Iron and Clay Pt 10
STRONG DELUSION
Introduction
Isaiah 44:8–20
8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any. 9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. 10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
12 The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. 15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. 18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? 20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
How long has it been for the people of Israel?
Called out of the Chaldees, a chosen people begotten from the loins of Abraham. They endured the affliction of an enslaved nation in Egypt, delivered by many sings and wonders. He parted the sea for them that they may pass through. He was to them a cloudy Pillar by day and fiery column by night, he led them through the wilderness and fed them with the bread of heaven.
Man did eat angels food (Ps 78:25).
Yet they believed him not.
TEN times they blasphemed the Lord through unbelief and they seemed to have remained this way all their lives.
Yet God had chosen them, he promised to keep them, promised to set them apart inspite of their unbelief, in spite of their disobedience.
Now they stand by as Isaiah writes his letter.
They stand to see the advice that is given them as he puts pen to paper and what they read is astonishing, even to our own ears some 2700 years later.
Isaiah writes this portion of the letter to them and we read it with incredulity, as if any people could be so removed from reality, as if any people could be so encompassed with MADNESS, “shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?”.
YET THIS DESCRIBES MANY OF US IN THIS VERY DAY.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;…2 Timothy 4:3a
When the plainness of the word spoken and written is rejected and all we want to hold to, all we choose to beleive is that which we choose to beleive, HOW ARE WE DIFFERENT FROM THE IDOL WORSHIPPING JEWS OF OLD?
How are we not ourselves COMPASSED WITH THE “STRONG DELUSION” OF A “lying vanity”?
“8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.” Said Jonah 2:8
Have we not all like sheep gone astray? Have we not all turned every one to his own way?
If the LORD did lay upon his son the iniquity of us all, would any be sparred, would any be worthy of hope?
“STRONG DELUSION”
The Bible tells us that the last days will be filled with STRONG DELUSION, if you and I have not yet set an absolute standard for truth NOW, how shall we escape strong delusion the nearer those days come?
2 Thessalonians 2:11–12
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Can the very elect be deceived?
Matthew 24:24
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
We recall the seventh chapter in this same gospel account testifies to “MANY” who trust themselves to BE SAVED, but are lost and shall be turned away in that day.
Deceived into thinking they had no risk of HELL.
The people of Israel, at least a number of them, are here seen to fall down to the stock of a tree and not realise for a single moment, not have the presence of mind for a single moment to even ask, “is there not a lie in my right hand?”
The BLIND irrational nature of mankind to simply believe ONLY what they choose to believe is setting themselves up for STRONG DELUSION.
Though they read the Bible, though they see the truth with their very eyes, though they are not yet asleep to the madness of the world that is around them, they have not yet CHOSEN for themselves a FINAL AUTHORITY, and if they have, they WILL NOT AVAIL themselves of it that they may be wise.
YET THEY CAN.
And if they will, that which may come to them is the greatest blessing for all their days, through which the treasures of heaven will be open to them.
The Confusion IN Delusion
Isaiah 44:12-15
12 The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. 15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
There is a level of madness in the heart of the people that are here that is difficult to comprehend in the natural sense of the world.
Gods by nature are not made with the hands of men, they are not fashioned, they are not crafted in the mind and moulded by the hand, they are always known to be SEPERATE from man, they have no dwelling with men.
When the Chaldeans answered King Nebuchanessar respecting his demand to be both told his dream AND given the interpretation, the Chaldeans plainly answered the impossibility of the task saying;
Daniel 2:11
11 And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
And yet here we have it in Isaiah, gods shaped and moulded in both the hands of the smith and the carpenter.
The Ash was planted, the tree was watered, they watched it grow and sat in its shade. They chopped it down and used a part of it to heat their bodies in the cold of the day, another part they burned to use to cook their food.
Then the ruler is laid, the line is drawn, the compass is marked and the plains shear the shape into the image of a man.
All of this is done continuously, all has been done purposefully.
Some of it has been done practically and that with a practical purpose, the heat the body and cook the food. So far, so good.
There is none that can deny the time, none that could question the purpose or the responsibility. So far so good.
You and I spend our days in both work and communication. Our work is attended to often through communication and the communication we have one to another is such that enables the efficient and effectiveness of our work to be attended to in a good and logical manner.
Our days may differ from one another in manner and yet we can all related one to another.
We set the time for our alarm to waken us from sleep. We do so because we know there is a time of preparation that needs to be attended to before we head into the traffic, onto transport or on our journey to our place of employment.
Not a single one of us do what we do to prepare for work arbitrarily. We do what we do purposefully.
If our work begins at 9am, would it be reasonable to think that we can get out of bed at 9:30am to get to work on time???? Or would that be DELUSIONAL?
Does our work wrap itself around our personal preferences?
How long will we keep our job if we attended to it base on our PERSONAL PREFERENCES?
WILL REALITY CATCH UP TO US?
Yet is this not how we treat the Bible?
The smith works with the sweat of his brow with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.
And yet is is making to himself a thing of complete and utter vanity, a work of NO benefit. Time that could have been spent blessing his family, he chooses that which is a CONTRADICTION WITHIN A DELUSION….and so do many of us when we know the truth of a matter and do it not.
We choose to sin, knowing it has no benefit but only a cost, and we wave it away as if it matters not.
We read the scriptures which SAY THE EXACT OPPOSITE of what we have chosen to believe is truth, and we wave it away and ignore the CONTRADICTION.
Brethren, we are setting ourselves up for STRONG DELUSION.
IKKEA has furniture that you can buy online.
Generally it comes in flat packs, completely disassembled which we need to put together so that we can make use of the purpose for which it was created.
There is only ONE way to read the assembly instructions in order to employ the product for the PURPOSE to which it was created.
YET, the CONTRADICTION OF DELUSION supposes that the Bible, the INSTRUCTION OF LIFE, can be read CONTRARY to what is written and still expect life and eternity will function according to purpose.
Psalm 135:15–18
15 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. 16 They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; 17 They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. 18 They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.
The Hubris Of Delusion
Isaiah 44:16-17
16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
In every part of verse 16 things work in perfect accordance to reality, and it is EXPEREINCED as such.
The wood is burnt and provides heat, both to cook with and to warm the chill of the bones.
We use all that we use in accordance to the LIMIT of the product we employ. If I need a 16mm spanner to remove a bolt, I am never going to do so with a hair dryer.
If a hair dryer was the ONLY item at my disposal, no matter how much I would want to use it to remove a 16mm Hexagonal bolt, it wont.
The ONLY way for this to work is for me to NAVIGATE myself around the situation at hand and NOT TO HOPE THAT THE SITUATION will NAVIGATE TO MY PREFERENCE.
I am currently reading The Critique of Pure Reason by the 18th century German Philosopher, Immanuel Kant.
In the preface to the second edition of the book he makes an observation that had me think of the mistakes we often do that leads us to a state of delusion.
Kant made the note of Nicolous Coppernicus, who did all that he could respecting the currently prevailing idea of the GEOCENTRIC nature of the Universe, in other words, that the UNIVERSE revolved around the SPECTATOR.
We are the spectators, and the universe revolves around us, this is what is known as the “GEOCENTRIC” view of the universe that was the prevailing view from the time of Aristotle, almost two thousand years earlier.
The problem for Copernicus was that the math simply did not work.
No matter how much he wanted the world to revolve around us, it was not until the “SPECTATOR” was forced to move around the Sun, did the math of the universe work.
It was then that I realised this is how far too many Christians read their Bibles. This is tragically how far too many people in the world live their lives.
THIS IS THE NAVIGATION OF DELUSION!
Reality be damned!
….he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
Proverbs 26:16
16 The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.
Girls today are growing up thinking that they are boys. Boys are being told they can choose whatever gender they feel like being.
So many are told that REALITY has a duty to Navigate around them and they ought to expect the math to work out, the ought to expect everything will be ok.
Young teenagers bodies are being mutilated because of the NAVIGATION OF DELUSION that is being entertained by “experts”, and our Law makers are making it ILLEGAL to question the morality of it.
It is ILLEGAL for Christian Foster Care parents to take their children to Church for fear of influence, but perfectly acceptable to take them to see a SEXUAL pervert read “bedtime” stories in a public Library, such NAVIGATION OF DELUSION will ship wreck many lives.
BABIES ARE BEING KILLED BY THEIR MOTHERS.
Doctors are leaving Babies to die on cold bench tops.
And we discard our parents via assisted living or assisted dying.
We call MURDER “Care” and call Speech “abuse”
And Christians AID and ABET it all when we force the Bible to Navigate around US rather than submit ourselves to it.
Turn to
2 Thessalonians 2:8–12
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
We voluntarily submit ourselves to a lie when;
1. We wont read the TRUTH God has given us.
2. We force the TRUTH to LIE to OUR satisfaction.
Turn to;
2 Timothy 4:3–4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
This is TODAY.
MANY who call themselves Christians now “turn away their ears from the truth” and turn themselves to fables, fairy tales they prefer to believe is true.
They are no better than the godless world that picks and chooses what they want to believe, what ‘gods’ they want to worship.
Everything else in life they do KNOWING that if they dont navigate themselves accordingly THEY WONT KEEP THEIR JOBS, they WONT build the furniture to usefulness, the wont use a hairdryer to undo a bolt, they NAVIGATE THEMSELVES around everything else….but the TRUTH.
When it comes to what matters most, they employ THE NAVIGATION OF DELUSION.
Isaiah 30:8–10
8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: 9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Job 21:13–16
13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. 14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? 16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
The Diffusion Of Delusion
Isaiah 44:18–20
18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? 20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
The conscience has been seared as with a hot iron.
Though the truth is laid at the feet, the unwillingness to consider it removes the understanding of the heart and God hands them over to SELF DECEPTION.
20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
It is not a problem of the mind, the problem is the heart. The heart has justified that which is done CONTRARY to all that is known, and now the conscience itself is seared.
What is it that hardens a mother against her own Child?
There is a community of people in Australia who have 133 boys to every 100 mothers, how can this be unless a choice is made the moment the sex of the baby is identified and discarded?
In Egypt, in the time when Moses was a babe, it was all the male children killed and the girls saved alive, today it is the girls who are killed and the boys saved alive.
What is it that doctors have been so hardened against the lives of babies?
What is it that nurses have joined to assist in the murder of our little ones?
What is it that an entire community of people, from parents to politicians, have their consciences seared against the lives of a smallest children, but cry in disdain of any who abuse them in life?
Murdering them is justified, abusing them unacceptable….when will both be acceptable?
…a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
In the last verse of the book of Judges it says;
Judges 21:25
25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
This I understand in a godless world, where I do not understand it is among those who name themselves under God.
2 Timothy 4:3–4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
In South Africa today, as in Zimbabwe some time ago, they are killing their own farmers to the destruction of their own lives. The men who fed them, can feed them no more and so will many die of hunger.
Christians have done so with their pastors for many years to this day. A year ago it was attempted in this very Church. All it took was a PEDLAR of DELUSION through which many could channel their hatred of “sound doctrine”.
Beloved, DELUSION is not without external assistance. We see this in the world today. Those who want to the world to NAVIGATE around themselves are helped, even through force against those who would turn them back to reality.
Christians are meant to be the final frontier for TRUTH, holding ONLY to the Bible as the sole arbiter of TRUTH.
Today they will not endure sound doctrine. And so the Teachers of Sound Doctrine are replaced by those who cannot teach, just as the farmers of South Africa are replaced by them who cannot feed.
Before long;
Jude 4
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter 2
2 Peter 2:1–3
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Beloved, God does not want you to be deceived. A STRONG DELUSION is coming and Satan has his own “ministers of light”, we have seen this already last year. But if you will not read your Bibles, there will be MANY who will try to undermine your faith and trust in the Lord, and it will be far easier than you think if your Bible remains closed.
2 Peter 2:17–19
17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
I have seen a number of men in my time fit this description, several of whom were in this Church, and gender does not limit them.
“Great swelling words of vanity” “wells without water”
God has given you ways to see them and to guard against them.
Romans 16:17–18
17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
Defence Against Delusion
Proverbs 1:7
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:20–31
20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: 21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Psalm 18:2
2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
John 14:15–17
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
2 Thessalonians 2:10–12
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
,Psalm 18:30
30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Psalm 19:7–8
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Hebrews 5:12–14
12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Psalm 1:1–3
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
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