Watch Out That No One Deceives You – Part 1

End-time deception and apostasy from the faith are intensifying. What does biblical prophecy say about how far along we are today, and how we can resist being deceived ourselves? A message to help orient us.

“Watch out that no one deceives you” is a quote from Jesus’ end-time discourse in Matthew 24. And I am convinced that deception will mark the coming of the Antichrist.

We know that Satan is the father of lies, and his helper will be as well. As we get closer to the final Great Tribulation, when the satanic deception will be fully revealed, we will find even more deception on all levels.

The Prophesied Deception
The Lord Jesus warned against deception at the end of days several times. In Matthew 24, the verb “deceive” (or “lead astray”) appears four times in the context of signs of the end times: “Jesus replied to them, ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, “I am the Messiah,” and they will deceive many’” (vv. 4-5). And in verse 11, “Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” Verses 23-26 continue: “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.”

While the Lord is discussing the end times, He repeatedly warns against deception (Matt 24). But we must also bear in mind that He wasn’t giving these signs to the Church but to Israel. Their time of peak fulfillment occurs in the Tribulation, after the Rapture of the Church. This can be clearly seen when you make the parallel to the judgments of the Great Tribulation in Revelation 6–19. But if these signs—which will be thoroughly fulfilled in the Tribulation—are already evident in our day, how close must we be to the Rapture (which will take place first)?

The sign that the Lord Jesus mentions most is deception. And it will reach its peak with the Antichrist’s deception. We find the same warnings against deception in the Epistles. Of course, the danger of deception has always existed. But the Epistles especially emphasize it for the end times.

The Apostle Paul warns of the Antichrist’s approaching time, pointing to its main characteristic: “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess 2:7-12).

John is the only Apostle who uses the term “Antichrist.” It doesn’t just refer to someone who turns against Christ, but someone who claims His place for himself (1 John 2:22). The term is always associated with fraud. In 1 John 2:18 we read, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.” And in chapter 4, verse 3 it says, “And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”

The Antichrist’s primary activity is oriented toward deception. And today, we can see that believing in a lie has become one of the greatest dangers. Absolute truth no longer exists. Facts no longer matter, but rather feelings (or what you’ve cobbled together as your own “truth”).

The Current Deception
One very lamentable and serious form of deception is apostasy. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, the Apostle Paul is writing to those who thought that the Lord’s return had already happened: “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy [Gr. apostasia] comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.” 

When the Apostle Paul writes about the end times, he refers to people who are “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power,” and who are “never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim 3:5, 7). But he makes his point most clearly in 2 Timothy 4:3-4: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

These passages show us that apostasy will increase as we progress into the end times, drawing closer to the appearance of the Antichrist. But for apostasy to even happen, society will need something to apostatize from. If we look into what has largely defined our society for a long time, we’ll have to talk about Christianity—not necessarily true believers in Christ, but nominal Christians (or Western culture) generally. All of the West, as well as other parts of the world, has been influenced by Christianity and the Bible. It’s visible in our history, literature, laws, customs, education, values, traditions, art, and much more, right down to our division of history into BC and AD (“Before Christ” and anno Domini, “in the year of the Lord”).

It’s frightening to see how much has been lost in recent decades, especially in recent years. Christian values have become a “scandal,” a subject of ridicule, contempt, and even persecution. Unfortunately, even true Christians are influenced by these worldly tendencies.

It’s precisely in the context of 2 Timothy that Paul warns of a very dangerous time. If we want to know whether the Lord’s return is near, we need only read the Apostle Paul’s final words. Second Timothy reads like his last will and testament, and the Apostle shows us which qualities will characterize people in the end times.

He introduces the topic with a very serious warning: “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty” (2 Tim 3:1). The bad features that the Apostle lists next don’t differ much from the ones in Romans 1, which describes people as overall, wanting nothing to do with God. So, why this solemn warning in 2 Timothy? The danger of the “last days” lies predominantly in apostasy, if these ungodly qualities are also evident in professing Christians.

In general, it can be said that the West (Europe, the Americas, Australia, and parts of Asia and Africa) was more or less characterized by the fear of God until the middle of the 20th century. The Word of God shaped the laws, values, habits—everyday life. Of course, this doesn’t mean that society consisted entirely of true believers. But a lot has changed drastically, especially since the 1960s. Consider the sexual revolution, the feminist revolution, the increasing focus on far Eastern spirituality, widespread drug use, broad acceptance of the theory of evolution, and openly displayed (unwittingly ironic) Satanism. All of this has perverted so-called Christianity like never before.

One word has had so much impact in recent years: deconstruction. It could also be called dismantling. Simply put, it means something that used to be straightforward and stable is now being systematically broken down. This is especially visible in the deconstruction of moral values and the reworking of language to be gender-friendly. It’s become an unstoppable process, in which the values that have characterized our society for so many centuries, are being undermined, distorted, ridiculed, and turned upside down.

Consider the values of the Western world. Countries with a Judeo-Christian heritage adopted basic laws similar to those of the Ten Commandments, or at least the ones related to protecting one’s neighbor. The Antichrist is also called the lawless one (2 Thess 2:8). When we speak of someone being lawless, we mean that he jettisons every law and creates new ones to suit himself. So, let’s consider the Ten Commandments to see what has happened to them. Even when we’re discussing commandments the people of Israel were given in the past, these same principles are found in the New Testament. 

The first commandments are well-known. They concern acknowledging and worshiping God and the glory of His name. We should be giving Him a special place in everyday life. But instead, God is being removed from society, one area at a time. As with the golden calf in ancient Israel, we are replacing God with other idols. Some of these golden calves include the theory of evolution, materialism, consumerism, environmentalism, and of course, above all else, man himself. I read about a situation in the United States in which the teacher of a 12-year-old elementary school student forbade him from reading his Bible during classroom free time, even attempting to confiscate it. I doubt there’d have been a problem if he’d been reading Harry Potter, but God’s Word isn’t allowed in school.

When we go into the commandments, which are intended to protect our fellow human beings, we realize the magnitude of the tragedy in our society. The fifth commandment, to honor our parents, has long since lost its power. Today, the value of parents (and of fathers in particular) is increasingly being stripped away. For example, in Canada, one father was imprisoned for resisting his daughter’s desire to undergo “gender-affirming” treatments, and for calling her his daughter instead of his son (which she felt herself to be). The judge in the case ruled the father’s behavior was “considered to be family violence” against his daughter. On the other hand, when one’s parents become elderly, many people consider them a problem they’d gladly pass off.

The sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” is still found in law, but generally only protects the productive part of society. We’re greatly saddened to see nation after nation in support of abortion, and then eventually euthanasia. And not only that, some are even considering authorizing the murder of newborn children with serious medical conditions. One study indicates that doctors in Belgium (where euthanasia laws are already very liberal) not only support this but illegally practice it.

The seventh commandment, which prohibits adultery, has already become a joke. Rising immorality, pornography, and gender ideology are undermining the God-created marital unit. When the basis of society—the family—is being attacked and destroyed, we can hardly be surprised that it no longer has any cohesion. Gender ideology, although unscientific, is being enforced everywhere. It’s now being taught as early as kindergarten. In Argentina, courses in these subjects are prerequisites to obtaining a driver’s license. Christian publishers are releasing fewer and fewer books that speak out against homosexuality, and Amazon regularly removes product listings for books telling of people who have been freed from sexual immorality.

The eighth commandment demonstrates that God also protects private property. But the commandment not to steal is thoughtlessly trampled upon, whether by rampant crime in many places, willful destruction of jobs or businesses, inflation, colossal tax hikes on private property, corruption at the highest levels, etc.

And what about the ninth commandment, to not bear false witness against one’s neighbor? Technology and the media are capable of destroying any opponent’s credibility. Additionally, critical voices are being systematically silenced. Google, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook have become the new truth police. Whatever content they deem unsuitable is blocked, censored, removed, or made inaccessible via search algorithms. More and more Christians are being censored by these platforms. Believers who are publicly speaking out in line with biblical moral beliefs are attacked and, if they are identified, exposed by the press and have lawsuits filed against them. Quite a few have already been forced to apologize for their statements, to avoid being fined or losing their jobs. Attacks on Christian facilities, churches, and church institutions are constantly on the rise. In France, churches are repeatedly attacked and destroyed, or severely damaged by arson.

Staying with the theme of bearing false witness, many people don’t care about the moral values or unbiblical beliefs held by the politicians they vote for. Voting is just a matter of economic self-interest. In the same way, teaching about Christ’s return is also forgotten or misrepresented by Christians. Many are living as if our only hope is to make the most of life here on earth. And we could list many other aspects of deception.

Midnight Call - 09/2024