THE KING IS COMING
Read: Matthew 24: 4-14
Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name claiming, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many.
(Matthew 24: 4-5)
Just a selection of reports that have been sent to me in the last few weeks, and similar in content to reports which come in to me all the time from around the world. In this country we often hear about Christians who are being persecuted in one way or another for their faith, and only the foolish would dare to think that Christianity is not being systematically sidelined by the governing authorities.
In addition, there are increasing numbers of Christians who are being totally misled by false doctrines many of which start life in America and are then shipped over to the United Kingdom. These include the much-publicised ’Toronto Blessing’ and the more recent ’Lakeland Revival’, all of which display a variety of signs that indicate demonic influence. Tested against the indisputable truth of the Bible they can easily be seen to be suspect, and yet those who are being influenced by them seem to be blind to the facts that stare the more discerning Christian in the face.
Liberal theologians will tell you that the Bible is a collection of ideals which are to be interpreted by men for their betterment, and they will dismiss the aspects of the Bible that they fail to either fully understand or have the ability to offer a literal explanation for. You don’t have to go very far to find many clerics who refute the story of Creation as recorded in Genesis, yet Jesus Himself often referred back to it in order to underpin and stress the points that He was making. If the story of Creation is just a load of symbolism and folklore rather than the truth, why would Jesus quote from it so often? Countless members of the clergy refute the story of the virgin birth and there are those who deny the resurrection, so how can they retain their positions of leadership?
The truth is that many churches and church leaders have so watered down the bible in vain attempts to make it ‘user-friendly’ that have become guilty of misleading those whom they are appointed to lead. The result in the end will be that many are denied eternity with Jesus Christ because they have readily accepted false doctrine.
Only this year one member of my congregation told me that they believed that people would get to heaven if they were ‘good people’, despite the fact that this claim is disproved in the Bible. Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6). Yet when I pointed this passage out to the person concerned the immediate response was that they believed that the various gods worshipped by other religions were all Jesus under a different name!
I believe that we are in the end times, and that the state of the world is all the proof that we need when considered in the light of God’s Word. There are many indications in the Bible that point to God’s measure of time being far different to man’s understanding of it. Jesus warned against the coming of the Antichrists. These were not total strangers to the church; they had once been in the church, yet without belonging to it. Many people, including those in leadership positions, may call themselves Christians for dishonest reasons. For some people going to church is a tradition or a habit, often maintained because people enjoy the social contacts they make there. The only good reason for going to church has to be Christ-centred. It has to be that you want to be part of a fellowship of believers who come together to worship and praise God, and who desire to be loyal and trustworthy followers of Jesus Christ.
The apostle John warned against the Antichrists, Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come (1 John 2:18). By his reference to ‘the last hour’ John is speaking about the last days, the time between the first and second coming of Christ. We are living in the last days, just as the First-Century believers were, but the indications are that we are also living in the end times of the last days. The purpose of the false teachers, who are the Antichrists referred to in Scripture, is to lure weaker members of the Church away from Christ by their false teaching.
Our faith, given to us initially as a gift from God, needs to be fed on God’s word in order to grow, and growth is important in faith as in all things. The Bible teaches us: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). Our greatest defence against false teaching is by immersing ourselves in the Word of God and trusting in its absolute truth. As we immerse ourselves in Scripture so we are drawn nearer to God through an increased knowledge of Him, and as our knowledge of, and closeness to, God increases so our ability to discern the truth increases proportionately.
Our hope is in Jesus Christ, and in His promises that He will return for us and that He has prepared a place for us in heaven to be with Him. To disbelieve these promises is to disbelieve Jesus Christ and to doubt the Word of God. Have no doubt in your mind that Jesus will come again. The important thing is to be ready for Him. Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Matthew 24:36); and the apostle Paul writes to the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2).
As we move closer and closer to Christ’s return the first and most important sign that points to it is increased religious deception, and this will affect many of those who claim to follow Christ. Jesus warns that the false prophets will come performing great signs and miracles and deceive even the elect — if that were possible (Matthew 24:24). Paul writes to Timothy, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13).
The George Barna Group, a market research company specialising in studying the religious beliefs and behaviour in America, has uncovered some alarming facts which, whilst they may be the results of research into American beliefs, may nevertheless be concluded to apply similarly to the United Kingdom. Their research demonstrates a radical gap between what many Christians publicly profess to believe and what they actually believe in private.
They found that:
59% do not believe in the existence of Satan.
51% believe that praying to dead saints is beneficial.
35% believe that you can communicate with the dead.
50% believe that salvation is earned and not a gift of grace.
75% believe that people are born neither good nor evil, and that therefore the concept of ‘original sin’ is untrue.
44% believe that the bible, the Qur’an and the Book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same truth.
54% believe that truth can only be discovered through logic, human reasoning and personal experience.
These deceptions grow in people who reject God’s Word as the infallible authority on truth, yet these same people claim that they are Christians.
Time is running short before our Lord returns. I believe that the disastrous state of the world is an indication that the birth-pains of His return are already with us. The early signs foretold in the Bible are with us already. We have wars, famines, earthquakes, and violence and disruption in our world. Christians are being persecuted on a massive scale. The persecution is very real. People are being executed and murdered because of their belief in Christ. All of these things are signs that the end is coming.
Do not be deceived! Test everything that you are told against Scripture, knowing that the Word of God is always absolute truth. When Christ returns there will be no time then to make ready. Scripture tells us that everything will happen in the twinkling of an eye, so we need to live our lives in a state of readiness.
Jesus has given us all the signs that point towards His return: Deception; Persecution; Global Birth-pains; False Prophets; Falling away from the truth; Wickedness and Global Evangelism.
Christ is coming again for certain, and He is coming soon!
Amen
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