Can You Be Deceived? Why People Are Duped and How Not to Be
by G. Richard Fisher

“‘Will you walk into my parlor?’ said a spider to a fly; ‘Tis the prettiest little parlor that you ever did spy’” (Mary Howitt).
The inspired Apostle Paul warned us: “Let no one deceive you” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). It is apparent that we are vulnerable to deception and we must not forget it. We must be on guard and protect ourselves against it. There is deception everywhere in the religious world. We must be alert.
Deception can only deceive if it looks somewhat like the real thing. Apologist Craig Hawkins explains:
“We must realize that the way to deceive people with counterfeits is to imitate the genuine article as closely as possible. For example, if counterfeiters want to pass off fake one-hundred-dollar bills, they do not print Donald Duck’s picture on purple paper. Instead they attempt to duplicate a true bill. Similarly, despicable persons who try to deceive others attempt to appear genuine and sincere. They do not walk up to you and inform you that they are there to deceive and defraud you. The far more effective method is faking friendship and fidelity.”1
Goethe taught that we are never deceived but that we deceive ourselves. It is true that religious hucksters are believed because people want to believe them. People want the claims to be true. One of Martin Luther’s favorite sayings was “mundus vult decipi” — the world wants to be deceived.
Once a person has invested blood, sweat, tears and money into religious deception, he may be too embarrassed or too stubborn to admit he has been taken. Our hearts are where our treasure has gone. Our vested interest helps us keep the blinders on. We often only “see” what we want to see. The Bible presents a complex picture in regard to deception and assures us that God holds both the deceiver and the deceived accountable.
In the first chapter of the book of Zephaniah, the Lord charges and convicts both the people and the corrupt leaders they followed. Lamentations 2:14 indicates the same:
“Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.”
It seems that for many complex reasons, one of which is the spurious idea of ongoing revelation (along with a diminished view of the sufficiency of the Bible), many people are predisposed to credulity. That is, they are gullible and likely ready to believe anything even on very slight evidence or sometimes with no evidence at all. Testimonials and dramatic stories sell.
The Bible does not go into a lot of intricate detail as to the psychology of deception; it does not have to. What it does is give us warning about its reality and specific instruction on how to deal with it. The words deceit, deceitful, deceitfully, deceitfulness, deceive, and deceivability are used again and again in the Bible. It is one of the major themes. There are warnings everywhere in Scripture about being deceived. There are numerous warnings about the users and purveyors of deceit. The underlying Greek words for deceit cover everything from self-deceit to the practice of deceit by unprincipled religious teachers and con artists. So we are warned repeatedly and must be ready (2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 13-14).

Deceit is defined as:
“1. The act of representing as true what is known to be false; a deceiving or lying.
2. a dishonest action or trick; fraud or lie. 3. the quality of being deceitful.”2
British scholar W.E. Vine defines the Greek words apate and dolos that underlie the various English words for deceit: “APATE ... to cheat, deceive, beguile, that which gives a false impression, whether by appearance, statement or influence ... In Col. 2:8, ‘vain deceit’ suggests that deceit is void of anything profitable. ... DOLOS ... primarily a bait, snare; hence, craft, deceit, guile.”3
UNHOLY WATER
Fiction writer Robert Rosenberg captures the concept of deceit in his first mystery novel, Crimes of the City. Detective Avram Cohen is the lead character and is investigating the murder of two nuns in Ein Kerem, west of Jerusalem. A Messianic rabbi, Ovadia, who is using his religious influence to cover drug running, is described by Cohen: “The only real difference seems to be that he figured out that if he calls it religion, he can get away with things. He’s playing the saint, selling blessed water from a faucet.”4
So, deceitful men get away with things under the guise of religion and playing the saint while they sell worthless panaceas. Years ago we would call them “snake oil salesmen.”
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