"Have We Been Seduced?" He Is Able Page 077 at http://www.he-is-able.com/page077.html


	Have We Been Seduced?


But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. II Timothy 3:13.


And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him NOT: For FALSE CHRISTS and FALSE PROPHETS SHALL RISE, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. Mark 13:21-23. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. I Timothy 4:1,2.

That noble Apostle of God, Paul, recognized how easy it is to be seduced: And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. II Corinthians 12:7. Oh, there are PLENTY of folks to tell you that you don't have to "be burdened" or "go through trials and tribulations", but if you will read II Corinthians 12:1-9, you will have a better understanding of why Paul was glad, that's RIGHT, I said GLAD to have such an "infirmity". We all want that same power that Paul had working in his life, but are we TRULY willing to do what it takes to have it?? Or have we been seduced by the world and the things of this world??

Mr. Webster defines the word seduce as "leading away from". It means to entice or beguile, to win over. II Timothy 3:13 uses the word deceiving. Rest assured, when you have been seduced, you have been deceived!! Never before in the history of mankind have more been seduced (deceived) than they are today! This is not about sinners--those who have not yet come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. No, no--I'm referring to those who profess to be "Christians". Let me tell you right now, it takes more than MERELY "professing": it takes possession of that which we "profess" to be overcomers. Revelation 12:11 says we are overcomers by what? By *the blood of the Lamb AND* by the word of our testimony**.

Our testimony is not just the words we speak, either! Our testimony is made up of many facets of our lives, including words, actions, attitudes. Jesus Himself said, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 7:21. All of us know of someone whose testimony is not even a shadow of what it used to be. At one time, they were fervently "on fire" for God, but they are now in the congregation of the "has beens". Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Hebrews 2:1. We aren't gripping the things of God--we've got a death grip on the world and the things of the world--we have let the things of God slip from our grasp! We are defeated and depressed and wonder how we got that way! There's no mystery to it, and it didn't just "suddenly" take place. A "seducing spirit" creeps into our lives very subtly, through the "small things". You know, those "things" that are unimportant, right? I remind you, the scriptures tell us in Song of Solomon 2:15 that it's the LITTLE FOXES that spoil the vine. Oh the WORLD says, "Don't sweat the small stuff." Let me tell you right now, moles can undermine even the foundation of a house (and they are SMALL creatures). We had better NOT fall for the lies of the world--we'd better "sweat the small stuff", at least to the extent that we are aware of the enemy's tactics and we do NOT allow "small things" to creep into our lives that will seduce us away from God! That's how we get into so much trouble in our "Christian" walk: we think, "Oh I can handle this and this and this--I'm saving the BIG stuff for God to handle." We better understand something:

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. I Corinthians 10:1-5. Why were they overthrown? They were SEDUCED. Let's read it: Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should NOT lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition... I Corinthians 10:6-11. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. I Corinthians 10:12. All right, so how do we keep from being seduced?? Just as that scripture passage says, don't be seduced (deceived) into thinking you cannot be seduced. If the great Apostle Paul, a STRONG man of God, had to guard against being seduced, we weak little namby pamby, diluted, dummied down, so-called "Christians" of this world today had sure better heed the warning!!

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. I John 4:1. Do we do that? NO! We've got time for everything in our lives BUT God. We have allowed so much to creep into our lives and keep us from studying the Bible, learning its precepts, hiding them in our hearts (and minds), that we settle for, "Well, it sounds good. It pleases my ears. I'm going to accept it for right." WE HAVE BEEN SEDUCED!

Do you know what G.I.G.O. means? It means, "Garbage In, Garbage Out". In OTHER WORDS, you're going to get out what you put in! You put in garbage, you're going to get garbage out! The Word of God verifies that for us: O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Matthew 12:34,36,37. To put it bluntly, "It ain't small stuff to God!" We can read it however we want to--verse 36 tells us EVERY (and that means "ALL") IDLE WORD. Verse 36 in The Living Bible reads like this: "And I tell you this, that you must give account on Judgment Day for EVERY idle word you speak." Verse 36 in The New International Bible reads like this: "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for EVERY careless word they have spoken."

There are all kinds of Seducing Spirits at work in the church today. That's right, that's what I said: IN THE CHURCH--amongst the members of the Body of Christ. And we are allowing more and more to be brought in under the seduction (guise) of "You've got to keep people interested." Show me scripture and verse from the written Word of God where it instructs us to bring the world and the things of the world into the House of God, amongst the members of the Body of Christ (and that includes ANY church professing the doctrine of Jesus Christ and Him crucified)! Pastors, preachers and teachers are being seduced into teaching from everything BUT the Word of God. Why is that? Because they don't know it and they don't understand it. They refuse to take the time to study, pray and ask for wisdom. So they settle for some person's personal (private) interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. And the rest of us sit there and swallow it hand over fist, then "act" amazed that we are powerless in our lives.

We want to get all fired up over prayer in the schools. How many of us have prayer in our HOMES? How many of us sit down with our children and read the Bible? We want the schools to do what we are NOT WILLING to do, but it's been that way for decades now! We want to blame Madelyn Murray O'Hare, but it is NOT her fault! It is yours and mine! WE (you and me) LET IT HAPPEN under the seduction of, "Well, times, they are a'changin. We've got to stay modern." We want to blame society for the ills of this world--tell me, who makes up "society"? You and me! The youth groups of the churches are now into "Survivor Games". We ALL know where that come from! Calling one another names and breeding all kinds of contentious feelings toward one another! Tell me how that can possibly line up with this: For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from ALL iniquity, and PURIFY unto himself a PECULIAR people, ZEALOUS of GOOD WORKS. Titus 2:11-14. We don't want to be thought of as "peculiar" when it comes to the things of God! We don't want to stand out as true followers of Christ! However, we want to be seen as individuals about every other matter in the world--we want our "own identity" instead of taking on the identity of Jesus Christ. Oh yes, "Christians" of ALL rank and caliber have been seduced!

Let me tell you, the author of all this confusion, the father of these seducing spirits is mighty happy with what he is accomplishing amongst the children of God today. When we start giving in to old self and his/her imaginations, we are being seduced! For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. II Corinthians 10:3-5. The NIV says of Verse 5 there, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

My friends, we need to put God FIRST in our lives. We need to get our MINDS FIXED on GOD! Our thoughts need to be centered on Him and our compliance with His Will in our lives! The Bible tells us that God will ...keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Isaiah 26:3,4.
(all emphasis on scriptures, such as bold, underline and uppercase, is mine) "Have We Been Seduced?" Copyright © 2001 by Patricia Sikes. All Rights Reserved.

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