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

The Nature of Deception