How to Avoid the Coming Deception
If only one facet of a diamond is cut, its true brilliance will not shine forth. However, when all of the facets are cut and revealed at the same time, it radiates with majestic glory. God’s heart is like a diamond. He wants us to connect with all aspects or facets of His heart; in that way, we experience His true glory, brilliance and deeper intimacy with Him.
The “Falling Away”
The problem we have with connecting with all aspects of His heart, is that we (the church and the world) have defined and described God in the way that we want Him to be. In other words, we focus on one or maybe a few of His characteristics that we like and that serve us well, and we ignore the rest. The serious dangers of doing this are two-fold: 1) We can’t truly experience and grow in intimacy with God (or with anyone) when we only desire to know “certain parts” of them; and 2) It opens us up to be extremely vulnerable to deception, which will eventually lead to “falling away” from the faith. I sincerely believe that if we do not have true intimacy with God and experience heart knowledge of all of His characteristics (or facets of His heart), we will be among those who are at risk of falling away (Matt. 24:24; Mark 13:22; 2 Thess. 2:3).
The Tidal Wave has Hit!
There is a powerful tidal wave of deception coming which will overtake many before they even know what hit them. In fact, there are already many who are deceived!
Why is this happening? Whenever our focus or study is only on one or two of God’s attributes, excluding the others, that’s when deception creeps in. The coming deceptions are going to have the appearance of good things. If they were blatantly bad, they would not deceive. Deceptions are not going to come from someone who has horns and carries a pitchfork. The nature of the deception that is rapidly coming upon us may sound very spiritual and even be associated with prayer, worship and the Word. But beware, the spirits behind it will be deceiving and its doctrines demonic (1 Tim. 4:1).
For example, if we are only holding onto the attribute of love and none of the others, of course same-sex marriage and homosexuality will look good because, after all, what could be wrong about people living in love? Of course an emphasis on tolerance, feeding the poor, cleaning up the environment and social justice are all good things—but apart from allegiance to Jesus, the cause itself becomes God. The cause—social justice, for example—is worshiped and adored rather than Jesus on the throne as the way, the truth and the life. Tolerance and social justice ultimately take priority over the salvation message, leading to the belief that all religions lead to the same God and if people are sincere in their belief in God (as they have defined Him), they really don’t need Jesus to get to heaven.
God “Redefined”
Again, the problem with all of these definitions of God is that they are based upon one, or maybe two of His attributes, and not all of them! Yes, God is love, but He is also Truth, holy, sovereign, righteous, just, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and unchanging—and He’s all of these at the same time. He doesn’t switch from one characteristic to another at different times, depending upon our needs. He never changes. Here are a few examples:
1. When you explore Leviticus, the sacrifices, the laws of ritual purification and clean and unclean; when you study Solomon and Herod’s temples, as well as Ezekiel’s future Millennial temple—its practices, laws, and rituals of the priests—you come away with a clear picture of God’s holiness, love and mercy working together! His love was always making a way for us to draw near to Him, while mercy kept anything remotely related to death out of His presence so that it didn’t burn up from His holiness!
2. When you study the throne room scene in Revelation 4, Jesus is revealed shining forth in unapproachable light like a diamond, with fiery eyes, with a voice like thunder and lightning. All throughout Scripture, when prophets were given a vision of Jesus or God the Father, fire was always in the description, and their immediate response was to fall down on their faces before Him. Is that our response when we come into God’s presence in prayer or in a worship service, or are we thinking about what we have to get done that day or what we need from Him?
When you study, focus on and experience all the facets of God’s heart that He has revealed, you won’t be deceived by teachings that are based upon only one attribute of God, and you won’t fall away from the faith. On the contrary, you will be able to stand strong, unshaken in the face of deception, continuing to release His power and accomplish His purposes in these end times.
Jeanne Nigro is a frequent speaker at conferences, congregations and retreats worldwide. Her teachings are relevant, practical and life-transforming, whether she is bringing Old Testament truths to life, healing strongholds of the heart or preparing believers for Jesus’ return. Her latest book, Unshaken: Standing Strong in Uncertain Times, will be released by Destiny Image in Fall 2016. All of Jeanne’s teachings and blogs are available on her website at www.jeannenigro.com.
