In my nearly 30 years in Christian ministry, I have seen nothing like the mental condition of American minds I see today. Deception is rampant and the sad reality is, people who are deceived are unaware of their desperate condition. You could be among those severely deceived, without a clue about your reality, making you easy prey for the enemy’s planned destruction.
To prove my point, let me ask you, “Do both good and evil co-exist in this world?” Even with our impaired minds we are clear both good and evil co-exist on earth. Further, people everywhere agree “evil is bad and leads to destruction” whereas “good is virtuous and leads to the benefit of all people.” No one in their right mind would say, “I want to participate with evil.” Therefore, based on the overwhelming increase of evil in the American culture today, I must conclude America suffers from severe mental disorder—as a culture we are not in our right minds.
One of the questions I ask audiences everywhere is, “Who in this room wants to live your life on the basis of lies?” No one ever raises their hand to that question, which gratefully reveals that hope for mental recovery is not dead. Since no one ever raises their hand to this question, we learn universally we all prefer truth over deception because we see truth as “good” and deception as “bad.” Our common ability to identify good and evil means we universally have an innate moral compass. This too gives reason for hope we can recover from our present-day destruction.
When people think about destruction, we often consider its final outcome. However, what we must realize is the destruction we are currently suffering is slow and steady to such an extent it’s hardly been noticeable. We have all been subjected to it, making us very much like zombies depicted in modern popular movies—we physically function as though we are alive but are entirely spiritually dead, so much so that the stench of decay and rotting flesh is evident. However, since the vast majority of us suffer this condition, it’s considered normal and therefore nothing to be alarmed about. Is this reality the reason so many people are entertained and welcoming of “zombie movies”?
To say people are like sheep is to say we mindlessly follow the herd, or what is popular and trending, without any consideration of the outcome. Because of the rampant reality of people failing to engage rational thinking and instead going with the flow of culture, the new term is sheeple. Yes, sheeple is a coined word found in our modern dictionaries. Sheeple is the word used by the blogging masses who want to discredit an undefined group of people or insult people for following a person or ideology without giving sufficient thought through to the logical conclusion.
Deception often relies on sheeple mentality to propagate, while appealing to human greed to initiate. No one would willingly sign up to be deceived, especially knowing it results in destruction. For this reason, deception, and those who promote it, seek to tempt human lusts such as the desire for power, fame, fortune and more. Consider the rampant immorality among many of those who pursue worldly ambitions: Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Nygard are three contemporary headline names of men who had quite a following of both willing and unwilling participants. Whereas Linda Taylor, “The Welfare Queen”; Helen Schucman, author of A Course in Miracles; and Madalyn Murray O’Hair come to my mind when thinking of power-seeking American women who deceived many.
Even though no one ever raises their hand to the question of willingly basing their life on lies, every one of us is prone to deception, especially when it comes to the threat of self-preservation, perceived or real. Power, fame, fortune, reputation and more are tremendous motivators that cause people to intentionally deceive others or become unwitting followers of deception.
As I’ve said many times, “Unless we examine what we believe and why we believe as we do, we can easily be deceived and not realize our condition.” The very nature of deception is the victim is unaware. Without an intentional examination of what we believe and consideration of the motives behind our beliefs, we can operate our lives on the basis of otherwise vehemently unwanted deception. It could easily be true you are basing your life on lies.
If truth is virtuous leading to the benefit of all people, then truth is not self-serving, whereas deception is. Another famous quote of mine is “The opposite of love is not hate—it’s selfishness.” It is selfish not to share truth with others. It is selfish to allow people to remain deceived without lovingly encouraging them to examine what they believe and why. It is deceptive to perpetrate lies, yet many people perpetrate lies simply for not rationally considering the logical conclusion of their so-called “truth-claims.”
The catalyst for writing this blog was my recent attendance at the Orange County Women’s Conference—an utterly amazing event seeking to advance and embolden women of the Christian faith to express their faith in ways to positively impact others. As part of their two-day event they had break-out sessions.
What struck me was the sessions that were full to capacity in contrast to those that attracted a pitiful few attendees. If I were to categorize sessions the women immediately populated, it would be those that offered personal benefit. The classes that offered to impart inspiration and methods to evangelize and make disciples of others had embarrassingly few sign up to attend. I recognized this as a sad reality among the Christian community, evidenced by the starved and depraved condition of society. If we as Christians were truly impacting our culture for Christ, we would see progress in the embrace of truth and the rejection of deception.
In my opinion, as supported by respected research, the church in America is irrelevant in our culture, and has been increasingly so for decades. This is why I have been drawn to write my “Faith to Live By” book series, which appreciably has won multiple awards. As gratifying as it is to win awards from my Christian contemporaries, the real reward I seek is the embrace of truth in our American culture—to see our society move from being sheeple to being true leaders.
The problem is, when people are deceived, they don’t realize they are; rather, they think they live their life based on truth. For anyone to suggest they are deceived is rejected as ludicrous. Yet I ask you to think about this with me. While people still prefer good over evil, the belief in personification of good as in God, or evil as in the devil, are both rejected. How people can believe in either good or evil without a source is beyond me. So, I conclude, if the devil can get people to reject the idea of his own literal existence, then he can influence people to reject the literal existence of God. Then the devil is free to deceive these people without any question or hindrance. He is also, therefore, free to destroy unwitting sheep whom he leads to the slaughter. Deception always leads to destruction.
How can we reach those who are lost to lies and deception and bring them to discover and live in life-giving truth they genuinely desire? As I seek to present in my books, my speaking ministry and the upcoming “Come Back to God Campaign” I am developing with the help of supporters, we must:
—Approach all people with utmost love and respect.
—Inquire of them about their level of life satisfaction, purpose and future.
—Acknowledge their genuine human felt needs, offering rational responses available to them.
—Provide concrete hope that answers their genuine unrest and discontentment.
—Engage in compassionate dialogue and relationship, embracing them as the individual people Christ died to redeem.
If my blog and suggested solutions interest you, I’d like to hear from you. If you are dissatisfied with life to the point of wanting to explore some other ideas, let’s connect. If you have a heart and calling to help others connect with truth, let me know. Together we can accomplish more. {eoa}
As both an apologist and charismatic Christian, Pamela Christian is recognized as one who “balances rational thought with spiritual reality.” She is an ordained international evangelist and apostle, whose entire focus is to help people discover and live in life-giving truth. As a Bible student, her years of study have made her an effective Bible teacher; powerfully impactful conference speaker; and life-influencing, award-winning author with her “Faith to Live By” series. Additionally, her blog has received two distinguished awards. She’s a radio and television host who brings difficult cultural topics to bear in an effort to equip the church to be prepared to receive and minister to the billions of souls predicted to come to Christ in these last days. For more information, visit PamelaChristianMinistries.com.
