Tricked

Tricked

7/28/14

All of us at some point in our lives have been tricked in some form, whether it is a practical joke or being manipulated into trying something that we initially did not wish to complete.  Either way we understand that this event causes us to feel foolish or embarrassed simply because we did not catch on to what was occurring right before our eyes.  While most of these tricks are committed in pure fun there are some tricks that have very serious consequences to them and yet we continue to fall for them on a routine basis.  Yes, we have been tricked so severely that it cost us our physical lives and if we do not open our eyes it will cost us our eternal one as well.

It is not uncommon for us to want to see tricks being completed.  There are many shows that travel around the world that provide us with type of entertainment.  Watching a magic show or even participating in one can be totally awesome and trigger our minds as to how things are really performed.  But one must remember that if we want to see a magic show that means we want to entertain the idea of being tricked.  This also applies for any type of side show or any other trick of the trade as well.

Being tricked is a “tricky” definition in itself.  One cannot be tricked unless they understand that a certain process or procedure has already been established.  Think about it for a moment, how can someone be tricked if they do not know what has already been established; being fooled is another state and specific term that I am not going to addressed at this time.  I remember attending a church camp when I was very young and one year the person that was the special guest that year was a magician.  He would perform one magic trick in the morning service and then one more in the evening service.  At the first morning service he made an announcement that at the last evening service he would show us the secret to one of his tricks and that we would be the ones who chose which one it was.  This excited each of us and could not wait till the last service.

I remember that we picked the burning Bible trick.  It was where he would take a bible and set it on fire and then at some point of the service pick it back up again and read from it.  Of course we all gasped when he did this but to our amazement he would show us the pages of the Bible to let us know that it was a real Bible and that it was not burned but intact.  This was the one that we chose to understand and it proved to be very simple when the truth came out.  The truth was told with just a few simple words and they were this: “I have two Bibles that I use for this trick”.  I remember those words like I heard them just this morning and as soon as he said those words back then the air inside the building went flat.  He picked up the other Bible and opened it.  As he opened it up we all saw that the inside was hollow and black.  He then picked up his Bible that he “really” used for his messages and held them up side by side.   We knew then how we were tricked and after a short demonstration of how he lit the Bible on fire, the answers had been given and the majority of the kids in the building understood how the trick took place.

Most of us have been to or have witnessed some type of magic show.  Being a magician is a popular “profession” that young kids wish to be when they grow up.  The majority of humans are intrigued when it comes to this subject and when the act is being conducted do our best to try and figure out just how the magician performed their trick before it has completed.  Being shown something that one cannot immediately explain gives our finite minds a field day of ideas, thoughts, contemplations and projections to ponder.  And while most of these tricks we are shown prove to be harmless, sometimes events do not go as planned and tragedies occur.  As we are sitting or standing in front of the magician’s act, time continues to pass by for it usually takes a while for the trick to be completed.  Whether the person watching the trick being completed will understand how it is done remains to be seen, but the person performing the trick has mastered it and the results are laid bare for the witness’s eyes to see.  What we also must understand is that sometimes the results of these tricks may not always fall into the exact truth category that we thought it would be.

What about those times that we fall into a trickster’s path but did not intend to be tricked?  Over the past few decades we in the western world have come to know some very infamous names that have dealt thousands of people serious financial losses due to the lies and tricks that these few people have administered.  Scandal after scandal has graced our news headlines for quite some time now and even after these people that were involved have been caught, tried and convicted these types of dirty and deceitful scandals are still ongoing.  Scandals do not have to make public news in order to do its damage, for the personal ones do just as much damage and usually cause more specific pain than those that involve many others.

These people were not convinced overnight it took time for them to be played enough that they became willing enough to turn over portions or even all of their money to a person that they did not know.  Yet in every case these people who were taken for lot of money were told that their rewards would defy the norm and would provide for them like never before; a guaranteed or sure thing as we have heard.  The reputation of a “used car salesman” comes to mind as well when someone is trying their best to sell a person something.  No matter what the cause, idea, or project it is the job of that person to sell you something and to convince you at the same time that you need that specific product.  Do any of these examples sound familiar to you?

It has been proven many times throughout history that being tricked hurts people and that unless it is a comedic setting, those tricks can even prove to be deadly.  Humans like to take advantage of each other just to score the upper hand in a situation, with many of these people not even thinking twice about what they have accomplished or to what extent of the damage left behind.  Tricking people in my mind is a dangerous game and can set precedence for even further revenge if one is willing to devise such a plan.  Ever have one of your friends play a trick on you and then you quietly ponder a way to get your revenge at a later date?  How do you think one would feel if they were swindled out of thousands of dollars or even their homes?  What about an eternal decision, all of these issues must be taken into consideration when being tricked is concerned.  Ever wondered what set this trickery into motion?  If you understand the Bible and more specifically one story within its words, it will become clearer to how this art of deception has grown and developed over the millennia.

The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden has allowed many a theologian, scholar and novice to ponder about why Eve even allowed a serpent to entice her thoughts enough to change the entire course of life for the human.  In this famous passage lies the truth of the fall and what it means to have a relationship with someone one else a how that relationship can provoke certain reactions and choices on both sides.  We have to remember that at this point in human time Satan’s destiny has already been set and it is now his top priority to ensure that humans have the same destiny as his.  For he understands and remembers that he had a great relationship with his Creator at one point in time and he also understands that God’s new creation has that same type of relationship now.

Humans have a built in chicken syndrome within our inner beings.  Most of us will be very cautious when strangers approach us, even if we know that they are scheduled to appear.  This reaction is built within our lives so that we will be cautious enough to listen and to see what we are about to get ourselves into, it is a wise part of our lives that we tend to dismiss and go with the flow even if we have certain doubts about the path that we chose to take.  All of these reactions and actions come from accumulated thoughts, lessons, and teachings that we had at a certain point in our lives; some would even call this experience.  So while we are taken back a few steps we are still curious enough to allow ourselves to be subjected to what is being presented to us.

Eve was still without sin when she began communicating with the serpent and it is undoubtedly correct that as her time increased with this beast her comfortability with it grew as well.  I am sure that she had questions for the serpent to which he readily supplied answers that tickled her ears for if someone gives a harsh answer at the beginning, the interest is lost and no further communication is deemed necessary.  The trust foundation between the two creations must have been solid enough for the serpent to venture into the realm of God’s laws and one must come to the conclusion that some of their discussions did end in some type of agreement where God’s laws were concerned. 

Then the big question and topic was presented to Eve by the serpent and this one was the escalating point to which Eve altered the course of history, and the first step in the destruction of humanity by our enemy.  How many times has one of our friends tricked us into doing something that we knew was not right?  Or how many times have we fallen for a situation that sounded so good that we just had to go and tell our friends about?  These are normal human reactions that we harbor inside our lives but we must really watch what we say and do in these circumstances for it may create a very negative situation within the people that we share things with, just as it did with Adam.  This is where the pretense of the “relationship” between Eve and the serpent came to its climax.

Eve had enough faith, confidence and trust in the serpent to complete this question and answer session and then comply with her ideas that had been formed within her head.  Typically we blame Eve for the beginnings of the fall of man but there has to be some sort of knowledge and approval of his “relationship” with the serpent from Adam; even though by now Adam is probably off doing other things rather than completing his portion of the true relationship that was already established; nothing is really stated about Adam but one does have to wonder where he was during this time period.

Scriptures state that the serpent asks Eve a question about what they were allowed to eat.  A provocative question don’t you think?  Why would he ask something to that nature, such a direct questioning of the known authority who rules the land?  We have to remember that when God gave the command to not eat of this tree Eve had not been formed yet, which adds intrigue to the reasoning as to why the serpent chose Eve to begin his tricking.  Eve knew of the law for she stated it when the serpent directly asked the question concerning the tree yet it was her response that set up the doorway for the serpent to spring his immediate trap.

Eve answered the serpent’s question correctly, for the most part.  The part that opened up the door was the fact that she added to God’s command and was this phrase “neither shall ye touch it” that caused the eternal stir within the serpent.  For whatever reason Eve was trying her best to either impress her questioner or to add to God’s Words, whichever way she thought it was the opening that was needed in order for our enemy to divide and to conquer the true relationship.  How many times have we embellished the truth in order to make us look better or to have more knowledge about a subject than we actually do?  God’s command to Adam was quite simple and to the point, don’t eat of that tree.  It did not matter to the serpent of what Eve got correct, it was the addition to His command and to His authority that opened the door.

I find it fascinating how God reacted to this situation when it was found out that they had hid themselves.  He automatically asked Adam what was going on and why they were acting in the manner as they were.  God continued the completeness during the question and answer period in accordance to His laws.  God gave Adam this command so it would be in God’s completeness that He would address Adam first, which He did.  Adam in turn gave a really lame excuse and it was Eve who then “stood up” and said what had transpired.  This says a lot about God’s character and man’s character when things go wrong; a pattern in which both sides still cling to, to this day

Eve stated that the serpent beguiled me and that through this act of the serpent, she ate of the tree and then gave it to Adam and he ate as well.  I want us to look at the word beguiled here and study its meaning a bit.  The word beguiled actually means to lead by deception, to trick or to deceive.  This is a very specific word that is used here in this passage and it says so much about what transpired between the serpent and Eve.  The word beguiled came out from Eve’s mouth and for her use this specific term it means that Eve understood the command that God had given to Adam and in turn to her, that she also realized what had transpired after he and her ate of the tree.  The truth of the command was unfolded and the disobedience had taken place.

It is this beguiling that our enemy gains his access into our lives.  It is a subtle talk that if not recognized and taken noticed of, his claws of deception and trickery will begin to take hold within our lives at a slow and almost unnoticeable pace.  We must also take into consideration and remember a specific detail about Eve during this process.  Even though Eve had a mind and a choice of her own she was still pure in many ways.  There could have been a million other ways the serpent could have tricked Eve, yet he chose the most damaging way.  Disobeying God’s command would surely be direct enough to stab God in the heart once again.  While it did not change the status of our enemy it did change the status of the serpent and of the human being, along with many other portions of God’s creative initiatives.  This situation should tell us something huge about our enemy and that something is that he cares nothing about your true life but only to get us to disobey God’s commands that He has so faithfully provided for us.

We are facing this same type of situation in our world today and once again many individuals, the Church and hundreds of nations are falling right into our enemy’s trap of beguiling.  We have become so focused upon other issues in our world that we have forgotten to read God’s Word so that we can understand how to protect ourselves when the need comes.  There are many issues that the enemy has thrown into our paths lately and even though the world does not see a problem with these issues our enemy does not care, he still initiates them into our doctrines.  It wonders me of how the Church can be addressing some of these issues and actually thinking about accepting them into their denominational bylaws, yet they are and are going to fall for the same like punishment that we have already been dealt. 

I can see the individual who does not know God accepting these issues with open arms, and once again our enemy does not care all he wishes to create is another denominational bylaw within your heart.  See the word denomination actually refers to the root word divide and look around you and see just how divided or denominational the world has become over the past few decades.  How many nations are at odds with each other today?  How many sectarian groups are fighting each other within one religion?  The issue of acceptance and who is on the right or left side of the aisle are completely destroying this nation and many others like it around the world.  The Church is not left out either, nor is the specific individual.  We are all in this together and the enemy has us exactly where he wants us, at each other’s throats and away from the unity that God and His perfect creation wishes.

The real truth here is that our enemy is beguiling us perfectly and we are so blind to his tactics once again that we are choosing to fall into his lies without any questions being raised.  We have almost totally forgotten our creation and its author in order to conceive our own superficial choices and if we continue this current path we will have created our own delusional generations that will run away from the truth faster than ever before.  It is this steady progression that we need to look at and to realize what we are falling into and just how sinister these tricks are to our lives. 

The damage has already being witnessed yet we ignore these events and continue to dismiss them as human cause.  All this type of activity does is produce further lies and tricks and provides revengeful division among our lives, which is the perfect and desired effect that our enemy wishes.  It is of the utmost importance that we understand this process and to wake up and allow God to rule our lives once again.  Restoration back into God’s laws is the only way possible for us to return to the great status our Creator originally meant for us.  God loves you, the individual just as much as He loves the Church and He loves the Church just as much as He loves each and every nation that has been developed over time. 

The problem is that we shall never understand this true and perfect love if we continue to fall for this beguiling, just as Eve did.  God understands our needs and our desires and if we turn over our lives to Him, He is faithful and just to give us those desires.  Our enemy does not care about our lives once bit yet his tactics are so simple and repetitive that we should not have any problem in ridding ourselves of them, yet we continue to entertain him with our questions and wants and opening those doors which allow him access to our lives, churches and capitols.  God is calling each and every one of us to come back to Him so that we may freely live in the light again.  Knowing God’s commands but not following them willingly is not a good plan and will only lead to our destruction.  Choose freedom and salvation and I guarantee that the wool will fall from our eyes.

DLB