This sermon delves into the signs of the Lord's coming, emphasizing the prevalence of deception in the last days as highlighted in Matthew 24 and 2 Thessalonians 2. It warns against being misled by false prophets and the importance of discerning truth by comparing teachings with Scripture. The speaker cautions about counterfeit manifestations of spiritual gifts, particularly tongues, and stresses the need for genuine transformation and holiness. The message underscores the significance of loving and abiding in the truth to guard against deception, ultimately urging listeners to align with the authentic gospel of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

I was telling it's talking about what is the sign of the Lord's coming. Now, let me turn you to Matthew 24 When the disciples asked Jesus, what is the sign of your coming? That's a specific question What will be the sign of your coming Matthew 24 verse 3? What is the first thing Jesus said not about Israel not about wars not about tsunamis not about earthquakes What is the first thing he said? Make sure nobody deceives you Deception is going to be one of the greatest characteristics of the last days and That's the only thing he kept on repeating Wars and rumors of wars he said in one verse verse 6 and never mentioned it again Israel if you count Israel as the fig tree he mentioned it in verse 32 once and that was it But when it come to deception he kept on repeating it See to it that no one misleads you verse 4 verse 11 many false prophets will arise and mislead many again deception and Again, it's he says in those verse 23 If someone says to you that here is Christ and there's Christ don't believe them because many false Christ's false Prophets will arise and even show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect Behold I have told you in advance verse 25 deception is going to be the greatest characteristic of the last days And when you turn to the epistles you find the same thing It's consistent what Jesus said is repeated by the Holy Spirit in 1 Timothy chapter 4 It says the Spirit explicitly says Now when the everything is written by the Holy Spirit In the New Testament in the Bible What does it mean the Spirit explicitly says hasn't he said all the other things? this is like when you get a letter from your father and He underlines Something or you get an email from someone and it is highlighted in bold or in red That's the meaning of this If Paul were writing an email he would put this in bold and in red the Spirit Explicitly says that in the last days Some will fall away from the faith. This is talking about believers It's not Hindus and Muslims who fall away from the faith. They're not in the faith at all It's people who are in the faith Christians who will fall away from it how? paying attention to deceitful spirits Now if you believe that you're in the last days and you read this highlighted bold underlined statement of the Holy Spirit That people will fall away from the faith listening to deceiving spirits Oh, yeah, you'd be very alert on that Lord. I don't want to be deceived. I Don't want to be deceived. How can I protect myself from deception? Great apostles like Paul Peter different ones come and preach. How do I know whether they're preaching? What's right? Be like the Bereans Ask them to show it to you in Scripture Compare what they say with Scripture. I Do not listen to people who just get up and hardly ever quote the Word of God If you have heard any of my sermons, you'll find that almost every five minutes. I go to Scripture you know why because I do not want your faith to stand in the wisdom of my cleverness, but in the Word of God and Most people don't know the Word of God enough to be able to tell you where the Scripture is They say yeah, it says this says that how do I know brother? Please show it to me in Scripture I don't have to go to the synagogue during the week. Now. I've got the Bible right with me. Tell me where it is Another Verse 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 Again speaking about the last days we request you brethren with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together our rapture With him, let me tell you something. He says that day will not come The rapture will not take place Verse 3 until the Antichrist is revealed the man of sin For so many years I believed because I was taught that That we'll be raptured before the Antichrist and the tribulation I believed it for years and I even taught it till I studied the scriptures more carefully and I got rid of this Theological mold that I had formed pouring every verse into it I threw it in the trash and I said I want to go to the like the Bereans and search the scriptures and I discovered That the church will go through the tribulation and then Christ will come like Jesus said Like the lightning shines from one end of the sky don't believe those who say Oh Christ has come here secretly there don't believe it He said second Thessalonians chapter 2 He goes on to say that the Antichrist will rise one who opposes and exalts himself And then he says be careful because in the last days verse 9 this one is going to come with the activity of Satan Second Thessalonians 2 9 with power signs and false wonders So one of the things I'm warned about in the last days is there's going to be a lot of miracles Being done by people who are not really Leading you to Jesus They will come in his name But they will not manifest his character I see one thing about Jesus ministry He never took any money from the people he healed I don't see a single example of that in scripture Never never never never And he did far greater miracles than anybody's ever done I Never see the Apostles taking money from those of them they prayed for healing But that is the main thing I see today And that proves to me these are not servants of God You can disagree with me if you like If you listen to me in the day of judgment, you'll thank me For being protected from deception Do not be deceived my brothers and sisters Then he goes on to say these people come verse 10 with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish And listen to this because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved I want you to think of this little expression. It's very important Receiving verse 10 the love of the truth so as to be saved Receiving the love of the truth so as to be saved Not just accepting the truth, but loving the truth Not just loving the truth, but loving the truth so as to be saved Not to be saved from the romans not to be saved from hell not to be saved from sickness but to be saved from sin Thou shall call his name jesus because he shall save his people from the sicknesses No, he shall save his people from the romans. No, he shall save his people from hell. No, he shall save his people from their sins That's the meaning matthew 1 21 the first promise in the new testament he shall save his people from their sins That is the love of the truth so as to be saved and now listen to what I call the scariest verse in the new testament You think the scariest verse is going to hell? No, the scariest verse in the new testament is Verse 11 of second thessalonians 2 that god himself will deceive you Now i'll tell you the devil's called a deceiver Revelation 12 8 to 10 the devil is a deceiver of the whole world Ephesians 4 verse 22. I think says my lusts are deceitful The devil is deceitful. He's a deceiver My lusts are deceitful. Jeremiah 17 verse 9 says the heart is deceitful above all things Look at the things that are out to deceive me satan my lusts a heart My only salvation is if god protects me from deception And if god also begins to deceive me i'm doomed And it says your god will deceive some people Read it. Have you read that verse? That's why I say it's the scariest verse in the new testament If almighty god also joins the forces to deceive me i'm finished. There's no hope for me I can think i'm very clever. I'm smart. I know the bible but it's not true If god tries to deceive me i'm finished The devil can try as much as he likes if god is on my side The devil will not be able to deceive me. My lusts will not be able to deceive me My heart will not be able to deceive me. I must have god on my side Now who are the people whom god allows to be deceived who are the people it says god will send upon them A deluding influence so that they may believe what is false You mean god makes people believe what is false read your scripture God will make them believe a lie He'll make them believe they are born again when they are not born again. I have met numerous people like that He will make them believe that they are filled with the spirit when they are not filled with the spirit They don't manifest the spirit of christ He'll make them believe that they have a certain gift of the spirit when they don't have the gift of the spirit Take the matter of speaking in tongues I believe there's a tremendous amount of deception in this area a lot of counterfeit tongues. I've heard numerous counterfeit tongues myself See unfortunately the word tongues has been translated tongues what it means is language Tongues is language They spoke in other languages on the day of pentecost And 1 corinthians 14. It's a gift of speaking in a language a supernatural gift a language you never learned But it's a language And i'll tell you the deception I see in this Supposing you hear somebody speaking in chinese You can't understand a word of chinese. But when you hear him speak, you know, it's a language If you speak if you hear somebody speaking in hindi indian language You don't understand a word of it, but you can make out if it's a language But if you get up if you hear a person saying ababa you call that a language that's not a language You can make that out And that's what's happening to a lot of people And they live all their life in that deception that they say these two three syllables back and forth and say call it speaking in tongues My wife Way back in 1969 came from the brethren assembly She was totally against the gifts of the spirit like all brethren assembly people are But she was in desperate need because we were poor, extremely poor those days. She was very active as a young person in medical college. Now she was married. She was married to a very poor person. We had a child and we were struggling financially, discouraged. We didn't even have our own home to live in. And in the midst of discouragement, she went to pray with a godly sister. Now remember, she's 100% against the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And she was praying with this sister, crying out, Lord, please help me. She had to confess bitterness and wrong attitudes that she had to different people and cleared out her heart before God. And the Spirit of God fell upon her. And she began to speak in a language. It was not abababa. It was a language that flowed out of her. And she said it was so sweet that she didn't want to stop. She didn't want to come back to English. She just wanted to do that. She spoke in English, but she said, no, I don't want that. And she continued. That was a genuine gift. It changed her life 44 years ago. I know when I pray to the Lord in tongues, it's a language. It's not an empty repetition of two or three syllables back and forth. It's a language that you can go on and on and on and on. It's a wonderful gift. God doesn't give it to everybody. I don't know why, but the Bible says he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. And I know when it's a genuine gift because it edifies me. I was such a slave to discouragement and depression, frequently discouraged. But now, since I received the gift of tongues, discouragement disappeared from my life because I'm tempted. But whenever I'm tempted, I just keep speaking in tongues, pray and pray and pray and pray in tongues. And it's gone. I thank God for it. I believe the scripture is he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. I say with the Apostle Paul, I thank God I speak in tongues more than all of you. And I wish you all spoke in tongues. But God gives it to some. I'm just telling you, there's a lot of deception. There's a lot of counterfeit. And what are the things that are counterfeited in the world? Nobody counterfeits toilet paper. When you go to the store, are you afraid this is a counterfeit toilet paper? No. Nobody counterfeits newspapers. What do they counterfeit? Gold, diamonds, hundred dollar notes. I think even one dollar notes are not counterfeit. It's not worth it. They only counterfeit things that are expensive. So if there's counterfeit things, counterfeit tongues, the original must be pretty good and valuable. If there's any counterfeit of the gifts of the spirit, the original must be pretty valuable. That's what I discovered. So I must make sure. I mean, how many of you would go and buy a diamond and spend thousands of dollars and not even check whether it's a genuine one? I don't know head or tail about buying diamonds or gold. I never bought it in my life. But if I ever have to buy it in some situation, I take some expert with me. I said, listen, I don't know head or tail about this. I'll get fooled. They'll give me a piece of glass and say it's a diamond. I don't want to be fooled. And much more. I don't want to be fooled in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If it says that he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself and I don't edify myself, then probably what I got is a counterfeit. Maybe I just wanted to join the club. Everybody says I speak in tongues and I'm not, I'm not speaking in tongues. So I manufactured something. So, hey, I've also joined the club. Dear brothers and sisters, there's a lot of deception. And if you don't love the truth, God will allow you to be fooled, to deceive yourself. God will allow you to believe what is false. Now, do you feel that something is shaking in your life? Good. If your foundation is solid, nothing will happen. If you're founded on the rock, no storm, no message, nothing can shake you. But if you find something shaking, you better check up. Check up with the scriptures, not with what I say. Check with the scriptures. Be like the Bereans. Don't allow the devil to deceive you. These things are so important. I want to know that I'm really saved. I want to know that I'm really filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't want to counterfeit. I don't want to just give a testimony to impress you that I'm filled with the spirit. What does your testimony mean for me? What human beings think of me is fit for the trash can. Their opinion of me is worthless. I mean, if some really godly man like the Apostle Paul was going to give me an opinion about myself, that I would listen to because a man is a godly man. But most people are not so spiritual. Their opinion is fit for the trash can. If they call me a prophet, throw it in the trash can. If they call me the devil, throw it in the trash can. Their opinion is worth nothing. They don't know my inner life. Don't be satisfied that people think you're spiritual. Live before God and see, are you overcoming sin? Let me show you one verse, James chapter 1. James chapter 1 and verse, I'll show you one area where a lot of Christians are deceiving themselves. James 1.26. James 1.26, it says, if anyone thinks himself to be religious or what we would call spiritual and he cannot control his tongue, his whole Christianity is worth zero. If anyone thinks he's spiritual and he cannot control his tongue, he loses his temper, he backbites and gossips, gossips, gossips, gossips, he cannot control his tongue, his whole Christianity is worth zero, whatever version of Christianity he has, Baptist, Brethren, Pentecostal, whatever it is. If he cannot control his tongue, his religion, his Christianity is worth zero. I'd like to know how many Christians believe that. I could not control my tongue when I got married. I didn't know about victory over sin those days. I was born again, but I didn't know victory over sin. I didn't take this verse seriously. But I remember the day I took this verse seriously. I saw people who would speak in tongues, in other tongues, in the Pentecostal church Sunday morning and in the afternoon in their mother tongue, shouted their wife, I said, what type of language is this? You mean the spirit can control your other tongues but cannot control your mother tongue? That can't be the Holy Spirit. I said, I don't want that. I said, Lord, I don't, I'm not able to control my mother tongue. I don't want just other tongues. I want control over my mother tongue as well. That's how I knew that my other tongues was genuine. If the Holy Spirit cannot control my mother tongue and I'd say I've got some other tongues, I'd say I'm fooling myself. How is it that the Holy Spirit can give you an unknown language but cannot control your mother tongue? Is that really the Holy Spirit or some other spirit? There are Muslims who speak in tongues, Buddhists who speak in tongues. It's not from the Holy Spirit. So let's take these scriptures seriously. And if I'm honest, that's all you got to do. Go to scripture, be like the Bereans, compare everything in your life with God's word and you'll never be deceived. God has given his inspired word to guide us, protect us from deception in these last days, to protect us from deceivers. Compare every preacher with Jesus. I always, before I invite people to speak in my pulpit, I check certain things. I say, is this man a humble man? Is he approachable? Jesus was the most approachable person of all. He didn't have four bodyguards around him when he was moving around like some preachers today. He didn't say, my minimum fees is $10,000 a night if you want me to come and speak. You see, all this deception that's going on today and people think, oh great, man of God. He's not a man of God, he's just a deceiver. I compare everyone with Jesus and you'll never be deceived if you compare with Jesus. Is he approachable? Is he humble? What's his attitude to money? Jesus received money. It says in Luke chapter 8 verse 3 that even the rich Herod's palace manager gave money to Jesus and he accepted it, but he never asked anybody for money. He never went around saying, hey, I'm doing a great ministry, will you guys support me? That's all today's deceivers who say all that. Jesus trusted his heavenly father for his needs. That's how the apostles lived. Then we won't be deceived. If you compare everyone with Jesus that we see, and I tell you, we're living in the last days because exactly like Jesus said, there's a tremendous amount of deception. There's another Jesus being preached today. Another Jesus who can forgive your sin but cannot save you. Supposing I go to a non-Christian in India and I try to give him the gospel, hey, you and I are sinners. I tell him, you know, we need to be forgiven. Jesus is almighty, he's God. He died for your sins. And that non-Christian says, that's great. I want that. But can this Jesus help me to save me from shouting at my wife? And I say, well, he can't save you from that. But you'll keep shouting at your wife, but you can ask him to forgive you. He'll say to me, I don't want this Jesus, you keep it. I want a God who will help me to overcome my anger. And if you're a wretched God, cannot, can only forgive my sin, you're fooling me. Isn't it right to expect that almighty God can at least help us to control our tongue? What sort of gospel are we giving to others? A gospel that doesn't work in our home? If you have a DVD player that doesn't work in your home, will you pack it up and give it as a gift to somebody? I hope you don't. If you have a gospel that has not worked in your home, do you give that to somebody? I hope you don't. Another Jesus who forgives us, but cannot save us. Another spirit who gives us excitement, but doesn't make us holy. Everybody agrees, unclean spirits make people unclean, evil spirits make people evil, holy spirit cannot make us holy. He just helps us to make a lot of noise. I remember one man walked into our church once, Sunday morning, he was a Pentecostal man and he said to me, you don't have the Holy Spirit here. I said, how do you know? Do you live in my home, see how I talk to my wife, do you know how I handle money, do I know, do you know what's going on, how I live at home, how I brought up my children, you don't know any of those things, how do you know whether I have the Holy Spirit or not? He said, you don't have enough noise in your meeting. Ah, I said, your trinity is father, son, and noisy spirit. My trinity is father, son, and holy spirit. That's the difference. I believe in shouting and praising the Lord, but that's not the mark of the Holy Spirit. A drunken man can do that. Another spirit and another gospel, another gospel that says, come to Jesus, he will give you wealth, he'll give you a better house, he'll give you a better car. I have been to some ex-communist countries and some of them tell me, when the communists were ruling here, we had some good Christians here, but then communism went and the Americans came with their money and Christianity in this country has become corrupt. I've heard people tell me that in Romania, Poland, different countries. Another gospel, money, ease, you can watch movies now, and it doesn't matter if there are a few bad scenes there, just fast forward it. People who don't have time to read the Bible, dear brothers and sisters, I have shared the truth with you, I hope you will take seriously, we are approaching the coming of Christ, we should not be ashamed when he comes. Let's wake up. That old gospel that some of your ancestors who lived 80 years ago and experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in Romania, they had the truth. Some of us have drifted away from that. They had godliness, they had poverty, they were not so wealthy as you, they didn't have all the gadgets you have in your home, but they had godliness. Let's go back to that gospel, which they had a genuine power of the Holy Spirit. That's what we need in our day. Amen.