A Look at Deceit
Last night I felt like checking out what the Bible has to say about being deceived and it was pretty eye-opening. Some of it was already in my head, but not to the extent that I found. Now in the King James we will find some uses of "deceive", "deceit" and "deception". An extra word which isn't exactly the same is "err", but it's actually pretty close. The meaning (Strong's #4105 in Greek, #8582 in Hebrew) is "to (properly cause to) roam (from safety, truth, or virtue): - go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander, be out of the way." It comes from #4106, which is usually rendered "deceive" in English. Quite often deception is linked to doctrine.
I found several instances of "No man deceive you", we'll look at 4 here. The one in First Corinthians needs its own study because there is a lot to the context. Jesus had the first distinction of using the phrase, and it should be of no surprise that it is regarding the end of the age:
"And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you." Matthew 24:3-4
Shortly thereafter He gives a warning that should make even the very elect be on guard against deception:
"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matthew 24:24
In this case it is specifically about false Christs and false prophets with great signs and wonders. Now I seem to have missed something (or at least forgot) in my study of the rapture that hit me pretty hard last night:
"And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Revelation 19:20
The people who take the mark will be deceived according to this verse. If you get deceived into taking the mark, you are guaranteed to spend eternity in the lake of fire. This is NOT negotiable; this is NOT something that can be repented of.
"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." Revelation 14:9-11
We shall take a careful look at this in the next section.
Second Thessalonians says the same thing, to not let any man deceive you about the end times:
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" Second Thessalonians 2:1-3
Ephesians 5, don't let any man deceive you that you can go to heaven as one of these people:
"Be ye therefore followers of God,
as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet smelling savour. But fornication, and all
uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh
saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye
know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an
idolater, hath any inheritance in the
First John 3, although there is way too much to deal with:
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." First John 3:7-8
We can know who the Christians are by what they're doing. We know from Romans that the sinner does not do good, and from Jesus that without Him we can do nothing, so we would have to assume that even the "good" that a sinner does comes from their evil motives and has no real good at all. I have read teachings that say not to judge someone's salvation by their actions, so what do we then do with this? According to John we can tell who the Christians are and we can tell who the sinners are. Deceptive teaching says that you cannot know the other person's heart by their actions. Perhaps it is actually a bad thing that I have so far refused to quote ES teachers, for their subtle teachings aren't apparent without directly quoting them. It was a subtle serpent that started the whole sin business back in Genesis.
Now we also see a place where we are told not to err (I think there are more but I’m tired), and it is where James tells us that fully-grown sin brings forth death:
“Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” James 1:15-16
I think that any time we are warned not to be deceived or to err we had better listen up! Think critically about what James said. If you are a sinner you are already spiritually dead; and you sin all the time, it’s the only thing you know how to do. Sin cannot bring forth death if you are already dead in your sins (Ephesians 2:1). Death can only come to those who are alive, and we are warned not to err!
Many are deceived by false doctrine:
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." Romans 16:17-18
Someone is deceiving someone. Different versions of the Gospel are being preached, and people are cursed for doing it (Galatians 1). Thus the first person you should suspect and check carefully is Ken Goding, since I am writing at this time. But you must test every word from everyone against the Scriptures. If they say your sin cannot lead you to death, beware. And here’s why:
Examining the Mark
Let us take a very thoughtful look at the big deal of the end times: The mark of the beast. For the sake of argument I will entertain the pre-trib rapture doctrine, but place you at the beginning of the tribulation. You have found Jesus after the rapture, and you believe you are eternally secure.
You know that soon the mark will be required if you want to buy, sell, and otherwise be a citizen of the world, and going hungry does not sound like a great plan. Now you can take three main views on taking the mark:
If you take the mark you will remain saved, for you are eternally secure and death cannot touch you.
If you take the mark you will lose your salvation.
If you take the mark you were never saved.
Since the Bible clearly teaches that anyone who takes the mark will be spending eternity in the lake of fire, you would have a hard time believing you could take it and be saved – yet that would be what ES teaches you, for you were truly saved and can never die spiritually now.
Losing your salvation is not an option or ES would be a lie.
Who wants to believe they were never saved? And worse, if you do take the mark and prove that you were never saved, the assurance you have of your salvation now would be proven false. ES would be a lie on a personal level, for you were never secure to begin with despite the fact that you found Jesus.
The proper answer according to ES will vary depending on who you talk to. The real hang up is that both versions of ES make sure that you know that spiritual death is not an option if you have gotten saved. Who will tell you that you were never saved if they’ve been telling you that you are eternally secure?
I tell you now that if you take the mark you will surely die!
So I took a little time on the internet to see what people have to say about this. For the most part people warn that taking it means eternal damnation, consistent with the Bible (but also that most of us won't have to deal with it because of the rapture). But then again consider what one John MacArthur, Jr. has to say: http://www.biblebb.com/files/macqa/1301-I-6.htm
There is no real use of scripture, no reference to the many who don’t take the mark:
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4
Now there is one more view available: One in which you would be completely unable to take the mark either way, you would be invulnerable to deception. Jesus stated bluntly that many will be deceived:
“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matthew 24:10-12
Jesus warned us to not be deceived; there wouldn’t be a warning if it weren’t possible. And of course, if you were deceived enough to miss the rapture, you have a few more problems to deal with. Unfortunately pre-trib is a lie and this leaves the playing field wide open for us to be deceived. The lake of fire is still an option for all of us who are alive, which is perhaps why we see this verse in Revelation:
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying
unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” Revelation
Why Can’t You Repent
of the Mark?
I’ve had to think about this a bit, for under normal circumstances you would be able to repent of your sin, so you take the mark and then repent. We know that the wicked man can turn from his sin and live (Ezekiel), so why in this case has the line been drawn?
One reason is that we’ve had nearly 2000 years warning that it will cost us our soul to take the mark. In spite of this many will still be deceived. You don’t have to be one who is deceived, you can overcome! I had to think a little more about who would be deceived. Would someone already a sinner need to be deceived, or would a Christian need to be deceived? The average sinner wouldn’t even think twice about it, hey it’s even more convenient than a card.
We’ve seen one time before when the grace and mercy period came to a close. God told Noah to make the ark, the family was saved and no one else had a chance. Talk about a remnant! I’m sure that once the rain started falling the people who had mocked Noah were suddenly ready to listen, but by then it was too late. Noah obeyed God and prepared the ark, even though it took a hundred years to build it (unless I missed something). Where is this promise of rain? All things continue…
We also have the little issue that those who take the mark also worship the beast (Revelation 13 in particular), so these people are giving their souls to the beast; it is the ultimate rejection of God, even if it’s out of fear. I don’t have a fully clear idea of how it all works; different questions are in my head. What if the image of the beast was on a television? Probably not, but it’s neat to think about. Remember, John was seeing many things for the first time, he wouldn’t understand helicopters, TV, bombs, or things like that.