Godly Words of Encouragement

 (This message was edited by pinoy_celt on 12-24-03 @ 5:28 am EST)

NAS Matthew 24:4,11,12,24 “And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you…"Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold…For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”

The focus of my next few posts will be on specific ways on how we, as believers in Jesus Christ, can and have been deceived by ourselves, the world, and Satan. This is very critical that you not only hear, but also understand and obey the LORD as to His Word, and specifically what he is saying to us in these last days. In fact, the Greek word for “See” means to “discern…with the bodily eye; to turn the eyes to anything; to feel; to discover by use, to know by experience.” It also means to “see with the mind's eye; to have (the power of) understanding, perceive; to discern mentally; to turn the thoughts or direct the mind to a thing, to consider, contemplate, to weigh carefully, examine.” In other words, as Christians, we MUST be aware of how to distinguish between truth and deception not only in a purely theological and moral sense, but also how unseen satanic powers specifically manifest in the world we see today: through situations, politics, people, events, maybe even through your family and friends. How do you even know if you’re being deceived, even as you read this message?

But first, what does deception mean? The word “mislead” is used for this in verses 4 and 24 and means in Greek “to go astray, wander, roam about; to lead away from the truth, to lead into error; to sever or fall away from the truth.” One big reason for this falling away is being lukewarm to God's Word and Spirit. Revelation 3:15-16 says “I know your works, that you are neither hot nor cold: I wish you were hot or cold. So then because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth.” This is not an accusation, but rather a reproof to many of us Christians who live in these days that have slowly wandered back to our old fleshly ways for whatever reason to where we no longer discern, examine and weight carefully the present decisions we make.

So deception then goes from wandering off the right path into falling away from the truth. KJV 2 Thessalonians 2:3 says that “Let no man deceive you by any means: for…there comes a falling away first…” I believe this verse is specifically referring to the last days in which we live. You and I as believers in Jesus will see many Christians put aside God’s truth in these last days, so do not be surprised. But how does the LORD define this falling away, this apostasy in the last days; how will this be made plain to us? By NIV 2 Timothy 3:1-7,9 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires…these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.” I believe this passage in 2 Timothy explains Matthew 24:12 “Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.” In other words, brothers and sisters in Christ are falling away now because of the inevitable increase of lawlessness, which in Greek means, “the condition of without law; because ignorant of it, or because of violating it; contempt and violation of law (meaning God’s law, the Bible and the Holy Spirit). So some of God’s people are falling away in this time because they either don’t know God’s Word in their hearts as well as in their minds and they choose to disobey it.

But did you know that there is a spirit behind this lawlessness? Let’s go back to 2 Thessalonians 2 (NIV) and pick it up at verse 4: “…and the man of lawlessness is revealed,” this referring to the future Antichrist. Now I’m not going to begin to discuss the antichrist and end times out of Revelation; I simply want you to see that in 1 John 4:3, it says that “but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” What I don’t understand is how Christians these days will say that they believe in Jesus and the cross but not believe every word the Bible says is true. The entire Bible points to Christ! When I hear Christians say that, it’s just like they’re saying, “I believe in Jesus, but I just don’t believe that His Word is true.” If we don’t believe the whole Bible is God’s perfect Word, then I say we are deceived, and it’s only a matter of time before God exposes it in our lives. Because if we don’t get real with God, the love we have for Him will grow cold. To grow cold in Greek means “to breathe, blow, cool by blowing to be made or grow cool or cold; metaphor of waning love.” Satan, in these final days, will come at you and me with everything he’s got in an intensified form of deception in the hope that our love for God will gradually grow so cold that we not only fall away, but outright reject the Lord Jesus Christ and his salvation and grace at some point. NIV Hebrews 6:4-6 explains this permanent rejection as a falling away: “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” PLEASE DON’T TAKE JESUS’ SACRIFICE FOR YOUR SINS ON THE CROSS FOR GRANTED, because he can’t die for you again.

Now I’m not going to get into what the Bible means by false prophets and false Christs, other than by saying they can be more than just people (they can be organizations, philosophies, lifestyles, anything that doesn’t promote Jesus Christ) and that they all have or will come from the present spirit of the antichrist I went over earlier. Look into these particular things for yourself because they encompass a lot of things going on in the world today. But please consider all these other things that I have shared with you in this message, because it’s important that you realize that you are “the elect,” you are God’s chosen people and that if your salvation is truly in Jesus Christ, there is nothing that can separate you from God’s eternal love and peace. And because Satan knows this and that he can’t possibly snatch you out of God’s hands, the only way that he can get you is if he can lure you away from God so that you voluntarily walk out of God’s hands---by deception, of course. But remember that Jesus’ desire for you is that “…If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” and that he is “the way, the TRUTH, and the life…” KJV John 8:31,32; 14:6. Seek Jesus with everything you’ve got and continually study His Word. And seek the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit whom Jesus talks about in KJV John 16:13,14 when he says, “…when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth: for he will not speak of himself; but whatsoever he will hear, that he will speak: and he will show you things to come. He will glorify me: for he will receive of mine, and will show it to you.” And just know that while this word I’m sharing with you may be a rebuke to some of us, I hope that you are not be offended, because this is a word from God. Jesus says in KJV Revelation 3:19-21 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and have set down with my Father in his throne.” God bless you

Works Cited




The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible by James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D. (Nelson Reference, 1997).

The Holy Bible: King James Version Bible. (Holman Bible Publishers, 2000).

The Holy Bible: New International Version. (The International Bible Society, 1984).

The New American Standard Bible. (The Lockman Foundation, 1995).