The Joy of the Deceived

Copyright 2006 by Shea Oakley

All rights reserved

Last night I viewed a television documentary about Muslims making their required once in a lifetime "Hadj" pilgrimage to Mecca. The program tells the story of three people from different parts of the world who the camera follows from their homes to Saudi Arabia. All are deeply affected emotionally by their experience. Two are shown crying in what appears to be a state of joy derived from their time of communion with Allah. They often speak movingly of the virtues of their religion and at times sound more like Christian evangelists than followers of Mohammed. As I watched I could not help but feel the seductive pull of a belief system mostly sympathetically portrayed by the producers of the documentary as one of peace, brotherhood and simple devotion.

It almost became possible to forget about the morning I personally watched as the towers of the World Trade Center burned. I could almost accept as truth the idea that these earnest, weeping pilgrims could not possibly read the same Koran as those who turned commercial airliners into guided missiles.

Almost.

But I cannot forget and for that I’m thankful. Otherwise I might start to believe that those who have embraced Islam have embraced the same God I have. But the God of Mohammed and the God of Jesus Christ are not the same and, if I’m reading my Bible correctly, neither is the eternal destiny of those who have chosen one or the other. I know the previous sentence is not politically correct to the ears of the Western world and even to certain "progressive" evangelicals. I don’t care.

It is entirely possible that some of the 9/11 hijackers wept for joy during their own visit to Mecca. I wonder if they also wept for joy as the Skyline of Manhattan appeared out of their cockpit windows and they realized that their mission was about to be accomplished.

What all this points up is that spiritual deception has the power to move those caught in its grip to a euphoria that appears indistinguishable from that which accompanies real intimacy with the true God, and that is a very sobering thought. I have spent a lot of time arguing with fellow Christians who seemed to me to have unnecessary problems with the emotional aspect of our faith. I’ve sometimes found their stress on the propositional truths of Scripture over gut-level experiences with the presence of God infuriating. This is probably because I am a very subjective person and my times of felt-connection with my Savior through the Holy Spirit have been very powerful and sustaining for me. I know what it is to cry during a communion service or while participating in worship.

However, as I watched these people who do not believe in the divinity of Christ have experiences that seemed awfully similar to my own I began to wonder. Perhaps emotions, even positive ones, cannot be trusted after all. If they cannot then I had better have some sound theology to fall back on.

I remember once hearing someone describe how some Hindu priests in India have been known to step over "lower-caste" Dalits who are starving in the streets of Calcutta and then stop and ecstatically spread the dung of a cow over their own bodies. I know I’m being politically incorrect again, as well as a bit disgusting, but here is another example of how spiritual deception can produce a counterfeit joy (and let me, state for the record, that I know men who called themselves followers of Christ might have wept for joy or been ecstatic after killing Muslims on a crusade or Jews during the Inquisition. Deception can wear a cross around its neck too.)

Perhaps it behooves every Christian to take a hard look at how pleasurable emotions can be attached to error. Such a reality check might remind us that Satan truly does often come as an angel of light, and that good feelings and true belief are not always synonymous. .