Signs that we are to watch for regarding His coming.

Somewhat based on Pastor Chuck's blog. (Honestly, it has been a while, and I do not remember which Chuck I was referring to.)

Luke 21:6,7 "As to these things which ye are beholding, days are coming in which there shall not be left stone upon stone which shall not be thrown down. And they asked him saying, Teacher, when then shall these things be; and what is the sign when these things are going to take place?

What were the disciples looking at? 

The temple.

This is a parallel story to Matthew's account.

Matthew 24:1-3 Darby: " And Jesus went forth and went away from the temple, and his disciples came to him to point out to him the buildings of the temple. (2) And he answering said to them, Do ye not see all these things? Verily I say to you, Not a stone shall be left here upon a stone which shall not be thrown down. (3) And as he was sitting upon the mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be, and what is the sign of thy coming and the completion of the age?"

Consider that some time has passed, but in comparison to world literature this time frame is nothing. Matthew had firsthand experience with the Lord, and Luke is passing along second-hand information. Matthew's occupation would have meant taking notes in detail, and Luke, the doctor, was a detailed man also.

The first response out of Jesus' mouth, in Matthew's account, is, "see that no one mislead you."

Who was Jesus speaking to? 

His own followers, who we believe numbered about 120, but then there were almost always the twelve.

One of the immediate examples of deception may have been with Judas Iscariot. It is believed that his motive may not have been one of rebellion, but an attempt to motivate Jesus to act out in the role that Jewish zealots were looking for, a warrior king.

One of the things that demonstrates the parallel of these two accounts is the similarity in message.

Luke's account also shows Jesus' first response to the question about the temple as, "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them."

Based upon the directive and apparent danger demonstrated by Jesus' statement, let's look at that.
Watch out that you are not deceived.

Deceive: To mislead the mind; to cause to err; to cause to believe what is false, or disbelieve what is true; to impose on; to delude.

Deception comes in so many ways. People will scream loudly about how corrupting some movie is, but the oddity is that the thing they are screaming about is so obvious that it is ridiculous. 

Although I cannot remember the name of the movie, there was one that portrayed Jesus as a homosexual; I did not waste my time watching it. 

Have I watched alien movies? 

Yes, I think they are fun, no less fun than Star Trek. 

Do I need to be careful? 

 You bet, for Star Trek was designed to convey the idea that man was good and did not need God. It also filled my mind with concepts about God that, even all these years later, force me to READ my Bible so that I can see the true image of the almighty, and I have found Him to be more merciful than I ever imagined.

What is really scary about deception is the subtle things. Think about what makes a magician good at his craft: deception. They do not saw anyone in half; you go to prison for doing that, but they will draw your attention away from the truth.

Yes, I have watched the Ellen DeGeneres show, and yes, I am aware that she is a proclaimed lesbian and an advocate of alternative lifestyles; she is also funny. 

Does that mean that I follow her advice, or worship her? No.

Oprah Winfrey told people that she was raised in church, and yet advocated that all people have God within them, are good, and need to look inwardly, instead of upwardly, for the answers. She seemed to do good things for impoverished children in Africa, and a few here in America, so it is difficult to ascertain if she is doing anything blatantly harmful. You see, here may be an example of such subtlety that people easily get sucked into. 

Why? 

Because she is believable, likeable, powerful, and well-spoken.

Jesus said, "For many will come in my name."
This is not as obvious as it seems. 

One of the things that I became accustomed to, growing up in church, was the prophetic. I am not afraid of prophecy, because Scripture tells me that Jesus' actions and His word are the Spirit of prophecy. He, by the way, came to save me, not destroy me, and that is the message that some prophets want to convey. 

The problem with the prophetic was delivery. 

Was the heart of the message sincere? 

The habit, learned from listening to someone else, I suppose, was to tag it immediately with "Thus Saith the Lord", when really the delivery person should have said, "this is how I feel about it."

The deception involved with such a statement is that the hearer, if they are not attuned to the Word, it

(Folks, I am going to throw this in for free. God has said all that he needs to say through the scriptures. Scripture answers every question, and speaks to every moment in life. So for someone to get weird and creative is just pushing their luck and yours. I have ventured out in giving words to the church body, and people publicly. I cannot remember a time when you could not have found the things that God had me convey to the hearer in Scripture. I personally think that is very cool, for it takes tremendous pressure off me, I do not have to get creative, and it is the safest things to do. Delivery can give the words a negative impact upon the hearer, but the Holy Spirit will smooth that out with practice. God brought you through life, scarred and all, to make you the person that you are today for a reason. Should you respond to his call and give a word to someone, there is no way that you are not going to have a piece of your personality involved. And do not think that God is unaware of that fact. It might be the primary reason he spoke to you about giving that word out.)

forces the untrained ear to attribute somebody else's junk with an importance that it does not deserve. 

If God wanted your attention, it could come in a whisper; it will typically verify what you already perceived in your spirit and will usually touch you deeply. 

There is no deception involved or needed.

What this coming in my name could imply is a veil of religion. 

Religion often cloaks itself to look like a godly thing. 

The Christian Science "church" near me has meetings to teach on spirituality, awareness of the god in you, and they even have an "uplifting service", but they do not teach that one needs to accept the King of Glory into their life as the one who purchased life for them, and that he is coming back again.

Claiming 'I am he'
For a short time, here on a local radio station, there was a man who had the Jesus Christ radio show. He spoke as though he was Jesus, and would say things like, "when I did the miracle of changing the water into wine this is what I was saying". He seemed to be very knowledgeable with scripture, but just the fact that he portrayed himself as Christ was certainly off, and at the very least dangerous. Outside of this character, I have never heard of anyone so stupid as to do that, and yet Jesus said it was important for us to watch out for. 

How is that even possible?

People may demonstrate power; Santeria priests and voodoo witch doctors demonstrate power (Isn't it odd that in church we deny God any power?), and yet they do not claim to be the Christ.

There is only one that concerns me, and I believe should be taken very seriously, ISLAM. 

The Qur'an teaches, and their prophets have spoken it, that one will come named Jesus Christ. 

Now why is that odd? 

We people "of the book", as Islam refers to us, should know that, for Jesus told us himself he would come again.

The Islamic Jesus Christ, we know him as the anti-Christ, is:
1. A Jew - That should get somebody's attention, for Islam proclaims that the Jew is the enemy. 

Those who oppose Islam are the enemy. Those who acknowledge Islam, proclaiming Allah to be the true god, and Mohammed as his messenger, can serve a purpose under Islamic rule. The fact that he is a Jew adds a heightened sense of awareness to me, and it should to you too. 

Scripture tells us that the antichrist deceives even the elect. 

Who are the elect?

Jesus' response was to Jews, and he spoke words that they were meant to understand. Jesus was talking about Jews, mentally and morally superior Jews, who will be deceived by this person.

2. Islam says he will come on a white horse. 

There is only one scripture in the bible that they will agree upon, and it is this, for they believe it speaks of the Jesus Christ of Islam and fulfills their prophecy, not ours.

Revelation 6:1-2 NIV:  "I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" (2) I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest."

This rider does not come to save; he comes to conquer. 

He does not come with a sword in his mouth; he has a bow, and this does not imply redemption in any form; it is unleashed deception, along with punishment.

Those that wish to fight with me on this point will say something like, this is a depiction of Jesus coming in glory, riding a noble steed, to conquer his enemies at the end of the world. 

I responded with, Isn't deception a scary thing? 

For if you believe that, then you have not invested any time whatsoever in reading the Scriptures, for you would know that Jesus will come in the clouds, land on the Mount of Olives, split that hill in two, and out of his mouth will come a sword to slay his enemies. 

He, Jesus Christ, the risen one (which, by the way, Islam does not believe in), will arrive at the end of the seven years of Great Tribulation to judge the earth's inhabitants. 

Surprisingly, he will show more mercy than you ever thought was possible.

Read what Islam says about Jesus and the Antichrist.

Jesus in Islam: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

- In Islam, Jesus (Arabic: عيسى ʿĪsā) is considered to be a Messenger of God and the Masih (Messiah) who was sent to guide the Children of Israel (banī isrā'īl) with a new scripture, the Injīl or Gospel.[1]

- The belief in Jesus (and all other messengers of God) is required in Islam, and a requirement of being a Muslim. The Qur'an mentions Jesus twenty-five times, more often, by name, than Muhammad.[2][3]

- It states that Jesus was born to Mary (Arabic: Maryam) as the result of virginal conception, a miraculous event which occurred by the decree of God (Arabic: Allah).

- To aid in his ministry to the Jewish people, Jesus was given the ability to perform miracles (such as healing the blind, bringing dead people back to life, etc.), all by the permission of God rather than of his own power.

- According to the popular opinion and Muslim traditions, Jesus was not crucified but instead, he was raised up by God unto the heavens. This "raising" is understood to mean through bodily ascension.

- Muslims believe that Jesus will return to earth near the day of judgment to restore justice and to defeat Masih ad-Dajjal ("the false messiah", also known as the Antichrist).[4][5]

- Like all prophets in Islam, Jesus is considered to have been a Muslim (i.e., one who submits to the will of God), as he preached that his followers should adopt the "straight path" as commanded by God. 

 - Islam rejects the Christian view that Jesus was God incarnate or the son of God, that he was ever crucified or resurrected, or that he ever atoned for the sins of mankind. The Qur'an says that Jesus himself never claimed any of these things, and it furthermore indicates that Jesus will deny having ever claimed divinity at the Last Judgment, and God will vindicate him.[6]

- The Qur'an emphasizes that Jesus was a mortal human being who, like all other prophets, had been divinely chosen to spread God's message. Islamic texts forbid the association of partners with God (shirk), emphasizing a strict notion of monotheism (tawhīd).

 - Numerous titles are given to Jesus in the Qur'an and in Islamic literature, the most common being al-Masīḥ ("the messiah". Jesus is also, at times, called "Seal of the Israelite Prophets", because, in general Muslim belief, Jesus was the last prophet sent by God to guide the Children of Israel. 

- Jesus is seen in Islam as a precursor to Muhammad, and is believed by Muslims to have foretold the latter's coming.[5][7]

If you have read this information taken from Wikipedia, provided by Islam in an effort to provide you with the truth about their so-called peaceful religion, you noticed a reference to the Antichrist, the Islamic Dajjal. 

Our scriptures tell us that there will be two, not one,  prophet standing in the street prophesying in the last days. Islam considers these to be the Antichrist. 

Why? 

Because they speak out against the deception that Islam will be spreading. Their version of Jesus will slay these two. Again, if you have done your homework, you know that after three days these two prophets come to life again. What a shocker that will be.

You will have also noticed many things that will cause a tremendous number of people to question their beliefs.

How could it be that Jesus Christ could be a Muslim? 

Many will believe that it was all a lie and fall into the trap of Satan himself.

This is not about a man or a religion; this is about the deceiver of the world, Satan. 

If you have read this and become angry, then you need to know that your anger needs to be redirected, and you need to pray that God opens people's hearts and minds to receive him. 

People need to be aware that the end is upon us.