A Canadian friend asked me how Matthew 24:4 applies in our day.
“For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and they shall give great signs and miracles, and in this manner to deceive if it was possible even the elect.”
Jesus Christ: Matthew 24:24
This follows Jesus’ command:
“Jesus answered and said to them, Watch out that no-one deceives you.”
Jesus Christ: Matthew 24:4
This is the essence of my reply today to my Canadian enquirer.
Jesus taught His disciples about false Christs and John points to many antichrists in his own day and “the antichrist” who was yet future in his day 1Jn 2:18. Paul refers to “false apostles” 2Cor 11:13 who preach “another Jesus” 2Cor 11:4 and he used the term “the man of sin” 2Th 2:3 instead of “the antichrist”.
False religious leaders have often claimed to have magical powers but the elect could not be deceived by false religion but only, if it was possible, by counterfeit Christianity.
Such magic powers and miracles are pre-eminently true of Roman Catholicism where the Roman Catholic priest pretends to change bread and wine into “the body, blood, soul and divinity” of Jesus Christ and then elevates his wafer, saying to his on-lookers, “Behold the Lamb of God”, and these Roman Catholic worshippers are expected to worship this piece of bread as Jesus Christ and as God. Faithful Roman Catholics look upon their priests as effectively Christ on earth, and especially the Roman Catholic pope in Rome, who styles himself Christ’s Vicar on Earth and allows himself to be called ‘holy father’ – compare Jn 17:11 and Mat 23:9.
When God’s elect understand what is meant by the Roman Catholic mass, they will not believe it – but if they do not understand it, they could be deceived by the Christian terminology. This continues to the present day.
See the Comments below.
Donald's Thoughts 
Hi Donald,
I once had a read through of Thomas a Kempis “The Imitation of Christ” and found it a sad rendition of boring joylessness: living apart from a world full of experiences {good or bad} exciting, fulfilling and of wonderful nature. It never confronts the problem of Evil in the world, just a method of passive withdrawal, not what Jesus himself would have wanted us to do or to live. I wonder how many Roman Catholics, especially its clergy, have dropped into this pit of despair & despondency through living out of this book, trying to become “mini-Christs?”
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“It rejects and eliminates every speculative element not only of scholasticism but also of mysticism, and yet, at the same time, it abstracts from the colourful multiplicity of the Bible and – since it is written for those who have turned from the world – disregards the world, in all its richness, as a field for Christian activity… In place of the openhearted readiness of a Catherine of Siena, a subdued and melancholy resignation runs through the book….” quoted from theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar,
kind Regards
Colin.
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Thanks for this information, Colin. If memory serves me correctly the Roman Catholic pope in Rome John Paul I was apparently reading Thomas a Kempis on The Imitation of Christ when he mysteriously and suddenly died after 33 days as their pope, the shortest-ruling pope ever . The title of David Yallop’s book In God’s Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I gives his opinion on his sudden demise, surmising that he was going to introduce reforms to the Roman papacy that were not welcome by the Roman Curia.
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Please – This requires a longer comprehensive expanded explanation — especially on that word ‘elect’ – thank you – and please sir, MORE!!
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Much obliged, Sandy.
Matthew reports Jesus using the word ‘elect’ in Mat 20:16, Mat 22:14 and Mat 24:22,24,31.
Mat 20:16 and Mat 22:14 occur in parables about the kingdom of heaven Mat 20:1 and Mat 22:2, which is the visible church on Earth.
These elect are chosen from among those who were called to Christian service in the kingdom of heaven in the first parable, and from among those who were invited as guests to the king’s son’s wedding in the second parable.
This brings us to Mat 24:22 where Jesus asserts that He shall intervene to shorten the Great Tribulation Mat 24:21, otherwise no flesh should be saved. This indicates a threat of global human extinction, which was hardly possible before our nuclear age, and so Christ must intervene to prevent it, for the sake of the elect who are yet to be born and to be saved.
In Mat 24:24 Jesus identifies who these elect are – they are those who are not deceived by false Christianity. How are they not deceived? Jesus tells us that all His sheep have a basal discernment whereby they recognise the voice of the Good Shepherd Jn 10:4 and will not follow someone else Jn 10:5. ‘My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me’ Jn 10:27.
The concept of deception occurs in 2Th 2:10-12, where Paul thanks God for his Christian brethren who were not deceived because ‘God had chosen them from the beginning to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth’, a belief to which they had been called by the Gospel 2Th 2:13-14. Their belief of the truth protected them from being deceived by false Christianity 2Th 2:3-5, whereas many others are deceived by it Mat 7:21-23.
Finally this brings us to Mat 24:31 where Christ intervenes and sends His angels to collect His elect from all around the world, showing the global nature of Christ’s intervention. Instead of Christianity being divided and scattered around the world as it was during the Great Tribulation Mat 24:21, Christ’s kingdom will now consolidate and flourish under this blowing the Gospel trumpet during the biblical Millennium after the Great Tribulation Mat 24:21,29 is over.
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