Detecting a Reprobate Mind - Part II
Exchanging Truth for a Lie
by Dr. John Tetsola

Last month we saw that a reprobate mind is a way of thinking that lacks proper judgment. It is a mindset void of all fear and regard for the principles of God’s Word, and for that which is right. Now let’s see how unchecked passions have the ability to lead you to a desensitized place where the truth of God is exchanged for a lie.

Who changed the truth of God into a lie…
…God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.

Romans 1:25a, 28b

We exchange the truth of God for a lie when we blatantly resist the revealed will of God. This prolonged and willful resistance of God’s truth sets one up to be turned over by God to a reprobate mind. A man cannot be brought to greater destruction than to be given over by God to fulfill his carnal lusts. What causes a believer who once loved God to exchange the truth of God for a lie? A desensitized heart. A desensitized heart may be the dominant cause of willful disobedience to the revealed will of God. It is cultivated over time and increases in power with each level of defiance and insensitivity to the voice and instruction of God.

The Deception of a Desensitized Heart

But King Solomon [defiantly] loved many foreign women…
They were of the very nations of whom the Lord said to the Israelites, You shall not mingle with them…for surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Yet Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart from God.
And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord, the God of Israel, Who had appeared to him twice,...

1 Kings 11:1a-3, 9 AMP

Solomon’s wisdom was no match for the deception of a desensitized heart. In spite of two appearances from God, the above scripture reveals that “Solomon defiantly loved many foreign women.” The voice of his passion overcame the voice of God’s instruction to the point that he ended up with 1,000 wives, many of which were heathen. A desensitized heart is a deceived heart that sets one up to exchange truth for a lie. Why? Because it has been desensitized to the point that it has lost all fear of the Lord—the craving desire to honor, please, and reverence God above every other desire that’s contradictory to the will of God. And in the life of a believer, a desensitized heart has nothing to do with not knowing God’s will. Instead, it has to do with the level of desensitivity allowed in the heart of the believer against the known will of God.