How to Avoid Being Deceived

Friends, I don’t have to tell you that we are living in an unprecedented time of lies, innuendos and deception. I have never heard so many people dramatizing anything and everything false in order to deceive the masses. It’s uncanny to say to least. From evil politicians, to lying journalists, to governments and worldwide organizations…there are lies and deception everywhere. No wonder Jesus spent so much time warning His Disciples and us to beware and to not be deceived. The truth is Friends, if you are not aware of what is really going on in the world today, if you are not in constant communication with the Holy Spirit and listening for His leading, it will be real easy to become confused and therefore deceived.

God has told us in His Word that a time like this was coming when deception would be rampant in the world and so we are indeed seeing it in our time. And the deception is not just in politics and media, it is also in spiritual matters. The truth is Friends, that God has put His Word of Truth out there for almost 2000 years, and many have refused to turn from the lies of the world and to believe His Word. And because of their deliberate rebellion against God, scripture tells us that He is sending a delusion upon the earth. 2 Thessalonians 2:11 says, “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie” And you see that delusion in the people who walk in darkness all around us every day. It amazes me sometimes how people can be so ignorant of the truth that they believe whatever is presented to them by the media, no matter how ridiculous it may be. The Prophet Isaiah warned us of a people who would be calling good evil and evil good, and many people think absolutely nothing about doing just that in this day in which we are living. And so you may be asking yourself, “how can I know if I am being deceived and how can I prevent it?” Well that’s what I want to talk to you about today. Turn with me in your Bibles if you will to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and we are going to be reading verses 1-12. That’s 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 1-12. And it says this:

“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)

 Okay…there are several things Friends, that I want to point out to you today, some of which may run totally contrary to the things you have previously been taught. But the Truth is in God’s Word, and that is what we want to know…God’s Truth…because when you know the Truth, you cannot be deceived with a lie.

 The first thing I want you to see in verse one is that we are talking about “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him”. That is what we commonly refer to as The Rapture of the Church. Please take note that THIS return is NOT when He will return to the earth on a white horse to do battle with His enemies and to set up His Kingdom here. That return happens later on. In this return, Jesus never actually comes to the earth, but He is seen by all the world on a cloud from where He will send His Holy Angels to gather the saints unto Himself. So this is the time that Paul is referring to here.

 Then in verse 2, He is encouraging the Thessalonian Church to not be convinced by anyone who comes to them saying that the Day of the Lord has already come…whether they claim to know that by a writing, or somebody’s word, or even if they tell you the Spirit told them that…it is NOT True. And then Paul begins to tell them some ways that they can know when the Day of the Lord is near. And the first thing he tells them to watch for is a tremendous apostacy or some versions call it a “falling away”. Many people will turn away from the Lord…many people will prefer darkness rather than the Light of Jesus Christ. That is the first thing that Paul tells this Church at Thessalonica to look for. And the second one is this…He said that the next way you can know that the coming of the Lord is near is found right there at the end of verse 3 and in verse 4…he said “and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” Friends…I want you to hear me today. This scripture, along with several others, flies in the face of almost every teaching I have ever heard about the Rapture of the Church. Listen to those two verses again… “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” You may ask, “So why is that so important?” I’ll tell you why that is so important…if you and every other Christian believes that they will not be here when the apostacy takes place and when the Antichrist is revealed, you won’t be watching for him and you will miss him when he comes. You won’t know that he is the one that Paul is warning about here, because you will be convinced that he couldn’t possibly be the Antichrist, or you would be gone already. Friends…there is NO PLACE in scripture that verifies that doctrine and if you are not watching for him when he is revealed, you WILL BE DECEIVED! And that is exactly what Paul is trying to warn these Christians to avoid. And Jesus told us over and over…DO NOT BE DECEIVED!

 And so, here is the scenario…we know that there will be a Temple rebuilt in Jerusalem and we know that the Jews will have restored the practices of offering of sacrifice and honoring holy days because we are told that the Antichrist will put a stop to the sacrifices. We know that there will be a 7-year “Covenant with many” as spoken by the Prophet Daniel. Now many people believe that this time is call the 7-year tribulation, but scripture does not indicate that at all. In fact when Jesus spoke to His Disciples, He told them they would experience tribulation at that time, and surely as soon as they left the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost, tribulation began as people were being persecuted and martyred from that time until this. In fact it was very soon after this that Stephen was martyred, and the Apostle James was martyred soon after that. So we need to understand that tribulation was ALWAYS considered a part of the Christian life right from the start and has continued right up until this very day…and in many countries, Christians endure tribulation and persecution every day. And so, to believe there is one 7-year period that is called the tribulation period is false. But there is a 7-year “covenant with many” that will be brokered. We don’t know yet who the “many” are, but we know that there will be an alliance of nations and they will give their power to the Antichrist and it could be at this time that the covenant is brokered. But what we do know is that the Antichrist then breaks the covenant half-way in and that is when he will fulfill verse 4 of this portion of scripture. So not only do we see the Antichrist revealed, Christians will also be here when the covenant is broken which happens after 3½ years. THAT is why we MUST know the truth Friends…so we will not be deceived and put our confidence in a man that Paul calls the “Man of Sin” and the “Son of Perdition”.

 And so, you may wonder how this man can deceive so many people. Well the answer is right there in verses 9 and 10 which says, “with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” Remember I told you in the beginning of this message that if you are not aware of what is really going on in the world today, if you are not in constant communication with the Holy Spirit and listening for His leading, it will be real easy to become confused and therefore deceived. Friends, that is why I warn people all the time, we MUST have a close relationship with God and be in tuned to the leading of the Holy Spirit. He is our Guide into all Truth. It is by Him that we know truth from a lie. He warns us of impending danger and He tells us where to go and what to do to avoid being deceived. But we MUST learn to listen to Him. He reveals Truth and He gives us understanding!

 Now I understand that some of us may have been a Christian for a long time, but we haven’t devoted the time we needed to in order build a strong relationship with God. I want to suggest to you that NOW is the time to begin to do that. There is NO shortcut. You MUST read and study the Word every day. You need to talk to God every day. Just think of how you would build a relationship with anybody. You have to spend time together. You have to get to know each other. That’s how it is with God. It takes time…it takes effort, but there is no relationship that you can build with anybody that will be more valuable and more precious than your relationship with God. You need to do that NOW! Otherwise…you will be prime target for deception. Remember, the strong delusion was sent to those “who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”