The Greatest Deception In Modern Christianity — And Its Roots -By Joe Dauda

Hint: This Will Leave You Scratching Your Head In Bewilderment

I say modern Christianity because Christians of earlier years understood this matter clearly — and I will prove this by quotations from their writings. Unfortunately, modern Christians are largely confused about this issue. And I don’t believe it is just because of some mischief on their part. I honestly believe that, for the majority, it is apparently because they have been deceived. But today, many will, hopefully, see this deception and have their first opportunity to break free and see things as they really are. Like I said, this will leave you scratching your head.

One wonders how reading one of the most categorical warnings in the Bible (2 Thessalonians 2:3) still does not open the eyes of Christians to the biblical fact that the Antichrist will be present in this world and very active before the second coming of Jesus Christ. In fact, it is the second coming that will end the reign of the Antichrist. During the second coming of Jesus Christ, the whole earth (at least the whole surface of the earth) will be burnt up. Yes indeed, the world as we know it will come to an end on the very day of the second coming of Jesus Christ. When the Bible talks about the end of the world, it is talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 24:3

“And 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?

Did you see that?

The coming of Jesus Christ marks the end of the world. And it will not be silent in any way. It will be a very destructive event.

 2 Peter 3:10

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

Any fire hot enough to burn up the surface of the entire earth is not a small barbecue fire, especially because it causes the elements to melt.

You just read above that the day of the Lord will result in the incineration of the heavens and also the earth. When the Bible says “the heavens” in this case, it is referring to the atmosphere, and not the third heaven, where God lives.

Which part of 2 Peter 3:10 is difficult to understand? And in case anybody wants to confuse this clear message with other portions of scripture, you have the clue you need right inside the verse to understand that this “day of the Lord” is also the second coming of Jesus Christ.

And what is the clue?

The passage mentions that the event will be “like a thief in the night.”

2 Peter 3:10

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night . . .

Even non-Christians know that Jesus Christ taught His disciples that His second coming will be like a thief in the night. The scriptural authority for this is simply overwhelming. Wherever you hear that phrase, “like a thief in the night” you know it is referring to the second coming of our loving Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:2

“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”

In the above scripture, just in case my explanation was not good enough, you have the day of the Lord (the second coming of Jesus Christ) compared with the suddenness of the attack of a thief in the night. Of course the case is a bit different for the people of God. Although none of them would know the exact day and hour, it is a lie to teach that they would not know when the second coming is near. They would know. This is why, to them, the second coming would not be like a thief in the night. But that is not our focus for today.

1 Thessalonians 5:4

“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”

The focus for today is to find out, from scripture, whether the Antichrist will be present in the earth and active and doing his worst – before Jesus Christ comes – or whether Jesus Christ will first come and take the elect home during His second coming – before the Antichrist shows up. I am aware that majority of Christians have been taught and are being taught that they have nothing to worry about the Antichrist. Why is that? According to this doctrine, the second coming of Jesus Christ will take place first before the Antichrist is revealed. In other words, faithful Christians will be taken away from this world before the Antichrist will have any opportunity to harm or deceive them. This doctrine is referred to as pre-tribulation rapture. That is to say, the rapture will take place before the Antichrist is revealed. The revelation of the Antichrist is associated with the tribulation because his reign will result in the great tribulation.

If you are like me and believe the Bible, whether or not it goes contrary to popular belief, you already know, even from the strength of just the two scriptures presented above, that the popular belief of Christians about the Antichrist is a lie. The belief that the second coming of Jesus Christ will take place before the Antichrist is revealed is a terrible lie. Sadly, it is not a harmless lie and, because of it, many people will go to hell. That teaching is a lie because the Bible just told us that the second coming of Jesus Christ (same thing as the “day of the Lord”) will result in the burning up of the surface of the earth and even the atmosphere and the second heaven. Forgive my restating the scripture that proves this very unpopular truth, namely that the second coming of Jesus Christ will result in the end of the world because of the total destruction that will accompany it.

2 Peter 3:10

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

It does not take much thinking to understand why the Antichrist wants Christians to believe that he will not be revealed until after they have safely been transported to heaven. That, as declared in the title of this piece, is one of the greatest deceptions in modern Christianity.

The fact is that it is easy to detect the Antichrist. But the first problem (or the first deception) is that Christians have been made to believe that the Antichrist is against Christ. In other words, Chelsea Football Club Versus Manchester United Football Club. But the issue of the Antichrist is much more insidious than that. The Antichrist is not as much against Christ as “in place of” Christ. Perhaps I need to explain this. It is not that the Antichrist is your father’s enemy; it is that the Antichrist will come to you as your father — with your father’s voice and your father’s clothes on him, and your father’s looks, and your father’s words. The Antichrist wants you to believe that he is Jesus Christ.

Why do you think Jesus Christ specifically warned His disciples that someone claiming to be Him will launch a second coming and their sure ammunition against being deceived is to note that His own coming will be like lightening (Matthew 24:27), while this imposter will not be permitted to attempt this but will rather be restricted to appearing in “the desert” and in the “secret chambers”.

The Antichrist, thus, has no influence on those who do not believe in Jesus Christ. It is those who believe in Christ that are susceptible to the shenanigans of the Antichrist for his main role is to impersonate Christ. In other words, the people who give allegiance to the Antichrist will believe they are interacting with Jesus Christ.

Due to complete lack of knowledge about the Antichrist, Christians have routinely awarded the label of “Antichrist” to several outspoken enemies of Christianity in the past. This is because they are not aware that the Antichrist comes as Christ and, except you have learned from the true Christ, you will naturally accept the Antichrist as the true Christ of the Bible. And there are only two doctrines provided in the whole of the Bible to help you detect whether you are dealing with the real Jesus Christ or dealing with the Antichrist. We will look at these doctrines eventually but the fact that you don’t hear much about them in Christendom is proof positive that majority of Christians are already worshipping the Antichrist even without knowing.

So, although it is easy to detect the Antichrist if you go by the Bible, the Antichrist has avoided detection by convincing Christians not to look for him because, according to the teaching of the Antichrist which Christians have been made to believe, the Antichrist cannot be revealed until Jesus Christ comes and takes away the saints.

The second strategy is to make Christians unaware of the fact that they are the ones who are more likely to be deceived by the Antichrist (because they believe in Christ) than a person who does not believe in Christ at all. In other words, Christians are the primary target of this power. If you do not eat mangoes at all, you cannot be poisoned with mangoes. If you do not believe in any Christ at all, you cannot believe in the Antichrist because there is no basis for the deception. Note that Muslims believe in Jesus and are susceptible to the deception of the Antichrist for this reason; the Jews believe in a coming Messiah and are equally susceptible: both Buddhists and Hindus have their versions of a superior being who is expected. In fact, as proven in the series, Gravity As A Weapon Of War, even satanists are expecting a being they refer to as “the Christ.” The point is that, for Christians, the Antichrist presents himself as Jesus Christ.

There is a specific warning in the Bible about the Antichrist. That warning reveals the shocking fact that the Antichrist will be a Christian power. But the main purpose of that warning is to alert Christians to the fact that there is no way Jesus Christ will return to the earth without the revelation of the Antichrist. You must have to give kudos to Satan for being able to convince Christians to believe the very opposite of what the Bible warned against. As already hinted, this warning is in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. But, for context, we would quote from verse 1.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

All Christians, no matter their disagreements about end time prophecy, agree that this “man of sin” is the Antichrist of the last days. Ok. So what do you think the Bible is warning against in the above scripture? Forget about whatever anybody has told you.

It says, let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except “that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” But before him, there must come a falling away first. So, based on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, the sequence of events are: the falling away, the revelation of the Antichrist, and, finally, the second coming of Jesus Christ. Remember it says “that day shall not come” until these events occur.

What day?

The day of Christ.

And what is the day of Christ?

It is His second coming.

So what is 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 trying to tell Christians?

From the perspective of Paul’s time, the message was “Let nobody deceive you that the second coming of Jesus Christ is at hand because the second coming will never happen, until the Antichrist is revealed.”

What else did the passage teach?

2 Thessalonians 2:8

“And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.”

Question: Who will destroy the Antichrist, referred to as “that Wicked” in the above quotation?

Answer: The Lord Jesus Christ

Question: When will he be destroyed?

Answer: During the second coming.

Question: How will he be destroyed?

Answer: By the spirit of the mouth of Jesus Christ, and by the brightness of His coming.

The above is one of the reasons why I never join others in calling Satan a fool. Satan is evil; but he is certainly not a fool. The fools are those who Satan has successfully deceived, in spite of all God did to make the Bible available to humanity and protect the Bible from the destructive malice of Satan, who moved certain persons claiming to be Christians and claiming to be protecting the Bible to burn alive those wanting to read the Bible for themselves or interpret it for the use of the common man, or preserve it in any way. Satan is the winner when it comes to this issue and it is a very sad reality.

How Satan is able to turn scripture 180 degrees and convince well-meaning Christians that they have nothing to worry about the Antichrist is difficult to swallow. And 99% of Christians are committed victims of this lie.

Who is the chief sponsor of the Antichrist?

2 Thessalonians 2:9

“Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.”

The Bible says that the working of Satan in the last days will be so powerfully deceptive even the elect will nearly be deceived.

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.”

This clearly means that, although the elect will almost be deceived, they will not actually be deceived. This also means that every other person will be deceived. Why would they be deceived?

The fact about the deception of the ungodly is that it will have no remedy and it will have no remedy because God will be the One that allows it to happen.

2 Thessalonians 2:11

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”

Why would our loving God do this?

2 Thessalonians 2:10

“Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”

Jesus Christ had told His disciples that He was going to come back after the gospel has been preached throughout the whole world (Matthew 24:14). And the gospel was preached throughout the then known world in the days of Paul. See Colossians 1:23

Because of this, some sincere but misguided Christians began to teach that Jesus Christ was about to come back. The matter began to create problems because some people stopped working.

Why should they work when Jesus Christ was about to come?

Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians specifically to urge these people to return to work. This was, in fact, the reason for the very popular Bible teaching that he who does not work should not eat. Notice that this doctrine was enunciated in chapter 3 of Second Thessalonians, after the warning that Jesus Christ will not come until the Antichrist is revealed.

2 Thessalonians 3:10

“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”

You owe it to yourself to now read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, using the explanation I have given above. Ask yourself what the Bible means by the warning of verse 3. Your eternal life may depend on correctly understanding what the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul in that verse. Because, as long as you do not believe that the snake is in the house, why should you try to smoke it out? It will have what is known as immunity. No matter the odd sounds you hear behind the cupboard or the sofa, someone has convinced you that there can be no snake inside your house: so you come up with many explanations about the odd sound, not knowing that, when you go to bed, that snake you gave immunity will slither towards your bed and do you irreparable harm. This is how Christians have been inoculated against detecting the Antichrist, in spite of one of the clearest warnings in the Bible that Jesus Christ will not come a second time until the Antichrist is revealed and the fact that it is Jesus Christ Himself that will destroy the Antichrist with the spirit of His mouth and with the brightness of His coming.

Someone once said that Satan managed to convince so-called educated and enlightened people that he does not exist. These people look down on us who believe the Bible and believe that Satan exists. But who is the fool? The situation of the correct interpretation of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 is similar. By convincing Christians that the Antichrist is not part of their problem but the problem of so-called Tribulation Saints, Satan has scored his best goal in the battle for the souls of those who began the race but may never conclude it because they will fall under the deception of the son of perdition and be made to worship him, getting upon themselves the mark of beast, which has no remedy. Did I just say the mark of the beast? You will realize the connection between the son of perdition and the beast (and the mark of the beast) in Part 3 of this piece, where I explain how this deception was concocted.

May God have mercy on all of us.