Matthew 24:4...” And Jesus answered and
said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you”.
One of the signs that Jesus warned the
disciples will characterize His second coming was: Worldwide deception. Even those who
profess to be Christians are vulnerable to the Serpent's lie. 1 Timothy 4:1
says…"In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving
heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." Revelation 12:9
says…. “And the great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with
him”. Revelation 12:12 says…” Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and
ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for
the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he
hath but a short time”.
With all the church growth and numerous gospel messages being
preached, why should the Christian be concerned about this Global deception of
Satan?
IN
THE END
The
Bible tells us that Christians will fall into one of two categories: deceived
or persecuted. The deceived will persecute the others in much the same way the
Jewish religious leaders opposed Christ and the early Christians. Deception is
a central feature of the “last days” so we can count on it happening. The Bible
proclaims a spirit of delusion, a man of deception and of so-called Christians
being led astray to do things they may not normally do if they were in their
right mind. The deception is so pervasive that the whole world is taken in by
it (….. because it will contain an element of truth and closer to the truth).
These aren’t my words. They are Jesus’ words and are found throughout the Bible
in describing the last days. (Matthew 24:5, 11, 24, Matthew 10:17-21,
Revelation 12:9, 13:4, 18:23). We should expect it and be wise enough to
recognize it.
Many Christians pick and choose
what they want to believe in the Bible. They don’t take prophecy seriously
because it is considered peripheral to their faith, controversial, complicated
and too open to interpretation. Studying prophecy is seen boring. Most teaching
is based on 19th and early 20th Century scholarship and
these are based on the geo-political situation of that time. These teachings
have been passed down from generation to generation in Bible Schools and
Seminaries, compounding error. It should be obvious that end time prophecy
can only be understood by the end time Christians because they are the ones
that have a “need to know.” (Daniel 12:9). Most Christians accept dated
interpretations and are stuck in a time warp of their own preconceived ideas.
Very few take a fresh look at prophecy in the light of the current
geo-political situation. The fact of the matter is that just as it takes revelation
to grasp the wonder of salvation, it requires an inward revelation to really
understand prophecy.
SET-UP FOR DECEPTION
Today’s mega church is so caught up in improving and
perfecting the good life here and now, that they don’t even consider the
negative possibilities of tribulation. These wealthy “Laodicean” churches (Revelation 3:14-19) express their wealth with
sprawling “campuses”, opulent sanctuaries seating thousands of people, and
multimedia presentations that would make any university green with envy. They
are into the higher calling of preaching the gospel to people who would
certainly not be attracted by gloom and doom prophecy. Today’s modern Christian
is set up for deception no matter what their persuasion and only few, are
receiving fresh revelation on the subject. Christians today focus on items that
are essential to faith and relegate everything else to the sidelines. Prophecy
is considered nice to know but certainly nothing to focus on. My only question
is, if that is the case, why is a third of the Bible related to end times
prophecy? Is it unimportant to God and man? Is a third of the Bible unimportant
and a waste of our precious time? I would agree that prophecy is not essential
to our faith, but it is crucial as to whether we are deceived or not. Our view
of the end times determines what we do or don’t do about it. Since we act
according to our beliefs, even Christians can end up on the wrong side
persecuting other Christians, thinking they are doing God a favor (John
16:1-3kjb). Christians today are set up for deception like never before.
METHODS OF DECEPTION
We will look at four ways, amongst others, that Christians
are being deceived in our day:
I.
The Repackaged Lie
Satan is brilliantly clever at taking
age-old lies, disguising them in subtlety, and gradually introducing them to
even those who insist that they believe in the infallible authority of the Bible.
Examples of lies the Enemy has deceived us with are all the various ways we are
obsessed with "Self"; the numerous techniques of
"Christianized" sorcery and divination within the Church; and the
many issues and fads designed to give us a "Tower of Babel" vision
for global unity. What all the world’s religions and philosophies have in
common is self-righteousness that advocates some form of salvation by works,
denying the Biblical Jesus and salvation by grace through faith which is not of
works.
Not only is Satan the "Father of
lies", but he is also the "Author of confusion". It is getting
harder and harder to tell the difference between neo-paganism and the liberal
church; or between the liberal church and true Christianity. The message and
the priorities of the Church are becoming indistinguishable from the World. The
Emerging Church and Spirituality movements are promoting mystical techniques
and attempting to fuse Christianity with New Age/ Occultic practices and
becoming ecumenical. Beware!
Christian leaders and Christian
organizations are more and more yoking themselves with unbiblical, pagan groups
and movements which set the followers up for compromise of doctrine and
priorities. What fellowship does light have with darkness?(2Corinthians
6:14-18). These unholy alliances are often taking place in the name of
"traditional family values" and the "culture wars" and
involve relationships between ”churches”- irrespective of their belief in Jesus
Christ or, the alliances involve solving the problems of "Mother
Earth" in association with various utopian movements.
One way that professing Christians are
manipulated into unequal yoking is through the “Hegelian Dialectic” and the
fact that Satan works both sides of every worldly, fleshly conflict. When
someone observes a conflict in society, the tendency is to try to figure out
which side is the good guys and which side is the bad guys and then jump on
board the bandwagon of the "good guys". Because of how a professing
Christian reacts against “the bad guys” they yoke themselves with the “good
guys” not realizing that Satan controls both sides. Then at the proper time the
polarized sides are merged together in synthesis, completing the deception. James
1:27 says.. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted from the world” .An Ambassador of Christ should not allow himself
to be entangled by the worldly agendas of ANY side.
The final way in which Christians are
being deceived is very much related to the first three. We are much more
likely, these days, to not refer to our Bible for our convictions and worldview,
but instead to follow the opinions of leaders we look up to. In these days of
"Christian Mass Media", Celebrity Ministers are likely to draw our
attention and our allegiance. It is a dangerous thing to set up “Gurus” within
the Body of Christ who are beyond criticism. "Touch not the Lord's
anointed!" we are told when the “Guru's” doctrine or behavior is
questioned, which is a reference to 1 Samuel 24 and 26. In those references,
David was referring to not KILLING Saul. He was not forbidding CRITICISM of
Saul. In fact, David himself rebukes Saul publicly. In these last days we
cannot afford to follow human leaders as if they were Gurus; whether they be popular,
or Emergent Church
leaders, or politicians. We are to be
disciples of Jesus, and him alone.
HOW TO STAND
Our only hope not to be deceived in
these last days is to "abide in the vine" (John 15:1-10); to
surrender our hearts moment by moment to the Holy Spirit; to be Acts 17
"Bereans" and filter everything through the written Word of God
(2Timothy 3:16-17); and to be lovers of the Truth.
FINALLY
God
loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. If you are a follower of
Jesus Christ, you will not allow yourself to be deceived by religious falsehood
engineered by Satan through men. If God wants us to perish, He will not have
revealed the sign of deception that will characterize the last days to us.
We
should hold on to the faith in Jesus Christ and His word only, and we will not
be deceived. Don’t forget, Christ is coming to judge the living and the dead,
will he find you faithful, Holy and acceptable (2 Cor. 5:10) or you will shelve
the truth in His word and accept the lie of Satan? The choice is yours.
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