THE DANGER OF DECEPTION

We have seen various moves or "revivals" in church circles in recent years that many people have claimed were a genuine work of God, by His Holy Spirit, while other people have considered them to be false, and not powered by the Holy Spirit at all! We need to have a close look at any of these moves, and make sure they line up with the Word of God before we become involved. We know from scripture that we have an enemy called Satan, who was once an archangel named "Lucifer", who rebelled against God, and wanted to take over His place ruling the universe. We can read about this in (Isa 14:12-17), and (Ezek 28:12-19). We see that God banished him from Heaven, but apparently allowed him to make his headquarters in the "heavenly places" referred to by Paul in (Eph 6:12). Satan hates God and all He stands for, so naturally he hates the True Church that is the Body of Christ on earth at this time. History shows us that every time God initiates a true "move of the Holy Spirit" in His Church, then Satan will try to counter it with a "false" or counterfeit move, empowered by his spirits of darkness. We are warned about this possibility by scriptures such as (Matt 24:4,5,11), or (2 Cor 11:12-15), and probably the strongest warning against deception is given by Paul in (2 Thess 2:9-12). This last scripture makes it clear that we must know, and love the "Truth" if we expect to be safe from deception by the "man of lawlessness"!

We know that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life", (John 14:6) and the man of lawlessness is none other than the Antichrist, or the incarnation of Satan during the time of the "great tribulation" just before Jesus returns to destroy him, and put an end to his persecution of the church. (Matt 24:21-31). We have nothing to fear in these perilous times ahead if we know Jesus as our personal Savior, and stay close to Him. The Holy Spirit was given to us when we repented of our sins, and received Jesus as Savior, and part of His job is to make Jesus real to us by the power of His presence in our lives! Beware of the false "signs and wonders" that often accompany these so-called revivals. Remember the warning given by Jesus in (Matt 24:24) "For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones". For this reason we who know Jesus must be on guard against this type of any false "so-called" revivals, and warn others to carefully check out the background, or "track record" of those involved in promoting these revivals. Remember miracles, and signs and wonders, can come from more than one source! Jesus tells us in (Matt 7:15-20) how to distinguish between the true and the false prophets by checking the fruit in their lives!

Sincerely submitted.

Gramp