The World’s Greatest Con Artist

A few years ago, I served as a chaplain for our local sheriff’s office and as part of my training I was required to watch a video about how con artists are able to cheat people. The person who had made the video was a former con man who now consulted with law enforcement. In the video, the former con man made the comment, “It is easy to con people because most people are willing to deceive themselves if they get the outcome they desire.” In other words, the majority of people are willing to be deceived if the deception helps them in the end. For example, if they get to keep a reward, promotion, money that was found, get to be the hero, or if they get the man or woman of their dreams.

We see this from the very first con found in the Bible when Satan convinced Adam and Eve that they surely wouldn’t die as we read in Genesis 3:5: “For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Adam and Eve knew what G-D said, but they were willing to believe the lies of Satan because they wanted the outcome he offered to them. While Satan provided the seeds of deception, Eve and Adam chose to believe him over what G-D Himself said. They knew the truth but the idea of being like G-D was too tempting to turn down, so they deceived themselves into believing the lie.

We have other Biblical examples of self-deception such as what we read in Genesis 27 when Jacob deceives his father Isaac. When we read the actual text instead of the story, we find the questions that Isaac uses to override the deception in his mind, in order to deceive himself that Jacob was in fact Esau.

Genesis 27:20 Then Isaac said to his son, “How in the world were you able to find it so quickly, my son?” He said, “Because Adonai your God made it happen for me.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can feel you my son—whether or not you really are my son Esau.” 22 So Jacob came closer to his father Isaac, and he felt him. Then he said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice but the hands are Esau’s hands.”

The text is clear that Isaac’s common sense and experience informed him that Jacob was not Esau. Yet, he allowed himself to be deceived in order to get the outcome he wanted. Isaac knew the prophecy that Rebekah had received from G-D. Now Isaac was at the moment when the prophecy was to be fulfilled when the older would serve the younger. So, in order to make sure that the prophecy was fulfilled, Isaac chose to be deceived or deceive himself and accept what he knew was not true in order to help bring about the prophecy. 

You may be asking what does this have to do with me? The answer is that many people who claim to be believers in Yeshua (Jesus) have joined Adam, Eve and Jacob in deceiving themselves. One such example is replacement theology. The Bible is very clear about the covenant G-D made with the physical descendants of Abraham. Yet, believers all over the world have deceived themselves into believing that those promises and covenants were transferred to the “Church” or the “New Israel” rather than believing that those from the nations were/are grafted into the Olive Tree, as the Book of Romans clearly teaches. Instead, they believe that the original Olive Tree was replaced by a New Tree. Why? So that the New can feel superior to the Old and to feel more spiritual, more righteous, and more holy. In their hearts, they self-deceive to believe that G-D hates them like Esau but He loves us like Jacob. Setting aside the absolute truth that G-D is a covenant keeping G-D who cannot break His word and cannot lie.

Another self-deception running rampant in the body of believers is the idea that the new covenant believer has no responsibility to the Old Testament Torah. Even though Hebrews 8:10 expressly states: 

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Adonai. I will put My Torah into their mind, and upon their hearts I will write it. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

These words are describing the New Covenant spoken of in Hebrew 8:8 which clearly states that the New Covenant includes the Torah in our minds and is written on our hearts. However, many believers self-deceive themselves into believing that Yeshua’s death did away with the Torah and that in our New Covenant, they have no responsibilities to those Old Testament commandments. Why would they deceive themselves into believing that? Because it makes life easier if you can replace personal responsibility to G-D with an unbiblical form of grace that allows the continuation of sinful actions. 

Satan has offered the Body of Believers an entire menu of self-deception options for us to choose from. He said that we could change or do away entirely with the Biblical Holy Days which according to Scripture, G-D said are eternal. He said that we should accept non-Biblical forms of marriage and abortion. He said there is no need to gather with other believers to worship even though G-D’s word says not to forsake assembling together. He said premarital sex is okay now and that the Biblical family unit is obsolete. 

The list can go on and on. The truth is that way too many believers are living in and with self-deception. It is a choice they have made just as Adam and Eve chose to believe the lie rather than the truth. The reasons for self-deception may vary from person to person and from sin to sin. It may be because we think we will lose friends or family if we do what the Bible says. It may be because we think we would lose customers or in this case congregational leaders and members. We may try to convince ourselves that it is what the majority believes so it must be right or we may deceive ourselves into believing that because culture has changed, those old things from the Bible aren't relevant anymore.

Whatever the reason, we all have to stop lying to ourselves that Satan is deceiving us, because that just isn’t true. No matter what the issue is or what unbiblical position we have been deceived into believing, we must admit to ourselves that we chose to believe what is contrary to G-D’s Word knowing that it was contrary to His Word. If we are deceived, it is because we are self-deceived. We weren’t conned by the world’s greatest con man because we aren’t good at being con artists, but because we have lied to ourselves twice. First, we lied to ourselves to accept our unbiblical positions and second, we lied to ourselves about how we were deceived. 

We are not the first to try to blame others for our self-deception. Adam tried it thousands of years ago when he blamed it on Eve. Isn’t it time we all searched our hearts, repented of our self-deception, and turned back to simply choosing to believe and obey G-D’s Word no matter what?