Christians, please answer....?

Question

Jesus said in MATTHEW 24:4 "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you." Jesus was talking about the end times, He was warning us about a great deception thats going to take place. He also mentions that MATTHEW 24:24 "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." So even the elect shall be decieved, meaning that even His great followers like priests, pastors etc shall be decieved. Then in REVELATION 13:3 "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." He says that the whole world will follow the beast. In Matthew Jesus talks about a way that seems right to His children, but that way leads to destruction.
My question is this: Is it possible that the whole world is decieved in believing something that is not true, like a false christianity?

Answer 1

In support of you noble question - YES, the whole world is decieved. MOOI BROER

Answer 2

Hi Jean. If we carefuly read the scriptures you refering to we can see that God is teaching us about false gospels.

Matthew 24:4 and verse 5 we see that Christ is warning us about the false gospels Pharisees and Sadducees were teaching and the many false gospels that are being taught today. Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:4-5:

"And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many."

In Matthew 24:23-24 Christ warns us:

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect."

Jesus isn't saying the very elect shall be deceived at all, it's just the opposite. What He is very clearly preaching, is it is impossible to deceive the very elect. But those who are unsaved will be decieved.

To understand revelation 13:3 we need to read more than just that one sentence. Begining in revelation 13:11-14 God tells us:

"Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived."

In verse 11 we see a beast that looks like a lamb, and we know Jesus was the Lamb who died for the sins of the believers. This beast speaks like a dragon so it can't be Christ. Who is the dragon? The dragon is Satan. Satan was wounded at the Crucifixion and has healed in the end times. We are in the end times now. Who is the beast? The beast represents the false gospels Satan is using to deceive the unsaved. So if your question is 'are there any false gospels being preached today?' The answer is yes.

But the truth is being preached also, and the way to find the truth is to read the Bible and the Bible only and to compare scripture with scripture.

Answer 3

It took me a few reads to realize what you're suggesting, but I think I'm clear now, so here goes:

In a word: yes.

There is a striking theme of counterfeiting in these apocalyptic passages: a false Christ, a false religion, a false Church, etc. One easy way for the beast to "fool all the world" would be to simply co-opt the portion of Christianity that has fallen away from the affirmation of the core (ahem) "fundamental" teachings of scripture.

We Christians want to think that a "beast" would be immediately recogniziable as such, but a careful reading suggests otherwise.

"Beast? I see no beast. He's a miracle-worker who just stopped all wars and has eliminated world hunger. It's the Second Coming of the Messiah! Oh, my God: we thought he was dead, but he's healed from his mortal wound: Praise God!"

Counterfeit miracles performed by a counterfeit Messiah will sway many nominal Christians who are not able to see the deception, and if their leadership has been diverted to simply striving to address social issues and building bridges with other "religious" people, instead of teaching the scriptures, they will be ill-equiped to see through the deception, and may actually endorse the beast because of the "good" he does. Whole denominations, biblically illiterate and unprotected by sound teaching, could be co-opted this way.

The world religion that results may very well be a subverted Christianity that is promulgated on the basis of the false miracles performed by a returning messiah. Today there are many denominations, mostly from the liberal church and those involved in the Ecumenical Movement, which are willing to compromise on core beliefs for the sake of "unity" with those they have very little in common with doctrinally, as likely candidates for being co-opted by this false Christianity led by the false messiah, aka the beast. That certainly would put the beast in control of large masses of already "spiritual" people, and reduce the true faithful (the elect, who would have been fooled "if it were possible," but it won't be) to a minority group which is hated for its warnings against the New Messiah based on (gasp!) that infuriating "fundamental" view of the scriptures that the more "progressive" churches have, well, left behind (no pun intended).

It very well may play out as you suggest.

Answer 4

Anything, almost, almost is possible. However, evil cannot be absolute thus the "whole" world could not believe what is "not true." Thus the response to the wording.
And the response to the thought - The Matthew text is a complex prophetic interweaving in reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 a.d. and the ultimate end. The beast symbolizes Rome. At this point, Rome did not demand emperor worship, but the population looked gratefully/wondered/followed the imperial peace. Much like a nation accepting the UN Peace forces w/ gratitude even though the UN is yeech to them/ditto Russia w/ capitalism/ the recent Congo election/Nicaraugua etc.
There are many false christianities. The first 3 centuries of the church sifted and sorted and snorted through numerous versions. paul wrote letters to combat them. Acts 15 is an early mention of dealing with them. Church splits/divisions are reminders of it. But these are the human interpretations, and therefore fallible/partial, of the divine fact. Jesus rose from the grave having paid for our sins. God loves us. The divine side of the equation/Christianity remains true however off base we get.
The Lord be with you in your search.

Answer 5

As Jesus said it (prophesied it), then it is true. The deceiver will be the anti-Christ (that is to say not the one against Jesus, but rather in place of Jesus). The false Christianity will be led by a religious-political power. Watch for a political and military alliance between Rome and the USA (Rev 13:11-18). Know this that the enemy who is the devil will cause this great deception; here's how you will know; when Jesus returns again, He will not set foot upon the Earth (2 Thes. 2, 1 Thes 1:13-18 and Acts 1:9-11)

Answer 6

Yes! If we don't obey the commandments or we twist even just a little what the scriptures tell us. We can be led astray. When we read between the lines of scripture text and try to twist the truth with our own ideas of what we think it means. Many passages in the Bible were changed just a little when it was interpreted into English. Or other verses were left out because the interpreter didn't think they were important. So what we are left with we have to study prayerfully in order not to misinterpret what the scriptures are saying. And of course Satan is right there whispering in our ears planting ideas and doubts to mislead us also! And we are told there will be three anti Christs. And of course Satan will make sure that one of them will be just as close to the genuine article as possible so we will beleive he is the real thing. But if we study all the scriptures prayerfully God will guide us and help us to know his will and the truth!

Answer 7

Yes. The whole world is deceived except the very elect.
"if it were possible", they shall deceive the very elect.
It's not possible to deceive the very elect.
The Beast was wounded in 1798 when Napoleon's General locked up the pope.
The wound was healed when in 1929, Mussolini gave back territory to the pope (Vatican) as an independent country. And the whole world is wondering after the beast.

Answer 8

You error greatly here;It does not say that the elect will be deceived.Matt.24 vs.22 tells us the days will be shortened for the elects sake.This is done so they will be saved.vs24b says"If it were possible,they shall deceive the very elect." .But it's not possible because God will shorten the days to keep His elect from being lost.You might ask yourself if your a part of God elect,and if not what should you be doing to see that you are.In the future you might be more careful about quoting scripture.You could end up being a stumbling block to the unlearned.

Answer 9

Possible but highly unlikely and actually not happening in reality.But yes , a good number of people are being deceived, take the billion or so following the dark evil teachings of the Koran as an example.

Answer 10

There are two different themes in these verses you have quoted. The first speaks of false prophets and false Christs, whom we have seen appear in the world (and then vanish from sight)...however there are still false Christs today, and false prophets (Joseph Smith, Mohammed). And that guy, whoever he is, that says he's Jesus? Please.

The second verse is about the antichrist, who, when he appears on the scene, will be so powerful, so charismatic, and will seemingly have the answers to every world problem, that people will marvel at and follow him, to their own destruction.

Answer 11

Wasn't a whole country deceived into believing that all Jews must die, along with people from neighboring countries? And that the only race to inherit the earth must have light colored skin, hair and eyes, and answer to Adolf Hitler? If a whole country can be so easily misled, why not the whole world?