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“Let no one deceive you with empty words…” (Ephesians 5:6).
“…Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you…” (Jeremiah 29:8).
Deception is a sinful act in both the world and the church of God. People without knowledge of a particular thing are easily exploited by those who are smart. Deception takes different forms.
A few years ago, a mother informed me that a medical doctor had expressed interest in marrying her beautiful daughter. She thanked God and sang songs of praise that her daughter would be married to a health professional.
The young woman started sleeping with the doctor, cooking for him and washing his clothes as if they were married. However, it turned out later that the man was a cleaner at a hospital in Kumasi. This is a clear case of deception.
Acts of deception are also common in the Church of Jesus Christ. Charlatans sneak into the Church and use the Bible and the name of Jesus Christ as cover-up to deceive many baby Christians.
Thus, many herbalists, magicians, fetish priests, diviners, sorcerers are now pastoring churches, selling concoctions and performing fake miracles to deceive people. And many baby Christians fall for their trickery.
Baby Christians are those who are not able to tell the difference between true and false ministers of the gospel. So they follow anyone who claims to be a man of God.
If care is not taken, many Christians will be deceived and denied eternal salvation. In fact, many are being deceived daily because of their desperation for quick solutions to their problems.
When people are desperate, they do not mind where solutions to their problems come from. Through desperation, many Christians go to fetish priests, spiritualists and witch doctors for help, thereby making them servants of multiple gods. This certainly does not please the Christian God, who is jealous?
A Christian is not supposed to be desperate. To be desperate is to be anxious. And the Bible tells Christians not be anxious for anything. Rather, they should pray and trust God alone for solutions to their problems. This requires faith and patience.
In our walk with God, miracles, signs and wonders are possible, but they are not the key issue for consideration. The main thing to pay attention to is the teachings that lead believers to eternal life.
The early disciples of Christ followed Him because they realized that He had words of eternal life for them. They did not follow Him just because He could give them breakthroughs.
This must be the mindset of today’s Christians. We must be believers who are deeply focused on words of eternal life, and trust God for breakthroughs in our lives.
By James Quansah
