What should I do it a trusted leader turns out to be a fraud?

Growing as a Christian, it can be damaging to your faith to realize that some trusted Christian (even leader) you know turns out to be a fraud. It might make you feel stupid, like you were tricked, and it might also make you think that the leadership was also foolish. 

Satan is all about damaging your faith. Be vigilant, but realize in Matthew 13:24-30, God told you to EXPECT this trick by Satan. In fact, He flat-out warned us that there is a harvest, and the good wheat will have a lookalike weed (called a tare) among it. That weed is sown by Satan himself! So how can you be on the lookout so that you're not so hurt? Simple! "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also." (v26)

Look at the fruit that people produce. It can be good, bad, or non-existent. But don't be discouraged. That's what Satan wants. 

It's only a struggle if you fight it.

Yes or no: Some people just need to come to their senses! What if you were working for the enemy and didn't even know it? God says that we should be "with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,  and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." (2 Tim 2:25-26)

That's a scary thing! How can we make sure that we're not Satan's unwitting POWs? God explains 3 verses before by saying, "flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." Embracing unrighteousness—even just by refusing to fight it—can lead to us being held captive by Satan to do his will. 

It's not a struggle with sin if you're not fighting it. Flee it. Fight it. Don't be captured by it. And if you have friends who are captive to Satan, fight for their freedom, but don't let them snare you for Satan. :)

A deadly process.

"Wait, you drove to see her while you were drunk? Seriously? That's horrible and dangerous, you could hav—"  "OH SHUT THE **** UP, I should have known you'd judge me. Like you're perfect. Everyone's driven drunk. It wasn't that bad."

That's from a conversation I had with a Christian in my past. This person had a billion good qualities of stunning magnitude, but refused to address this particularly strong fondness for drinking to excess. Satan has a flowchart to deceive us. First, he hooks us with a sin. But he needs us to think that it's normal to sin. To do that, he gives us friends who do the same things, because bad company corrupts good morals. He wants us not only to practice that sin, but to give approval to those who do; to feel more comfortable letting loose with them than being around the saints. (Rom 1:32)  Consider this escalation of thought: 

My friends drink, so I'll try it, too. -> You know, everyone drinks a little. -> Everyone likes to let loose and party with friends. -> Everyone gets drunk. Everyone drives drunk. -> Wow, my friends don't criticize me for this! No wonder I hang out with them. They're compassionate. You're not. Get out of my life.

That escalation can occur with anything. Everyone watches porn, right?  Everyone cusses, right? Everyone sleeps around, right? 

Because we go down that process of thought and are so desensitized toward sin, we fail to have the proper response toward it, whether it is our own sin, or sin in others. We minimize it, justify it, or ignore it and go on our way unaffected by it—or so we think it has no effect. We look at those billion good qualities and feel proud of our spiritual accomplishments and tell ourselves, "This outweighs that sin I'm keeping—that's what grace is for!" 

God says, "And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." (Mt 24:12) Our love for righteousness grows cold.  We exchange the truth of God for a lie, and become liars seared in our own consciences. We become dead men walking. Don't let that happen to you. Nip it in the bud. 

Breaking Bad. (Habits, that is.)

I once dated a girl who was a lot like I was: neither of us wanted to break some of our bad habits. Have you ever thought of that? "Breaking bad habits." Often the terms we use really carry a lot of meaning. "Fooling around." Yep, it's foolish. "Getting wasted." Yep, it's a waste.

Unfortunately, we often tell ourselves that bad habits don't need to be broken, are too hard to break, or that we're not ready. Jesus, however, points out, "And he who falls on this stone [Jesus/the Word] will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." (Mt 21:44)

We only have two options: break the bad habits or be scattered like dust! Let's start breaking the bad habits today, and put fooling around, getting wasted, and all the junk of the flesh in the past!

Who will not inherit the Kingdom?

Who won’t inherit the kingdom?
BQ: Who will not inherit the Kingdom of God?

A: 1 Cor 6:9-10, 1 Pet 4: 1-5, Rom 13:4, Rev 21:27.

Look at all the practices there. Doctors practice medicine. That is, they do it habitually, repeatedly. If we think that we are Christians, yet we still allow ourselves to repeatedly go to drinking parties, or fornicate, or steal, etc., we're not remaining faithful to Christ, and we shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Let's not make excuses for practicing unrighteousness, because we don't fool the Spirit, even if we deceive ourselves.
(PN15) 

Self-deception and the seared conscience.

Self-deception, seared consciences.
BQ: How deceitful sin is! In 1 Tim 4:2, it's mentioned that there are people who are "seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron." We're tempted to think that we can pick some little forbidden thing and just keep it around while getting our salvation. It's kind of like saying your steak is on the grill and as long as you don't turn UP the heat from the current setting, it's not going to continue to cook. The thing is, you will indeed sear that steak through unless you pull it off that hot surface!

Question: When is God faithful to forgive our sins? What does repentance cause? Don't be deceived—who won't inherit the kingdom?

A: 1 John 1:9, 2 Cor 7:10-11, 1 Cor 6:9-11.

If we don't confess our sins and get rid of self-deception, we continue searing our consciences in the heat of the world! Let's get off that hot grill! 
(PN4)