I remember when it happened. He was probably the most famous and commercially successful magician at the time. David Copperfield, born David Kotkin, believed in big illusions. He made a Learjet disappear, walked through the Great Wall of China, and levitated over the Grand Canyon. At least it looked like he did all those things.
On April 8, 1983, he made the Statue of Liberty disappear before a live audience. Oh so many years later, I found an article that told how he did it. David Copperfield was a storyteller. He never just did a trick. He talked his way through it and had you focused on him and completely involved in his words. Unbeknownst to his audience, they were sitting on a platform that revolved at an imperceptible speed. By the time David finished his story and lowered the screen he had raised over their view of the statue, they were facing a completely different direction where no statue existed! Reddit has someone who was there telling about a helicopter he also used to focus a bright beam of light on the statue, which also moved in a way no one could perceive so it's relative position to the audience never changed, and the bright light kept the changing skyline in the background invisible to the audience as well. All the audience saw was black space where before Lady Liberty had stood.
Simple right? So why didn't the audience notice? The same reason we do not notice when other people try to trick us, or when Satan tries to trick us. Sometimes we are so naïve that things slip right past us. Sometimes we want to believe in people so much that we blind ourselves to things that should be obvious.
Jesus was not too sympathetic with that. Let them alone: they are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both shall fall into a pitMatt15:14. He expects us to beware, to be careful who we listen to, to examine everything we hear and not be deceived. In fact, he expects us to love the truth so much that we cannot be misled.
The New Testament is full of warnings, full of ways to know whether or not we are hearing the truth.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world1John4:1.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do [men] gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you shall know them Matt7: 15-20.
Those magicians out there will get you to focus on a different standard than the one God gives us. Gradually we move from the place we should be, drifting so slowly and imperceptibly that before we know it, we are so far off that we can no longer even tell the difference. Paul talks about people who "compare themselves with themselves" instead of with the One who should be our Model. Anyone can look right by doing that.
It is our responsibility to protect ourselves from the illusionists out there—the ones who try to rob us of salvation with smooth talk and false teaching. God also expects us to train ourselves in the ways Satan tries to trick us. That takes time--time to learn His Word and learn Him. But if it saves your soul, it is time well spent.
I have done this so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes 2Cor2:11.
Dene Ward
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