May 5, 2012
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. -- Matthew 24: 4-5 (NKJV)
The key verses are from Jesus teaching about the signs of the end times. Usually we hear about the wars, famines and earthquakes and Lord knows we have seen those signs coming true every single day. But above we see Jesus warning that people will actually rise up and claim to be Jesus Himself! Sometimes within the Christian bubbles we live in we may not be aware but these signs are also coming to pass.
For your consideration I present Jose Luis Miranda De Jesus, who runs a ministry out of Miami Florida and he claims to be Jesus Himself! He boldly displays a 666 tattoo on his forearm and says he is also the Antichrist at the same time. He preaches the devil was destroyed and there is no consequence for sin. His followers get 666 tattoos themselves to show their support. He teaches that his followers will be granted super powers by God, such as the ability to fly and walk through walls.
You may be dismissing this; thinking how many people would possibly fall for such nonsense. Well, in 2007 it was reported that Mr. Miranda preaches to 35 nations, has 287 radio programs, and a 24 hour television network. He has his own satellite channel which is carried to 16 countries by 600 cable companies. He has 355 education centers. He literally has millions of followers. How can this be? The Bible warns us:
Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. -- 2Timothy 4: 2-4 (NLT)
Our itching ears want to hear that there is no consequence for sin. We want to hear it so bad that we can be fooled by someone selling us myths in place of the Word of God. Now maybe you may look at this and still dismiss it because it seems so over the top but what other nonsense has the modern church fallen for? Holy laughter, where people rolled around on the floor of the church barking like a dog or laughing uncontrollably. The New Apostolic Reformation who try to sell you that God is putting the band back together and He is only telling them! Todd Bentley packing 15,000 people a night into tent meetings where he would punch and kick people suffering from cancer and claim the Holy Spirit was instructing him to do so. It is not just the duped followers of the false messiah mentioned above. We all can allow a little leaven or a lot of leaven into our beliefs. It's still leaven. We need to be especially vigilant in these the end days lest we find ourselves following someone like Jose DeJesus.
So what is the best way to strengthen our knowledge so that we do not fall prey to the false teachers of these days? We need to feed ourselves. Now, I am all for listening to the preached Word of God. I am all for devotional reading as a way to build your faith and walk. But these should not be the primary way we enter into the Word of God. When we hear a preacher we should be taking notes and writing down the Scriptures used so we can reflect and read them for ourselves later. The same goes for devotional work. When I write a typical devotional, there can be upwards of 5-10 Scriptures. My prayer is that the readers would then pick up their Bibles and read these Scriptures for themselves so they can hear what God might want to say to them.
When we are firmly grounded in the Word of God then we are more equipped to spot false teachings and compromises to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because these threats are only going to grow more frequent and more sophisticated as the time progresses on. Not every apostasy is as easy to spot as someone who recommends you get 666 tattoos and that there is no more sin. It is the smaller ones that act like the leaven Jesus warned us about that spreads through the entire batch. Narrow is the road that leads to eternal life. Stay on that road and let no one lead you astray with smooth sound logic or hollow and deceptive teachings. Be prepared.
Rev. Anthony
