Masters at Manipulative Tactics

“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help

    and rely on horses,

who trust in chariots because they are many

    and in horsemen because they are very strong,

but do not look to the Holy One of Israel

    or consult the Lord!” (Isaiah 31:1 ESV)

Be very careful who you believe and who you put your trust in and who you follow or idolize or admire, etc. All people (humans) are flesh and blood, and all have the capacity to fail. And many are good at fakery and at putting on performances to impress others and/or to deceive others. Many are experts in duplicity, in appearing one way in front of some people while being someone else entirely in front of other people. Many are good at storytelling, too, but the stories do not represent who they really are, in truth.

Many are liars and deceivers and manipulators and charmers who know how to trick and to convince and to capture the hearts of other humans. Their influences among those professing faith in Jesus Christ are especially powerful and effective in convincing them of the lies that they tell them. They may be charlatans and wolves in sheep’s clothing who are out to deceive the masses with a false gospel message. Or they may be haters who slander and who do evil against those they are jealous of.

They may, in some instances, take on a completely different character from what they had been displaying, depending upon whom they are trying to impress. But they just as easily can change right back, too. So, they could tell you one thing, and then in front of someone else say the exact opposite, perhaps to impress, or perhaps to try to make you look bad, like a fool. Their personalities can change so rapidly that you may not see it coming when the change appears. For they can turn on you “on a dime.”

For they are not people who are to be trusted, although they can appear as though they are good and righteous and pure of heart and mind. And this is why the Scriptures dedicate much teaching to this subject of false teachers and prophets, and of false christs, and of the necessity that we test them and their character and their teachings in prayer and in the study of the Scriptures, in their appropriate context. And it lets us know that we will know them by their deeds, but also by all the words that they speak.

“Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel. For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.” (Isaiah 31:6-7 ESV)

But it isn’t just that there are a lot of liars and deceivers and tricksters and manipulators among us who we need to be discerning about. We are not to look to human flesh to be “God” to us or to be the “Word of God” to us, or to be our “saviors” and those who will rescue us from “evil.” All humans have the capacity to fail us. So we should not put any human on a pedestal. Honor those for whom honor is due, yes, but make certain that the honor is justified and that they are who they say they are and that they are being true to God’s word, and that they are of moral character and love for God.

But God alone is to be our God. Jesus Christ is our only Savior. No human being is going to be able to save us, the people of this earth, from the forces of evil in this world, or from our own sinful natures. Only Jesus Christ has the power to save the people of this world from what ails them. For it is sin in the hearts of human beings that makes the earth so filled with evil. And only Jesus can deliver us out of our bondage to sin, and to empower us to live godly, morally pure, upright, honest, and obedient lives to God.

So, don’t look to human beings to be your saviors, or to be the answer to your troubles, or to rescue you from the evil that is in this world of ours. Look only to God. But don’t look to God to do everything for you while you just sit back and watch him work. For Jesus died on that cross that we might die to sin and live to his righteousness. He shed his blood to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we will now serve and obey the Lord with our lives. And if we keep walking in sin, and not in obedience to God, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

Living Sacrifices  

An Original Work / September 14, 2012

Based off Romans 12:1-2; Romans 6:11-14 NIV

Oh, holy ones, I counsel you,

In view of God’s mercy,

To give yourselves to God in love

As living offerings,

Pleasing to God, holy in love.

This is your true worship.

Do not conform to worldly lives.

Let God transform you today.

Then you’ll be able to

Test and approve of what

God’s will is – His pleasing

And perfect will. Oh, holy ones, 

I counsel you – Offer yourselves unto God. 

Oh, holy ones, I counsel you – 

Do not be conceited.

Humble yourselves before your God.

Do not be self-righteous.

The strength you have to live in love

Comes from your Lord God, so

Live your new lives in pow’r of God.

Be changed in heart, mind and will.

Do this because of what

Christ did for you when 

He died on the cross to save

The world from sin. Oh, holy ones, 

I counsel you – Humble yourselves before God.

Oh, holy ones, I counsel you –

Count yourselves dead to sin,

But be alive to God in Christ.

Do not let sin reign in

Your earthly lives so you

Obey its evil desires.

Offer yourselves unto your God

As those who’ve been born again.

For sin shall no longer be 

Your lord and master.

Give of yourselves to God

For righteousness. Oh, holy ones, 

I counsel you – Be alive to God in Christ. 

https://vimeo.com/118480946