Through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

Jer 9:6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

Good morning dear friends let us look at today's verse and ask that God would allow us to see what we can glean from His Word that we may not be led astray. This verse has been on my mind for the past couple of days after reading it in my nightly devotions, and I couldn't help thinking about the consequences of it. You see the prophet Jeremiah was warning the nation of Judah about the way their religious leaders, and others were acting. I see this same thing going on today in our present world, not that this hasn't been going on for ages. You see the people were being deceived and taught wrong for the advancement of some folks over others, the priests were corrupting the priesthood, and causing the nation of Judah to sin against God. People are just as deceitful today, they use Christianity as a gain for their own selfish desires rather than preaching the true Word of God. You see so many being deceived into believing a false way of salvation, a false way of repentance, and a false teaching of prosperity. The verse says that through deceit they refuse to know me, there is a lady that we have been witnessing to and she has been gracious to hear us present to her the gospel message and I truly believe in my heart that she wants to know more about Jesus and His provided way to salvation, however her priest found out that we as Baptist's came and talked to her and told her to stay away from us. Now my thought is here is a lady that has finally read her Bible for herself and desires to know the Lord Jesus Christ, however through deceit the priest keeps her penned up in some religion that has not helped her with her questions in life. She has even went to him to talk about what is on her heart and he didn't want to talk with her about the issue, I just wonder how many other people there are in this world that are ignored when there are issues of the heart? You see she asked us yesterday why we cared about her problems, and because of the love of God we said because the Lord Jesus Christ cares about her. Through deceit people are held in bondage and never know who God is, through deceit others will never who Jesus is because the priest, pastor, or whatever they may call themselves know that it would change their lifestyle. Through deceit and false teaching some don't want to know who Jesus is because it would change their way of teaching, knowledge of Him, and worship of Him. It might just change them and they don't like that because through deceit they are happy in their sin! Deceitfulness is rampant today in a world of people that have no other desire but to satisfy self, truly what a sad thing. Friend I pray today that if you are being deceitful for personal gain over somebody to satisfy yourself that you would repent and turn from this lifestyle and turn to a Holy God to live in righteousness. Friend there is much to say about deceit in the in the Bible, from who led it, to the consequences of it. I just pray that you would desire to know the truth, and we can find it in the Bible, as Jesus himself said....I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the father but by me. You see friend there is no deceit in that; just a plain statement, trust Jesus and all other things shall be exposed for what they are. May you have a wonderful day and God bless.