THE LEADING EVIL SPIRIT OF OUR TIMES

There is a leading evil spirit running rampant in our world; it is called the spirit of deception, and we see its handiwork all around us. It amazes me how the operators of this spirit can so easily deceive us. Unfortunately, this spirit of deception was first manifested with the serpent and Eve in the Garden of Eden and has continued down through the ages of time.

Even Jesus spoke to his disciples while sitting on the Mount of Olives regarding deception. “Watch out that no one deceives you,” He said in response to a question that they asked Him concerning the sign of His coming and the end of the age. In emphasizing the word “deceive.” He informed them to pay attention, so an individual does not dupe them. Also, He alerted them that men would attempt to speak authoritatively into people’s lives as if they were the Messiah.

In the dictionary, the words deceive and deception carries the same meaning: the action of deceiving someone, double-dealing, fraud, cheating, trickery, duping, hoodwinking, underhandedness, take-in, ensnare, beguile, seduce, entrap, misguide, or fooled. All of us can admit that sometime in our life, we have unfortunately been deceived, and hopefully, we do not practice deception.

In the future, Satan, the master of deception, will be bound in a bottomless pit during the Millennial reign of Christ. The scripture reveals that after he is loosed, he is able to deceive the nations of the earth and get them to unite in battle to end the kingly reign of Christ. Of course, they fail, and finally, Revelation 20:10 states, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

Until then, remember Paul’s words in Timothy 3:1,13 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” We are living in such a time and we believers must remain diligent. As we pray for truth to prevail in our world, also pray that men will recognize truth, not deceive, and not be deceived.