Deceptive Thinking Leads Us Down the Road of Destruction (Part 2)

One of the main ways we are deceived is through the worldviews, mindsets and philosophies of our age. Paul exhorts the church at Colosse in Colossians 2:8 saying, "See to it that no one takes you captive through the hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." I want to examine three main systems of thought that are deceiving us today: secularism, pluralization and privitization. Remember all deceptive philosophies lead to a broken relationship with God and systems of belief that cause us to destroy one another. This is just what the devil desires...our destruction.

Secularism is the process by which religious ideas, institutions, and interpretations have lost thier social significance. As we become less and less Christian in our thinking, we ultimately turn to worship of self. This is what led to the downfall of the Roman Empire. They began to worship the human body and as a result, engaged in sexually immorality and perversion. This quest for self-worship led to the secularist belief that "man is the measure of all things." When we believe man is the measure of all things, we will do anything to fulfill our own desires. When we think like a secularist, we have no point of reference for decency. When we lose our point of reference for decency, we will engage in any activity with no sense of shame.

Some of the indecent acts we engage in include exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones (homosexuality and lesbianism) and murder. If fully participated in both these practices could lead to the extermination of the human race. Again, this is just what the enemy would want. (Please read Romans 1:18-32)

Secularism, with its philosophy that man is the measure of all things, will deceive a person into doing anything for their self-fulfillment. When Eve ate the forbidden fruit, Genesis 3:6 says, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it." Her own hunger, pleasure and wisdom was more valuable to her than pleasing God by obeying his command. Her disobedience led to her eventual death. God truly knows what is best for us.

With no sense of shame we kill the ones we love to satisfy our own selfish desires. A recent example of a secularist mindset being acted out was the murder of Laci Peterson by her husband Scott. How could a man do this to his wife? Where does this type of behavior come from? After all, they were married and expecting a baby. I'm sure they thought they loved one another. However, Scott's lust and pride, his desire for self-gratification with another woman led to him killing the one he loved. Secularist thinking, played out to its logical conclusion, will always lead to the hurting or killing of others for our own personal gain.

Stay tuned for part 3.