4 Major End-Times Deceptions
When Jesus teaches extensively on end-times events and signposts, He could easily have emphasized the antichrist, one world government, global currency, mark of the beast, and other such popular end-times ideas and speculations.
It’s not wrong to talk or even teach on these things; my concern is that we build our entire lives upon assorted sentences and concepts scattered throughout the New Testament, while we neglect the items that Jesus Himself clearly stated.
The disciples asked Jesus a question that I am sure many of us are rightly asking, considering the tumultuous context of our present hour: “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). Jesus could have given any number of end-times answers, which would have surely sent us to create banners, generate graphs, and construct charts, attempting to specify and plot out the time of His Second Coming. His response? “And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many’” (vv. 4–5). Deception is hell’s number-one tool to hijack the advancement of God’s end-time Kingdom company, for Scriptures tell us that the confusion will be so strong, so intense, so insidious that even the elect (the born-again believer) will be targeted (see Matt. 24:24).
How does this relate to Pentecostal fire? Simple. I believe it’s a company of people filled with the fire of Pentecost, preaching truth, and operating in the power of God who will expose these doctrines of demons. I want to expose this false prophet for what it is.
“What is your name?’’
I remember Bill Johnson once making this statement concerning casting out demons and deliverance: “If you spot ’em, you got ’em.” In other words, to cast out a demon, we must first recognize the presence and influence of a demonic spirit. What’s the name of the false prophet that is arising with great force and acceptable in the earth right now? Progressive Christianity. False prophets by New Testament standards are hell-bound heretics who are intentionally deceiving the people of God, most often introducing false theologies that do not line up with sound Christian orthodoxy, as stated by the Apostle Peter in our introductory Scripture. Progressive Christianity is a collective false prophet; it’s not a single person. I am not damning or demonizing the people who adhere to this hellish smorgasbord of deception; I pray for them. But I want us to have eyes open wide to recognize some signs of this “other Gospel” that the Apostle Paul warned about. Because it is possible to have another Gospel and another Jesus, sadly.
Paul confronts the church in Corinth about this: “You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed” (2 Cor. 11:4 NLT). To the Galatians, he provides a very strong evaluation of the fate for those who preach another gospel.
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:6–9).
Church historians, of both ancient and modern times, will quickly (and correctly) note that what we call progressive Christianity is not a new phenomenon, hence why Paul’s words are still so relevant. It’s been called many names. In recent history, it’s been branded “social Gospel,” emphasizing the performance of charitable works over the importance of solid doctrine, or “theological liberalism,” which would often deny the reality of biblical miracles and attempt to redefine many of the timeless truths presented throughout Scripture. The bottom line of progressive Christianity is to make Scripture subservient to the direction of culture.
Signposts of Progressive Christianity
Bible truth is up for discussion.
The Scriptures are not final or authoritative for progressive Christianity; they are beautiful, poetic, and provide wonderful life lessons. They even use this phrase, which is kind of true, “The Bible is a living book.” Yes, the Word of God is alive, but this living-ness of Scripture does not imply or insinuate that it changes based on cultural preference. Progressive Christianity would say that Scripture contains stunning “figurative” imagery and is constantly evolving or progressing to adapt to the changing times we are living in. But unfortunately, this Bible features archaic evaluations on life and culture that could no way be relevant for today concerning sin, gender, behavior, morality, and the like. Bottom line for progressive Christians on Scripture: the Bible bows its knee before an ever-evolving culture, which is absolutely fine walking out what we see in Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (NIV). The Bible never takes a knee to culture; culture must take a knee to Scripture.
Jesus is just alright with everybody and everything!
I believe it was the Doobie Brothers who rocked the song “Jesus Is Just Alright with Me.” Sadly, we have embraced a Doobie theology, where Jesus is okay with sinful lifestyles and heretical theology. Jude recognized this phenomena as people who “pervert the grace of our God into sensuality” (v. 4 ESV). They believe that God is cool with the destructive things we do to our bodies, or the bodies of others, in the name of sexual gratification or personal pleasure or convenience. He’s okay with different religions because, after all, Jesus is just one among many different (and equally valid) ways to God. A Jesus that’s okay with the destruction or desecration of His temple, the human body, is not the Jesus of the Bible; this one is false. Oh, He loves the people—deeply, radically, and intensely. But He is not okay with that which wars against the temporal well-being and (more importantly) eternal destiny of God-formed and fashioned humanity.
Repackaged universalism: “Ultimate reconciliation’’
Universalism is a destructive heresy that claims no response is necessary to appropriate or apply the redemptive work of Jesus at the cross over your life; that everyone is saved, by default, and every- one ultimately gets to Heaven (in some cases, even the devil and his demons seem to have a second chance). Simply not true. Starting most recently with Rob Bell’s Love Wins, this teaching has become increasingly popularized, and now it’s being rebranded in more theologically lofty language as “ultimate reconciliation.” This means that even if someone goes to “hell” (or some temporary afterlife destination for judgment), it’s only for a period of time, and even those people will receive a chance to become ultimately reconciled to God.
The “Universal Christ’’ Heresy
This teaching is slightly different from universalism but plays right into what Jesus warned would happen in the last days. He gave us a context that deception would be introduced through the many or multiplicity of options when it comes to salvation. On one hand, there would be many claiming to be Christ, or a Messiah figure, but perhaps more relevant for where we are spiritually in modern society, we are seeing an emphasis on many ways to Christ, or many expressions of Christ. This is a direct affront to the words of Jesus Christ, who clearly said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus is the only way to the Father and the only door to the supernatural realm.
Richard Rohr is perhaps the most notable proponent of this universal Christ teaching. Consider how ambiguous and off-the-wall it is. A direct quotation from Rohr:
“What if Christ is a name for the transcendent within of every ‘thing’ in the universe? What if Christ is a name for the immense spaciousness of all true Love? What if Christ refers to an infinite horizon that pulls us both from within and pulls us forward, too? What if Christ is another name for every thing—in its fullness?”
What in the world does this even mean? I’ve witnessed pastors, leaders, and “Christian” songwriters embrace and endorse this universal Christ doctrine, which produces two responses from me: 1) I refuse to demonize the people who believe these deceptions; I will, however, boldly pray for the deception to broken over them; and 2) I will clearly expose the deception and lies of the enemy that are creeping into mainline Protestantism and evangelicalism. Doctrines of demons like these are the bedrocks for progressive Christianity.
