This is the last of what has become a trilogy of messages – this one goes hand in hand with Preparing for the End and Matthew 24 – A Prophecy for the End Time.

Deception in the World

Satan’s deception began at the very beginning with Adam and Eve. He lied to them and told them: You shall not die and you will be as gods knowing good and evil.

1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

The world has been fooled, even convinced he does not exist

Revelation 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

He is the enemy, the evil one; The tempter and our adversary and the great deceiver.

Religious Deception in Professing Christianity

2 Corinthians 4:3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Ezekiel 22:26 Her [Israel] priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

Deception in the Church

Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.
Mat 24:5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
Mat 24:11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
Mat 24:23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.
Mat 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Galatians 1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,
Galatians 1:7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
Galatians 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
Galatians 1:9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

This issue from back then, remains with us today!

2 Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

Paul gave of himself greatly and did not ask anything of them because of the importance of getting this message to them.

2 Corinthians 11:12 But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast.
2 Corinthians 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

This has been happening and will culminate:

2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 Thessalonians 2:2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
2 Thessalonians 2:4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
2 Thessalonians 2:5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
2 Thessalonians 2:6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.
2 Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
2 Thessalonians 2:9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
2 Thessalonians 2:10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2 Thessalonians 2:11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
2 Thessalonians 2:12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,
2 Thessalonians 2:14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.
2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace,
2 Thessalonians 2:17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

Ephesians 5:5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Ephesians 5:7 Therefore do not be partakers [co-participant] with them.
Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

[Christ the Logos]

The empty words:

2 Timothy 2:14 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.
2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.

They deny Christ with their words:

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
1 John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
1 John 2:21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

They deny Christ in the way that they act:

Titus 1:15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.
Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

John 8:43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
John 8:45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
John 8:46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?
John 8:47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

Spirit-led

Here is why they were not able to listen to Christ’s words

John 16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
John 16:13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

If they are not spirit-led decisions, then you can prove whatever you want out of the Bible. We must be very careful about this.

Obey God’s Word

John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

There is a correlation between keeping law and understanding the law or the opposite and falling for lies.

Acts 5:29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.

Acts 5:32 And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

2 Corinthians 2:11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

When a counterfeit is produced is normally of something that is of value. This is what the devil is going to try to sell you. Satan going 100% of the amount that he is allowed – trying to deceive.

So we have to ask ourselves, what if the replica of the church is almost indistinguishable from the real one?

test the spirits
moral relativism
have a sharp eye
follow Christ
do not have itchy ears / blown about by winds of doctrine
sure foundation

It is a constant battle

[Laodiceanism: The Malady of the End-Time Church of God]

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Matthew 7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
Matthew 7:23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Matthew 7:24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:

Not because we are smarter or have been in the church longer or anything that we have done in and of ourselves, but because we have a foundation which is God, Christ and the Truth.

1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
1 Corinthians 10:15 I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say.

This time of deception is not coming, IT IS NOW HERE, and it is only going to get worse!

We can not trust in:

our own might and power
armies and weapons
money
futile things that will come to nothing

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

Conclusion

Knowing the truth, helps us make sense of the world around us.

Matthew 13:24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
Matthew 13:25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
Matthew 13:26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
Matthew 13:27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
Matthew 13:28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
Matthew 13:29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ‘ “