HOW WE DECEIVE OURSELVES DECEIVING OTHERS

 

HOW WE DECEIVE OURSELVES WHEN DECEIVING OTHERS!

HOW CAN I HELP JESUS CARRYING MY CROSS.

1)-TO DECEIVE OURSELVES IS THE HEAVY BURDEN OF OUR LIVES ON EARTH.

To deceive ourselves means to accept a lie as the truth.  This may happen in any field of life.  We long for the truth!  Every moment of life, we knock on someone’s conscience to tell us the truth.   We have our own personal problem to always tell the truth.  At time we find it impossible!

2)-THE OBLIGATION WE FEEL TO SECRECY.

Personally, the very first problem not to deceive others begins at home.  We have an intimate need to keep secrets!  May they be secrets concerning our personal life; may they be secret concerning others’ lives.  We must avoid deceive or being deceived.

3)-SAINT PAUL BEGS US TO AVOID BEING DECEIVED.

In his letter to the Corinthians, saint Paul clarifies how we choose to be deceived.

May we read saint Paul in his own words in 1 Cor 6:9-10:

“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? DO NOT BE DECEIVED:  Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men  nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

The list of deceivers is long, and the deceivers are real.  The danger to be deceived is imminent since so many bishops and priests were deceived.  The tendency in the Church is to minimize such deceptions.  Sunday sermons from catholic pulpit will never attack such deceptions.  Bishops and priests fear  condemnation may it be from their own conscience or from  corrupt cultures.

4)-HUMAN FEELINGS ARE VERY STRONG TO DECEIVE OTHERS.

There is no doubt, it seems natural to deceive others about ourselves.  Very often the consequences of such deceptions are not serious since they deal with happy matters.  Women like to deceive others about their age!  So do many men! 

5)-WE ARE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF FALLEN ADAM AND EVE.

The Church keeps teaching us that the Fall of our first parents has changed us forever.  Even though baptism restores us in the Life of God, baptism does not restore us to our original justice in Paradise.

May we read our Mother Church in her divine wisdom CCC #398, 400:

“Created in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully “divinized” by God in glory.  Seduced by the devil, he wanted to “be like God,” but without God, before God, and not in accordance with God. …  Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will return to the ground for out of it he was taken.  Death makes its entrance into human history.  … After the first sin, the world is virtually inundated by sin. … and the universal corruption which follows in the wake of sin.”

Thus the Holy Scriptures reveal to us in Gen 3:5-19:

… Cursed be the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life.  Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat of the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, until you return to the ground from which you were taken; for you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.”

6)-WITH ADAM’S SIN THE ORIGINAL HARMONY OF CREATION HAS BEEN SHATTERED.

May we read our Mother Church in CCC  #400:

“The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and dominations…”

7)-ONE OF THE MISTERIOUS EFFECTS OF THE ORIGINAL SIN IS DECEPTION.

Each human being has a profound tendency to deceive may it be him or herself or the neighbor.   Adam and Eve themselves tried to deceive God when they engaged into a dialogue with satan.  Thinking satan was telling them the truth about God’s cunnings, they thought they could outdo God in deceiving the Almighty.  That fruit is powerful, as satan told them.  So our first parents triumphantly thought they unveiled God’s secret.  Let’s do it, they told themselves.  By trying to deceive God, they only deceived themselves.

8)-DECEIVING OTHERS ON GRAVE MATTERS WE ALWAYS GRAVELY DECEIVE OURSELVES.

To deceive others on grave matters may lead to grave damages and serious sin.  When we deceive others, we always deceive ourselves.  Typical examples are found in marital status.  Spouses committing adultery assert their faithful marital commitments.  They are always in very serious sins when committing such deceptions. Such deceptions when discovered may lead to homicide, suicide, and so on!

9)-SERIOUSLY DECEIVING OTHERS IN SELLING A PROPERTY IS ALWAYS A GRAVE MATTER.

Selling properties when failing to declare seen and unseen  grave defects are grave sins.   

10)-SELLING A STOLEN PROPERTY IS ALWAYS A SERIOUS MATTER.

Selling a stolen bicycle is a serious matter since it may deprive the owner from the only means of transportation he or she has to earn his or her living. 

11)-STEALING IS THE WORST DECEPTION SINCE IT ALWAYS CLOSES HEAVEN.

The thief profoundly deceives him or herself when stealing.  To repent, the thief must give back to the owner the object stolen. To give to charities is not the answer to repent.  The stolen object does not belong to the charity.  The owner must be found and the stolen object must be returned to its rightful owner.  

12)-GOD REWARDS EACH PERSON WHO SEACHES FOR HIS WAYS.    Heb 11:6

Normally nobody looks for hell.  However, one does not need to look for hell in order to go to hell.  To go to hell, one only needs to choose what God prohibits.  One deceives him or herself  cherishing a love-relationship with God while choosing to live in adultery.  Adultery chooses hell without realizing it.  However, God never abandons us with one condition: to believe.

May we read how God rewards those who look for him in  Heb 11:6

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

13)-SALVATION CONSISTS IN MEETING JESUS’ REQUIREMENTS IN OUR WORKS.

In the JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS, in Matthew 25,  Jesus clearly states God’s requirements to gain to everlasting life.

May we read Jesus in his own words in Mat 25:34-40:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,   I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?   When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?   When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 “THE KING WILL REPLY, ‘TRULY I TELL YOU, WHATEVER YOU DID FOR ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF MINE, YOU DID FOR ME.’”

This is the price to pay to enter the kingdom of  heaven.

To the ones on his left, the king has only this to say:

“Then he will say to those at his left hand,   ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;  …

Not one of the condemned accepts their being condemned to hell.   It´s impossible they yell!  They did not realize their egoism and faithless life.  They yell their condemnation is unjust.  (Mateo 25:44).

God answers them:

 “Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did NOT do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

It seems very difficult to treat the neighbor as we are to treat God Himself.  Respect the neighbor first of all. It is each one responsibility to teach the neighbor not to commit adultery with the neighbor, not to steal the neighbor, and so on!

14)-JESUS HIMSELF REVEALS THE MAJORITY OF MEN AND WOMEN REFUSE TO FULFILL GOD’S DEMANDS.

Teaching the door of heaven, Jesus reveals the “few” will find it.  The majority of men and women, “the many” with their believing in vain, will be lost.

To believe in vain is simple to understand.  Someone lives in adultery but believes going to heaven, such a person believes in vain.  Hoping for a last minute conversion is hoping in vain!  Our last minute finds us in the state of mind that we lived.

Happiness consists in loving God in the neighbor! In Mt 25, Jesus shows us a bunch of good living people who were very happy in their selfish lives. They believed in vain without realizing it.

 May we read Jesus in his own words in Matthew 7:13:

“ENTER THROUG THE NARROW GATE; FOR THE GATE IS WIDE AND THE ROAD BROAD THAT LEADS TO DESTRUCTION, AND THOSE WHO ENTER THROUGH IT ARE “MANY.”  HOW NARROW THE GATE AND CONSTRICTED THE ROAD THAT LEADS TO SALVATION.  AND THOSE WHO FIND IT ARE “FEW.”  (Matthew 7:13)

15)-HUMAN LAWS APRROVING GAY MARRIAGES, ABORTIONS, ADULTERY,  DECEIVE THE MAJORITY OF BELIEVERS.

Saint Paul, in his message to the Corinthians warns us not to be led astray by a world gone BAD. 

May we read saint Paul in 1Corinthians 15:1-2:

“ Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.   BY THIS GOSPEL YOU ARE SAVED, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, YOU HAVE BELIEVED IN VAIN.”

Our governments legislate against God.  Let us not be deceived!  Now we must choose.  Do we choose to be with “THE MANY” or with “THE FEW”?   May we sing WHEN ALL THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN,  I WANT TO BE WITH THE FEW destined to heaven.

May Jesus continue blessing us in our determination to learn our faith so as to teach others the right path to salvation.  The professor.