We Have Been Lied To

I would like you to read this blog. The pain that you read in her story is not uncommon and is the current expereince of many who are seeking to experience God for real

http://willyoulistentomystory.blogspot.com/

I posted this response on her blog:

I would like to suggest something that no one seems to really consider and that is the God of the Religion of Christianity is the God who has confused you and let you down. I think the Relgion has made it impossible to be a Christian unless you are a super A personality that is driven to disciple and success. It is all such crap. The Relgion has absolutely missed it. I am not saying that those in the Religion have intentionally caused such damage, but once it starts its like a freaking avalanche that just builds and builds and builds and before you know it everyone is lying underneath the destruction. The problem is that the Religion places all the responsibility on you and then walks away hoping you get it right. But I have found that experiencing God is altogether different. I was a product of the Religion and I was one of those top A performers, but God had to tear all of that away (in a very aggressive and what I used to consider a mean manner) in order to get me to see Him and Believe in Him and actually let Him be the I AM that He claims to be. I just want to tell you that it is possible to know and come to belive that He loves you and then experience it on a moment by moment basis; but it is all inside out and the pathway is nothing like what you would expect and nothing like you have been taught in the Religion. I encourage you to read “We Have Been Lied To – Tearing Down the Walls of Christian Wrong Belief and Unbelief” (Amazon). This book does not create a new mythical God (as in the god of the Shack)but actually helps you walk step by step to understanding all the wrong belief and unbelief (mostly propagated by the Religion) that is a barrier to experiencing God and knowing for certain that you are loved. It is possible; it really is.

This is a very insightful article (http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2008/08/great_is_thy_ef.html) on the condition of the church. It is too easy for those in leadership to confuse work and effort and striving to be obedient to God with an actual work of God. Remember, Jesus said that there will be those who performed miracles in His name, cast out demons, and healed in His name and He will say depart for the works were unauthorized. So we can never be confused by the flurry of “successful” activity in the chruch; rather, we must look to the one indicator of the presence of God and that is the fruit of the Spirit. If we are not naturally producing God’s love (as evidenced in our relationships), then we are just being religious and are not truly walking as people whose lives have been invaded by the Spirit such that we only do what He tells us to do, only say what He tells us to say, and only go where He tells us to go. I encourage you to read: We Have Been Lied To: the problem with Christian Wrong Belief and Unbelief as it address the solution to our epidimic sickness.

I was introduced to this fascinating blog by kathy Escobar (http://kathyescobar.com/2008/08/09/lessons-from-egypt.) It is a good read and helps us realize how many people are out there who want God to be for them all that He says. My thoughts…. the main reason we look back to the good old days in Egypt is because we have not really understood how to experience God in our now. We are still striving to make God real to us and few have found that place of rest where their load is light and easy. This reality can be ours only when we learn to walk by faith in the Spirit of God. Yes, that sounds like a cliche but it all depends on your definition of faith. I understand faith to be about actively believing the truth a.k.a willing to bet my life on the intangible truths of the Word of God as if those truths were as real to me as the air I breathe and the food I eat.

We Have Been Lied To….humm that is a pretty provocative concept. I find it interesting that I have received only 2 types of reactions to this title: 1) those who understand that the enemy’s whole purpose is to get us to believe a lie; thus, posing as an angel of light He has introduced all manner of error and wrong belief into our lives (all cloaked in nice sounding religion) to keep us from living by faith, and 2) those who internalize this title to believe that I have said that those in the church have intentionally lied to unsuspecting believers. This is an interesting segmentation and it seems to underscore the fundamental starting place of this book. We have been deceived and are still being deceived. And the very nature of deception means that those who are deceived do not know it. The enemy has been so successful in blinding our eyes to the truth that we will even read into things, like this book, words and concepts that are not only not said, but which are the exact opposite of what is being said. It’s as if any information we receive must pass through these fixed filters before it enters our minds and the filters distort the subject matter according to the bias of that filter. It is a remarkable thing to see this in action.

THE ENEMY has worked tirelessly to pervert the truth and deceive us into believing lies because faith (which according to Hebrews 11:6 is the only way by which we can be pleasing to God) requires us to actively believe the truth. Each of these 3 components is fundamentally necessary to live in biblical faith.

Faith = Actively + Believing + the Truth

 TRUTH – If the enemy can get us to believe a lie, then in that area of our lives we will not be able to live by faith. In fact, we can believe a lie with our whole heart and with all the passions of a man or woman who is destined to die for what they believe; but if it is not the truth then it is a complete and utter waste. Oh sure, it may make for good reading in a story about epoch achievements of humanity, but it does nothing to bring us into alignment with the will of God.  BELIEVE – We can also know the truth, but if we do not believe it we will still not live by faith. We must be convinced that it is true. The Jews who failed to enter the Promised Land knew the truth about God but were not willing to believe that truth (at least not at the moment of decision); thus, they refused to cross over into the Promised Land. As a result, they died in the wilderness because of their unbelief. ACTIVELY – And finally we must actively believe. By this I mean that we must be willing to bet our lives on that truth. Mere belief is not enough for in James 2:19-20 we are told that even the demons believe and shudder, but they did not bet their lives on this truth and instead chose to follow a lie that had eternal consequences.

So getting back to the title, is it possible that you have been lied to? One way to know is to consider whether or not you are actually day-in-and-day-out experiencing the promises of God in your life. Jesus promised that His burden on our lives would be light and easy and that we would find rest for our souls. He promised that we would be free and our lives abundant. He promised that we would be full and satisfied and therefore not hunger and thirst for anyone or anything else. Is this your experience? If not, then like me, there is a good chance that you have either unwittingly swallowed the lies of the enemy and are living in a certain amount of wrong belief or else you have refused to actively believe the truth because you don’t like what it says, it is too risky, too intangible, or so on. But either way, this means there are areas of your life where you are not living by faith and that is a problem that Jesus wants to remedy.

Let’s talk

Steve Villanueva