“Now this I say that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech”

The Apostle Paul is covering all the bases by setting before the believers the Lord Jesus. Only their true view of Him will protect them from false teachers and false doctrine. It is the same for us today. 

It is easy to find yourself deluded by fancy preachers and people who exude confidence in themselves and live glamorous lives. Some people seem to have everything and others have very little. It seems that God helps people who are wily and smart and know how to get what they want, while those who make sacrifices for His sake, are left without. 

We keep our focus on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith and the only one who can bring us safely through the minefield, that is this Christian life, and bring us safe to God. 

Our minds must be grounded in the Word of God. We must know it for ourselves and not be relying on preachers to tell us what to think and believe. There are so many false prophets, teachers and the like, out there in the public domain that it is frightening. We live in dark days, perhaps the end days, when there will be great delusion and many so-called “believers” falling away from the faith. They fall away because they did not believe on the only Saviour, but just following an idea and a convenience for them. 

The media is so endearing. It looks so glamorous and draws us in with sight and sound. We hear the grandiose words and the fake promises that are really just “self-help” strategies and techniques. There is no living faith and no love for Christ at all. There are platitudes and a nodding ascent to some kind of belief in a vague Bible, but nothing living or breathing. There is no Holy Spirit of God in any of it, despite the vaunted efforts to invoke His presence. He is dishonoured in the end and that is a very serious matter.

Caution is the key. Read, study, meditate on the Scripture and guard your mind and heart from all that is evil out there, carried out in the name of Christianity. 

“Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

1 John 4:1

Paul is ensuring that the believers and all the church of God are in no doubt about sound doctrine and have a clear view of the person of Christ. Be persuaded of all the right things and shun every evil word.