How to Discern the Many Deceptions to Come: Antichrist soon to reveal his identity.
By Joel Joseph Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd Conclusion by Pastor Gary Boyd
Introduction:
Don’t ever turn the other cheek to deception and error!
The Bible reveals just what sort of deceptions are coming in these last days.
Great masses of people will be swallowed in the coming deceptions because they know not the word of God. It will be like never before or ever will be. Many will be spiritually cuffed and imprisoned by these things.
But many will stand strong too, and be quite safe. Forewarned is forearmed.
Many of the great deceptions will occur in the tribulation period but some are around now as forerunners‌strengthen your guard.
Yeshua warns five times in a single end-time discourse of arising, intensifying deception as the day approaches. Read his word in Matthew 24:4-12, And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
End-time deception in a nutshell:
Teachers, ministers and leaders will speak in the name of God, great things, which will be empowered by Satan in disguise. The greatest deceptions to come will be from within the church. Some of it will even contain demonstrations of the supernatural.
The religion of Adam and Eve was the “Fig Leaf” religion. That was man-made religion, and it was rejected by God. He Himself provided the sacrifice for their sin. The religion of Adam, Babylon, Rome and the final world religion are all united in that they are man-made…truly Satan-made counterfeits.
The end-time world religion is referred to in the Bible as “Babylon the Great,” Its final manifestation will be a mixture of world religions. Remember that the word, Babylon means “mixture.” What is the Vatican preaching?
The end-time political world is also referred to as Babylon the Great and just like religious Babylon will include the new-world order or system mixed together.
When you try to mix the things of God with Satan, God always walks out!
Truth emanates from the Spirit of God and filters into the spirit of man. The soul of man is not renewed at the new-birth and
must be worked on as we go. But the soul often tries to replace and imitate the spirit’s wisdom.
James 3:15 “This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual (soulish), demonic.”
In this incredible verse above, we see a powerful satanic progression. It goes from the world to the soul to the demonic! Note that well. The progression is downwards!
The progression of truth is from the Spirit of God to man’s spirit and through to the soul.
The word of God is the only instrument that can separate between what is soulish, worldly, demonic and spiritual. It even discerns between thoughts and motives.
Adam, the world, and the number of his red blood:
●Adam’s blood was red. After his fall it carried the curse of God into all mankind and the world.
In Bible numerics, four is the number of the world.
Isn’t it surprising that four is also the number of blood and 44 is the number of Adam!
●Blood: Strong’s H1818 “Dam” The name “Adam” is derived from this.
●Red: Strong’s H 122 or 119 “Adom”
Red is the colour of humanity, flesh, blood, sin, fire and hell. Red is associated with four, (the world) and six. Red is the colour of the unsaved.
The colors blue and purple:
●Blue is the colour of God. It is the colour of the sky representing heaven and deity. Blue is the colour of royalty and kingship. The colour of Israel as seen in its flag and other
national symbols is blue. It is associated with the numbers, seven and eight – both godly numbers.
●Purple is red and blue mixed together.
●Purple then represents the true believer, being Adam, now saved and filled with Gods Spirit.
We’re going somewhere very important with this!
Have a look now at these two verses below and tell me what’s missing in the Revelation account:
Exodus 28:8 (God’s instructions for the priestly garment) “The intricately woven band of the ephod shall be of gold, blue and purple and scarlet thread.”
Revelation 17:3-5 “I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls…On her
forehead was written ‘Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth.’”
The verse above speaks of the massive Babylon-born Catholic church and others like it. It speaks of the great end-time harlot the false church.
Notice that “blue” is missing.
But this church is adorned in purple, and purple is blue and red together. Do you see it? Purple with no blue in it is a lie, a counterfeit! That’s the great giveaway!
This great end-time ecumenical world-church looks like and sounds like the real thing, but it is a satanically charged fraud! It has no Spirit of God.
This great end-time church of deception is one with unredeemed Adam, his cursed blood, and the world-system backed by Satan – This church is a red whore! (Red is also the colour of prostitution!)
The final great end-time battle will be between purple with blue missing (a lie) and purple with blue in it (the truth)!
The final great end-time battle will be between a whore, the whore of Babylon, and a bride, the bride of Christ!
It most certainly will include the Catholic church, all ecumenical churches and others that have rejected the full operation of the Spirit of God. It will include some internet ministries.
The Jezebel deception:
This is a very specific deception described in the Bible, within the end-time church. Let’s have a look at the name:
Jezebel: Strong’s Concordance, H348, “Iyzebel”, meaning: Baal exalts, wickedness.
Baal: Strong’s H1168, meaning “lord.”
The name in Hebrew is “Izevel”, meaning mixture of wickedness.
One of the Greek terms for her name means “false teacher.”
Baal was the Babylonian name. Zeus was the Greek name, also a name for Satan.
Jezebel was notorious for promoting the worship of Babylonian gods, including Baal / Zeus in Israel. Her conduct was disastrous for Israel.
The marriage of the heathen Jezebel to Ahab, the king of Israel, was the first time that a king of Israel “mixed” himself by covenant with a heathen princess of evil! Jezebel was known to have no fear of God.
So, the name means: One who is exalted by a lord (Satan) who is full of wickedness and deception and false teaching. The Jezebel spirit always tries to usurp God’s authority. This spirit
operates mostly in women, but is also prevalent in male leadership.
The Jezebel spirit may attract hordes of false prophets.
The end-time Jezebel spirit is closely associated with the false spirits of Babylon, the Catholic church, other orthodox churches and all that are devoid of the Spirit of God.
Let’s paint the end-time picture:
The Revelation portrays huge end-time deception as seen in a scarlet woman riding a scarlet beast. She is the mother of all harlots. This means that the entire end-time, false, ecumenical, world church has one mother or source – the great whore of Babylon. (Revelation 17)
Revelation 18:24 “In her was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slain on the earth.”
In the verse above we see that this end-time false religion is a mass murderer. It always has been that way! The Catholic Church has more blood on its hands than Hitler! But note that this satanic church murders the true prophets and saints of God. The inquisitions come to mind.
Satan will operate through the occult, paganism, supernatural signs and wonders, the calling down of fire from heaven and much more.
Don’t accept any form of fortune telling into your life. Satan’s invisible destiny for you is hidden in his servants like fortune tellers, clairvoyants and all who meddle in the occult. Don’t mess with these things or you will be opening the door to more!
We will see many miracles – real miracles in the church – done by Satan, producing great deception.
Revelation 18:23 “By your sorcery all the nations were deceived.”
Revelation 12:9 “The great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world.”
Supernatural signs are no guarantee of truth. The devil himself works through signs and wonders, because he knows it’s such an easy method of deceiving so many people. And he knows so many people are susceptible to it because of their lack of the Spirit and shallow beliefs.
Beware of the transfer of spirits. The spirit in the one who you submit to, and give yourself to, can transfer into you. We see this tragically, in the transfer of demonic generational curses from one generation down to the next in entire cultures and ethnic groups through history.
It can be positive as well. If your chosen teacher was or is on fire for our Lord in a radical way, it will rub off on you as well.
End-time heresy and other deceptions:
2 Peter 2:1-2 “There will be many false prophets among you and false teachers who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord…Many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the truth will be blasphemed.”
Heresy: Strong’s G139 “Heiresis.” Meanings: choice of opinion, choose selectively to captivate.
The nature of heresy is found in the meaning of the word. It means “to choose selectively.” In other words, biblical heresy is not complete error. It is selective error! Truth mixed with error!
It chooses bits and pieces of scripture and takes them out of context to suit the make up a false doctrine. This is why it is so dangerous. It’s got half the truth in it!
Biblical deception damages the word of prophecy, and the word of God in the eyes of many.
The great, cursed deception of lies is coming back. The fool flatearthers are gaining idiot- demon inspired followers. All designed to make a fool of the church!
Satan cannot defeat the word of God, but he tries. So if you throw the word out, or don’t know it well, you are effectively defenseless.
A Christian without the Bible or the Bible selectively believed will always be a half-baked believer. He will always be half lost and always double minded. He will always be drawn up and down at the same time.
There are only two sources of supernatural revelation: God and the devil – no other. One will ultimately bless you and the other, curse you.
Deuteronomy 18:10 “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft (divination), or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells or a enchanter, or a spiritist or one who calls up the dead.”
The original word “divination” in the verse above means “python” – a “strangling” spirit.
The word “Enchanter” in the verse above is often used in association with music to get people under Satan’s spell and control, but it has a deeper meaning.
“Enchanter,” Strong’s H 5172, “Nachash.” Meanings: To hiss or whisper a magic spell. It also means to read from or into signs or omens.
This is prevalent today. People often read far too much into signs and so-called signs, and sometimes no signs, coming up with all sorts of garbage.
Acts 8:9-10 “There was a certain man named Simon, who previously practiced sorcery, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, saying this man is the great power of God.”
Notice in the verse above that the people thought this was a great man of God. But he was a corruptor of the truth, yet many followed him.
In 2 Timothy 3:1-8 we see an end-time description of two men, Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses with deceiving signs and wonders. This means that in the last days, the battle will again be in the supernatural with satanic signs and wonders.
But have a look at what their names mean:
Jannes: Strong’s G2389 Meaning: He vexed. Jambres: Strong’s G2387 Meaning: Deceptive healer.
A “vexing” spirit is a deceiving spirit. There will also be “deceptive healings” in the last days.
You must divorce Satan. It must be a severe and serious action. The curse is revoked through the cross, but you must apply it and do it and walk free. It must cost you. Burn any literature of the occult including idols and objects of contact.
You have the means to escape the satanic invasion – use it.
“It’s our culture”!
Many nations and ethnic groups have a visible identifiable culture. Some things are harmless and others not. Culture is
closely associated with worship and in many cases is the actual source of generational curses.
The culture of sin is a lot more involved than most people think. The word “culture” comes from two root words: “worship” and “work.” These are the main elements of a culture. So when we talk about the culture of sin – it is the worship of it and the work done in practicing it!
Behind all illegitimate culture is a terrible controller – the devil himself. Control is his objective.
Isn’t that what Satan wants with us? He wants to get control of our religion, our beliefs and our property which is our body.
Lessons for the last-days:
Error is a spirit. It is alive. Like all living things it wants acceptance and not rejection. It does not want to be banished or thrown out, but it must be!
â—?Lesson: Know the voice of the Spirit of God, learn discernment of spirits.
●Lesson: Truth and error travel the same highway. Learn to identify both.
●Lesson: Do not mix truth with error. Satan’s purposes end in corrupted truth when let in.
●Lesson: Keep your eyes looking in the right places and not the wrong like signs in the sky.
●Lesson: Note how easily the masses are deceived and strengthen your armour.
●Lesson: The deceivers deceive, whether they intended to deceive or not.
●Lesson: Know your Bible well and keep it in dispensational context.
●Lesson: Know all the “doctrines of Messiah” as revealed in Hebrews 6:1-2 and related verses.
●Lesson: Note the 100% failure rate of rapture predictions and in fact all YouTube predictions.
Believing a lie and giving yourself to it, dumbs you down. When you continue to follow teachers making false predictions, you are injuring yourself spiritually. Gradually you become blinded too.
A person who claims to hear from God and really does, is easy to spot. He is soft and broken towards God and the things of God, hard and impenetrable to the devil. He is quick to recognize error and repent. He would be absolutely broken and shattered if he knew that he had led the people of God astray in any way. (And yes I am mindful of these things for myself too.)
A collection of biblical end-time warnings:
●“False prophets will arise and deceive many, and because of lawlessness the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:1011)
●“False Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders.” (Matthew 24:24-25)
●“Many will come in my name, saying ‘I am He’” (Luke 21:8)
●”In the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” (1 Timothy 4:1)
●“Let no one deceive you by any means.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
●“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.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11)
●“Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
●“Evil men and imposters (magicians) will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. As for you, continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.” (2 Timothy 3:13)
●“Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Messiah, and no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-14)
●“I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in amongst you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves, men will arise speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves, therefore watch and remember that for three years, I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:29-31)
You can’t build on a foundation of error. No matter how fancy your “building” is, if it is built on numerous incorrectly applied and interpreted verses, it will fail and fall and hurt many.
Isaiah 9:15-16 “The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed.”
Jeremiah 29:8-9 “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Do not let the prophets and diviners in your midst deceive you, nor let them listen to your dreams, for they prophecy falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them’, says the Lord.”
Jeremiah 23:32 “Behold, I am against those who prophecy false dreams, says the Lord, and who tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them…”
Moving forward in Christianity is all about trust in the truth. In fact, faith and trust are very closely associated. You must know and trust by faith those who are in the truth.
Beware of those who have been in gross error and not repented, who are now calling for people to walk in unity and love with them, accepting their unrepentant error as though it’s all nothing.
An unrepentant teacher will produce progressively more offtrack deception in the future. Mark those words!
Finally
Deception causes division! The main agent of deception is false teachers. Truth unites, not error.
In these days, you need discernment like never before.
Truth can be the bait to get you to believe the lie. Satan uses truth to achieve his evil objectives.
Love can be a deadly thing when truth is removed from it!
Truth is right. It is clean and holy. It is enduring and it succeeds. It refreshes and inspires. All truth and wisdom comes from the fear of the Lord and produces rest and peace.
Error and deception is wrong. It is dirty, unholy, and temporary, and ends in failure, dejection and confusion. All error comes from a lack of the fear of the Lord.
All deception comes from either pride or ignorance or both. Shallow believers, ignorant of God’s word and who remain so for too long, are prime candidates for deception.
Conclusion
Surely as a Christian you should know there is a “field guide” to identifying or discerning “spirits.” Specifically, it calls attention to two distinct “field marks” of various spirits: first, what they say or teach; second, who hears or accepts their teaching. That seems straightforward enough. With this knowledge in mind, we ought to be able to venture forth to spot and identify a variety of spirits, simply by checking each species against our guide. Why, then, does it seem that so many people cannot see the spirits for what they are and fall prey to all varieties of heresies, misinterpretations of Scripture, cults and fads? And even when we can discern truth from error and determine that a particular teaching, person or group is wrong, what are we to do? Is it enough not to follow that teaching? Are we, as individuals or as a church, to do something more than resist perversions of the truth, as important as that is? Such questions are not easily answered. After a look at the content of the passage under consideration, we will suggest some guidelines–
and call attention to some of the difficulties–in this matter of discerning the spirits.
To understand John’s instruction to test the Spirits, we need to place it in the context of Johannine church life. People met in houses in groups of about twenty to thirty people, for worship and fellowship (compare 2 John 10). These scattered communities did not have immediate access to authoritative figures like the Elder, and communication with them was not always easy. Apparently the Elder sent emissaries to communicate with the churches (3 John 5-8), sometimes carrying letters such as these epistles. These congregations had been glad to welcome the Elder’s traveling ambassadors. But now there were also “false prophets” who, like the emissaries of the Elder, would have claimed to speak the truth under the inspiration of the Spirit. And, finally, there were also various itinerant philosophers who traveled in hopes of a hearing and a place to stay. In light of this complex situation, John is anxious to provide his readers with criteria against which claims to truth and inspiration could be tested. Spirit-inspired Prophets (4:1)
Clearly the claim to be inspired by the Spirit can and must be tested, for the claim to have the Spirit is not proof that one does. Here spirit has been variously taken to refer to the spirit
that inspires the prophet, to the person who is inspired or to the message delivered by the prophet. Obviously the three are related, for in testing a person’s words one is actually testing whether or not that person speaks by divine guidance. In light of the rest of the passage two things emerge: First, the author believes that individual persons are inspired or led to confess or deny Christ by spirits, some reality beyond the human individual. Second, ultimately there are only two spirits: God’s Spirit, also called the Spirit of truth because it guards and inspires truth (4:2, 6); and the spirit of antichrist, which inspires falsehood, and especially false confession of Christ (vv. 3, 6). The Elder’s readers are not to believe every claim to be divinely inspired or to have a prophetic message, but are rather to test the spirits, to discern whether a message is the truth that comes from God.
Such testing is necessary because many false prophets have gone out into the world. While “prophet” in the Pauline literature refers to a specific function within the church (Rom 12:6; 1 Cor 12:10; 14:1-5, 29-33; Eph 4:11), the Johannine epistles refer more broadly to all of those who left the church as false prophets, because they carry with them testimony that claims to be spirit-inspired. That is exactly the point: all persons speak by the inspiration of one spirit or another. Now it falls to
the community to discern which spirit guides the teaching of the various individuals whom they encounter. The church must exercise discernment, then as now, for truth and error are not always easily distinguished. They do not exist disembodied, but come to us in the shape of real persons with whom we share a variety of relationships. Precisely because “testing the spirits” entails dealing with other persons, perhaps even professed Christians, who claim to be guided by the Spirit, we must exercise care and humility in discerning the truth.
First we must understand that we must have faith in Jesus Christ the person, the Incarnate Christ, not in a religion that puts faith in a doctrine, or the spirit of Antichrist that proclaim the demonic gospels. That put faith in whispering disembodied spirits, or believe truth mixed with deceitful lies. Or put Mary above Jesus, or call themselves Father to the faithful when scripture says only God is the Father. Realizing there are only two spirits one of God the other of Antichrist the devil, we must discern what is true by what the Word of God says compared to what the spirit of Antichrist says is true.
All who deny Jesus are called the world 1 John 4:3-5, “But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person
has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them.”
They belong to that sphere of existence opposed to or ignorant of God’s spirit and ways 1 John 2:15-17, “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”
By way of reassurance, the Elder contrasts his readers with the secessionists: they are of the world, but you, dear children, are from God. They can be sure of their relationship with God because they have overcome them, the false prophets 1 John 4:1, “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they
have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.” You test them by the Word of God for that is the rule of truth.
The word overcome (nikao) implies a conflict in which one party emerges victorious (compare 1 Jn 2:13-14; 5:4-5; Jn 16:33). The victorious party is the Christians, and their victory is their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Victory in this instance is virtually equivalent to resisting false teaching and to holding to the truth. We know the truth by believing in God’s word and keeping it. Maranatha…………