Once upon a time, I said, “Father, I’m so tired of being afraid of being deceived. It’s like walking around on eggshells worried that I’m hearing the wrong things in the world, or wrong preachers, or even wrong things from my Self. How would I ever know, anyway? If a person is deceived, they’re the last one to know.

Everyone relies on someone else to tell them the truth. But how can that be reliable? There’s some kind of deception happening in every life. Apparently, we’re all a hot mess! Blind leading the blind. Who can possibly be honest and guarantee their word, or advice, or instruction, is from you?

And using the Bible as the standard? Every person reads the same scripture a different way!”

The whole Christian dynamic of “getting into a good Bible-based church” is frustrating and discouraging. Every person is unique. So, the “good Bible-based church” ideal isn’t working out real well for a whole lot of us. And according to statistics, that group is growing.

And deception isn’t lessening.

testing the churches

My first church fell apart when the head guy created his own private harem via female congregants. Whew! That was pretty awful. After that, I wandered for 20 years looking for another “Bible-based” church. Every one of them said they were. Just as the first one had said.

I remember the one that insisted women wear only dresses. And the boring one that needed to distribute pillows to their sleeping sheep. There’s the one that focused 75% on the singers and musicians (the worship team). Church was a stage and we were an audience. And of course, the one focused on community activities. Or the one focused on evangelizing the rest of the town.

I won’t forget the Holy Ghost churches with services that ended in tearful emotional gatherings around the altar. There was no end to the wounded people spiral. And last but not least the megachurch which made me a cog in a well-trained, choreographed crowd.

I apologize if these descriptions offend anyone. That’s not my intention. Hopefully, you are long past that stage of immaturity. Searching for truth is definitely not for the weak of heart. It takes a boatload of courage.

finding home

So after searching for a “good Bible-based church” that would keep me from deception, I realized that I didn’t fit in any of them. I simply couldn’t settle for less than the thing my spirit longed for. What was I looking for?

Then one day while I was staring at the mountains, talking to Father, and feeling completely content, it occurred to me that this is the very best place I could imagine ever being. This is the ultimate fulfilling. And if I get lonely I ask Father and he sends someone.

Usually, they’re strangers that don’t go to church themselves, but their faith and sincerity and ability to experience eye-opening things with Father are simply amazing! I end up involved in some of the most profound conversations. Sharing things I’ve never heard talked about in church. And I’m basking in the joy of this meeting of the minds for a long time to come.

This is church…..for me. Sometimes alone with Father, and sometimes in impromptu conversation with strangers. It’s a lot of freedom and not everyone really wants that.

guarantees?

Does my lifestyle guarantee no deception? No more than any church can guarantee. And ironically, most of them do.

Truthfully I’ve discovered that deception is inside the church and out. It appears to be inherent in most of humanity. Oddly, I’ve also noticed that we humans zealously love our deceptions. We’ll fight to the death to keep them. Plus, we’ll maul anyone who tries to uncover them. Nope, no one can guarantee a total lack of deception. And when they do…..well, there it is.

There is a point of maturity when we can admit that we can be wrong, and will probably be wrong a whole lot of the time. This admission doesn’t tarnish our character and make us unChrist-like or evil. It makes us human. Exactly the way God made us.

That’s generally the point when we begin to discover the only place where deception doesn’t live. Inside Father.

what no deception looks like

The moment when my spirit soars and blossoms with new growth, joy, and peace, is where Father is vibrating, moving and manifesting. For me, it’s the only moment that has proven itself free of deception.

I may be deceived about something else in the next moment, like my meds, or my vitamins, or my neighbors, and my country. I could be deceived about my finances, or my goals, or my education. As a matter of fact, I see the opportunity for billions of people to be deceived in a billion ways every single day.

And that is why leaning on others, or a church, or any other human to keep me from deception, is a bit insane. Maybe there’s someone out there who’s better at being in Father? Well, exactly how is that going to help me be more in Father? He’s in me! For crying out loud, I have to see him and hear him for myself. I have to touch all the buttons and blow all the whistles that are inside myself until I find him. And that’s because I won’t find him the same way they did, or anyone else. This is a purely personal journey of relationship. Of getting to know my friend and his character.

I had to get real quiet over many, many moments of his vibrating, wind blowing, movement within me before I began to recognize his patterns. And it was even longer before I compiled the results that this was the only place where there was no deception. This was it!

what about mistakes?

And when I forget to find that place, that moment, because I’m busy or pressured by others, its still not the end of the world. He covers my behind. I’ve watched him take some of my worst decisions and turn them into some wonderful results. All I had to do was ask. And he didn’t require weeping repentance from me. Not even an apology.

Relationship with him is the only one that ever epitomizes the old ’70s phrase “Love is never having to say you’re sorry”. He’s the only one who can pull it off.

Last time I was on the floor crying in repentance, I heard him say, “Let me know when you’re done. I have some stuff I wanted to show you. I think you’ll find it exciting. But I’ll wait. Let me know.” And his voice was rather bored and nonchalant. He simply didn’t require my religious ritual and he wasn’t impressed by it.

Repentance to him, is simply changing my mind. That’s it.

So, it’s easy for him to step onto my wrongs and turn them into gigantic rights. Even when I’m deceived!

bottom line

I know there are things we do when we really should go apologize and repent to others. But it isn’t because Father wants us to do that for him. It’s because others aren’t always mature enough to step over little offences. And honestly, they’re ALL little after I saw them from his eyes.

Deception is not the whip cracking crisis we all fear so greatly.

Somehow we create doctrines that twist how Father works and minimize his simply over-the-top abilities. They virtually extract him from the equation of us and put the burden on our own backs. Then we open the mouth of Hell with threats of stepping out and being deceived.

Ironically that’s never the way we would raise our own kids, so why we think God does, is beyond me.

The absence of deception is only found in one place: going inside and making friends with Father. It’s in listening carefully to his sweet voice and seeing how he does things. That’s how Jesus did it.

And that’s the only way we can too.

Blessings,

Faith