Last week my husband and I went for a Sunday drive. Not far from our home we came across this bear beside the road snooping around a farmer's corn field. We of course stopped and got out of the car for some photos.
It was not until we downloaded our photos that my husband called me to show me this shot of the black bear from behind that revealed a long tail !
Impossible we declared ! but there it was, the photo had captured it .
We showed my daughter who exclaimed her surprise, my neighbour lady was also impressed and asked for the photo to show her husband.
Then we showed it our son-in-law who looked and asked "Is it photo shopped?"
We told him not at all, that was how we took the photo.
"Weird!" he exclaimed. He stared at the photo, handed it back and then asked for it again. Looking more intently, he suddenly started to laugh and pointed out that it was simply a green plant that divided his hind leg in two and made it appear like a tail.
We had all been fooled !
While we laughed in embarressment, it made me realize the power of suggestion and the ease with which the eye was tricked into seeing something that wasn't there.
The bible warns us not to be deceived and of course none of us want to be or intend to let ourselves be drawn into deception. But it happens easier than we care to admit.
How do we guard ourselves from deception ?
My husband and I knew that black bears do not have long tails. But we allowed our eyes to convince us to over rule what we knew to be true and find reason to believe something contrary. Maybe this was a strange freak of nature !
Satan is on the prowl tricking us to see things contrary to what we know to be true from God's Word.
We know God's commandments but how easy is it to justify the reasons the commandments don't apply in our situation.
We know God's Word but often science offering contrary evidence is easier to believe - even though we know that science is constantly updating its discoveries while the bible has remained unchanged for thousands of years and has yet to be proven to be in error.
Sometimes it is easier to trust someone else's research/opinions than to do our own homework and find the truth for ourselves.
Do we think that we can play with sin and escape the consequences?
Gal 6:7 "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."
Do we think we can fill our minds with the images/thinking/language of the world and keep company with those who delight in the things done in darkness and not be affected ?
1Co 15:33 "Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits."
Do we think that men wise in the eyes of the world have advice superior to God's words?
2Co 11:3 "But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. "
Do we think we can live according to our fleshly pleasures or weaknesses and keep our place in God's Kingdom ?
1Co 6:9 "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived."
Do we believe that there are many ways and paths to God rather than only one way of truth?
Luk 21:8 "And He said: "Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The time has drawn near.' Therefore do not go after them."
Do we believe that in our enlightened society deception is less prevelent ?
2Ti 3:13 "But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."
In the end it will be God who is right and every contrary opinion found to be a lie.
Jas 1:16 "Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren."
"Let us watch and be on guard... keeping ourselves in the light of God's Word where we are safe from deception !"
11 comments:
Points well made, Julie. Your long-tailed bear photo had me convinced as well. How easily we can be deceived.
Very well said with a great illustration Julie! :0) I'll be on the look out for long tailed bears!!
Your long-tailed bear is very convincing, tricks to the eyes. And yes, even though we are taught to question, how many times to we believe what we first think we see?
When I first looked at the photo I too thought I saw a long tail.
A great illustration of how quickly we can be deceived. Loved this post Julie!
Aha...I think you have just created a great code word for deceptions that needs a closer look to discover the truth. "That reminds me of a long tail bear I once saw...": code for: you are being deceived.
For example, the "long-tailed bear" in Florida?
Great post jUlie....deception...MMMMM have been there.
Kathy
oh, that's funny about the bear. :)
I ran across this image because I had a dream once that I wrestled with a bear with a long tail. identical to this image. it attacked me and I reached my arm into its mouth and down to its stomach and pulled on his stomach from the inside out. I pulled my arm out and was not harmed at all! not even a small cut was on me. not sure what the dream meant but I recognize the picture here with what I saw in dream.
I guess I have been deceived as well July 1, 2018, I witnessed a bear with a long tail, crossing Tram Rd. in Tallahassee FL.
Satan; he just never stops trying to convince us that bears have tails; and he never will.
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