When Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, - TopicsExpress

When Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus said unto him, Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven (Matt. 16:16-17). Six verses later Jesus turned to Peter and said, Get thee behind me, Satan. So the Holy Ghost can reveal something to someone, and then five sentences later Satan can use them for something else. It was no shame for Peter to be wrong, but it would have been a shame if he had refused to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18). All of the men of God in the Bible were deceived at one time or another. Joshua was a great man of faith. He and Caleb were the only two of their generation whom God allowed to go into the Promised Land. Yet he was deceived by the Gibeonites and dry and mouldy bread (Josh. 9:5). I suspect that many of these good men, who like Joshua, are being deceived by the dry and mouldy bread of these new versions. David was deceived by Ahithophel, his counselor (2 Sam. 16-17). Abraham was deceived by his notions about Hagar (Gen. 16). Isaac was deceived by Jacob (Gen. 27). Jacob was deceived by Leah and her father (Gen. 29). So the question is not, Can great Christians be deceived? Of course, they can. The question is, Do they react with humility and repentance when they discover this?”