“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons… having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…” (1 Tim. 4:1)

“We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and ‘carried about’ with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting”( Eph. 4:14)

“Do not be ‘carried about’ with various and strange doctrines.” (Heb. 13:9)

I mentioned in yesterday’s message how this ‘spiritual flood’ that is coming, and already here…oftentimes comes in ‘two waves’; the first wave being a flood of deception, followed up by a wave of destruction. We are seeing that happen now, and have been.

You should revisit what Jeremiah had to say about the ‘latter days’ and warned of listening to what some have termed the ‘pillow prophets of peace’ ---

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord… “They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, No evil shall come upon you.’… Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.” (Jer. 23:16-20)

You can read a similar train of thought in Ezekiel 13, and I’d encourage you to do so in order for you to take to heart how serious God is about this. Don’t think for a moment that our ‘enemy, the devil’ (1 Pet. 5:8) doesn’t stay busy perverting the word of God every chance he gets. He’s been doing this ever since man showed up back in the garden and was given only one simple command by God- “Don’t eat off this one tree or you will surely die!” (Gen. 2:17). And you know the rest of the story….(Gen.. 3:1-14)

I only point to that first incident in the garden because Paul does the very same thing, writing to the Corinthians, reminding them (and us as well) that in the same way “Eve was deceived by the crafty serpent…we too may have our minds corrupted…and end up receiving another gospel, another spirit…and even following ‘another Jesus’”. (2 Cor. 10:3-4). He even gives us insight as to how this might happen…where “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light…(14). a.k.a. - 'wolves in sheep's clothing'.

So what is this ‘wave of deception’ advocating? I would submit to whomever has ‘ears to hear’…it is a relaxed attitude towards ‘sin’, which is defined as ‘lawlessness’ (1 John 3:4). And that is exactly what the ‘serpent’ did with Eve. “Has God really said…?...you surely shall not die".

“You don’t need to worry…God knows you are a sinner and will always be a sinner who sins. Jesus paid it all and forgives you for all past, present, and future sins. You are still God’s child and nothing or no one can separate you from His love nor pluck you from His hand. So just try harder to do better and trust in His love and grace.”

Friends…that is not the message of the gospel, nor the one the early church preached. Jesus taught us to ‘go and sin no more or something worse will happen to you’, and ‘unless you repent, you will all perish’ (John 5:14; Luke 13:1-5).

The prophet Amos warned: “Woe to you who are at ease in Zion” (6:1), as did Zephaniah who spoke to those who are ‘settled in complacency…saying in their heart that the Lord will not do good or evil…” (Zeph. 1:12).

Think about it…if the enemy can convince you that you are not in any ‘danger’ of ‘punishment…because Jesus took all your punishment’…then why the need to ‘keep that shield of faith up in order to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one’ (Eph. 6:16). Why wrestle with ‘bringing into captivity…every thought to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Cor. 10:5) or remaining alert and sober-minded, as Peter admonishes us to do (1 Pet. 5:8-9)?  And what about "give no place to the devil"? (Eph. 4:27)

Now…let’s turn to 1 Thessalonians 5 and read vs. 1-6. Please note that the ‘day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night’; (and what does a ‘thief come to do’, according to John 10:10?) Now look at the ‘message’ they will be preaching…a message of ‘peace and safety’ (3), just like Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophesied. And as more and more people buy into this message, providing them a false sense of peace and security…what are we told will come ‘suddenly’? (Please underline that answer now, 1 Thess. 5:3.) Almost sounds like how a ‘flood’ comes in…and then takes everything in its path away to destruction, just like Jesus pointed out in Luke 17:27.

This might bring even more clarity to what Paul wrote to Timothy in his second letter, warning of ‘perilous times in the last days’ (2 Tim. 3:1)…describing in detail the obvious ‘fruit’ people would be manifesting (2-4) yet all the while ‘having a form of godliness…always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth’ (5-7).

That came on the heels of what Paul wrote to Timothy in his first letter, found in chapter 6, where he exhorted him to continue preaching truths that conform people to ‘godliness’, which means ‘being like God’ (1 John2:6; Rom. 8:29); and if anyone teaches doctrine contrary to that…from such…’withdraw thyself’ (3-6). If you have a Bible in your possession…then you are without excuse. These things are clearly written for anyone who hungers after truth…to discover. You just have to be willing to dig in to verify for yourself, just as the Bereans did, in Acts 17:11.

Turn off that TV and set that phone down…and start reading for yourself. Yes…It’s that serious. Why would I suggest such a thing? Because that same ‘serpent’ who made an appearance back in Genesis 3…is still around in Revelations 12:15…still ‘spewing words out of his mouth like a flood…wanting to ‘carry people away’...to destruction.