We’re going to discuss three man-made deceivers today: religion, science, and education. Notice how these are used to deceive people into believing something others than the true God.
The deceit of Religion – the idea behind this deception is that all religions worship the same god, 2 Cor 4:3-4, Rev 13, which is true of religions but is not true of the God of the Bible. Religions deceive men into believing that they can be saved by works of righteousness. But the Bible shows us that salvation is not by works of righteousness, Titus 3:5. Religions all have some traditions, Mk 7:6-13, that men must perform or keep to be “saved” or stay “saved”. God has no such traditions. He offers the free gift of salvation without works, sacraments and the like.
See these passages of scripture. Eph 2:8-9, Rom 5:15, 16, 18; 6:23.
The deceit of Science – 1 Tim 6:20 – that is the science that opposes God. Evolution is the key “scientific” deception here. Those who espouse this opposing “science” as a means for explaining the existence of man conclude that God didn’t create us. That’s why the Bible calls this “science falsely so called.” There is an ongoing attempt to scientifically demonstrate how life started. However, the law of biogenesis states that life must come from life and evolutionary science says that organic life came from inorganic matter. Without God’s finger [Ex 8:16-19] and God’s breath of life [Gen 2:7] it is scientifically impossible for life to come from inorganic matter. In spite of the miracle of bringing forth lice from the dust of the ground, Pharaoh still refused to know God and chose rather to be deceived. He was just like men who refuse to know God today.
See these passages of scripture. Gen 1:1, Jn 1:1-4, Col 1:16-17, Heb 1:2, 11:3, Rom 1:20-22.
The deceit of Education – 2 Tim 3:7 – education magnifies the wisdom of man over the wisdom of God 1 Cor 1, 2. When men become enamored with the enticing words of man’s wisdom, they forsake the plain and absolute truth of God’s wisdom. Be careful with sending your child off to college away from home. He or she will get an ear full of the “instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge”, Prov 19:27. Prov 22:17-21.
Conclusion: you can believe God and what he said or you can believe these man-made deceivers and deny him. However, you are only deceiving yourself if you deny him, 2 Tim 3:13.