Are you being deceived? How could you answer that question? Someone who is being deceived does not know it. That’s a terrible thought—to know that you might be deceived and never have any warning of it. When Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 He warned that many in the end times would be deceived; in fact, He mentions this fact three different times in the same message and all the other signs only once (I mentioned this in a previous writing).  Deception comes from within. It is not an external enemy on the outside. It is not as easy as lining up for battle and mowing down all the guys who have on the “other” uniform (oh, sorry that can’t be politically correct). Deception comes from within the ranks. Its polluted ideologies and tactics are bred from within the same team--someone you see all the time.

³And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? ⁴And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you ⁵For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.   ¹¹And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." Matt. 24:3-5, 11, 24 KJV

So how can we be sure we are not being deceived? The only way we will be able to spot deception is by having encounters with the truth. Let me share a quick story:

A few years ago, I read a story about a bank president who was adamant about stopping counterfeit bills from circulating in his bank. He took drastic action and placed all of his employees in an intensive training seminar to determine which bills were real and the ones that were counterfeit. The strange part was that there was no teacher to instruct the employees. When the employees arrived, they discovered a note and a pile of money on the floor. Their job for the next ten hours was to simply “feel” the money. As the day went by, the bank president brought in piles of money and before the day had ended his employees had discovered every counterfeit bill just by handling it. They did not hold the bills up to the light. They did not have one of those nifty marking pens. They had discovered what was real and what was fake through a rigorous exercise of physical touch.

How do we know if we are being deceived? We have to handle the truth to spot the fake. We must read our Bibles every day. We must have an encounter with the Holy Spirit so we can know when we are being deceived by wrong spirits. Please understand that deception is not easily spotted. Sometimes those who are deceiving are doing so because they too are deceived and do not know it. Let us be vigilant to handle the truth. Ask the Lord to give you wisdom and understanding in spiritual matters. Seek a deeper relationship with God. When you have a relationship with Him you will spot those who try to tell you something erroneous with no effort at all. You wouldn’t let someone tell you something about your spouse or family member that was inaccurate. How much more should we take care to know the Lord and His ways so we can stomp all lunacy to pieces?

 PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, be careful. This world is saturated with confusion and deception. It has crept into God’s institutions (the church) as well. When someone offers the greatest oration you have ever heard, go back and read your Bible to discover if what they are saying is in accordance with God’s Word. I know you’ve probably heard that before, but we must do it. Do not let up in this area.

 ¹ But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³ By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does^[a] not slumber…¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped^[d] from those who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 2 Pet. 2: 1-3, 18, 19.