False Messiahs

Since it was founded, Satan has sent counterfeit christs and false prophets to destroy the Body of Christ from the inside. Popular preaching portrays the Antichrist as a totalitarian global leader bent on subjugating the nations of the Earth. While this may turn out to be the case, the New Testament is far more concerned with deceivers and “false anointed ones” who work inside the Church, causing confusion and apostasy.

This has been the consistent story over the last two thousand years as the Devil has flooded the Body of Christ with deceptions and deceivers, and with more than a few false messiahs, attractive alternatives to Jesus of Nazareth, the true Messiah who sacrificed his life to redeem humanity from enslavement to sin and death.

Jesus and his true apostles warned the Church numerous times about these deceivers. Moreover, the New Testament describes a final deceiver who will attack the Body of Christ with deception and persecution, and this creature’s war against the Church will result in the apostasy of many saints.

[Showman - Photo by Kyle Smith (norcal) on Unsplash]

In the Book of Revelation, for example, the victims of the Dragon’s war are the saints who maintain their testimony about what God has accomplished through His Son:

• “And the dragon became enraged with the woman and departed to make war with the rest of her seed, the men who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus” – (Revelation 12:17).

• “And it was given to the Beast to make war with the saints, and to overcome them” – (Revelation 13:7. Note the verbal allusion to Daniel 7:21).

• “I beheld, and that horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them” – (Daniel 7:21. Quoted from the Greek Septuagint version, LXX).

The only New Testament documents that use the term 'antichrist' are John's first two letters. The 'antichrists', plural, referred to by John were false teachers who left the church. John's description alludes to a passage from the Book of Deuteronomy, a warning of Moses concerning false prophets who would infiltrate and mislead the nation of Israel - (1 John 2:18-22, 4:3, 1 John 1:7).

• “Little children, it is the last hour. And as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this, we know it is the last hour. They departed from us [‘ex humôn exélthon’], but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they departed that they might be exposed that they all are not of us” – (1 John 2:18-19. Note the allusion to Deuteronomy 13:13, see below).

• “Evil men have departed from you [‘exélthosan andres paranomoi ex humôn’], and have caused all the inhabitants of their land to fall away, saying, Let us go and worship other gods, whom you knew not” – (Deuteronomy 13:13. Verse 14 in the Greek text of the Septuagint).

John admonished his congregations to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” since the “spirit of the antichrist <…> is already in the world.” The ‘antichrists’, plural, who left John’s congregations are false teachers rather than political leaders or military conquerors. They are recognizable because of their denial of the genuine humanity of Jesus Christ:

• “For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, even they who do not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist”- (2 John 7).

Likewise, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul warns of the future Man of without law, the Son of Destruction. While Paul’s words might suggest a political figure, his concern is with this deceiver’s ability to mislead believers and provoke their apostasy:

• “Now, we urge you, brethren, concerning the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, that you are not quickly shaken from your mind, neither alarmed, whether from spirit, whether from word or from letter, as by us, specifically, that the day of the Lord is imminent.  Let no one seduce you in any respect, because except the apostasy comes first and the man without-law, the son of destruction, is revealed; he who opposes and unduly elevates {himself} above all things that are called god or sacred, so that he takes his seat in the sanctuary of God, presenting himself that he is god” - (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4. Note the verbal allusion to Daniel 11:36).

The emphasis in the preceding passage is on this man’s ability to deceive and cause believers to abandon the apostolic faith. He will use “lying works, signs and wonders” to deceive his victims, and only those who hold fast to the apostolic teachings will escape his deceptions:

• “His arrival is according to the energy of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for those who are perishing, because they rejected the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God is sending them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but took pleasure in unrighteousness” – (2 Thessalonians 2:9-14. Compare Deuteronomy 13:1-2, 32:35, Psalm 81:11-12).

FALSE PROPHETS AND LYING MESSIAHS

In his discourse on the Mount of Olives, Jesus warned repeatedly about coming deceivers, false prophets, and false messiahs who will mislead many of God’s elect, causing them to apostatize:

• “Beware lest anyone deceive you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will seduce many believers” - (Matthew 24:4-5).

• “And then many will be scandalized, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and deceive many. And because lawlessness will be multiplied, the love of the many will become cold. But he that perseveres to the end, he will be saved”- (Matthew 24:10-13).

• “For there will arise false anointed ones and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. If, therefore, they say to you, Behold, he is in the wilderness, go not forth. Behold, he is in the inner chambers, believe it not” - (Matthew 24:23-26).

These statements of Christ parallel Paul's warning about the man without law and the future apostasy. Deceivers will trick many believers and cause them to betray the faith, a warning the Apostle Paul reiterates elsewhere:

• “But the Spirit says explicitly that in later times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their conscience cauterized” - (1 Timothy 4:1-2. Compare Daniel 11:35).

• “Indeed, and all who would live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and howling impostors will become worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” - (2 Timothy 3:12-13).

Likewise, Peter warns of coming deceivers who will work inside the Assembly of God, causing many saints to betray the faith of Jesus Christ:

• “But there arose false-prophets also among the people, as among you also there will be false-teachers, men who will stealthily bring in destructive heresies, even disavowing the Master who purchased them, inflicting upon themselves swift destruction. And many will pursue their destructive ways, by reason of whom the way of truth will be maligned. And in greed with pretended words, they will make merchandise of you for whom the sentence from of old is not idle and their destruction does not slumber” - (2 Peter 2:1-3. Note the verbal allusions to Deuteronomy 13:1 and 32:6, LXX).

The final great deceiver will arrive energized by Satan in order to complete the Devil’s goal: to deceive the saints and cause them to abandon the true religion of Jesus Christ. If the Church fails to preach the Gospel to all nations, the world will remain in darkness and unredeemed.

This demonic effort has been underway since the founding of the Church, and what better way to implement this plot than by offering seductive alternatives to the truth in the guise of counterfeit messiahs and through the mouths of false prophets who claim to speak in the name of the Lord?

[Citations of Old Testament passages in this article are based on the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint. Text printed with all capital letters represents quotations and verbal allusions from the Old Testament. The Septuagint is represented by the Roman numeral for ‘seventy’ or LXX based on the Latin name of the translation, ‘Interpretatio septuaginta virorum’]

[PDF Copy]

SEE ALSO:

• The Spirit of Antichrist - (The Spirit of Antichrist is working to destroy the church through deceptions propagated by false teachers and charlatans)

• Impostors and Beasts - (The New Testament predicts the rise of false prophets who will cause many believers to abandon their faith and betray one another)

• The Beast is Rising! - (To identify the Antichrist, we must first understand what the relevant biblical passages say about him, his methods, and his objectives)

• Faux Messies - (Depuis sa fondation, Satan a envoyé de faux christs et de faux prophètes pour détruire le Corps du Christ de l'intérieur)