In the days before Jesus returns, deception will be rampant.
Jesus even told His disciples this would be one of the first signs of the times toward the end.
We must learn to heed the signs when a person, especially when a person comes saying he is a Christian, is deceptive, as Jesus said many "Christians" would be in the end times. For we must learn to avoid that person.
If we have a tendency to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and explain away the warnings, we will not heed the warning signs and will be in danger.
We cannot afford to live that way as we go forward.
Matthew 24:4-5 Jesus says, concerning the end times: "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
(Many will come to us saying they are Christians and they will deceive many.)
We must not accept them just because they identify themselves as Christians. We must allow the truth about them to be established, whether they really are following the Spirit or not.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
And unless we are taught by God we cannot understand Bible.
I Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Matthew 16
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
(The church is built upon that Word that is revealed to us by God.)
Those taught by men will deceive themselves and others. We must be taught by God by the Holy Spirit. These are the real Christians.
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From now to the return of Jesus we must avoid deceptive persons who identify themselves as Christians, knowing the deception is a part of their way of life and can really damage us.
Spiritual examples to help us are in this Podcast.
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Jesus says:
Matthew 10:16
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
We must stop living by the saying of this world which is, "If you can't say anything good about someone, don't say anything at all." (Many are taught this from childhood but this could be deadly for us in the coming days.) Often we have to warn the church about them, naming them by name and citing the evidence.
We must learn to be wise concerning that which is in other people as we come in contact with them. We must not explain away their evil but we must be warned by their evil.
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Car salesman:
I was concerned at soon as he identified himself as a Christian. (So was Pam Padgett troubled.)
Then this man began quoting a scripture which he had been thinking of this same morning.
Then Pam thought, "Maybe he is a Christian."
The Holy Spirit said to Pam, "Even the devil can quote scriptures."
Matthew 4
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when HE (Jesus) had fasted forty days and forty nights, HE was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But HE answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
(So Jesus quoted scripture. Now the devil is going to copy Jesus and quote scripture.)
5 Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,6 And saith unto Him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto Him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (worship: obey)
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and HIM only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.
* Then the car salesman who said he was a Christian, tried to deceive us and was hypocritical.
James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
If there is any "hypocrisy" coming from the person calling himself a Christian, we know to avoid that person. Don't explain away the hypocrisy for it is a sign to us telling us to beware of this individual. We who are born of God are shown by God not to be hypocritical. If a person is hypocritical, that person has not been taught by God.
* The car salesman showed no charity or mercy as he dealt with us in a deceptive way.
* The the car salesman showed me something was very wrong inside of him. I wanted to drive another brand of car before making a decision. I told him after I drove that brand of car I would call him from that car dealer and let him know my decision. He became very agitated and said, "Oh no! Don't do that." I replied, "There is absolutely nothing wrong with my calling you from that dealer." Then this man seemed to agree there was nothing wrong. I never did know what was wrong with this man but something was wrong inside of him.
* As we left the business, after buying the car he was selling, this man insisted on praying over us. I was very uncomfortable as he said his prayer over us. Later I told God that I really didn't like him praying. I never felt it was a real prayer. I hated being part of that.
I told Pam that when this man delivered the car, I didn't want to come out of the house while he was there. He could just show Pam the details of the car. I don't drive any way.
I wanted no more to do with this man who said he was a Christian.
In past years, I would have jumped in and given him my books to "help" him. And I would have written down the name of our blog to "help" him.
But the last few months God has been working with me to get me to stop trying to teach these Christians who do various sins. Just leave them alone and walk away. They never get better.
They just drain me and pull me down. We will see lots of this in the days ahead.
I Timothy 3
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
(Form of godliness: They will come saying, "Jesus is Lord". They identify themselves to us as being Christians. But they do things Christians will not do because the real Christians are taught by God by HIS Spirit.)
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
(So we must stop trying to "teach" Christians who show us they are not taught by God. To do such will pull us down to no avail and in the end times can destroy us. Just walk away when you recognize them for what they really are.)
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
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Matthew 11:15 Jesus says: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
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Titus 3
10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
We must not keep trying to teach them when they can't understand. Give them the word one or two times and then just stop trying to speak things of God to them for God is not teaching them and unless they are taught by God by HIS Spirit, they will not understand.
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Realtors who said they are Christians:
When the two realtors I hired to represent the house in Texas, and the young woman realtor learned we are Christian, she quickly and joyfully said she also was a Christian. And she said the realtor in charge was also a Christian. But immediately I felt uncomfortable about both women. Neither seemed to be following God. They just did what was wise in their own eyes and suggested doing things to my house in Texas which I did not allow them to do. I did let them do one thing which ended up costing me $3,000 without good results.
Finally they quit us when Pam stood up against something which they recommended which we felt was out of proper order. We got another realtor the same day they quit, and the house sold in 2 days and we were never troubled by the man who took their place as realtor. We were continually troubled by the 2 women who were our realtors who said they were Christians.
Signs showing us what these two women who said they were Christians really were.
* I had to keep bringing correction to them and had to keep trying to show them to quit worrying, for it was God in charge. Simply trust God to bring the right buyers. I could tell they never really understood doing this.
* They kept trying to sell the house with real estate gimmicks. I told them just to show the house and allow the people viewing the house to decide. I had prayed for God to send the right persons to buy the house. I had prayed that the house not be any financial burden to the buyer. We did not want to try to "trick" anyone into buying the house. I had even prayed that no one buy that house unless they could afford the house. I told the 2 realtors what I had prayed and the young woman responded favorably, but neither of these realtors actually trusted God as I had told them to do. But both of them called themselves "Christians".
These 2 realtors even permitted a Catholic woman to plant an "image" in the back flower bed of the house in Texas, "for luck." When we learned of this, we told our realtors this was "witchcraft" and asked that this image be removed immediately. Our realtors never really understood.
We knew neither of these realtors were real Christians.
We stopped trying to share things of God with them.
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A Jewish realtor said she believed in Jesus and contacted me wanting to rent the house in Texas.
I did not allow the house to be rented. I did not want the non-profit tax status on the house to be affected for it would have cost the ministry $10,000 per year tax had the status changed.
Then the Jewish woman said she was trying to accumulate enough cash to buy the house.
Then the Jewish woman said she was divorced and that she had met a man and was excited about him. Pam told her Bible which says if a divorced woman remarries, she commits adultery. (Mark 10 and Romans 7)
The Jewish woman replied: "I am a Messianic Jew. We don't go by Bible. We have our own doctrine."
(When Pam told me this I screamed out: "There is no doctrine other than Bible.")
When realtors quit, I was in shock, and needed to quickly find another realtor and get the house back on the market. I asked this Jewish woman if she would be interested in being realtor for the property.
(I should not have done this. I went through the "stop" signs.)
At the same time, I had also asked another realtor if he would be interested in representing the house in Texas as realtor. He said he would like to do that.
The Jewish woman called me and began saying what she was going to do with the property.
I replied, "Hold up. I'm also talking with another realtor."
She replied, "But you offered me the house."
I replied, "No. I simply asked if you would be interested. I did not offer you the house."
(She was very twisted and she twisted things and I had to go to extra trouble to try to straighten things out after she spoke. She did not have the Spirit of truth in her. It is the devil who can't speak truth. This woman was not a Christian though she said she was. Many are like that. We must walk away and not try to teach her. )
When I told her I had decided on the other realtor, she said, "I don't know that Johnny will be right for you." (She tried to plant fear and doubt in me concerning Johnny, the new realtor.)
At one point she even said "God" had "ordained" her to represent the house.
(I knew that was wrong.)
I gave the house to Johnny. The house sold in 2 days. There was never any conflict at all with Johnny.
I knew then to stay away from the Jewish woman who calls herself a Christian.
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Remember what Jesus said to us about the end times?
Matthew 24:3-4 "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
(Many will come to us saying they are Christians and they will deceive many.)
Many contact me by email saying they are ministers, when I know they are not appointed by Jesus to the ministry ... and many individuals contact me telling me they are Christians and as I deal with them I know they are not really Christians.
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My 97-year-old Church of Christ cousin:
She wrote me telling me she did well during the day but got so lonely at evening. (Her husband died 10 years ago.)
I told my cousin that when the evening came and she began to get lonely, to call on God for help, and God would help her.
I gave her the following scripture to do in this matter.
Philippians 4
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
A few weeks later, my cousin wrote to me again and said: "I do well in the day but in the evening I get so lonely."
This cousin showed me she will not do the scriptures. Certainly she calls herself a Christian but she shows she not a Christian. Stop trying to help her with things of God.
Titus 3:9-10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
I'm learning to do Titus 3:9-10, concerning people who say they are Christians and will not do scripture. Just walk away. Don't share with them. Avoid them. Leave them alone. They will pull you down with them, if possible.
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We must take heed to the signs of what they say and of what they do ... rather than taking their word that they are Christians.
Most are not Christians.
In fact, it is very rare to meet anyone who really is a Christian, though most say they are Christian where I live in USA.
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