Matthew 24:4-13

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Take heed that no one deceives you.   For many will come in My name, saying ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows.  Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.  Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

This set of scriptures is important to us as believers especially in the day we live.  Jesus starts by saying, take heed that no one deceives you.  Quite an important statement.  Why?  There is a strong spirit of deception operating in our country right now.  You can see it at every level of society.  Unfortunately, you can see it as well in the church.  Truth has been lost.  Truth is no longer valued.  It seems if we can tell a lie long enough, it becomes truth.  We call good evil, and evil good.

How then can we keep from being deceived in this hour?  By knowing the truth of God’s Word and by knowing Him intimately.  It is the ONLY fool proof method we have.  And it requires both the Word and relationship.  If we have just the Word, the Bible says knowledge puffs us up.  If we just have a relationship and no Word, then we have no sword, no plumbline, and no means of receiving the logos truth.  And it is the foolish believer who only has one or the other.

We are in the beginning of sorrows.  Lawlessness abounds.  After this election, many are offended, relationships have been betrayed and many  feel justified in hating one another.  We live in a time of nation against nation, famines, pestilences, and many earthquakes.  False prophets have already risen up and deceived many.  I recently saw where Rob Bell has become Oprah Winfrey’s pastor.  Rob Bell has been at the forefront of the Emerging Church that believes hell does not exist as the Bible describes and that gay marriage is acceptable.   Thousands and thousands of people who call themselves Christians follow these tenets.  I have heard pastors in my own community say that gay marriage was acceptable as well as abortion.  Deception is rampant.

But he who endures to the end shall be saved.