These Kinds of Christians Are Candidates for Deception

Many, many people are being tricked into the occult today. I have to say there is a type of what I call charismatic fortune telling, which I regard with great suspicion. Sometimes it’ll be true, and sometimes it won’t.

But you see, people who get the desire to get a word from God from a prophet are on dangerous ground. Not that it couldn’t happen, but to have that desire is to expose yourself to a lot of risks.

I want to give you now just a list of some people who are candidates for deception. And as I go through this list, I invite you to check with yourself. It’s not a complete list, but at least it gives you some idea.

Here they are, candidates for deception: Those who rely only on subjective impressions. “Well, when that brother prophesied over me, I felt so good. I know that must have been from God.” You don’t know. And it’s very dangerous to assume you do. There are a lot of other tests you have to apply.

Second lot, those who look only to human leaders. If a certain man says it, they believe it. That’s very dangerous. There are no infallible human leaders, and I’m not one. I don’t want people believing it because I say it. I think those of you that know me, I’m always careful to direct people to Scripture and not to my subjective impressions.

Third category, those who accept supernatural signs as a guarantee of truth. Jesus Himself said that false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, but they’re false prophets. So the mere fact that something supernatural takes place is not, by itself, a sufficient guarantee that the person who produces it is a true prophet.

The next category are those who, through personal ambitions, are susceptible to flattery. Because you know what I said about flattery?

“The one who flatters his neighbor with his mouth spreads a net for his feet.”

Not being preachers, most of you, you don’t know how preachers like to be appreciated. And that’s reasonable, that’s perfectly fair. But the problem is that sometimes we look for appreciation in the wrong place. And by desiring to be appreciated, we get ourselves hooked on something we shouldn’t be involved in.

The next category is those who are unwilling to face the possibility of suffering or persecution. Sooner or later, they are bound to be deceived. Because the Bible warns us so clearly, we must expect to face suffering and persecution. Peter says in his first epistle, chapter 4, verses 1 and 2,

“Because Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same mind.”

In other words, be prepared for suffering. My comment on that is that a large number of God’s people today are being sent out unarmed. They haven’t seen this fact that suffering happens. It’s part of the Christian life. It’s part of God’s way of dealing with us. And anybody who only promises good, I could say without qualification, is a false prophet.

And then, finally, those who are ignorant of Scripture. Now, there are people in remote countries or persecuted situations where they don’t have a Bible, they just have a word. God will be merciful to them. But for you and me, who have the whole Bible easily available, if we don’t study our Bibles, we are candidates for deception. We deserve to be deceived.

Let me give you those, that list again without comment. Number one, those who rely on subjective impressions. Number two, those who look only to human leaders. Number three, those who accept supernatural signs as a guarantee of truth. Number four, those who, through personal ambition, are susceptible to flattery. Number five, those who are unwilling to face the possibility of suffering and persecution. And number six, those who are ignorant of Scripture.