“Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (John 10:34) Our Lord was quoting from Plasm 82:6, which if you read this correctly, Jesus is telling those that He is speaking to that He himself wrote the Psalms, that it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that the Scriptures were written. One of the first places that we see this in a form of the context of this letter to you is in Genesis 3:5, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
One of the main conditions, if you will, to being a god is the ability to understand the difference between good and evil, and to act upon that knowledge. Act accordingly to the will of God, and you will be doing good, against his will, then for the purpose of evil, there are no middle boundaries, acting upon and only for our best interest is not of the Lord, but it does not necessarily mean that it is from Satan either, we do not need Satan to commit sin. Man’s perception of sin has been left, in a sense, to his own accord, and to those who will not search the Scriptures, or who interpret them incorrectly, this perception is as far and wide as the sea itself. Our perception of sin is based upon the morale fabric that each of us weaves around ourselves, whether it be from our upbringing, our geographical location or the concepts implanted in use by those that we surround ourselves with, the morality of man is based on the virtues, ethics and principles of man.
All of these though were formed at the beginning, when Adam believed that he could be as God, the perception of this was implanted into him by Satan, essentially telling him that God would be unnecessary once he became as God. The father of lies, (John 8:44) started out with a question, and then answered his own question, telling only in part our first parents a half-truth, they would indeed be as gods, but not like God himself. To be a little god is better than being no god at all, and this is the stance that Satan holds unto this day, he knows full well his end, and contrary to popular belief he is not doing all that he can to take all that he can to hell with him, that is the end for the lost whether or not they adhere to his principles, it is to hinder the possibility of any growth within those who serve Christ as Savior. Satan is not going to bother with anyone who is not bothering his kingdom, why would he, they will receive the same condemnation, though not as great in its intensity, as he will, he does not rule in hell, God rules everywhere.
Perception is the key, the recognition of a half-truth can be just as persuasive as the entirety of that truth, and half-truths are Satan’s business. God is love, and nothing but love, God wants you to be happy, wealthy and never to suffer, the world is falling apart, but God will protect you, the perception of a thing works just as well as the truth of a thing when spoken to those who have no spiritual discernment. Yes my friends, our Lord spoke the truth, we are gods, we have the ability to discern between good and evil, but only those who study the Word of God can do so properly, all the rest are those who are being deceived, for only in the Scriptures will we find truth. There are fools and there are wise individuals, they are both gods, but only one is not the god of foolishness.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Prov. 1:7) Satan can only do what he has been allowed by God to do, there is a very strict set of rules that apply to those who are the children of God, hedges have been installed, and permission must be sought before these hedges can be breached, we are always in his hands, and our protection is based on the desired growth that our Lord has for each of His children. But for the lost, there is no protection such as we have spoken of here, they are of the world, the wrath of God abides upon them, (John 3:36) and they belong, as it were, to the desires of Satan and his plans, for the world is his, for now. (John 14:30) Most media outlets around the globe now only focus on the immediate, and most generally the immediate is not those things of the Lord, though He has begun to show His almighty power around the planet, but upon those things which bring fear, and the hope that man will ultimately repair the damage.
For our adversary, both sides of the game must be played, the terrible must be brought to light, but the hope that man can indeed repair this devastating event must also be brought to bear, Christ must be left completely out of the picture. The perception must always be that man is in control of his destiny, for when the anti-Christ arrives on the scene, he will be a man, a man with all the answers, and he must be worshiped as a God. This perception of mankind and his infinite value is nothing new, the Old and New Testament are filled with accounts of men who attempted to subdue all of mankind for their own endeavors, there has always been someone has wanted to be “The god,” from Nebuchadnezzar all the way up to Hitler, but when the anti-Christ arrives, there will be so voluntary association, you will join or you will die.
The perception in that time of the tribulation will be no different than what it is now, for our adversary knows no new tricks, the lust of the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life have worked up to now, why change what works. He plays on the desires of men, I can be more than what I am; if it wasn’t for me; without me this would be impossible; you’re lucky to have me; I too can be a god. The observation of truth is not necessary, what many are told, they believe to be truth, no proof must be shown, and in fact, in many cases when the truth is shown to some, they will still rebel against it, for it has brought them lower not only in their own eyes but in the eyes of others. Perception of the truth will do just fine, thank you.
This ideology is easily verified, simply look up on the internet the prescribed precepts of any religion, and then compare them to the truths found in the Word of God. We are not speaking here of whether Moses’s hair was white or gray, but of the path of salvation, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) that God is sovereign, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.” (Isa. 46:9) These and many others will tell you, if only in this context, that it is the perception of a thing that matters, not the truth of a matter, and it is and continues to be one of the greatest deceits conceived by our adversary.
Some of those who are being deceived of their own accord will soon fall to these false perceptions, the Lord has begun to move in many ways, and while the wheat continues to grow before He sends His harvesters in to collect them, He will allow this great deception to continue to grow, encapsulating all who have professed His Name only with their lips, but not with their hearts. There are many more of these than we might like to think my friends, if it were not so, our Lord would have no need to send a strong delusion upon those who will be left behind. (2nd Thess. 2:11)
The deception is working perfectly, man will face great difficulties in the near future, but man will be able to fix these problems, and the perception that the one man to come will be the only one to lead us will fall directly into the perfect plan of the Father. As much as you can, pay attention to what is transpiring in the world, use great discernment, pray for the wisdom that can only come from God to understand how He is working in these last days. We must be able to perceive correctly and not be led astray, for it is our responsibility to warn those of the approaching storm and the only One who can save them from the wrath that will fall upon this planet when that storm arrives.