Self-Deception by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 16, 1870

Self-Deception.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

TEXT: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal. 6:7.

This world is full of deception. Wherever a man goes, in whatever he engages, he is very liable to be deceived. Every man knows this, and is on the watch for it. He keeps his eyes open. He tests everybody and everything before he trusts them. Even then, after the closest care, men are often deceived and made to suffer much by it. In all worldly affairs, men are anxious to avoid being deceived. They try to learn the exact truth; for they know that this is their only safety.

But, strange to say, in religious matters, where eternal interests are at stake, many persons are perfectly willing to be deceived! We often hear them say, “It is no matter what we believe; if we are only honest and sincere in our belief, the Lord will accept us.” But these men know better than to reason in this way about worldly affairs. If they are deceived in these, they must suffer for it; and if they were carelessly deceived, no one pities them. We think that in the great day they will find the same principle to hold good in religious matters.

Let us take a few cases of persons who were deceived and led to believe a falsehood. Let us see how the Lord regarded them. Eve is a good illustration. Gen. 2:16, 17. God told her not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If she did, she must die. Soon after this, the enemy came and conversed with her about it. He told her that the fruit would not hurt her, but do her good. After considering the matter, Eve concluded that the fruit would not hurt her. She believed that it would do her good. That she sincerely believed this, she proved by partaking of the tree. What was the result? Suppose the case: The Lord calls her up and says, “Eve, have you eaten of the forbidden fruit?” “Yes.” “By this deed you have brought my wrath upon you, and you must die, as I threatened you.” But Eve replies, “Lord, the serpent deceived me, and I sincerely and honestly believed that it would be best for me to eat of it. Surely you will not punish me for doing what I sincerely believed was right.” But the Lord replies: “I told you not to touch it. My enemy, the serpent, told you to eat it. You believed his words, and disbelieved mine—believed that I had lied to you. For this lack of faith in me you shall die.”

Reader, this illustrates the real truth in the case. It shows that Eve, instead of having sincere belief, was moved by the blackest unbelief in God, for which she deserved to die. So it is generally with those who plead their honesty and sincerity while directly disbelieving and disobeying the plain word of God. The Judgment will probably reveal the fact that much of this so-called honest and sincere belief was nothing but pure unbelief.

Paul's case while persecuting the saints is another illustration of this fact. Will any one question his zeal and sincerity in doing what he did? He says, “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” Acts. 26:9. If any one could plead “sincere belief” he could. Yet hear him after he was converted to God and saw things as they were. Of himself he says: “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” Here Paul justly confesses that it was unbelief which led him to do what he did against the truth. He does not try to excuse himself under the plea of “sincere belief,” but comes out plainly and gives the thing its proper name; “ignorant unbelief.” Now the fearful and unbelieving are to have their part in the lake of fire. Rev. 21:8.

When God requires men to believe any truth, he always gives them sufficient evidence to convince them if they are willing to be convinced. If they shut their eyes to this evidence and do not believe the Lord, he holds them accountable for their unbelief, however much they may deceive themselves by calling it sincere belief. A most pernicious error is that which says that it makes no odds what we believe if we are only sincere. If this be true, the sincere pagan would be as acceptable to God as the sincere Christian. One religion would be as good as another if men only believed it strongly enough.

But let us look at this idea. God is the author of all truth. Whatever is true in all the world comes from God. John 17:17; 1 John 2:21. On the other hand, the devil is the author of every error, false doctrine, and untruth which has ever been taught in the world. Says Christ, “Satan is a liar and the father of it.” John 8:44. No one could believe that any untruth or error could come from God; hence it must come from the opposite source—the devil. To illustrate: In a certain town there are two different doctrines being advocated. One is true, the other false. The true one of course must have originated with God; it came from him. The false one must have originated with Satan; he first started it. The people are divided between the two doctrines. Some firmly believe one, and some firmly believe the other.

Now can we believe that God is indifferent as to which doctrine they adhere to, on which side they arrange themselves? No; for every word they speak, every act they do, all the influence they exert on the side of the false doctrine and against the true one, is so much done to build up the authority and kingdom of Satan, and to oppose the truth and kingdom of God. This unquestionably being true, it is of great importance that our belief be found on the right side.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Adel, Iowa.