When the disciples asked Jesus about his coming and signs of the end of the age, the first thing Jesus warned them about was the attack on the truth that would prevail in the last days.

Matthew 24:4
“Take heed that no one deceives you.”

Deception is a powerful sign and birth pang.

Today a cloud of confusion blankets our world. Chaos seems the order of the day. Confusion and deception permeate our economy, the political world, the religious world, and everywhere else. Everything is becoming increasingly complicated.

Even the term “evangelical” has lost its meaning with the emergence of the “new evangelicals” who sound more like socialists than Christians. Some are going so far as to verbally attack Israel, saying she has no right to the land God gave to her. Some hold regular conferences in Palestinian territories to show their support for the Palestinians and disdain for Israel.

God loves the Palestinian people, and many of them are Christians, but he gave the land to Israel.  Faulty theology is leading to dangerous positions on the wrong side of God’s boundaries.

It is clear to me that the world is rapidly being prepared through deception for the appearance of the supreme deception of this age, the dreaded Antichrist. Deception defined in Greek is “roaming” or “wandering.” The word suggests that a deceived person has been seduced or taken off course.

Deception is always an undercover strategy of the enemy.

The victim does not realize he’s a target. Like a good animal trap, deception is hidden until it’s too late to escape. No flags are flying above the landmines of deception. The person drifting into deception does not recognize he’s being seduced by hidden taps.

Deception usually begins in the heart as a result of honoring one’s personal will above the will of Almighty God. The will of man by nature does not love the truth. In an unrepentant state people willingly trade God’s truth for satanic lies—and the consequences are devastating.

St. Paul prophesies of a world leader, “whose coming is in accordance with the working of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all deception of unrighteousness among those who perish, because they did not receive the love for the truth that they might be saved.”  — 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10

Paul also wrote to Timothy, warning, “For the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine, but they will gather to themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, having itching ears, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn to myths.”  — 2 Timothy 4:3-4

Most troubling to me are the false teachers within professing Christianity. Some still call themselves “evangelical” yet have renounced fundamental doctrines such as the virgin birth of Jesus, the doctrine of hell, and the belief that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

St. Paul had something to say about them too, “For such are false apostles and deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” — 2 Corinthians 11:13-15

Where is this deception leading?

It’s pointing toward a world conglomerate religion during the time of earth’s supreme suffering just ahead (Revelation 17).

We see dramatic signs of this forming now.

The only way Satan can pull this off is by convincing church-going people that the Bible is inspired only in certain spots, that only the words of Jesus are exclusively inspired, that there is no hell and we shouldn’t preach about it, or that all religions worship the same God.

He is attempting to do this now through articulate spokesmen and winsome representatives of a false gospel.

I hope you’ll always remember the words of Jesus, “Take heed that no man deceive you.”