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders”

Note:  A ‘lying wonder’ is a wonder that comes from Satan, and not from God.

See also Rev 19:20, Rev 16:14, Acts 8:9-11. Pharaoh’s magicians too duplicated many of the miracles that God did through Moses Ex 7:11-12, 21-22, 8:5-7.

Casting out demons

Jews, who rejected Jesus, even they cast out demons.

• Luke 11:19 “And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.” 

Tantriks and others cast out demons; but they do so by the power the higher demon.

Raise from dead

God raises the dead.

Satan too has the power to raise the dead. 

Note:  He exercises power only with the permission of and within the limits set by God as e.g. in the case of Job. God grants him this power in order to test our hearts. 

The beast (one who ruled on behalf of Satan Rev 13:2) had seven heads Rev 13:1. One of his heads was killed, but Satan raised it back to life.

• Rev 13:3 “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound (also CJB, NASB) had been healed.” NIV
• Rev 13:3 “And I saw one of its heads as slain to death, and its deadly stroke was healed” YLT

Note:  ‘Fatal’ means that which causes death.

Make an image come alive

God made dust come alive Gen 2:7. 

Satan too has the power to make an image come alive.

• Rev 13:15 “He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”

Choice

I have to decide what is it that I want?

1. The world and all that is in it, or
2. Christ only, and Him crucified.


I cannot seek both.


Freedom from deception begins when I choose the crucified Christ.
I grow in freedom as I cooperate with the Spirit to remove all else from my heart.