Lies in Disguise: The Origin

Dear readers, over the next few months, I will be sharing a couple of devotions each week covering some of the subjects in my book, Lies in Disguise. These are devotions, not ads, but they will give you an idea of the book content, helping you decide if it's something you'd like for personal or group study. For a more thorough overview of the book content, see the Lies in Disguise landing page. ~ Gail

Now for the devotion:

Origins are important. Understanding the source of something helps us discern if it's true or false. 

I'm not sure when my interest in studying half-truths began, but I've been studying them for over a decade. Without a doubt, they prove to be the most effective method for misleading people. And Satan loves introducing them in the church where they do the greatest damage to our world. 

Half-truths are nothing new. The first half-truth recorded in Scripture sets the stage for the spiritual battle mankind has faced throughout history. To read a poem I wrote about that first lie in disguise see On the Eve of Destruction.  

I call these half-truths Lies in Disguise because they typically come across as reasonable, logical, and fair-minded when they are actually unreasonable, illogical, and unjust. 

Scripture warns us repeatedly of such things: 
Colossians 2:8; Ephesians 5:6; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Romans 16:17-18.

See the full text of these Scriptures at the bottom of the page.

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I'm deeply concerned about popular half-truths that are damaging people's faith, and that's why I wrote Lies in Disguise, Half-Truths Many Christians Believe. 

It begins by thoroughly explaining the origin of the half-truth method, the first time truth was mixed with error in our world, and the evil and loss it caused. Do you know what part of Satan's lie to Eve was true and what part was false? Do you know that Satan used similar lies throughout Scripture and continues to use them in the modern church?

We need to understand these lies in disguise so we can reject them and warn others.  

See It's Not for the Money. It explains how little I get from each book and why my main goal is getting helpful information into the hands of remnant believers.

Lies in Disguise is available: 

At a discounted price from the publisher for a limited time: Lies in Disguise. 

On Amazon. 

And in the UK: CLC-UK or Eden UK.

Scriptural warnings:

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”  Colossians 2:8

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”  Ephesians 5:6

“I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”  2 Corinthians 11:3 

“Watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned...such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.”  Romans 16:17-18

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My 40-Day and 40-Night Challenge

Some of you know that my new book Lies in Disguise, Half-Truths Many Christians Believe came out December 1, 2025. But for some reason, Amazon didn’t start delivering orders until the end of the first week in January 2026. 

And this was only one of many challenges I faced during that time. One day I made a joke about those early orders taking 40 days and 40 nights, and I decided to research events taking 40 days in Scripture:

1. The flood which brought a new beginning (Genesis 7:12).

2. Moses' time on Mt. Sinai which brought new revelation (Exodus 24:18).

3. Elijah's exhausting journey which brought his recommissioning (1 Kings 19:8). 

4. Christ's wilderness temptation which confirmed His sinless character (Mark 1:12-13). 

5. Christ's post-resurrection visits which confirmed His mission (Acts 1:3).

Don’t worry. I’m not comparing my difficulties or my book to any of these important events, but it’s a good reminder that things we do for the Lord sometimes bring a flood of waiting, exhaustion, temptations, delays, and time-consuming purposes.

Because my book deals with popular errors, I believe Satan has made continual attempts to discourage me and interfere with the publication.* 

God’s Word reminds us that living for Him involves sacrifice (Matthew 16:24). We see this in the lives of God’s people throughout Scripture and history, and we find comfort in verses like John 16:33:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 

Jesus gives us peace in the trials! 

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* Another element of my 40-day challenge was discovering a one-word error/typo in three Scripture references in the book, even though my original manuscript quoted them correctly! They can't be corrected until the book has its second printing. One of my friends who has published ten successful books assured me that small printing errors aren't unusual. But I was disappointed. I wished the errors had been in my words, not God's. 😊

I think Lies in Disguise is an important book for remnant Christians because it explains popular errors that God's people have unknowingly accepted, errors that misrepresent the gospel message.

You might enjoy reading these two reviews: An Author and an Army Chaplain Review “Lies in Disguise.”  Lies in Disguise now has normal delivery dates on Amazon, and it's also available at CLC, and in the U.K. at Equip and Eden.

 

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Rejoicing in Detours, Difficulties, & Delays

DIY moves are stressful, and we were bone tired after packing and loading our household goods. After all, we were in our 60s. 

After several hours on the road in our 26' rental truck, we made a rest stop in the middle of nowhere and noticed a badly bent wheel on the trailer that was hauling our car.

A boring four-hour wait for the wrecker ... too late to make our destination ... an unplanned overnight at a hotel .... delayed unpacking.

I was completely cheerful, praising God bummed.

Fortunately, others were praying for us, which is probably why I was able to quickly refocus on these truths:

1. Perhaps God protected us from an accident. Whether He did or not, He could use the delay for our good (Romans 8:28).

2. This was a great opportunity to grow in patience and gratefulness 
(1 Thessalonians 5:18).

3. It was a good time to count my blessings and remember how insignificant my troubles really are (Philippians 4:8).

God's truth has a way of turning everything around—if we let it.

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For more insights, see When Things Don't Go as Planned and When God Changes Our Plans.

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Why Philip Yancey's Book is Backward on My Bookshelf

I sometimes buy books with biblical errors for research purposes.(1) I put them backward on my bookshelf so people won't see them and think I recommend them. 

 

The Bible is the only book facing forward that I trust 100%, so I'm not saying I must agree with every word in other books. But I don't display the ones with major biblical errors. This week, I flipped a Philip Yancey book backward because God commands us to judge the fruit of a teacher's message and his life (Matthew 7:15-20).

Yancey recently confessed to having an eight-year affair, sinning against God and his wife of fifty-five years, and helping another married woman violate her marriage, all the while representing Christianity in his ministry and books.

We all sin, and sometimes we fight the same sins for years. But when we enjoy sins for years without fighting them, we seriously damage our witness, our faith, and our discernment. 

And sexual sins are especially damaging because our “bodies are members of Christ himself… All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.” See 1 Corinthians 6:9-20.

I pray Yancey will take the steps to restore his faith, marriage, and discernment.

His life should inspire us to be even more deliberate about guarding our hearts (Proverbs 4:23), fleeing temptation (2 Timothy 2:22), taking God's exit plan (1 Corinthians 10:13), and wearing the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). 

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Often, when something like this happens, people use the example of David as a way of excusing such sins. David's sins were fully forgiven because he fully and humbly repented, but he suffered serious life-long consequences. See 6 Characteristics of Sincere Repentance

(1) In this photo, the three books turned backward are Boundaries, Jesus Calling, and The Shack. Each title is linked to an explanation of the errors they contain. See also Should We Care if The Shack, The Chosen, & Jesus Calling Contain Scriptural Errors?

 

See Philip Yancey Confesses Affair

 

A perfect way to improve your biblical discernment. 

 

Lies in Disguise available: 

From the publisher: Lies in Disguise.  

On Amazon. 

And in the UK: CLC-UK or Eden UK.

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Law-Keeping versus Love-Keeping

We love freedom. We fight for it. We hold it in high regard. 

However, many people think freedom is doing whatever we want - no rules, no right or wrong. 

But Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).

And the most important type of freedom comes only from God: 

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  Galatians 5:1

Christians understand that “not everything is beneficial” and we must not be mastered by anything (1 Corinthians 6:12). We seek freedom by seeking to do what God commands, but it's not really about law-keeping; it's about “love-keeping.”

Jesus said, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching” (John 14:23).

Being a Christ-lover means living within His guidelines, limitations, and expectations because we love Him, trust Him, and want to honor Him.

Galatians 5:6 says, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” This means we share God's loving warnings and His life-changing wisdom in His Word.

That's what sets souls free, and we share this with others because we'd like them to enjoy this wonderful, eternal freedom as well!

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See The Reason We Obey and Some Folks Need Law, Others Need Grace.

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Never Join Those Who Shrink Back

What can we do as our culture falls deeper into lies-in-disguise and brings pressure against Christians to conform? Hebrews 10:36-39 offers the answer:

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (v. 36).

James 1:12 and Galatians 6:9 echo this truth.

Hebrews 10:36-39 continues explaining that Jesus will one day return and He will take no pleasure in those who shrink back. And it ends with a statement we all should proclaim.

“But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” 

Satan is working overtime in culture, promoting soul-damaging sins. In addition, violent, chauvinistic religions like Islam are favored or left alone while Christianity is consistently attacked. (See The Religion Responsible for the Greatest Persecution of Christians.)

Standing firm is becoming harder all the time, but we can depend on Christ's strength (Philippians 4:13). His grace is sufficient when we feel weak (2 Corinthians 12:9). We are “strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience” (Colossians 1:9-14).

So let's not shrink back—let's stand firm as “Christ's ambassadors,” compelled by our love for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14-21).

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More more encouragement, see 3 Things that Helped David Stand Firm and God's Remnant People.

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Important Aspects of Prayer

This series of 4 devotions addresses some important aspects of prayer. I pray it is encouraging to you and to your prayer life.

 

1. When to Pray and When to Act.

This 1-minute devotion introduces our subject and briefly explains the 3 results of our prayers. 

 

 

2. "Only" Prayer

This 1-minute devotion explains the importance of prayer when there's nothing else you can do!

 

 

3. Waiting "Constructively"

Sometimes when we pray, God tells us to wait. This devotion explains how we can wait "constructively."

 

 

4. More than Prayer

This devotion encourages us to discern when we need to do more than pray.

 

 

Why Humility Is a Safeguard for Us

There was a time when pride was seen as a sign of bad character, and even non-Christians believed the proverb: “Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2).

Modern culture has forgotten that wisdom. No wonder we have so many arrogant actors, musicians, politicians, sports stars, and everyday people. 

I'm glad Christ followers follow Scripture not culture because: 

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.”  Proverbs 16:18-19

We know that humility leads us in the right direction. 

“Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.”  Proverbs 18:12

And in the end, we understand that humility also brings more favor than pride:

 

“Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.”  Proverbs 29:23

Most important, we know that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

It's easy for us to think too highly of ourselves, and that's why our loving God warns us of the consequences. He doesn't ask us to hate ourselves or think the worst. He expects us to judge ourselves accurately according to how faithful we are to His plans, purposes, and principles:

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” Romans 12:3

Are there ways you should adjust your view of yourself?

For more encouragement, see We Need It: Humility and Modern Psychology Might Be the Biggest Gaslighter of All.

If you haven't checked out the Bible Love Notes YouTube channel, I encourage you to do it today. Please subscribe and give the videos you like a thumbs up because this helps us spread God's Word. If you'd like to view the most popular videos which have between 400 and 2300 views, here's the link: Most Popular.

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Find Out if a 2000-year-old Seed Can Produce Fruit

Sixty years ago archaeologists discovered a 2000-year-old jar in an ancient city in Israel. The jar contained palm seeds, and when they planted one in 2005, it grew a healthy palm which produced dates (source)!

Pretty incredible. 

In my devotion Why Genuine Believers Are Like Palm Trees, I explained that Psalm 92 compares faithful Christians to resilient, fruitful palms.

In this devotion I'd like to focus specifically on this promise (vv. 14-15):

“They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, ‘The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.’”

Bearing fruit is a major principle in Scripture (John 15).  

In 2010, after years of moving for career and ministry purposes, my husband and I thought we'd settle near our children in our final earthly home. After all, we were both in our 60s.

We enjoyed that situation for five years before God called us to volunteer with a ministry in another state. There were sacrifices, but we were blessed that God could still use us to bear fruit at that stage of our lives.*

Every time God has moved us, it's been an adventure we'd never have wanted to miss...a challenge, a growing experience, and an opportunity to bear fruit.

God has given my husband and me a life of constant change, but Christians can bear fruit in all of life's circumstances as long as they refuse to “retire” from living out God's principles and purposes (Ephesians 2:10).

Whatever our age or stage of life, we need to look for ways to bear fruit for the Lord...leaving “seeds” of faith that produce fruit long after our time on earth is over.

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*And we've made two moves for ministry since then!

For more on this subject, see Embracing Our Vine and Let's Cling Tightly to Our Life-giving Vine. 

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Foolish Excuses For Sin

Please pray that more women will recognize Satan's propaganda and more Christians will educate themselves in God's Word so we can graciously speak against all of the lies in disguise we encounter daily in our culture.

Have you heard one of the newer arguments of the pro-abortion movement: “Giving a child up for adoption is more painful for a woman than getting an abortion.”

Because pro-abortion groups know childless couples are waiting in line to adopt children, they have trouble justifying late-term abortions when the woman has already carried the child for months.

So they claim that women are more comfortable killing their children than placing them in loving homes.

Imagine how many murders could be justified with this reasoning. For example, a man could save himself from the emotional trauma of divorce and alimony by simply killing his wife.

Taking the easy way out of any problem also leads to increased irresponsibility. No wonder 45% of abortion patients have already had a previous abortion. (source)* 

Pro-abortion groups also deny the reality of post abortion syndrome which causes many women to suffer the emotional scars of their abortion their entire lives. 

Pro-abortion advocates are neither pro-woman nor pro-choice.

Abortion has desecrated our land with innocent blood (Psalm 106:37-38). We must obey our Creator and fight for the lives of these innocent babies (Proverbs 31:8-9; 1 Corinthians 16:13).

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* This percentage is from a study in 2018. Since that time, the abortion pill has become more available and people aren't required to report abortions from the abortion pill. So it's logical to assume that repeat abortions may now surpass 45%. Add this to the fact that birth control has been readily available for decades, and we have to admit that abortion promotes irresponsibility and serial murder.

Additional Resources: 

Abortion Victims: realizing the woman also is harmed by abortion. 

Sophisticated Child Sacrifice: showing how abortion is simply sophisticated pagan child sacrifice.

From Veggie Tales to Situational Ethics: showing a real-life example of “Christians” promoting situational ethics to encourage people to vote for pro-abortion candidates.

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