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James 1:16-17
16 Do [planao] not [me] err [planao], my [mou] beloved [agapetos] brethren [adelphos].
17 Every [pas] good [agathos] gift [dosis] and [kai] every [pas] perfect [teleios] gift [dorema] is [esti] from above [anothen], and cometh down [katabaino] from [apo] the Father [pater] of lights [phos], with [para] whom [hos] is [eni] no [ou] variableness [parallage], neither [e] shadow [aposkiasma] of turning [trope]. KJV-Interlinear
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. NASB
All errors of our human existence come through deception of one sort or another. We can be deceived by the world and we can be deceived by our own ignorance.
Deception originates due to the lack of discernment, due to the lack of illumination, due to the lack of knowledge, and thus due to the lack of wisdom.
All wisdom comes from God and from no other source. Man cannot gain wisdom apart from that which is made available from God.
Whether man studies mathematics or any of the sciences, by sticking with the facts and relationships of those studies, truth can be discovered as they were defined within themselves by God. God created the universe and all of the divine laws that govern everything in it.
Where man gets into trouble is when he makes interpretations that swerve away from the facts, and then man makes wrong decisions based on his misinterpretations. Man came from apes. Government was designed to solve all problems. Blondes have more fun. Being good will get you into heaven. The beliefs of people are many and quite varied, and they are not all limited to theology only.
'Be not deceived,' simply means that you have access to truth through a daily Bible study, and therefore you have no excuse for being deceived, if indeed you are living a life in deception.
God cannot sin. God is able to not sin. God is light, the Father of lights. In God there is no darkness, no shadows, no uncertainty, no deception, no temptation whatsoever.
Back in the Old Testament, the High Priest wore an Ephod, and around his neck hung the breastplate of judgment or of decision. When inquiry was made of the Lord, the breastplate lit up in lights, which is plural. That lighting was called the Urim and Thummim. These terms are both plural, for several lights lit up depending on the question and the answer supplied.
Urim means lights or fire, and Thummim means perfection or completeness. Together they both mean the perfect illuminator. And that is exactly what information from God really is. With Gods wisdom, there can be no mistake, no misinterpretation, no wrong decisions.
By modifying, compromising, cancelling, changing and doing anything to the Word of God, a person is introducing shadows, darkness, lies into the truth of life. And that always leads to loss or disaster.
Within our context, God is not the temptor of sin, but the source of all good things, all perfect things. Nothing but perfection can come from God. Man, on the other hand, is his own source of temptation, lust and sin. Man is dust and nothing more.
