As He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My Name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many (Matthew 24:3-5)
When Jesus spoke about the end times and the sign of His coming, the first thing Jesus warned about was to take heed and let no man deceive you. Because many will come in His Name and shall deceive many. Therefore, if you have become born again in Christ, the Word of God must be the highest and final authority in your life. Why? Because only the Word is the truth of God.
If you hear any doctrine that doesn’t line up with the Word of God and contradicts the Word of God, you have to reject the doctrine. No matter, who is preaching this doctrine. Because if sermons and doctrines do not line up with the Word of God, you are dealing with false doctrines. The Word will show you the truth and what is real and what is a lie and a counterfeit.
Your opinion doesn’t matter
As a born-again believer, you don’t have your own opinion anymore, because you’ve crucified your flesh, including your own opinion. The opinion of God becomes your opinion; What does God say? What does He think? That’s what counts.
It is not about what you think and how you would feel about a matter. No!
What matters is: What does the Word say?
The Word is very clear for born-again believers, who have become spiritual and walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh.
When a person says, that the Word is difficult to understand and full of contradictions, then it says more about the person, than the Word of God. Namely, that the person is a carnal believer and not a new creation of God.
Because the carnal man is not able to comprehend and understand the Kingdom of God and the spiritual realm.
Many lies are preached from the pulpits
My heart cries, due to the many lies that are preached from the pulpit. It is a shame, that so many people twist the Word and adjust the Word of God to their own lusts and desires. So that, they can continue walking in sin, fulfilling the lusts and desires of the flesh and doing what they want to do.
Many so-called believers, make the holy words of God unholy. They change and adjust the Word, so that the words of God will fit in their lives, instead of changing their lives to the Word of God.
Most believers don’t live according to God’s will anymore. They don’t care that God’s will be done, but they care that their will be done.
In whose heart is Jesus really seated on the throne?
Nowadays the focus of many preachers is not about winning souls and disciple them, so that they will spiritually mature and grow up into the image of Jesus Christ. But their main focus is raising money, gaining revenue, ministry growth, titles, prestige, fame, etc.. And so many preachers have become life coaches and motivational speakers, who please the people and say what people want to hear, so that the people feel good and come back (Read also: ‘Life coaches instead of spiritual fathers‘).
The church has become a company, instead of the body of Jesus Christ; an assembly of born-again believers, who represent the Kingdom of God and walk in the authority of Jesus Christ upon this earth.
Unfortunately many are carnal preachers, who are more focused on earthly things, than on spiritual things.
Many deceive the sheep by saying, they will always remain sinners and that it doesn’t matter what you do in life, whether you sin or not, because the blood of Jesus will take care of your sins. They preach this stuff, so that the people can live the way they want and keep walking in sin without feeling guilty.
Through their false doctrines, which are nothing more, than the doctrines of devils, they leave the sheep ignorant. Most sheep don’t mind and are not concerned with growing up spiritually, but want to be pampered. They don’t make any effort during the week, to open the Word of God and find out the truth for themselves and study and meditate upon the words of God.
A focus on signs and wonders
Many believers are often more focused on signs and wonders and walking in great power, than upon the Word of God and living holy lives. Jesus says clearly to take heed and to let no man deceive you because many shall come in the Name of Jesus Christ and say: “I am the Christ”, and many shall be deceived. Jesus warns us very clearly, but also says that many shall be deceived.
Many shall be deceived because they do not know the Word. All they focus upon are the signs and wonders and the things of this world and therefore many shall be deceived.
Only the Word warns you and will reveal counterfeit sons of God. When you know the Word, you will know His will and His commandments. As a son of God, you will obey your Father and keep His commandments (Read also: ‘A counterfeit Jesus produces counterfeit Christians’).
It is just like traffic signs. We have traffic signs, to prevent accidents. These traffic signs are there for you and to keep you safe. Let’s take, for example, the ‘stop sign’ When you ignore this sign, or you don’t know what it means and keep driving, this could have terrible consequences for your life.
Maybe you do know the Word, but you think it doesn’t line up with the world system anymore and has become outdated.
Well, you are right! It doesn’t line up with the world system, but it never has and it never will.
The Kingdom of God will never line up with the kingdom of darkness. The problem is, that the wickedness on this earth, has increased.
So many people have left the faith; they have left God and have become ungodly men, who habitually walk in sins and iniquities. They are the majority on this earth. Therefore the spiritual darkness on this earth has increased significantly (Read also: ‘Has the world changed or...’ and ‘The darkness extinguishes the light‘) .
Times will change, but the Word of God remains the same
Times will change, but the Word of God remains the same. The Word of God will never change, because God will never change. God is the same, yesterday, today and forevermore.
What has changed are the people, who do not want to live according to the Word of God anymore, because the words of God don’t fit into this age and their lifestyle.
Many people live in rebellion against God. They want to lead their own lives with their own pleasures and sin. They are not willing to repent of their old lifestyle and lay down the old man. Because they love the old man.
But this is not a new phenomenon. Because in the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, etc. we see, that in those days, people also lived in rebellion against God. We see that the same sin was practiced back then as people practice today. There is nothing new, there are no new sins.
God is very clear in His Word about what He approves and disapproves. It is up to you, what you do with His words. Do you want to do His will or do you want to do the will of your flesh?
Take heed and let no man deceive you!
Let no one deceive you. Even if sermons sound so wonderful, promising, uplifting, and encouraging. If what the teacher or preacher says doesn’t line up with the Word of God and promotes a lifestyle that isn’t according to the Word of God, then you have to reject it.
We live at the end of the last days. The last days started in the time of the Apostles, as is mentioned in Hebrew 1:2. We see many prophecies, regarding the end of time, coming to pass.
Therefore it’s important in these days, that you will take the Word and study the Word and keep living in the Word and let no man deceive you. The Word (Jesus) is the Head of the Body, the Church. Nobody can live without a head. All coordination is in the head.
When you listen to the Word and obey the Word and do His will in your life, then you will be prevented from deceptions. You will have a spiritual awareness, because you will recognize the deceptions of the devil.
The danger of false teachers
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment (2 Peter 2:1-4)
Paul, Peter, and Jude, among others, spoke about the danger of false teachers. In 2 Peter 2:1-22, we read about things, that could easily have taken place in this modern age. There’s no difference, between the age wherein Peter lived and this present age.
Jude wrote in verse 4 about the false teachers:
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
What happens today, already happened at the beginning of the last days, and will be happening in every generation. It is up to you, what you do about it. Stay awake and vigilant and know your God. Let no man deceive you, but stay faithful to God and love Him and keep walking after the will of God.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
