Deception

[simplejeff]

3 minutes ago, Yowm said:

9 hours ago, MyLordsServant said:

When you see abomination of desolation in the church, get ready to run. Be careful out there, brothers. These are with no doubt, the end times.

Although apostasy in the Church is an abomination and a sad thing

How many different references in Scripture are there ?  (to any abomination, any desolation,  in the church) ?

[simplejeff]

3 minutes ago, Yowm said:

How many are there using that phrase 'abomination of desolation'? ...two.

And how many revealing the abomination in the churches on earth ?  .. hundreds? tens?...  under ten ?

[Justin Adams]

The great tragedy is, whether knowingly or unknowingly, the apostate teacher dooms his unsuspecting followers. One of the most frightening verses in all of Scripture comes from the lips of Jesus. Speaking to His disciples about the religious leaders of His day, He said, “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14, emphasis added). This verse is alarming because Jesus affirms that it is not only the false teachers that go to destruction, but their disciples also follow them. Christian philosopher Søren Kierkegaard put it this way: “For it has never yet been known to fail that one fool, when he goes astray, takes several others with him.”

[https://www.gotquestions.org/apostasy.html]

Edited November 17, 2017 by Justin Adams

[simplejeff]

9 hours ago, MyLordsServant said:

4Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Since there are a multitude of abominations IN the church, (and possibly 'desolations')

and the OP is about "DECEPTION" .....

it is pertinent, 

even if or in spite of the possibility of mixing up the one (or two) references to the "abomination of desolation".

 

[Justin Adams]

2 hours ago, GandalfTheWise said:

I'll be completely blunt.  Some Christians waste time on spiritual witch hunts focusing on seeking out every possible Satanic influence in the world and the church.  Many of them seem to take the approach of, "when in doubt, throw it out" with regard to anything and everything that offends them.  Time (that in my opinion) would be better spent learning more about God, how to walk with Him, and doing what He wants us to do is being wasted on reading newspapers to see how they correlate with Bible prophecy, internet conspiracy sites, and books that are obsessed with pointing out and cataloging every possible error and sin the authors can imagine.  Opportunities that could be taken to learn from other Christians are instead viewed as opportunities to correct them and argue with them about how they are wrong.

Well thought out and well written. Thanks!

[frienduff thaylorde]

3 hours ago, Yowm said:

If we heed our Lord, He also told us to be on guard against false prophets and deception. The other extreme, which sadly much of the Church is following today due to the 'emergent church' influence, is to downplay prophecy and doctrinal error.

Mat 24:4-5
(4)  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
(5)  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Mat 24:11
(11)  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 

Mat 24:24-25
(24)  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
(25)  Behold, I have told you before. 

1Ti 4:1
(1)  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 

2Ti 3:13
(13)  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

 2Pe 2:1-2
(1)  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.
(2)  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 

2Pe 3:3-4
(3)  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
(4)  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. 

Jud 1:3-4
(3)  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
(4)  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. 

So yes, there are devices of the enemy that we are not to be ignorant of.

 

Here lets read what yowm said one more time.

[frienduff thaylorde]

3 hours ago, Yowm said:

If we heed our Lord, He also told us to be on guard against false prophets and deception. The other extreme, which sadly much of the Church is following today due to the 'emergent church' influence, is to downplay prophecy and doctrinal error.

Mat 24:4-5
(4)  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
(5)  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Mat 24:11
(11)  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 

Mat 24:24-25
(24)  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
(25)  Behold, I have told you before. 

1Ti 4:1
(1)  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 

2Ti 3:13
(13)  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

 2Pe 2:1-2
(1)  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.
(2)  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 

2Pe 3:3-4
(3)  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
(4)  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. 

Jud 1:3-4
(3)  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
(4)  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. 

So yes, there are devices of the enemy that we are not to be ignorant of.

 

This was so needed to get said , hey lets read it just one more time .  thanks yowm.

[frienduff thaylorde]

15 hours ago, MyLordsServant said:

Deception is the single greatest threat to Christians.

It is warned by Jesus and others, many times. Even the elect may be deceived. Atheism, persecution, etc,. are nothing in comparison. Satan's best weapon is infiltrating from within. Just look at what's happening in churches today. Look what's happening in the world. I've been newly born for less than a month and the deception has been merciless. 3-5 decades ago, clapping in the church, short dresses, chewing gum, etc.; Things that are now seemingly small, were considered wrong. Now where are we? Now all of these little things have been instituted, that are slowly corrupting. The church I attend has a period during service, where everyone takes out candies and makes a racket with packaging. This service is barely an hour long, and people can't wait? What if Jesus was preaching. Would we do these things in God's presence or in a Holy place? How far have we strayed in relativity to O.T. Jewish Holy temples and their customs. I wouldn't doubt God has forsaken many churches. In the condition they are in, no Holiness can dwell.

The anti-christ and his spirit will arise from within the church. "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." 

If you throw a frog into boiling water, it will jump out. If you leave the frog in the water, and slowly raise the temperature to boiling. It will stay there until it dies. Satan has been slowly turning up the temperature. We're nearing the end.

When you see abomination of desolation in the church, get ready to run. Be careful out there, brothers. These are with no doubt, the end times.

 

Signs of the End of the Age

3While Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will all this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”

4Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.

We are now in this stage:

Witnessing to All Nations
(Mark 13:10-13; Luke 21:10-19)

9Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. 10At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another, 11and many false prophets will arise and mislead many.

12Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.13But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

  Few things are left to be accomplished before our Lord returns.

The anti-christ and his spirit will arise from within the church. "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works

YEAH most christains are looking outside our relgion for wolves , WHEN they should be looking INSDIE IT .    MAN THEY EVERYWHERE and just

as JESUS own betrayer , so too comes ours.   JESUS was not betrayed from OUTSIDE the group. HE WAS betrayed BY ONE WIHTIN   a PRETENDER.

watch out ,  we have many now . and they all leading us to ROME and all inclusive interfaith for world peace.  

[frienduff thaylorde]

1 minute ago, Yowm said:

Sadly, some ain't lookin at all.

Before one and all,   YOWM is right .    Yowm is right .  that is truly what I should have said.    Amen brother .  THIS is the problem indeed.

[Heleadethme]

7 hours ago, GandalfTheWise said:

I disagree with the bolded statement "Deception is the single greatest threat to Christians".

In my opinion, the single greatest threat to Christians is not consistently walking with God themselves.  It is the time we spend in prayer, Bible reading, meditation, study, being with other Christians, and other such spiritual exercises that causes us to grow strong and mature.  It is when we neglect those things that we become weak spiritually.  

Being deceived is one symptom of many of not walking closely with God.  It is not so much a cause of spiritual weakness as one result of being spiritually weak.  We do not avoid deception by spending our time looking for it to identify it.  We avoid deception by knowing God so well that anything not from Him becomes obvious to us.  This is a result of growing spiritually and walking closely with God.  

Another symptom of not walking closely with God is turning holiness and righteousness into a series of litmus tests we apply to our brothers and sisters.  Instead of looking to actual fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control and similar things as listed in Gal 5) and changes in people's lives, we look at particular behaviors.  Chew gum in church?  They obviously are not serious about God.  Clap in church?  They are completely irreverent and lack respect for God.  Read the wrong version of the Bible?  They're on the road to serving Satan.  Not go to church enough services per week?  Falling away or not saved.   The bottom line is that many Christians and churches create a man-made system of rules of so-called holiness that really amounts to "this is the way we do it and thanks be to God we're the only ones who do it right."  If you don't sing the right songs in the right way with the right musical instruments, read the right version of the Bible, pray just the right way (no too loud and exuberantly nor too soft or timidly), act just right in church (not too dead and frozen but not too loud and emotional), avoid particular worldly influences, vote for the right political party, etc., then you are failing as a Christian, or most likely, you are not even a real Christian but just deceived that you are a Christian.   Anyone disagree with that?  They are obviously a wolf, false prophet, or completely sin-filled and deceived.

I'll be completely blunt.  Some Christians waste time on spiritual witch hunts focusing on seeking out every possible Satanic influence in the world and the church.  Many of them seem to take the approach of, "when in doubt, throw it out" with regard to anything and everything that offends them.  Time (that in my opinion) would be better spent learning more about God, how to walk with Him, and doing what He wants us to do is being wasted on reading newspapers to see how they correlate with Bible prophecy, internet conspiracy sites, and books that are obsessed with pointing out and cataloging every possible error and sin the authors can imagine.  Opportunities that could be taken to learn from other Christians are instead viewed as opportunities to correct them and argue with them about how they are wrong.

Frankly, these Christians are very much like Peter walking on the water (Matt 14:22-33).  At first, he was focused on Jesus and became the only person other than Jesus to walk on water.   Then he started to look around at the wind,  waves, and sea and started to fear and sink.  Some Christians seem to want to put their attention onto the wind, waves, and sea and worry about everything around them.  At some point, if you are spending more time focusing on the wind, waves, and sea than focusing on Jesus, you will start to sink.  Time that would be better spent advancing the Kingdom of God is instead spent on arguing who is greatest and most correct.

To be blunt, the OP is completely focused on avoidance, not advancement.  You can flee a thousand directions from a thousand bad things.  However, you can only advance in one direction toward Jesus.  Put your eyes on Jesus and look to follow Him.  Of course, there will be trouble, sins, persecution, and testing around us in the world.  However, we need to keep our focus on Him and help encourage our brothers and sisters to do the same.  The more we focus and talk about the wind, waves, and sea around us, the more we draw our attention and their attention away from Jesus as well.

Wind and waves are a metaphor (living parable) for adverse circumstances, rather than sin.   Yes, we "focus" on Jesus, but also need to examine ourselves and seek the Lord to cleanse our hearts whenever we find there is any sin or bondage.  When we confess our sins to Him He is so faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from unrighteousness.  And that is one way we really do make progress in our walk.  Even seek the Lord to show us if there is anything we are not aware of....like David praying, search me and know me oh Lord, and see if there be any wicked way in me.  A humble and contrite heart He will not despise.......but will answer our prayer and desire for sanctification.