Beware of Empty Deception

Beware of Empty Deception

By M.T. Clark — P-2061 | 09/05/2026 – Today’s Audio Podcast

Today’s Message on YouTube:

Today’s photo of the sun setting over tall green prairie grass swaying in the foreground of an open field stretching back to a silhouetted tree line on the horizon comes to us from yours truly, as I captured this peaceful scene during one of my many walks on Freedom Road in Easton, NY, on September 3, 2023.

Well, it’s Saturday, and I share this photo of a peaceful sunset over an open field to remind us that some of God’s most beautiful gifts are the ones He gives to us right on the road we already walk every day, hoping we will look up long enough to see them.

I took this photo during one of the countless walks that I have taken on the country road I named “Freedom Road,” which is the farm road down from my former countryside home on Waite Road in Easton, NY. I gave it that name because, by God’s grace, the Lord had led me out of the darkness of my addictions and into a whole new life in Christ, and every time I walked down that dead-end road and went back home, I was thanking Him for the freedom I never earned. Some evenings, God would provide a sunset like this one, and I would just stop where I stood, unable to move for a minute.

There is something about that whole season of my life that I only fully understand now. So often we find the beauty God has for us very close to home, right at the end of the road we already walk, never knowing that our days there may not last forever. God has since moved us on.

By God’s grace, TammyLyn and I are no longer waiting on Waite Road. The Lord has given us a home together in Glens Falls, NY, where we will eventually be together full-time, and the season of waiting on that quiet country road is behind us. But those Freedom Road sunsets are still with me. God used them to keep me steady while He was writing the next chapter, and He was so good to walk with me through every one of them.

God is good. So, take a good look around at whatever the Lord has placed right at the end of your road, because some of His best gifts are the ones we walk past and take for granted because we assume they will always be there.

Speaking of the fullness the Lord gives to those who stay rooted in Him and don’t go chasing after empty promises,

Our series, “Rooted in Him,” continues today with Paul’s warning to beware of empty deception.

Beware of Empty Deception

In the same passage where Paul tells us to be rooted and built up in Christ, he immediately warns us about the things that would try to pull us up by the roots. Colossians 2:8 (NKJV) tells us to: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”

That word “beware” is a word of warning. Paul is telling us to keep our eyes open, because there are ideas out there that don’t look dangerous but will lead us astray. He even calls it being cheated, as though a thief were trying to talk us out of something valuable we already own.

Let’s look at what the “empty deceit” or empty deception runs on. The empty deception is “according to the tradition of men” and “according to the basic principles of the world,” but “not according to Christ.” That last phrase is the test for everything.

Paul isn’t against knowledge or thinking, and he isn’t against every philosophy or tradition. His concern is with any system that is built on human ideas and worldly principles instead of on Christ and truth of God’s word, which He embodies. The standard is simple: does this teaching lead me deeper into Christ and His sufficiency, or does it lead me away from Him toward something that leaves Him out or tries to add to Him? Anything that pulls us off of Christ as our foundation is the empty deceit Paul is warning about, no matter how wise or spiritual it sounds.

And let’s notice that word “empty.” The deception is hollow. It makes big promises, such as more insight, a higher spiritual level, or a secret key of worldly wisdom that the ordinary believer supposedly missed, but there is nothing inside it. It’s a beautiful box with no gift in it. It’s a lie that is denying the Truth.

The Colossians were being tempted by teachings that promised something beyond Christ. Paul’s answer through this whole chapter is that everything is already in Christ. We don’t need any add-ons. We need to go deeper into the One we already have.

I’ve watched empty deception do its quiet work on others, and I’ve felt its pull myself, in my walk before Christ. For years, I chased the “something more” that the world’s spiritual ideas kept promising, such as higher consciousness, secret wisdom, and a way to transcend the ordinary. From the empty promises of wealth, status, and possessions of a godless “American Dream” to the outright lies of false religions, every one of those doors opened onto an empty room. There was no life in any of it, because there was no Christ in any of it.

What made those lies dangerous wasn’t that they looked obviously evil. They looked appealing. They looked deep. They seemed to promise the very things my soul was hungry for. But they were hollow promises that left me feeling unfulfilled and emptier every time I gave myself to them.

Then, by God’s grace, when I came to Christ back in 2010, I stopped looking for truth and love in all the wrong places and looked to Him to show me the way to a new life of meaning and purpose, with Him. I found that what I had been searching for was in Jesus all along.

So how do we keep from being cheated out of all that God has for us? We stay so rooted in Christ that we can spot the counterfeit by how it compares to the real thing. People who handle real currency learn to spot a fake, not by studying every phony out there, but by knowing the genuine article so well that the counterfeit feels wrong in their hands.

The best protection against empty deceit isn’t becoming an expert in every error. The best protection is being so grounded in Christ, so familiar with His truth and His sufficiency, that any teaching leading away from Him sets off an alarm. When we know what the solid ground of the true foundation feels like, we notice quickly when someone is trying to move us off of it.

So, keep watch, and keep the test simple. When any idea, any teaching, or any spiritual trend comes offering you something other than Jesus and the things of God, run it through Paul’s test: is this according to Christ, or not? If it leads you deeper into Him and His finished work, welcome it. If it pulls you away from Him toward human tradition or worldly principles, recognize it for the empty box it is, and don’t let anyone cheat you out of the fullness you already have in Jesus.

Stay rooted in Christ, stand on the sufficiency of His finished work, and receive the fullness that our Heavenly Father has already given you in His Son.

Every step we take toward the Lord is a step in the right direction. So, keep on walking and talking with God.

— M.T.

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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

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