A citizen says, “Now I have nothing against blacks. I’m voting for the white candidate because I agree with him on the issues.”
A disgruntled employee says, “That guy got promoted because he’s cozying up to the boss. I’m really a much better worker.”
A candidate tells senior citizens that he’s absolutely committed to better medical benefits. Then he tells the chamber of commerce audience that he’s absolutely against higher taxes.
A capable young man tells himself that when he gets more time he’ll serve in a church position. Then he joins a health club to workout three times a week.
Now, what was happening is each of these cases? The Scriptures call it deceiving!
To lie or deceive means to utter untruths or attempt to mislead by falsehoods. A New Testament story emphasizes this point. “A certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself . . . and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet, (pretending that it was all he got for the land). But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God’ ” (Acts 5:1-4).
Peter said the sin in Ananias and Sapphira’s case was especially horrendous because the deceit was against the Holy Spirit.
Now it wasn’t a sin to keep part of the money. Peter said, “That was your choice. It was yours!” The problem was in the pretense. Why did they need to appear magnanimous? What prompted the sham? What created the greed? In the depth of their being they were false. The lie was to the God within.
This same word is used several other places in the New Testament. John says that kind of deceit has no part of truth. “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth” (I John 2:21).
Authenticity is crucial for health and happiness. John also speaks to hypocrisy. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (I John 1:6).
In other words, if our lips don’t match our lives, we’re deceiving ourselves and others.
James says deceit actually opposes truth. “If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth” (James 3:14).
The writer of Hebrews makes a very significant point. God is totally truth, so no deceit on His part is possible. “It is impossible for God to lie . . .” (Heb. 6:18).
God was and is and will be the same “Yesterday, today and forever” (see Heb. 13:8).
God doesn’t play games!
Paul becomes even more personal and practical. He associated this type of deceit with the destruction of the conscience. “The hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron” (I Tim. 4:2).
This destruction of conscience is the bottom line. A seared conscience has a tough scarred overlay. It has no sensitivity. It doesn’t feel anymore! In short, it’s worthless!
Why, then, is deceiving the Holy Spirit so reprehensible? Deceiving the Holy Spirit is a deadly sin because when we condition our conscience we destroy its usefulness.
We, as human beings, are almost infinitely adaptable. Being adaptable is essential to life. It’s a survival skill, but it can also be destructive. Over time, negative conditioning can deactivate our moral warning system. It can lull us into a false sense of security.
Smoke alarms with dead batteries are worse than no smoke alarms at all. They are worse, because we have been taught to depend on them. Since we expect them to warn us, we are less alert to other clues. Likewise, a conscience that has been perverted can be worst than not having a conscience at all. It is worse, because we have been taught to depend on it. Since we expect the conscience to warn us, we are less alert to other clues. “Let your conscience be your guide” is a universal motto, but it’s only as valid as the conscience.
Unfortunately, if we use empty excuses to justify a decision; if we pretend to agree when we don’t; if we push undesirable feelings down into our sub-conscience; if we claim to believe things that we know to be false, we’re perverting our conscience and deceiving the Holy Spirit.
If we continue doing this we’ll lose our ability to discriminate. Then we’ll actually think we’re being honest, even when we’re lying. Once this happens we’re helpless. That’s why the sin is fatal.
Biologists tell of an experiment with frogs. They say when they drop a frog into a pan of hot water, it immediately realizes the danger and hops out with no harm done. However, if they put a frog in a pan of tepid water and then very gradually increase the temperature, the frog will sit there until it dies; never realizing that the water is getting too hot!
That’s conditioning!
The gradual wearing away of our internal alarm system is an ever present danger. When the conscience hurts, we call it guilt. Guilt is a good and necessary warning device.
A little girl was asked to define the conscience. She said, “It’s like a little square box with very sharp corners. When we do something wrong, it turns over and the corners stick us and it hurts. If we keep doing a lot of wrong things, the box turns over so much that the corners wear off smooth and then it can turn over without hurting.”
That’s conditioning!
Deceiving the Holy Spirit is reprehensible because it destroys our conscience and leaves us vulnerable to evil.
Certain respectable sins do so much damage because we deny we’re committing them. Taking shortcuts, rationalizing selfish actions and justifying cowardly behavior is deceiving the Holy Spirit. Other sins such as choosing the lesser of two evils, admits the fault and thus, is not nearly so damaging. Sometimes we must make conscious situational choices that are less than perfect, but if we realize this problem and face this human frailty, it won’t destroy our conscience.
In other words, sins that we recognize and confess are not as destructive as sins that we hide and deny.
How then can we avoid this deadly sin. How can we avoid deceiving the Holy Spirit?
We can do it by staying scrupulously honest. We can acknowledge what our ears hear and our eyes see. We can admit discrepancies and faults. We can be ruthlessly objective in settling our inner conflicts. We can beware of positions that are too comfortable! We can make the right decisions and take the right paths. If we must make an undesirable decision, we can admit it. We can do these things, but will we?
If we’re to stay honest and authentic in the midst of propaganda and public opinion, we need a reliable moral guide. Christ said one essential function of the Holy Spirit is to guide. “But when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth . . .” (John 16:13).
The Holy Spirit is a pointer that automatically helps us choose the most productive path. This Spiritual sense of direction reminds us that we are children of God. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14).
All of us need guidance and help with choices. All of us need to feel sure of our actions. Unfortunately, many religions present their adherents with a globe or an atlas and say, “The way is marked!” If you’re lost in the wilderness, however, a globe isn’t very helpful. Christ knew this, so he sent the Holy Spirit to act as our personal guide.
A salesman in a small business aircraft was flying over some rugged terrain when he saw an automobile trying to pass a large truck. He said it was obvious that the driver of the car was impatient to get around the truck. He kept crossing back and forth from one lane to the other.
Each time the driver tried to pass, he would either reach a double line, a hill, a bend or meet another car. From the pilot’s perspective, he could see several miles down the highway and he thought, “If I could talk with that man in the automobile, I could tell him when it is safe to pass and when it is unsafe.”
That’s the story of God and man. In this great adventure called life, we cannot see around the curve into tomorrow or over the hill into next week. Consequently, we are not sure when it’s safe to pass. An omniscient God, seeing the end from the beginning does know, and wants to guide us.
That’s the great advantage of having God within instead of trying to follow written instructions or trying to remember oral commandments. An internal truth detector allows us to operate boldly and naturally.
“I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his bsrother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest . . .” (Jer. 31:33-34).
Having this permanent, dependable direction finder is necessary because many of life’s paths are treacherous. A man was visiting a farm when he decided to go for a walk. He took a local boy with him. They chose an inviting path through the pasture. It was bright with clover blooms and buttercups; but suddenly the boy stopped. “Why don’t you want to follow this path?” the visitor asked. “Well,” the child replied, “that path was made by pigs and before you go very far you’re gonna get in the awfullest patch of weeds and bogs you ever saw.”
If we stay in touch with our guide we can avoid these pitfalls. When we follow our highest instincts; when we avoid tempting shortcuts; when we make decisions and feel right about them; when we keep our conscience sensitive and our moral warning apparatus intact, that’s the work of the Holy Spirit.
Deceiving the Holy Spirit is deadly because when the conscience gives false signals, we may stray into danger. An honest conscience lets us become self-disciplined, autonomous and independent. It enables us to make decisions and adjust as necessary to stay on the best course.
Paul calls these traits the fruits of the Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is . . . goodness, faithfulness . . .” (Gal. 5:22-23); and righteousness . . .” (Eph. 5:9, KJV). These gifts of the Holy Spirit fill basic moral needs. Goodness, faith and righteousness are of universal importance.
Goodness in a Spirit filled Christian, is not especially concerned with appearances. The word Paul uses means intrinsic virtue, not external piety.
The gift of faith is essential to ensure a calm, confident outlook.
The righteousness he advocates involves justice and fairness. It’s the inner character, not the outer demeanor that is being evaluated.
A wise philosopher once said, “If we grew physically at the same rate we grow spiritually, we’d all spend our lives in a play pen!” We need the Holy Spirit to instill values, increase self-discipline and develop independence.
Psychological honesty includes openness, objectivity and inner awareness. It leads to a strong authentic, realistic lifestyle. Deceiving the Holy Spirit undermines psychological honesty because the Holy Spirit controls the conscience.
False ideas can cause a lot of damage. A man once hijacked a plane to Cuba with a box and a bar of soap. The package itself was harmless, but it worked as well as a bomb because the crew believed it was a bomb.
Sufferers of bulimia or anorexia can look into the mirror and see themselves as fat, even if they are emaciated. Alcoholics can deny their addiction by saying, “I’ll quit drinking when I want too!” False ideas are powerful negative forces.
The writer of Proverbs realized the significance of right thinking. “As he thinks within himself, so he is” (Prov. 23:7).
Even the earliest writers knew the power of the imagination to deceive. “You shall flee when no one is pursuing you” (Lev. 26:17).
We need a guide. Certain airplanes have “V” shaped radio beams that operate with auditory beeps. At its widest portion of five miles, the sounds can still be heard. When the plane veers off course to the right, the pilot hears a dash-dot signal. When it veers off course to the left he hears a dot-dash signal. When it is directly on the beam he hears a constant hum. In this way the jet is guided unerringly to its destination.
This represents a wonderful triumph of inventive genius, a marvelous conquest of the laws of nature; but there’s something within us which is even more wonderful than a radio beam. It is that divine beam of truth and light called the conscience. It shows us the path of safety. To follow that guide is to follow the Holy Spirit.
Unfortunately, however, if a vandal or mischief maker tampers with the automatic controls in that jet, he can cause a horrendous crash.
The same thing is true with the conscience. Faking it, pretending or closing our eyes to truth is tampering with the controls of our divine guidance system. Suppose a little red light appears on your auto dashboard. Maybe you don’t see it; or maybe you see it and ignore it; or maybe you’re in a hurry and say, “I’ll tend to that tomorrow”; or maybe you stop and take a hammer and break out the bulb, saying, “Now, that’s better. It doesn’t blink anymore. Everything is great!”
No! Everything isn’t great. Things are worse than ever. You didn’t fix the problem. You just destroyed the warning device! It’s dangerous to destroy your conscience and deceive the Holy Spirit!
Don’t lie to yourself. Don’t set up invalid belief systems. Don’t rely on illusions. Don’t rationalize your selfish actions. Don’t justify your destructive behaviors. God the Holy Spirit is in you and deceiving that Spirit is fatal.
(WC2432)
From: Spiritual Vandalism, by Maralene and Miles Wesner, Diversity Press, 1988 (Plastic Comb binding).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Copyrighted 2009 by Miles and Maralene Wesner, Idabel, OK. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THIS MESSAGE IN ANY WAY YOU THINK IS APPROPRIATE. The only thing we ask is that you give credit for original material in PUBLISHED works.
NEW PERSPECTIVES is a free service from Diversity Press.
My offer of books for postage still stands.
You may find other messages and a book list on our Webpage:
www.ForMinistry.com/USOKSOBCOFBC5
or www.diversitypress.com
Email: wdiversitypress@aol.com or milesewesner@gmail.com
Phone: 1-580-286-3148
Remember, you may cancel at any time by replying with CANCEL written on the SUBJECT line and click on REPLY. Your address will then be excluded from receiving any more NPs.
Miles E Wesner
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(WC2285)
Copyrighted 2009 by Miles and Maralene Wesner, Idabel, OK. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THIS MESSAGE IN ANY WAY YOU THINK IS APPROPRIATE. The only thing we ask is that you give credit for original material in PUBLISHED works.
NEW PERSPECTIVES is a free service from Diversity Press.
My offer of books for postage still stands.
You may find other messages and a book list on our Webpage:
www.ForMinistry.com/USOKSOBCOFBC5
or www.diversitypress.com
Email: wdiversitypress@aol.com or milesewesner@gmail.com
Phone: 1-580-286-3148
Miles E Wesner
Diversity Press
PO Box 25, Idabel, Oklahoma 74745
Phone (Voice or FAX): 580-286-3148
E-Mail: wdiversitypress@aol.com
About Us / Educational
Products / Religious Products /
Newsletter / Sermons / To
Order