Strong Delusion. by Dean Gotcher

Strong Delusion.

by
Dean Gotcher

"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Timothy 2:11, 12

    Have we arrived at the time where God does not want people to hear the truth because, "Reasoning" from their "feelings" of the 'moment,' i.e., 'justifying' their "self," i.e., 'esteeming' their "self'"—enamored in that which can satisfy their "self interest" of the 'moment'—using dialectic 'reasoning' to determine right from wrong, i.e., refusing to hear the truth that their heart is deceitful and wicked and that God is going to judge them for their "self" willed disobedience, i.e., for their sins, i.e., refusing to repent and turn from their wicked ways, i.e., refusing to believe in His Son for their salvation, i.e., refusing to receive 'redemption' from judgment and death (damnation) through the Son's obedience to His Heavenly Father in all things commanded, including dying on the cross for their sins, i.e., refusing to be 'reconciled' to His Heavenly Father through His resurrection, i.e., refusing to accept His righteousness which is imputing to those of faith in Him alone, i.e., refusing to "cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" (2 Corinthians 10:5), using "human reasoning" to 'justify' "human nature" (themselves) instead, they deserve what is coming their way? "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth [in the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ], but had pleasure in unrighteousness [in themselves]." 2 Timothy 2:11, 12
   The "lie" of dialectic 'reasoning is, because pleasure "feels good" it must be the standard for "good," making pleasure the 'drive' of life and therefore its augmentation the 'purpose,' resulting in man deceiving himself, becoming delusional, believing that he is or can become "good" (the so called "blank-tablet theory") by doing "good works," with "good works" including the removal (negation) of all that gets in the way of pleasure manifesting his hate of restraint, i.e., his wickedness, i.e., his believing in the lie that he can kill the innocent and the righteous, i.e., remove those who get in the way of pleasure, and not be held accountable for his thoughts and actions. Refusing to believe in the truth (in denial) that his heart is deceitful and wicked and that the wrath of God is upon him for his unrighteous thoughts and unrighteous actions he embraces the lie (the great deception) that he can overcome the duality of right and wrong (the conflict, tension, or antithesis of life) by worshiping at the altar of pleasure and affirmation (the alter of his "self interest," i.e., "beauty" and "the approval of men," i.e., "peace," 'justifying his "lusts" and "pride," according to the flesh, i.e., according to that which all men have in common, i.e., the "law of sin")—negating the altar of righteousness (doing the Father's will, i.e., that which causes division between man and man, i.e., between the redeemed and the lost, i.e., between those who live by faith, doing the Father's will, i.e., between doing right and not wrong according to the Father's commands, rules, facts, and truth, and those who live by sight, doing their will, thinking and acting according to their heart's desire, i.e., basing right and wrong upon their carnal nature of approaching (loving) pleasure and avoiding pain (hating restraint)—what those who are "of and for" the world, i.e., philosophers, sociologists and psychiatrists, i.e., psychotherapists, etc., i.e., facilitators of 'change' can only recognize, advocate, and do, some even doing so, as wolves in sheepskin, in the name of Jesus).
   Pleasure is an anesthetic, desensitizing us to the pain which we cause others in our effort to initiate or sustain it—with their right and wrong being perceived as being irrational their pain and suffering (including the pain and suffering which comes with rejection by those they love and their lose of control over that which is theirs) becomes irrelevant. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9 "Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked." Exodus 23:7 "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Matthew 12:36 "[E]very one of us shall give account of himself to God." Romans 14:12
   Since man is not righteous, i.e., good in and of himself, his "good" works, i.e., his love of pleasure and hate of restraint (unrighteousness) can not engender righteousness, i.e., doing right and not wrong according to the Father's will, they can only engender unrighteousness, i.e., doing his will instead, rejecting the father's/Father's definition of "right and wrong." (Georg Hegel) Instead, righteousness, the work of the Lord in us, engenders good works (doing right and not wrong, according to the Father's will). Martin Luther wrote "[Aristotle believed that] 'By doing good we become good.' The Christian conscience curses this statement as bilge water of hell and says, 'By believing in a Christ who is good, I, even I, am made good: his goodness is mine also, for it is a gift from him and is not my work.'" (Luther's Works: Vol. 44, The Christian in Society: I, p.300) "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10