The Nature of Deception
[The Nature of Deception | Proclaiming the Gospel
Ministries] "Tragically, there are many who go to their graves having been
deceived about life's most critical issue. They either embraced the lie that
good people go to heaven, or a similar lie that heaven can be merited by good
works or religious activity. The only hope for victims of this kind of deception
is for them to be lovingly confronted with the truth of God's Word before it is
too late.
The source of all spiritual deception is Satan, who is
the god of this world, the master deceiver, and the father of lies. Rarely will
anyone believe an outright lie, so he cleverly mixes truth with error to deceive
even the elect if possible (Mat.
24:24). This is why so many evangelicals have been
misled about Roman Catholicism.
Many believe Roman Catholicism is a Christian denomination instead of an
apostate church that radically departed from the eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This deceitfully insidious religion, headquartered in the Vatican, has become
Satan's greatest counterfeit. It hides its false and fatal gospel with a thin
veneer of truth that seduces undiscerning people. Whenever truth is mixed with
error it is no longer true. We need to heed the warning given by Dr. Harry
Ironside, the former pastor of Chicago's Moody Memorial Church. He said, "Error
is like leaven which leavens the whole lump. Truth mixed with error is
equivalent to all error, except that it is more innocent-looking and, therefore,
more dangerous. God hates such a mixture! Any error, or any truth-and-error
mixture, calls for definite exposure and repudiation. To condone such is to be
unfaithful to God and His Word and treacherous to imperiled souls for whom
Christ died."
Those evangelical leaders who continue to promote
ecumenical unity with Roman Catholics are being unfaithful to God's Word and to
the sanctity of His Church. As Ironside warned, "God hates such a mixture!"
Those who say that Roman Catholics share the same faith as evangelicals are
saying Roman Catholics do not need to be evangelized. This is a tragic position
because it discourages Christians from sowing the seed of God's Word in the
world's largest and most neglected mission field. What hope is there for 1.2
billion Catholics trapped in religious deception if evangelicals do not see the
need to lovingly confront them with the true Gospel?
We have a great love and compassion for Roman
Catholics who are where we were for most of our lives; believing we belonged to
the one true church and on our way to heaven, yet destined for the eternal lake
of fire. We would still be woefully deceived and on the wide road to destruction
if we had not been confronted with the truth of God's Word. For this reason we
created Gospel tracts to challenge Catholics in their faith. The tracts force
Catholics to make a choice between believing the teachings and traditions of
their religion, or submitting to Christ and His Word. It is our prayer that more
and more Christians will share the truth of God's Word that is able to set
captives free from religious deception (John
8:31-32)." Pro-Gospel.org