How did we get here?
In the picture above we see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. He is considered by some to be acting like a false Messiah. Of course, we know that he is not the Messiah but in the end there will be a rise in deception with even some declaring themselves to be the Messiah. But is this the sign that the end is near and that mass deception is upon us?
It’s fairly common knowledge and recognised now that we are in an era of deception since the 2020 Covid-19 ‘plandemic’. In fact, propaganda has been around at least since the 1930s when Hitler’s Nazi party rose to power. The German word “propaganda” is now in our English vernacular. I firmly believe that the Nazi Empire from 1932-1945 was the so-called seventh mountain as outlined in Rev. 17:9-10. The key is that the seventh kingdom Gentile Empire would only remain a little while. Furthermore, its king was Adolf Hitler, arguably the most diabolical dictator and oppressor of Jews in history. In my opinion, there is no better candidate for the beast that astonishes the world by his return from the history books. So the question is, how do we prepare for when the beast returns and rises from the abyss lest we be deceived? He will form a revived Roman Empire–the Fourth Reich so to speak and I believe that that man, the Antichrist will be none other than a resurrected Adolf Hitler.
The good news is that Jesus in Matthew 24:4-25 has told us ahead of time how we can prepare. One of the main clues is that He outlines three stages of mass deception in three different time periods with increasing intensity.
Stage 1 mass deception
The Bible in Matthew 24 makes it clear I believe that we are in stage 1 of mass deception. When asked what will be the sign of Jesus’ second coming, Jesus’ very first comment was that they should watch out that no one deceives them. And then he says, “For many will come in my name, claiming ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” Up to this point, I like nearly all commentators have taken this verse to mean that there will be those who come in Jesus’ name and claim to be the Messiah or Christ. This will be the sign that we are getting close to the end. Upon close reflection of the verse have you considered the alternative? The alternative is that this verse is talking about false prophetic teachers coming across our path with their false eschatology and deceiving many. It’s not that they themselves are claiming to be the Messiah, they believe that Jesus is the Messiah saying that Jesus is the Messiah. And because they believe in Jesus Christ, people accept their deceptive eschatology. Perhaps a better translation would be as follows…
4Jesus answered them, "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many men will come in my name even saying, "Jesus is the Christ," and will deceive many people.
According to Bible translator Tim Warner, the reason for this alternative reading is supported by the clause “in My name”.1
The other important point is the position of this reply in terms of the timeline. Jesus in the very next verse says that this occurs before the end. The end is still yet to come. Stage 1 mass deception occurs before the last 70th week or seven-year tribulation period. That is the period that we find ourselves in right now and have been in for nearly 2000 years. End-times theories abound including preteristism, post-millennialism, amillennialism, and even pre-tribulationism. In my view, these are all deceptive teachings and incorrect. For nearly 400 years the predominant teaching was chiliasm which basically believes that Christ returns in the future at the Day of the Lord. The closest equivalent is the post-tribulation view. It all changed when Roman Emperor Constantine decriminalised Christianity in AD 313 and Roman Catholicism became the official state religion in AD 380.2
So, what is the mass deception that we find ourselves in just before we enter into the last seven years before Christ returns? The mass deception is not that men are claiming to be the Messiah–they believe in Jesus as the Messiah! This is what Matt. 24:5 says and means. This is where the deception surreptitiously enters because we trust them, they are Christian Bible teachers who believe the gospel. The deception sneaks in and it is actually their eschatology that deceives. This is especially dangerous because it means that Christians will not be prepared for when the Lord returns. They either become scoffers at the Lord’s return, believe that it already happened in the 1st century, or that they will be raptured before the hard stuff comes. I believe that there has been a mass deception going on since the early post-Apostolic days with regard to eschatology. The Reformers reformed the teachings of the Catholic Church with regard to grace and faith but they didn’t touch eschatology. The early Puritans and Protestants continued to be deceived in this area.
Watch out that you are not deceived by the myriad of end-times theories and stick to what the early church believed in. They took the post-tribulation position and they believed that Christ would return after 6 days or 6000 years which takes us to 2036. Read this article by Tim Warner: “The Eschatology of the Post-Apostolic church“.
Stage 2 mass deception
There is an increase in intensity during the next period or stage of mass deception when Jesus says that many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.3 In the first stage or period before the 70th week, many have been deceived by false eschatological teaching but stage 2 covers the period of the first 3 ½ years or 1260 days of the 70th week. This is the time of the beginning of birth pains, the time when there will be increased earthquakes, famines, and signs in the earth’s environment specifically the first four trumpet judgments. There will be asteroids and much death and devastation upon the earth but much worse will be coming in the second half. See my tribulation timeline.
During this short 1260-day period Jesus says that there will be a rise in false prophets. This has precedence too because when the prophet Jeremiah was preaching that Jerusalem would be conquered and destroyed by the Babylonians there were many false prophets who arose denying this fact. They only prophesied positivity saying that the Babylonians would not be successful. Even when Nebuchadnezzar came and took away the first tranche of Jewish exiles the false prophet Hananiah arose saying that the yoke of the king of Babylon would be broken within two years and all the articles of the temple would be returned.4 This obviously turned out to be a false prophecy.
Similarly, what will the false prophets of the end times say? My guess is that they will prophesy at the time a false positivity saying that we are not in the end times, the Antichrist is not coming and there is nothing to worry about. The things that you are witnessing on the earth is just climate change! What a shock when people will see that they are wrong and the beast Hitler arises out of the abyss at the midpoint after 1260 days. Of course God will not be without His witnesses–the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 to counteract this false message. There will also be the 144,000 messengers going two by two throughout the world warning people. But will people listen? Enter stage 3 mass deception…
Stage 3 mass deception
Stage 3 is when things get really intense. Stage 1 had false teachers deceiving people about the end times, stage 2 had false prophets trying to calm people’s nerves giving them a false sense of security but stage 3 has both false prophets and false Messiahs/Christs. Jesus says in Matt. 24:21-24 that this period will be so intense that this time will not be very long. But during this period the deception will be so great that it is possible that even the elect may be deceived by all the false signs and wonders going on by false Messiahs and false prophets. He warns Christians to not go chasing after these things. The fact is and the implication is, sadly, that there will be believers around at this time because of this warning but believers don’t have to be. They could be in the safe place in Petra if they had been like the five wise virgins and heeded the warning to flee when they had time. This is the way to avoid the dangers of mass deception stage 3–run! But we need to escape before this second half period of the Great Tribulation.
Conclusion
Jesus says when you see the Abomination of Desolation standing in the holy place, that is the time for all those in Judea to flee to the mountains.5 These mountains including Mt. Nebo are the mountains of Jordan because southern Jordan is the only place that escapes the wrath of the Antichrist.6 But note that one has to be ready to go and already situated in Judea or Jerusalem so that they can make that final part of the journey. That will be the staging ground for the final run.7 No good being in Australia or America or anywhere in the world at that time and then deciding to flee to the highland mountains of southern Jordan. There simply will not be enough time. Migrating to Israel beforehand is the first part of the journey. The church is like the exiles all over the world and they will have to escape metaphorical Egypt very soon. Wait for further instructions possibly from the Two Witnesses, angels or two Jewish servants who are part of the 144,000. See my blog, “What will the 144,000 Israelites do for 1260 days?“
- https://www.4windsfellowships.net/blog/9-false-prophets-are-a-sign-the-end-is-near/ [↩]
- https://www.learnreligions.com/roman-catholic-church-history-700528 [↩]
- Matt. 24:11 [↩]
- Jer. 28:1-4 [↩]
- Matt. 24:15-16 [↩]
- Dan. 11:41 [↩]
- Joel 2:32 [↩]
2 Responses
Thanks Steve. I very much agree with this. Mass deception is on the rise. Also like before the flood, we are seeing the repeat of a great falling away.
Regarding your analogy of the three stages of mass deception
Thankyou Pastor Steve
This explains why I keep having this urge to head to the country..
Kind regards
Alfia