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- Deception is accomplished by making things appear differently than they actually are.
- This was done in the old days by using deceitful weights and balances (Mic 6:11-12).
- The Bible refers to this practice as using divers weights and measures (Deut 25:13-16).
- A deceptive merchant would have a false set of weights when weighing the money to make the buyer give more money than was owed and a false set of measuring containers when measuring out the wheat so the buyer got less than he was supposed to (Amo 8:5-6).
(i) Shekel n. – 1. a. An ancient unit of weight of the Babylonians, and hence of the Phœnicians, Hebrews, and others, equal to one-sixtieth of a mina (see mina 1). b. A coin of this weight; esp. the chief silver coin of the Hebrews.
(ii) Ephah n. – A Hebrew dry measure, identical in capacity with the bath; see bath n.3; it is variously said to have contained from 4 1 / 2 to 9 gallons.
- Or he would have one set of weights and measures for buying goods and another set for selling goods.
- God hates this practice of cheating and fraud (Pro 20:10, 23).
iii. The Lord’s weight and balance are just (Pro 16:11; Lev 19:35-36).
- This is done by merchants nowadays, but in a different way.
- Today this is accomplished by changing packaging sizes without making it explicit to the buyer.
- It is also done by changing the quality of the inputs to produce a lower quality product without being forthcoming about it.
- Governments also engage in this deceitful practice.
- They debase the currency by inflation (printing money), and thereby rob people of their purchasing power.
- The US government decoupled the dollar from gold and silver and continued to call the currency “dollars.”
- A dollar used to be a unit of weight of silver.
- “A dollar was first defined in the Mint Act of 1792 as 371.25 grains of fine silver…” (Peter Schiff, Crash Proof 2.0)
- In 1934 the US government made it illegal for US citizens to own gold, and they proceeded to confiscated it.
- After they confiscated the gold, they revalued the dollar from approximately $20/ounce of gold to $35/ounce.
- In 1965, they removed the silver from dimes and quarters and passed off new ones to the public made of cheap metals.
- In 1971 the dollar was completely un-pegged from gold and was no longer redeemable in gold by foreign governments.
iii. Since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913 the dollar has lost about 95% of its value, but it’s still called a “dollar.”
- This wicked act is pure deceit.
- Another example is the Coronavirus reporting.
- The death rate of the Coronavirus is likely being inflated by governments who count anyone who dies with the Coronavirus as having died from the Coronavirus.
- This is a deceitful tactic.
- Deception is accomplished by giving gifts or special treatment.
- Be very cautious of a stranger or someone you just met who treats you out to an expensive meal (Pro 23:1-3).
- This happens in business all the time.
- Lobbyists do this for politicians regularly.
iii. Always remember that that free meal or gift isn’t free.
- Be wary of the man or woman who shows you too much affection (Pro 27:6).
- Judas betrayed our Lord Jesus Christ with a kiss (Luk 22:47-48).
- Joab used a deceitful kiss to kill Amasa (2Sa 20:9-10).
- Deception is accomplished using beauty (Pro 31:30).
- Women that are well favored (Gen 29:17 c/w Son 8:10) can have a powerful influence over men.
- The beauty of a woman is like blinders on the eyes of men.
- Women have a powerful ability to deceive men (Job 31:9).
- Strange women are subtle of heart (Pro 7:10).
- Subtle adj. – 1. Of thin consistency, tenuous; not dense, rarefied; hence, penetrating, pervasive or elusive by reason of tenuity (now chiefly of odours). Of immaterial things: Not easily grasped, understood, or perceived; intricate, abstruse. 10. Of persons or animals: Crafty, cunning; treacherously or wickedly cunning, insidiously sly, wily. 1535 Coverdale Gen. iii. 1 The serpent was sotyller then all the beastes of the felde.
- They pretend to be something they are not to trick simple men (Pro 7:14).
- They deceive men by flattering them with fair speech (Pro 7:21).
- Women have the power to entice their husbands to do things they shouldn’t do (Jdg 14:15; Jdg 16:5).
- They do so by crying to get what they want (Jdg 14:16-17).
- Husbands, don’t give in to your wife’s crying when she wants to do something wrong or when she is trying to convince you to.
- Wives also entice their husbands to do wrong things by questioning their love for them (Jdg 16:15-17).
iii. Men, the next time you are tempted to go along with your wife’s unbiblical ideas, remember Adam and Eve (Gen 3:6 c/w Rom 5:12).
- But if your wife is right, listen to her and don’t be a fool (Gen 21:9-12).