Bible Reading: Psalm 57; Revelation 13.
“And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword, and did live” – Revelation 13:14 (KJV).
When the disciples asked Jesus the signs of his coming and end of time, Jesus’ response was so revealing: “Jesus answered and said unto them take heed that no man deceive you” – Matthew 24:4 (KJV). This response makes it clear that one of the signs of the end time is deception. This is the spirit of the anti-Christ which is already at work.
There is so much deception in the world. We find this in the business world, in the educational sector, in the entertainment world, in the media, in family, marriages, in the political world and even more in the religious world. There is so much deception in the religious world even among so called Christians and ministers who are supposed to represent Christ as ambassadors and project kingdom values.
In the 70s and 80s it was easy to do business with Christians and to trust Christians with money and with people, but today it is different thing entirely. It is hard to take most people by their word since many cannot be trusted.
Deception has crept so much into the church that one has to watch out for consistent fruit of the spirit and entirely depend on the spirit to know who to trust.
So many people have suffered loss, disappointments and heart breaks in the hands of false brethren. The tool of deception will be strong weapon in the hand of the anti-Christ to deceive the world in these last days. It calls for Christians to rely completely on the leading and ministry of the Holy Spirit to avoid falling victim to deception and lies of the anti-Christ and his spirit already at work.
PRAYER: Oh Lord, deliver your people from the spirit of deception.
Rev. Vincent Diolu