“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Rev 12:9)

Inception is one of my favorite science fiction movies. It depicts the ability to share dreams with others for the purpose of either nefariously extracting information or planting an idea. However, dreams can seem so real that there is a genuine danger of leaving reality forever to exist in a fantasy world . . . which is why each participant carries a special secret token to help them distinguish reality from fantasy. In a powerful scene, Michael Caine pleads with Leonardo DiCaprio (who specializes in sharing dreams with others) to “come back to reality.”

Deception distinguishes the age in which we live. From transgender lunacy, to masking the truth that abortion is murder, to believing that marriage is simply a convenience, to thinking that might makes right, to the fantasy that wealth provides ultimate satisfaction, to the belief that materialism is ultimate reality, to the fatal view that death is the end of existence, to the insistence that there is no transcendent, omnipotent, omniscient God – our world is trapped in deceptive fantasy. There is only one way to come back to reality and that is to listen to the Architect of all reality.

Satan’s great trick is the distortion of reality. He masterfully deceived Eve in Eden, convincing her that reality was not genuine, offering a substitute fantasy version of it. Scripture characterizes him as the “deceiver” of the whole world (Rev 12:9). Deception is a predominate theme in the Bible; it marks this fallen world. Just as the participants in Inception use a “token” to discern reality from fantasy, God has graciously provided his image-bearers with something to help us differentiate reality from destructive fantasy – the Bible.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105). This verse emphasizes the guidance and clarity that God’s word provides.

Come back to reality.