Can You Be Deceived? Why People Are Duped and How Not to Be

Good article here http://www.pfo.org/deceived.htm . Excerpt - 

“Goethe taught that we are never deceived but that we deceive ourselves. It is true that religious hucksters are believed because people want to believe them. People want the claims to be true. One of Martin Luther’s favorite sayings was “mundus vult decipi” — the world wants to be deceived.

Once a person has invested blood, sweat, tears and money into religious deception, he may be too embarrassed or too stubborn to admit he has been taken. Our hearts are where our treasure has gone. Our vested interest helps us keep the blinders on. We often only “see” what we want to see. The Bible presents a complex picture in regard to deception and assures us that God holds both the deceiver and the deceived accountable.”