Some definitions are in order. The word cunning means “skill in achieving one’s ends by deceit”. Craftiness means “skillful in underhand or evil schemes”. Trickery is the practice of deception. Deceitful means “untrustworthy, two-faced, or fraudulent, misleading, tending to lie”. Finally, plotting means “secretly make plans to carry out an illegal or harmful action”. When one places all these words together in a single sentence, it is intended to seriously warn us and protect us from people who would seriously impact us and do us harm.
Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 4:
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
The five-fold ministry of Christ are meant to be “gifts” for the purpose of maturing you and me so that we are protected from those who would do us harm by their own self-serving schemes. Further as we are perfected we will effectively work together and supply others in whatever manner according to our particular purpose. Our purpose is to cause growth in the body, not keep the body in an immature state. It will be accomplished by Love’s intent.
There are those who would want us to remain under their control by keeping us in a subservient state. They use half-truths and skillful means to convince unsuspecting people to follow them on their path toward destruction. Paul warns us against such people. This is why it is critically important for us to seek Wisdom and understanding from FATHER in all things. Over the years I have seen men place their trust in those who were apparent experts and scholars only to become disillusioned with the Gospel and move toward false doctrines. These men were enchanted by those whom they esteemed.
We must not be deceived but trust FATHER to guide us through situations where crafty men would attempt to redirect our paths with their outward logic appealing to our ego and attempting to dull our ears to hear. As my friend Kemper mentioned the other day, the word “serpent” in Genesis 3:1 come from the root word “enchantment” meaning: to practice divination, divine, observe signs, learn by experience, diligently observe, practice fortunetelling, take as an omen.
We are warned about observing signs as a means of direction in our lives. The adversary will use signs to lead you to any alternative path other than the “narrow” path. Beware!
In these times, FATHER is warning us of what lies ahead and to prepare ourselves as things intensify. Jesus warned in Matthew 24:
24 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”
Do not fear what is coming for FATHER knew what HE was doing when HE placed you here at this time but simply prepare and be of good courage. Change is occurring and we should not be caught unprepared. Part of our preparation is to understand and identify craftiness, trickery, and deceit.