The Last Days Of The World VIII

 Deception comes in many forms. If you thought your choices were copious at Baskin Robbins with their thirty-one flavors, when it comes to deceptions, the menu is endless. There’s no such thing as a harmless deception. Whether it’s something blatant like a guy wearing coke bottle glasses declaring himself to be Jesus or something more innocuous like taking a tertiary issue and making it out to be salvific, the purpose of deception is always to deceive.

A lie is a lie, no matter how one might try to justify it. White lies, half-truths, scripture twisting, or deliberate omissions of God’s word in order to further a particular viewpoint are all deceptions, and given credence, they all lead to the same inevitable destination.

Those ignorant of the truth are more likely to be taken in by deception. It is the greatest danger a superficial faith poses. If the truth of God is not deeply rooted in your heart, you will not be able to discern the lie when it is presented to you couched in half-truth.

When we spend more time arguing over whether a referee made the right call on an incomplete pass than we do reading the word of God, we’re easy pickings and ripe for swallowing deception hook, line, and sinker. Once deceived, those who’ve capitulated to deception defend their position with the ferocity of a rabid raccoon, even to the point of denying the Lord who bought them.

2 Peter 2:1-3, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.”

We see it in real-time, but far too few realize what they’re seeing. When you have spiritual authorities who shepherd tens of thousands of people, insist that all roads lead to the same destination, and one faith is just as valid and right as another, you are witnessing the trampling of the Son of God underfoot, the counting the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified a common thing, and the insulting of the Spirit of grace.

Sitting under false teaching leads to spiritual death. There’s no way of sugarcoating it or mitigating the statement's impact. This is why the first thing Jesus warns us is that we must take heed that no one deceives us.

To understand how effective deception is, we must keep in mind that Jesus was speaking to His disciples. He was speaking to those whom He had imparted wisdom throughout His time of ministry on earth. The inference is that even they were susceptible to deception. Therefore, they must be watchful, on guard, and take heed. 

Matthew 24:4-6, “And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”’

Notwithstanding the handful of madmen who’ve popped up from time to time claiming that they were the physical embodiment of Jesus, for the most part, those attempting to deceive come along presenting a new way, a new truth, or a new life, separate from the Christ of the Bible. It’s less likely that someone will insist that they are Jesus in physical form, but those claiming new ways and new truths are multiplying at a breakneck pace.

When someone comes along and says they have a new, heretofore undiscovered truth or a new way that resembles nothing of the old path, they are saying this is Christ, revamped, reinvented, and updated for a modern audience. Their heresy contains nothing of the Christ of the Bible, yet many flock to them because this new version of Jesus is more accepting of sin, duplicity, and divided loyalties than the true Jesus.

Christ’s warning is neither baseless nor hyperbolic. If those who would come in His name were no more than a handful and their success at deception was minimal, it would not have warranted being the first thing Jesus mentioned regarding the last days.  

What Jesus foresaw was not negligible. He said many would come in His name, and as a result, many would be deceived. That word ‘many’ should give us reason to pause in both instances. Peter echoes Christ’s words, and he too insists that many will follow the destructive ways of those who secretly bring in heresies, and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed.

Although the term many might be subjective, and the antagonistic among us might demand a definition of what it means, we can deduce that it’s not few, or a handful, or such a small number as to not be of concern.

It’s always easier to conquer a city from within than it is to lay siege from without. The enemy knows this, and so ever since the early church, he’s been trying to sneak in those who belong to him, pretending to belong to Christ and wreak havoc among those of the household of faith. Usually, they are charming, well-spoken, presentable, and possess a certain kind of gravitas that draws people to them. Men become mesmerized by their presence, and in so doing, they neglect to look beyond the appearance to the substance of what they are teaching and whether or not it is Biblical. Such a charming man with such a disarming smile and wavy locks of hair couldn’t possibly be disseminating soul-crippling heresy.

As an aside, consider that most congregations would reject John the Baptizer outright based on his appearance alone. He wouldn’t even get the chance to open his mouth before security escorted him to the parking lot, where a police cruiser would be waiting to take him away. But sure, everyone and their uncle possesses the keys to the Kingdom, and for a small gift, as a show of your desire to know the secrets to unlocking all manner of mysterious doors, they’re willing to let you into the club. Take their word for it; they wouldn’t have a giant key ring dangling from their belt loop if it were all fiction. They wouldn’t.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.