Delightsome Land

Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character  1 Corinthians 15:33 AMPC. The Lord Jesus warned us to be wary of deception. In Matthew 24:4 , He cautions, “... Take heed that no man deceive you .”  In the epistles, the Apostle Paul repeatedly warned of the dangers of deception. Notice what he said in the opening text, “ Do not be so deceived and misled ...”; because it's easy to be deceived. Satan’s capital strategy in derailing Eve was deception. In 2 Corinthians 11:3 , Paul captures it; it says, “ But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ .”  Therefore, by understanding how Satan deceived Eve, you can gain insight into how to stay ahead of him and prevent yourself and others from being deceived. Remember that Paul was speaking to God’s people when he said, “ ...

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life ( John 3:16 ). When preaching the Gospel, some Christians focus primarily on the subject of sin, emphasizing the need for people to repent of their sins. The message of repentance was apt for the Jews because they were under the Law. What was required of them was to turn away from wrong when they sinned, unto God. However, non-Jews—the Gentiles—had nothing to turn away from because they were never under the Law, which in itself was their condemnation. The Bible says, “ For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law ” ( Romans 5:13 ). But then, the Bible says, “ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God ” ( Romans 3:23 ). This includes both Jews and Gentiles. If the Gentiles didn’t break the Law because it wasn’t given to them, where then was their sin? We learn in the book of Genesis ...