CHAPTER 7. GREAT DECEPTION.

CHAPTER SEVEN 

GREAT DECEPTION. 

The days we are living in are days that are marked with great deception in the world and even more pointedly so, amongst the corporate body of believers. That is not to say that deception is only prevalent now and never then, but that it is on the increase in greater measure now than before. The closing of this present age is inundated with seduction to deception of the most devious kind and many will there be who will be caught up in it. Why? Because they have not loved the Truth or the love of the Truth is not in them, because they have allowed their hearts to grow cold, because they have not been watching and praying.

“Be careful that no one misleads you – deceiving you and leading you into error. For many will come in my name saying, I am the Messiah and will lead many astray”.  (Matthew 24 verses 4 – 5)

Many have been led astray and many will continue to be so.The nature or essence of deception is like this, the element of light is involved. To be led astray implies that, you have had at some point in time believed some measure of truth and light to which you adhered to. The devil is not shaken in any degree about our feeble attempts to study the scriptures and ‘know the truth’, if we are never arriving at the truth. When we come to know the truth, in truth, we are set free from the snares of the father of lies and he trembles. The devil is the master deceiver, trickery and lies are his ballpark, and he calls the shots when we play his game. The same purity that was in the Lord here on earth needs to be in us.

“I will not talk with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming and he has nothing in Me that belongs to him”.  (John 14 verse 30)

One of the chief reasons we are deceived is because there are hidden areas of rebellion in our hearts that we refuse to let go of and submit them to the Lord. The enemy recognises this and works against our commitment to the Lord with lies and deceit until we have opened wide the door to his activity of destruction in our lives. For this very reason we need to be on our guard, watching, being aware of the onslaughts of the enemy. It cannot be stressed enough, we are living at the time of the end; the culmination of all things is at hand. Satan’s strategic attempts at increased deception are having great effect. Many believers are being duped into his lies. The level of deception will increase and we will see deception like no other time in the history of mankind. Let us look at varying scriptures to aid us with this reality.

“The coming of the lawless one is through the working of satan, being attended by great power with all kinds of deceptive miracles, themselves being deceitful. Those who have no desire for the Truth so as to be saved will be deceived and perish along with the rest. This is so because God sends delusion upon them to believe the false thing, in order that they may all be judged who refused to believe the Truth but instead chose wickedness”.  (2 Thessalonians 2 verses 9 – 12)

This in itself speaks volumes. If we are not seeking Truth as it is found in Christ, then just what are we seeking? Are we to seek Truth and not arrive at it? That is to say, we must walk in it and appropriate it as part of our lives. How do we keep satan from getting the advantage over us? By not being ignorant of his intentions and schemes.  See second Corinthians 2 verse 11.

“Such are counterfeit apostles, deceitful workers masquerading as true apostles of the Messiah. No wonder, satan himself masquerades as an angel of light, so do not be surprised if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, yet their end will be just what they deserve”.  (2 Corinthians 11 verses 13 – 15)

To masquerade is to put on a disguise, to pretend. It has the idea of wearing a mask so as not to be identified. This is precisely what the enemy does and he does so, so very clandestinely, so as not to be uncovered. If we are not watching or we are nonchalant about deception, we can and will be deceived. The stratagems of the deceiver are not casual by any means, he wants to see us hood winked into believing a lie so that our faith is destroyed and we turn our backs on the living God. There is a real spiritual war going on out there between light and darkness and it is getting more intense as we near the end of this age.

In what ways can the devil get us into bondage? If he were to attack us full on without disguise, then we would probably resist his onslaughts. This is not to give undue glory and power to the prince of darkness. He is the father of lies, the seducer and deceiver of the brethren. The truth is, he comes disguised in ‘christian garb’ even using the correct terminology and so ensnares the unsuspecting believer. Even those who are strong in faith can be overcome by deceit. History shows how even strong leaders have been duped into believing a lie and so fall into sin. 

Herein is a call to close fellowship amongst the body of Messiah, holding fast to our Head. We are believers together in one body and not by ourselves. The church needs each other now more so than ever before. How deeply, the body of the Christ needs to grasp this truth. It is far more necessary now than when we first believed. We, as God’s people are in this together; we are not each other’s enemies though we treat each other like that.

“Hear the word of the Lord church, cast aside your pride and arrogance from amongst yourselves, you are all placed into one body by one Spirit, with one Head over all. The enemy comes against you like a flood and will engulf many if you are not holding fast to your Head in truth thinking more highly of others than yourselves. Give up the mistaken tone of distrust amongst yourselves and serve one another in love and humility”.

“Brethren, take heed, that there is not one amongst you with a heart of unbelief that causes any one to turn away from following the living God. Instead, on a daily basis, as long as it is called today, you should encourage one another, so that none of you become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”.  (Hebrews 3 verses 12 – 13)

On a daily basis, how many of us would or do baulk at that? We struggle when the meeting goes over an hour. If we think that one or maybe two hours of ‘fellowship’ on a Sunday, with a midweek meeting is going to suffice and keep us from the trouble that lies ahead, think again. Amongst other reasons, the early church endured persecution because they were meeting from house to house daily; they were in constant daily fellowship with each other encouraging one another, they were being strengthened in the faith.

Read the book of Acts dear saints, over and over again. It is not there for mere reading pleasure; it is there that we might learn from what is written. We upon whom the end of the age has come. Our relationships with other members of the body of Messiah need to be developed beyond the superficial and casual thing we are so accustomed to. As members of one body we are going to need each other as never before, our suspicions concerning each other must fall by the way side and we must walk with each other as God intended. 

Leaven and pride.

Leaven in the scriptures at times refers to sin Other times it refers to false teaching. In order to deceive, the devil will present a lie as if it were the truth. Believe it saints, the devil is the master deceiver, liar and trickster, that is who he is. 

“A little leaven (a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers) leavens the whole lump (perverts the whole conception of faith, or misleads the whole church)”.  (Galatians 5 verse 9) 

Just how much is a little? I don’t know, but a little is already too much. A slight inclination to error or a few false teachers will permeate through the whole; it will leaven the whole lump. Once the leaven has been mixed with the dough, the whole lump of dough will rise, that is to say; error will have worked its way through the whole church. There is not one facet of the entire church today that is not free from error, either blatant or inherited. God have mercy on us and expose error for what it is, a lie of the devil to side track us from wholehearted devotion to God.

We need to understand the element of truth in deception; our eyes need to be opened to this. Wolves dressed in sheep's clothing have become so prevalent in the church today. Their dressing up is such that, they have pulled the wool over the eyes of many believers. It has been stated by one brother before that, “95% of the church’s activity would continue were the Holy Spirit taken out of the way”. That does not say much about the church’s activity does it? How many false teachers and false prophets are in the church today; what influence do they have? What about the church’s activity; who has inspired it?

“The Holy Spirit clearly says that in the last times, some will desert the faith because they choose to be deceived by deceitful spirits and listen to teachings taught by demons”.  (1 Timothy 4 verse 1)

Does this not astound and cause alarm in any degree to us? This is talking about believers in the Messiah who desert the faith, choosing to listen to deceiving spirits. What is at the heart of this desertion of the faith? What is the root cause of it?  We all too often deal with the fruit, the symptoms of a problem. It is my own conviction to believe that pride is the root cause. The root of pride is deep seated in the heart and all it takes is something to set it off i.e. a lie of the devil and it grows and brings forth its fruit, which is rebellion. This in turn causes that one to act hypocritically. Pride and rebellion are one side and arrogance and hypocrisy are the other side of the same coin.

What causes a ‘christian’ man or woman to commit adultery? This same root of pride and rebellion and arrogance and hypocrisy! It is not something that just happens. The thought was born and entertained in the heart and mind and left there, until it brought forth its fruit. Pride, in any form, is an abomination to God. 

“Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall”.  (Proverbs 16 verse 18)

What is false?

What is a false prophet or false teacher or any false thing for that matter? What constitutes that one to falsehood? Let us look at a dictionary definition. False – not right, true or real. Act wrongly, based on wrong ideas. It means to be deceptive or to lie, not genuine, a sham, artificial, to cheat or betray.

To be a false prophet does not merely mean that you prophesy and it does not come to pass; that element is involved but it is more than that. Can you imagine if the requirements of God upon false prophets were still relevant today? We would have a lot of stoned to death prophets, wouldn’t you say! In the book of Deuteronomy chapter thirteen it records this to be so. Deuteronomy eighteen has a slightly different angle although death is still involved,

“ The prophet who presumes to speak a word in My Name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, how shall we know which words the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or prove to be true, then that is the word which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him”.  (Deuteronomy 18 verses 20 – 22)

The prophet Jeremiah says similar things.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity and fill you with vain hopes; they speak a vision of their own minds, and not from the mouth of the Lord”. “I did not send these prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied”.  (Jeremiah 23 verses 16 and 21)

The prophet who speaks and continues to speak his own dreams, visions and words as if it were the Lord’s, is well on the way to becoming a false prophet. To be false has the idea of acting or being different to what one really is, to behave contrary to principles believed in. To be a false prophet or false leader or even a false believer would be well defined within those lines. To be false can be two fold. You can be false from the start or you can be true from the start but become false as time goes on. It is this second option that is of greater concern here.

Is there a pattern to look for in becoming false from this viewpoint? It looks something like this. From the very beginning the root of pride is there, deep seated in the heart. As time goes on, thoughts arise due to things we have seen or heard, said and done. If not confessed and repented of, they begin to grow from the seed stage and if still not dealt with even by promptings from the Holy Spirit to confess and turn away from; they bring forth fruit that becomes evident to all. We need to continuously search, scrutinise and examine our own hearts and minds to see if we are abiding in the faith. (See 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5)

The prophet Ezekiel has strong words to say also. See Ezekiel 13. " Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their OWN mind and heart, hear the word of the Lord". ( verse 1) Not only were there false prophets in those days, but, very much so in our day. Perhaps, even more so today. 

The scriptures speak of a great falling away from the faith, known as apostasy. An apostate is one who believed in God but now no longer does and remains in a state of unbelief. Many will desert from the one true faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons that are taught by the instrumentality of humans.in the last days. There will be a great increase in lawlessness and deception that results in the love of many growing cold.

“There were false prophets amongst the people before, even so there will be false teachers amongst you now. They will secretly introduce dangerous heresies and even deny the Lord that bought them; they will bring destruction upon themselves. Even so many will follow after their immoral ways, because of their account the way of truth will be maligned”.

(2 Peter 2 verses 1 – 2)

The Lord Jesus says things as a matter of fact and identifies how we can distinguish those of a false nature. Fruit is the product of a tree that brings forth after the same kind of seed that has been planted. In other words, the root produces the fruit be it good or bad. If the root of your heart is righteous then good fruit will be produced, if the root is wicked so shall be the fruit of your heart. If you plant a seed today, it will require some time for the fruit to be seen. This we need to understand because in the interim of growth, the false one may seem to be real until his fruit is manifested. This is where the discerning of spirits is required. Generally, you have a sense of witness about others who may or may not be fellow saints with you in the corporate body of believers.

“You will know them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorn trees, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad trees bear bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore you will know them by their fruit”.  (Matthew 7 verses 16 – 20)

In closing this chapter, I present to you the reader, three things the Lord spoke to me at the beginning of 1995 that would come to pass based upon the scriptures.

1.   THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH WILL LEAD INTO ALL TRUTH THOSE WHO DESIRE THE TRUTH. The inference being, where there is no desire for the truth you will be lead into error. Read John 16:13 and Psalm 51:6. 2 Thessalonians 2 verses 10 – 12.

2.   THE ERA OF THOSE WHO CALL LORD, LORD IS NOW INTENSIFIED. NOT ALL WHO CALL LORD, LORD WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, BUT ONLY THEY WHO DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN. The comment on, 95% of the church’s activity continuing if the Holy Spirit were taken out the way, says a lot towards this. There is coming soon a falling away from the faith, the love of many growing cold because of the great lawlessness that is on the increase. Many will fall away from the faith in great numbers. Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Read Matt.7: 21 and 2 Thess.2: 3.

3.  THE SEED THAT HAS BEEN PLANTED IN THE HEARTS OF MEN IS NOW BEGINNING TO BEAR FRUIT AND IT IS BY THAT FRUIT THAT WE WILL KNOW THOSE WHO ARE BORN OF GOD AND THOSE WHO ARE NOT. All of us have had a seed planted in our hearts. That seed has been growing and the stage is now ready for the fruit to bear, either good or bad. Read Matt.7: 20 and John 15:8.