Matthew 24:3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what [will be] the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. (NASB2020)

Deception comes to us from two sources as believers. It comes from the world, and it comes from inside the church itself. Never does deception come from God. Paul warns:

Acts 20:29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. (NASB2020)

Outside or Worldly Deception:

Wolves in this passage represent outside deceivers coming in and when they come in the flock is not spared according to Paul. Jesus spoke of this flock, and He stated that these of His flock would hear His voice and follow Him. So, when Paul warned that the flock would not be spared when the wolves come in — Is this a contradiction? No, Remember the verse that we started with. “See to it that no one misleads you.” Jesus gave this warning. Today’s. Christian has the sense that once saved that nothing can harm Him. This takes away any responsibility to Christ or to God. You and I have a responsibility to “see to it”. Part of the deception today is to remove from you and I obligation or responsibility for our walk with the Lord. This is the main deception allowing for the wolf to devour the flock. Having no responsibility for self is the leaven that leaveneth the whole lump. Leaven is falsehood, introduced from outside, it is not the Truth of the word. Satan deceives using the word, but without the whole context.

There are other worldly deceptions aimed at the defeat of the flock. CoVid was brought in to instill fear. Fear is not a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit within us. The deceptions surrounding CoVid are based on man’s fear of dying. We do not yet fully know the truth surrounding this disease, nor it’s cure, but we do know that the fear surrounding it is not of God. Yet the manifestations of fear continue even surrounding the vaccines, which were intended to quell the fear. Again we can hear the Lord saying: “See to it that no one mislead you”.

An inside the Church deception:

In 1 Timothy, Paul give instruction concerning Love; Truth and deception. He speaks of falling away from the faith because of deceit. The love that we have for one another must be imbedded in the truth of the Scriptures. Love does not mean the overlooking of our own sins or the sins of others. Love encourages us and those in Christ to confess our sins and to forsake them, and forgive others who confess them. This is all included in our walk. As to those outside in the world, we are to preach to them the gospel. We are not anywhere taught to adopt their doctrine within church doctrine.

Today, much of church doctrine is adapting the culture of the Gay and Lesbian LGBTXYZ community; and BLM. Love is misunderstood. Love is not the condoning of sin, but the realization that Jesus died to atone for all sin, in order that it can be forgiven. Accepting that atonement is on us.

So is deception present in the church? Major church doctrines which teach differing truths says yes. Systems of theology contain major differences in truth. Right now there are major differences in what is being seen as God’s actions in our present world.

Reformed Theology is teaching basically an understanding that God is now in the process of removing evil from reigning over the earth, judging it, and replacing it’s rule with Good men whose allegiance is to God. And ushering in the day of the Lord leading to Jesus return. This move is expecting Voter and CoVid fraud to be fully exposed and Trump to be returned, and other evil world leaders to be replaced.

Dispensational theology is teaching the Imminence of the Rapture.

Both of these theologies are born from the Calvinist camp.

The third Group much of which comes out of Armenian roots, but not all. It’s message is rooted in individual responsibility to God’s plan for salvation, believing that man is responsible to God for what he has been offered and given through Christ. He understands what falling from faith or grace means, and accepts the warnings to be for him as a believer in God’s word. He is seeing Tribulation on the horizon if God does not see fit to delay judgment and His coming.

These are difficult times with much to think on. “See to it that no one misleads you”.