HEART OF DARKNESS: THE SINNER’S SELF-DECEPTION
Unrepentant sinners never care to count the cost. They never care to look down the road. They never perceive the future consequences of their actions. They seem to live only for the moment and let tomorrow “take care of itself.”
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There are many Biblical passages which speak to the fallacy of living in such a way. The Lord Jesus taught very much on the subject. In fact, the subject is so widespread and all-inclusive, one should always be cognizant of what one’s current actions will turn into when his or her karma chickens come home to roost.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption… [Galatians 6:7-8]
Every day we are planting seeds. Each decision we make and act on is a seed that will manifest in something. It therefore stands to reason that we should all concentrate on making good decisions, on doing good things, and on planting good “seeds” so we can later have good outcomes.
…But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. [Galatians 6:8-9]
There are consequences in every single action we make. Like the proverbial ripples in the pond, what one does today will spread into tomorrow and next week and will continue “paying dividends” far into the future.
It is therefore mandatory that we know what is good and what is bad, so we can avoid planting bad seeds and concentrate on planting good seeds.
If we are always doing good deeds, the fruit of the good deeds will constantly be coming forth. Something good will happen tomorrow or the next day and it will be because we planted good seed and performed good deeds.
Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh. Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. [James 3:12-13]
However, those who do good must also be aware of the presence of evil in this world. Evil hates the good and goes to war against it. So one may do many good things and have the fruit of that good come forth, but also attract the attack of evil for doing good. Such evil is not the result of one doing good, but the result of being attacked by evil for doing good.
Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. [1 Peter 2:12]
Unrepentant sinners are those who join forces with the dark side whether they know it or not. In fact, most of these do not know they are in league with the devil because they are deceived. And many are self-deceived. But in most cases it does not mean their conscience is dead. They deceive themselves into thinking their sin has no consequences and thus, not only continue to sin but develop a sinful lifestyle. Their personal culture and way of life has sin infused throughout it, and they actually believe their sin is good, and thus, not sin.
This is willing deception of the highest order.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!
Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. [Isaiah 5:20-24]
As an excellent example, this is why millions of American Christians believe ripping apart a living, breathing innocent baby is a good thing.
What?
It’s elementary.
Logic teaches us, through the basic form of the argument structure, the following:
PREMISE 1: Polls continually show that the vast majority of Americans refer to themselves as Christians.
PREMISE 2: America is supposedly a Christian nation.
CONCLUSION: Therefore, American Christians are pro-abortion, and have consistently supported abortion rights for over forty years, in that abortion, totally and completely illegal and immoral in the eyes of God, still exists as a legal and moral choice in this country.
If the conclusion is false, then one or both premises must be false. If either premise is false, America is not a Christian nation, and the giant majority that claims Christianity is not composed of real Christians. Since the facts of abortion are true, and since real Christians oppose abortion, it must be the unreal Christians who support it. And it must also be the unreal Christians who have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Doctors have advised thousands and thousands of parents that their unborn babies have such severe defects they should abort the pregnancies. And millions of parents-to-be have been counseled that babies on the way, physically impaired or not, are terribly inconvenient. Consequently, such parents have aborted their babies thinking they were doing the right thing, though they had to bypass a God-given convicting conscience. Many have regretted such decisions ever since.
But many parents have also refused such advice, trusted God, allowed their babies to be born, and such babies end up bringing great joy to their parents and the world, grow up and become good, productive adults, and are ever thankful that their parents allowed them to live.
Abortion is an extreme example, maybe the most extreme. But such an example gives perfect perspective to the “evil is good” mentality spread throughout the country and this fallen world.
Doing good is not necessarily easy. But deceiving oneself into sinning without repentance or recognizing the sin makes doing evil very easy. Such people have circumvented the one check on their bad behavior—they have removed their will/conscience from the equation.
Picture the ultimate running-with-scissors scenario. Picture one knowing full well what their evil behavior will manifest in but keep doing it anyway, over and over again.
And because of their disregard of goodness and light
And not living according to what is morally right
God makes it simple to sin to their hearts delight
By giving them a reprobate mind of blind and blight
And they begin to believe in, practice, and teach the most idiotic things ever known to mankind. They become complete and total doofuses—total fools unto themselves, though with an arrogant air and the perception of intelligence.
And they hang around with like-minded people—those who are also willingly deceived. And they fight for evil. They join forces with the devil and not only do they not care or see, they laugh at the thought. And they think God is an idiot. And they think God’s people are idiots. And they laugh at those who try to rescue them.
They will not be laughing in hell.
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. [Romans 1:28-32] [1]
In other words, such people know they are doing wrong but are compelled to continue sowing bad seed with no remorse or repentance until they can no longer feel remorse or desire repentance. What else can this be but willing self-deception and an enthusiastic eagerness for endless sin sprees? And why should there not be justice for such crimes? Others may call them victims or place the blame anywhere but where it belongs, but God calls them what they are—those who love sin.
For most, justice will come after death. And they will not be able to defend their evil deeds.
Therefore, the idea that sinners are completely unmindful of and completely deceived regarding their bad seed and resultant bad fruit does not hold water. They know. And they know they will pay. The problem is they simply don’t care. They possess a self-created apathetic heart of darkness.
Nevertheless, though the result of their sin continues to erupt like a mad volcano spewing evil and misery all over the land, the Lord, in His great love and compassion, still tries to reach them…
Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD until He comes to rain righteousness on you. You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors, therefore a tumult will arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed… [Hosea 10:12-14]
© 2013 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Posted on January 27, 2023, in Real Christianity and tagged America, Break Up Your Fallow Ground, Christian Pharisees, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jesus, One Will Reap What One Sows, Real Christianity, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Repentance, Reprobate Mind, Spiritual Deception, The Great Awakening, The Sinner's Self Deception, Unreal Christianity. Bookmark the permalink. 12 Comments.
This was spot on, RJ. And how sad it is to know unrepentant sinners who choose to walk in darkness and refuse to turn away from it- a true prideful blindness it seems. You’re exactly right that we have to have an awareness of evil in the world. This is something we’ve began talking with our children about from an early age- how important it is to instill truth in children! God bless and thanks for your article.
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Thank you Amber. Sin and evil must be acknowledged, faced, and dealt with, and the young ones must be apprised of its existence at the appropriate time. It is good that you and your husband are doing this for your children, especially with a loving united front. Of course, one cannot help but discover this truth by simply reading the Word but I’m not sure that standard Sunday School material is clear or strong enough. I wrote this post almost ten years ago. Sin and evil have grown exponentially since then. A big part of this, if not the greatest part, is due to not teaching about it as well as presenting many aspects of evil as something normal, acceptable, and in some cases even commendable. Notwithstanding the degenerate culture, Unreal Christianity is guilty as hell and must be exposed.
Blessings to you and your family.
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When I asked a teenager (I had befriended) if he could ever see himself becoming a follower of Jesus, he said no. I asked why would he make such a choice and ultimately spend eternity apart from God? He said “people who call themselves Christians, in my world, are no different than anyone else. I’m just honest about it. And the heaven and hell thing? There is always a way out of everything. I see that every day.”
He was raised in church and didn’t see anything he wanted. Yes, our smallest decisions plant seeds one way or the other.
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That pretty much sums it up there, Gary. I was raised in church also and made the determination early on to get out as soon as I could, which I did. I had a similar if not exact experience. My parents and family were great but many of the people I saw who were apparently “doing it right,” who were held up as the apparent standards of Christian behavior were essentially no different from anyone else outside the denomination. One then discovers better people outside than inside, people who treat people much better, and it forces one to wonder why and look for answers. I would think most people in such a situation would gravitate towards those who do a better job of obeying the Golden Rule.
The standards set forth for much of Christian leadership may work externally based on the quality of the window dressing but those who are able to see through the charade, who cannot help but notice, must deal with such noticing. The Biblical standard as put forth by the Lord Jesus is, of course, the GREAT and ONLY standard but I saw His standard as something completely different. There was and remains a clear dichotomy there among regular Christians and especially Christian “leaders.” Such people have no problem creating their own standards and justify whatever they put forth or do.
They are mocking the Lord.
Though the Lord’s standard may appear impossible to achieve, which explains why so many Christians reject it, it is something real Christians eventually do achieve, though, as you well know, the road can be difficult (understatement alert). Whoever attempts it in the natural will always fail miserably.
Real Christianity is SPIRITUAL, can only be achieved SPIRITUALLY, and its proposed adherents must therefore be endued with the actual SPIRIT of the Lord in order to walk it out successfully. This is how the originals did it. Even they knew, however, early on, that the Lord’s standard was pretty much impossible. They were often incredulous at His demands, as if one was attempting to make major league baseball players out of a bunch of loosely aligned little leaguers. In time they started to get it.
But if Pentecost never happened they never would have gotten there.
Thank you Gary. Blessings to you and your family.
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This deception is why praying for specific people God highlights to us is crucial. It takes time but I’ve seen the deception peel off in layers until they finally understand they need Jesus. It can take a long time though.
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Thank you Kim. This is true. Prior to salvation, we become so accustomed to living this life that we fail to see spiritual reality though God’s reminders are all around us. We live in our own extremely limited little worlds built largely on survival and getting along with others. It takes the spiritual work of real Christians to remove our deception and come into the Lord’s Light.
It takes an intervention.
Prayer is obviously a big part of that and often the biggest part. In my own experience, long ago, it took the hands-on witnessing of a close friend recently born again and MUCH prayer by many for which I am forever grateful. The Lord was orchestrating everything, of course, and deserves ALL the honor and praise for our breakthroughs. I am sure you have seen many, many answers to prayer. Thank you for your work.
Blessings to you and your family.
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You are so right. The Lord gets ALL the glory. Romans 3:10 & 11 “There is none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seek after God.”
All are utterly lost without His intervention.
You have a heart of a teacher. Thank you.
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Much appreciation, Kim.
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RJ, this is a beautifully structured argument against “Christians” supporting abortion. To do so, they have to convince themselves that it’s not a baby until, as is now accepted, the mother decides to take it home. Yet, if a newborn is found abandoned and can be traced to the mother, then she is accused of homicide. Go figure.
A by-the-way: I spent an entire class hour yesterday working with my students on how to build a syllogism. Your example is one I believe I’ll take with me next time to see if they can spot the fallacies.
Also, I loved your karma chickens 🙂
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Well, I honestly forgot that word syllogism. I took an Introductory Logic course in College that I found most interesting and actually useful later on. I still have the book. I just looked through it again for the first time in years. And there it is in Part II (of III): Deductive Logic. This section contains seven chapters referencing Categorical Syllogisms. It is fascinating how all this works within the framework of correct reasoning. The various formulas actually function perfectly and fallacies can be exposed and rooted out. We could use such in these days. So many people have been victimized by strong propaganda arguments and have lost the ability to see or discover truth. Much is pure emotion over reason. Whoever accepts abortion as a viable alternative, for example, has been deceived and believed the devil’s lie.
I’m glad you have a class and are having fun with this subject. Thanks for reading and the comment, Linda. Be Blessed
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I wonder what folks think will happen after they pass away from this earth. Like the boy Gary was talking about. If they really think there is nothing after death. What keeps them from doing what ever they want during life. I remember I asked an atheist that question once and he said he has to still follow the law. I asked him why do you need to follow mans law, why is one man more important than the other? He could not give me an answer. I can’t, or I should say, I don’t want to think about eternity away from our Father. My heart is pulled towards Him so hard and it isn’t because someone told me about the Father. It isn’t a cult like atheist say it is for Christians. I just know it in my own heart, I have searched for it my entire life. It is written.
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Amen. Thank you Sandra. Blessings to you.
Unrepentant sinners need to hear the convicting Word of God. They need to hear the truth of the Gospel. They need to be broken from their deception that they are good and fine just as they are, or even superior. Pride is a sin and opens the door to license and greater sin. Thus, the prideful who oppose what is to them the disgusting display of repentance would rather revel in their own good perception of themselves and support this false perception in order to continue looking good according to other sinners and maintain their social acceptance and false honor. They cannot see that the “moral” standard they have appropriated, replete with false virtue-signaling, is actually immoral and corrupt. They thus justify themselves and disdain, hate, or even attack those unlike them whom they look down upon since such people are not as “good” or “successful” as they are. It all stems from personal pride. They are simply blind to the truth of their corrupt condition.
If unrepentant sinners they could see themselves as God sees them, as sinners in need of a Savior, they would cease from looking down upon those they deem unworthy and inferior and place the focus on themselves in the attempt to become righteous according to the Lord’s standard and not their own or that of society or the culture. Of course, His righteousness is a gift and can never be earned.
The Lord revealed the seriousness of this dynamic in the following passage:
Jesus looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” [Luke 20:17-18]
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