Warning Against Deceivers

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

WARNING AGAINST DECEIVERS

Matt 24:3-8

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" 4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

NIV

Jesus has more to say about what will need to happen before the end of the age, but for now, we have much to consider in these first words he spoke about it. Jesus’s first concern is that we do not allow ourselves to be deceived by anyone. That would imply a very large list of people; indeed, no one means everyone could be a deceiver that we need to be careful not to be sucked into their deceptive ideologies or theologies. Although Jesus says there will be many, we have no idea just how many, so again we should be watchful. We do have the Spirit dwelling within us and one of His gifts that he manifests in us is that of discernment. Certainly, the disciples would have this gift being manifested in them after the day of Pentecost. But the problem is that Jesus is saying that some of those deceivers will, in fact, deceive many. We see that today, with some of these so-called preachers with silver tongues who have all the smooth words that tickle the fancy of many so-called believers, people who have succumbed to being deceived. We cannot afford to listen to those who would employ those deceptive practices to gain a following to support their lavish lifestyle. In fact, if we hear them begin to expound, we turn them off, either from the radio, television, or simply in our minds, if we cannot escape from their physical presence should they be invited for whatever reason to a church we attend. On the other hand, we also have the responsibility to make sure that we do not inadvertently say something that would be deceptive, or misleading in any way. This is not to say that we cannot voice the truth or speak up and give a corrective word when we hear something that might not be the truth or is even slightly misleading. However, we also should avoid or not be the cause of dissension, however, the truth must prevail. That is the point Jesus is making when he warns against not being deceived by anyone.