Mark Matlock - Dont Buy the Lie

INVERT

DONT BUY THE LIE: DISCERNING TRUTH IN A WORLD OF DECEPTION
Copyright 2004 by Mark Matlock

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ePub Edition June 2009 ISBN:0-310-86173-X

Youth Specialties products, 300 South Pierce Street, El Cajon, CA 92020, are published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Matlock, Mark.
Dont buy the lie : discerning truth in a world of deception / by Mark Matlock.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25814-6
1. Church work with teenagers. 2. TeenagersReligious life. 3. TeenagersConduct of life. I. Title.
BV4447.M343 2004
261.513dc22

2004008617

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version (North American Edition). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

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Editorial direction by Rick Marschall and Doug Davidson
Art direction by Jay Howver
Editing by Doug Davidson
Proofreading by Anita Palmer
Cover design by Burnkit

06 07 08 09 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

To my children Dax and Skye

The world you are growing up in is so different from my own and yet very similar. You have felt the cost of this book more than any other and my prayer is that you will continue to glorify God in your lives in whatever you may do. Now that this is done ... Lets play. Daddy loves you.

Dont Buy the Lie is based on a theme we did for our PlanetWisdom conference. While this book goes well beyond that experience, many people made contributions along the way and Id like to recognize them. Chris Lyon (who helped extensively on this book), Todd Temple, Mike Gwartney, David McDaniel, Jonathan Matlock, and Don Wayne.

Id also like to thank Doug Tegner at National Network of Youth Ministers for asking me to do an article on the thinking traps that inspired Jay Howver to talk me into expanding the article into a book. Id also like to recognize Rick Marschall, Roni Meek, and Doug Davidson for their fine editorial contributions.

Solomon wrote that two have a better return on their labor than one, and this wisdom is timeless. Without my wife, Jade, more than half of my work would remain incomplete. This is her journey too, even if she doesnt get as much credit as I do. We are one.

Table of Contents

You were just a little kid, but you knew what you had seen. Something had moved in the corner of your room or youd glimpsed a shape just on the edge of your vision. Maybe youd heard what sounded like a voice. Was it a monster? A ghost? A bad guy?

Afraid to move and call attention to yourself, you lay perfectly still, eyes squeezed not quite shut, hoping whatever it was wouldnt notice you. Finally, you couldnt take it anymore and called for mom and dad to come and investigateor ran to their room as fast as you could. By the time they got there, though, the thing was always gone. Or hiding

A friend reads your horoscope to you out of a magazine. You dont really buy all that stuff, but it does seem to fit your personality. The more you think about it, the more it seems like the horoscope was pretty much right in its predictions about your life. You wonder how someone youve never met can write something that matches your life so closely.

A guy on TV gathers a studio audience together like hes going to do another Oprah-style talk show. Instead, he says that all these spirits are talking to him. Spirits of the dead. He starts repeating to the audience some of the things that one spirit is telling him, looking for the person who would know this spirit. He tells things from the spirit that only that person could know. The person usually ends up crying because theyre so glad to have a message from a loved one who has died. And the message is always so hopeful.

Youre riding with friends or your family in a car. Suddenly, you realize that youre about to crash. Even though everything feels like its moving in slow motion, you cant do anything to prevent the accident from happening. Then, at the last possible second, somehow the accident that should have killed or hurt all of you is miraculously avoided. Everyone is fine. You wonder if an angel has just stepped in and saved you.

At a party, someone brings out a Ouija (pronounced wee-jee) board. As one or two people hold the pointer, you begin asking the board questions about boyfriends, or relatives who have passed away, or whats going to happen in the future. You hear a noise in the other room, and you all jump and laugh. You know its just a stupid game, but you cant help feeling a little creeped out.

Youve learned in Sunday school and church that Gods Holy Spirit comes to all who trust in Jesus. And you know youve experienced moments in which you felt Gods presence or you sensed a supernatural ability to do something he wanted you to dolike encouraging a friend or telling someone else what you believe.

You laugh when you see a woman on TV telling people what their pets really think about Aunt Millie or the new baby or the Puppy Chow. Still, she seems to know things the people havent told her.

But how could anyone believe a psychic was communicating with pooches and parakeets?

A friend or a friend of a friend or someone on the Internet tells you that hes part of the Wiccan religion. He says that they worship nature, and that theyre learning how to get supernatural power through spells or castings or chanting. Maybe he tells you hes going to become a warlock. You wonder if these people have any kind of power at all. And you wonder what it would be like to have power like that.

A popular TV show features witches, vampires, or demons who save the dayor maybe the worldusing their special powers. Although once evil, they now use their darkness to fight against really evil stuff. Cartoons, books, and movies youve seen describe good witches and wizards who use magic to do the right thing and stop bad witches and wizards. You wonder if maybe witchcraft has been given a bad name.