Jesus's Warning of Deception in the Last Days

By Dr. Eric Haley

One of Jesus's concerns was addressing and defeating the deception of Satan, especially in the last days.  He described Satan as the the father of lies in John 8:44.  Jesus also stated in John 10:10, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:  I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."  So, in the latter days many false teachers will arise and deceive many.         ( Matthew 24:11)  Deception is one of the regular by products of living in the information age.  A lie can be sent out over the internet before its confirmed as true or not.

So, how do we combat the deception of the last days?  The Apostle Paul reminds us in II Timothy 2:15,"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  Once we all get to the age of accountability, we are responsible for studying the Bible ourselves.  I wish I had a dollar every time that one of my Catholic friends have told me that their priest has told them not to study the Bible because it will only confuse them.  What a lie from the pit of hell!  The Apostle Peter instructed us in Acts 5:29, "We ought to obey God rather than men."  The Catholic church for hundreds of years controlled the masses until Martin Luther wrote his 95 Thesis and revealed the atrocities of the Catholic church.  Soon many denominations grew out of the reformation, because the people were hungry for God's truth; and not man's flawed interpretation of it.

Jesus promised his church in John chapter 14 that He was going to send the church the Holy Spirit to lead us believers in all truth.  We are all suppose to be like the Berean Christians in Acts 17:11...."they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so."  In other words, we are responsible for reading the scriptures for ourselves to make sure preachers are teaching the truth from God's word, the Bible.

There has been more false teaching from the Catholic church than I care to shake a stick at. For example, many Catholics think that the Pope does not sin.  Well, the fact is Romans 3:23 states, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."  Yes, even the Pope still sins.  Another false Catholic doctrine is that Mary remained a virgin after giving birth to Jesus.  Wrong!  The Bible clearly states in Matthew 13:55-56, "Is not this the carpenter's son?  is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?  And his sisters, are they not all with us?  Whence then hath  this man all these things?  The Bible plainly says that Jesus had brothers and sisters. Another tradition from the Catholic church and often repeated my protestant preachers is that  Jesus died on a Friday.  John 19:31 helps clear up this matter.  It reads, "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."  Jesus was crucified before a "High Sabbath," not the regular sabbath.  The regular sabbath day is Saturday.  But the week that Jesus was crucified had two sabbath days.  The Jews celebrated seven holy holidays called, "High Sabbaths."  You can read about these holy convocations in Leviticus chapter twenty-three.

If Jesus had died on a Friday, then his body wouldn't have laid in the tomb (sepulcher) for the full three days and nights that he prophesized about his own death in Matthew12:39-40. "...An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."  Did you get that?  Jesus would lay dead for three full days and three full nights.  If he had died on Friday where are the three full days and nights.  Are you starting to see that when you study God's word, the truth will set you free (John 8:32).

One of the biggest deceptions in the last days that will send a lot of people to hell is, "As long as you believe in something (religion) it will lead you to heaven.  Jesus made it plain when he walked this earth in John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father but by me."  Muslims kill people if you don't accept Allah as the one true God.  People who convert from Islam have thirty days to convert back to Islam, our they are subject of  so called honor killings.  Muslims put this practice of honor killing above our constitution.  So, Sharia law and the American Constitution are at odds with each other.  "Thou shall not kill," (murder) is one of the Ten Commandments. Are you going to follow a heathen practice, or obey God.  Islam is not a peaceful religion as the Muslims claim.

One other term all others need to learn about the Islamic deception.  It is a term called, "Taqiyah."  Taqiyah is the Islamic practice of lying to any person that is not a Muslim in order to get an advantage over them.  This basically gives Muslims the license to lie to non-muslims.  So in Islam lying to a non- muslim is not a sin.  It sounds crazy, but this is what Islamic governments do in order to gain an advantage over their enemies  Lying is wrong period.  But their religion excuses them from lying to non-muslims.  So, when do you ever know if a Muslim is telling you the truth or not?  You can't.  See how false religions try to keep an advantage over the truth of God's Word.

The final deception I want to mention in this article is the deception that Satan has this world believing that Jesus is not coming back for his church.  Right now, the Holy Spirit uses the Church to restrain evil.  Unfortunately, the Church is not doing a very good job, because we see lawlessness, moral degradation, lying, and wickedness everywhere.  Our culture tries to tell the church what is right or wrong, instead of it being the other way around. II Peter 3:3-4 reads, "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of his coming?' for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."  Scoffers do not realize that their existence is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy before Jesus comes back for his church.  We've all seen their gay pride parades, crazy attempts of passing laws of transgenderism, (in the beginning God made them male and female Matthew 19:4), their lawless attacks on Christians that believe what the Bible says about morality.  Acts 1:11 plainly states, "...this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."  And furthermore, Thessalonians 4:16-17 affirms, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air:  and so shall we ever be with the Lord."  This verse affirms that Jesus is coming back for his Church (Christians).  The last seven years on this planet will be left to all those who have rejected Christ.  A new false one world religion will be forced upon everyone, and you will not be able to buy or sell without the mark of the beast (Rev. 13:16-17)

Remember  The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."  So, if you're deceived and not getting this, that is because the Bible says in II Corinthians 4:4, the god of this world (Satan/Devil) has blinded your mind from receiving the truth.  Pray that God open your spiritual eyes.  Something to think about.