We live in the last days. Most people who read there Bibles slightly more than casually believe that. Peter outright declared it 2,000 years ago when he preached the first Gospel message: “But this is that which was spoken by The Prophet Joel [Yo’el HaNavi]:“It shall come to pass in the last days, says God [Elohim], that I will pour out my Spirit [Ru’akh] upon all flesh…” [Acts 2:16-17]. Peter thus inaugrated the very beginning of the Last Days.
If one understands ancient Biblical ideas about the world’s calendar, one would see then that we are in the last of the Last Days. Yeshua warned us of all the signs that would be before He returns, and most all of them are here already, and have been for quite some time. Most people are also aware that there would be a ‘last days’ apostasy, and Yeshua spoke about that Himself as well:
“But all these things are just the beginning of travail.”
What ‘things’? Wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation, famines, plagues, and large earthquakes everywhere. Look over the last 2,000 years since Peter declared the beginning of the Last Days… have any of those things happened? Undoubtedly, but only now are they actually all going on at once, along with other prophetic symptoms.
Yeshua went further: “Then they will deliver you over to be oppressed, and they will kill you; and you will be hated by all nations for my Name’s sake.”
That, too, has already happened. Americans have enjoyed a slight lull in that hatred, but it is still there, especially if you believe but are not mainstream; but, since the Apostles, believers in Messiah have been hated by the whole world.
He goes on: “Then many will stumble, and they will hate one another, and betray one another. And many false prophets will rise, and will mislead a great many. [Matthew 24:11] And because of the growth of iniquity, the love of many will become cold.”
Iniquity is defined in the whole Bible, OT and NT, as breaking the commandments of God’s Torah [1 John 3:4]. That is certainly highly visible today, even among professed believers.
Most people either don’t know history, or are not willing to look at it honestly. That ‘great falling away’ with the manifestation of false prophets misleading a great many has already happened. It began with the seeds of doctrine from Ignatius and Justin Martyr in the second century, and blossomed with the creation of the Catholic Church in 325 A.D. That is when people who said they believe in “Iesu”/”Jesus” began to kill those who ALSO believed in Yeshua [and kept following Him] for not changing their days of worship or their understanding of Yeshua as The Son of God. This also fulfills the ‘hate one another’ and ‘betray one another’ prophecies of Yeshua, as Rome demanded people tell on their neighbors who still “Judaized”. [study the “Theodosian Code” of 388 A.D., imperial laws of Rome concerning confiscating property of Messianic Believers who still worshipped on Saturday and Passover, public accusations recorded in history, etc., and executions of even whole cities of believers].
Yeshua also said there would be ‘false prophets’ and ‘lying Messiahs‘ during the “Great Tribulation”, which is the last three and a half years before He puts His foot down on earth. And most Bible readers understand that an “Anti Christ” is coming, but they really do not understand that this ‘person’ is actually a “Lying Messiah“, the very embodiment of the adversary, and a great deceiver, coming as a “Savior” for every single religion: including christianity. He exalts himself above all that is called god. People call Jesus “god” today [out of ignorance or arrogance of tradition]. The Son of Destruction will call himself “very god”. In other words, he will say that HE is “Jesus”, and the world, by and large, will follow him as if he were. Including many who say they believe, even now.
The deception of this coming “Son of Destruction”/Ben HaAbadon has been at work in the world since the very beginning. Bible readers understand that the adversary, “HaSatan”, comes as ‘an angel of light’. That is one of the guys Yeshua was alluding to in Matthew 24:21. But, his minions have been operating in the world since the very beginning, and especially since the Last Days began in the first century at Shavuot [Pentecost], whom [minions] Yeshua warned us of in Matthew 24:11. But, the work of darkness has been around, even before God said “Let there be light”. It is not a coincidence that the universe into which God spoke was already ‘dark’, because God created this universe and put Satan in it first, and then, to confound Satan and darkness [evil motivations], God specially created man in this realm, with the gospel already prepared to redeem us.
Most people who read the Bible are familiar at least to some degree with the creation story, though they do not believe it or teach it as it is written. God created the earth in six days, all that is in this universe, and created man especially and intimately on the sixth day, and then rested on the Seventh Day. And after just a tiny sliver of human history, a day? a week? a year? the Nakhash/Serpent shows up to deceive mankind. He is the very second spokesperson in Scripture.
“Nakhash” is a very layered word: it means ‘serpent’, yes, but it also means “Bright One”/”Shining One”. God had just told Adam not to eat of a particular tree. The next being that speaks is the Nakhash, and he spoke to “Khava”/Eve, the woman, and said, “Did God really say“…
So, the very first tactic was to question the integrity of God’s Word as conveyed by man. God told Adam specifically that if he ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that he would die. Satan called that mere and very plain and simple statement into question. But, perhaps the reason he was able to call it into question was that Adam had apparently added to God’s word a theological additive: “neither shall you touch it”. Adam had to be the one to tell Eve the extra wording, because she had not yet been created when God told him not to eat of that tree. But when Eve responded to the Bright One, she said “neither shall you touch it”. Mankind had already taken liberty to overinterpret and add to God’s Word.
Then, the Serpent is free to twist the meaning of God’s word, and add more to it, because mankind has already set the precedent! He adds: “You shall not surely die; for God [Elohim] knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God [Elohim, or ‘gods‘], knowing good and evil.”
The very first sin, then, was brought into the universe by an appeal to mankind that they themselves could ‘be‘ gods. That was Satan’s desire. [Is 14:12-15] And that is the very claim of the Son of Destruction that will soon come on the world! [2 Thess 2:4] And that sin is linked to ‘hidden knowledge’, the new ‘real’ Word of God that did NOT come from the mouth of God. They will have ‘opened eyes’ that see what is ‘hiding from them’. They will ‘really’ understand what ‘right and wrong’ is, and it’s not just simply to do what God said. Yeshua said it, Satan is the ‘father of lies’. All lies. And all lies eventually go back to the motivation of the original sin.
There is also an element of the denial of justice in Satan’s perversion of The Word: “you will not surely die”. That is the position of a lot of people today. They do not fear judgment from God. They think death is just the end of existence. They deny the concept of a soul. Death in the Garden was not physical, the soul died. The Spirit left them and let them be exposed. Their bodies did not die immediately, but became mortal immediately, after their true ‘nature’ died: they were one with God, until they decided to alter His Word and then twist it, thus being seduced into the twisting by a ‘bright one”, a beautiful creature now understood to be a serpent.
Satan also promised something better than death: ‘you will be as gods’. “Elohim” in Hebrew can speak of God the Creator, or of ‘mighty ones’. If they do this thing God said not to do, they will be ‘better’ than how God created them. This is one of the most prominent lies we see in our culture today: people are not satisfied that God made them, nor how He made them, so they ‘identify’ as something ‘better’.
Satan changes God’s Word. He questions God’s motives. He offers hidden knowledge. He promises elevation of self. He denies judgement. That is his pattern, and it never changes.
God changed Satan that day. He diminished him, and he diminished mankind, and took away access to eternal life, temporarily.
But the adversary, not unbeknownst to God, began to work in other ways. The adversary would deceive the people of Israel through false prophets. Before Israel became a nation, God warned them of this:
“If there arises in the midst of you a prophet [navi], or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, whereof he spoke unto you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them;’ you shall not hearken unto the words of that navi, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for יהוה your God [Elohim] puts you to test, to know whether you do love יהוה your God [Elohim] with all your heart and with all your soul.” [Deut 13:2-4]
“But the prophet [navi] that shall speak a word presumptuously in My Name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet [navi] shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which יהוה has not spoken?” When a prophet [navi] speaks in the Name of יהוה , if the thing follows not, or does not come to pass, that is the thing which יהוה has not spoken; the navi has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him.” [Deut 18:20-22]
The important things to note in these two passages are: that there are/will be prophets who do miracles [wonders], and they do not belong to God, they do not speak on His behalf, and He did not send them as prophets, but to see if we love God; and that there will be prophets who come in God’s Name, but are not loyal to יהוה , or their prophecies are not true. Israel fell pray to nearly a thousand prophets of Baal, calling יהוה “Baal/Lord”, and mixing the worship of God with their rites of worship. This was the message from Isaiah and Jeremiah both, to turn away from that mixture religion, impurity and perversion of God’s Word AND His Name. Another mark of a false prophet, other than disloyalty, not agreeing with God’s written/revealed Word, or false prophecies not fulfilled, is the destruction/changing/hiding of God’s Name:
“How long shall this be? Is it in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? That think to cause My people to forget My Name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My Name for Ba’al.”
“Ba’al” means “Lord.” And that is what most people call God, Jews and Christians, not even knowing He has a Name, or simply deciding to forget it by replacement.
So the false prophets do the work of the adversary, following the very same pattern of deception. This is also true of false ‘shepherds’, which is where our word ‘pastor’ comes from. Few preachers have ever even read Ezekiel 34, but it is concerning false teachers who bilk God’s people, feeding themselves and their mammon off of God’s flock.
Yeshua was the fulfillment of the prophet God promised to Israel through Moses in Deuteronomy 18. And when they asked Him about the end times, the very first ‘sign’ of warning that He gave us was to watch out for deception. “Take heed that no one deceives you.” He said that there would be many who come in His Name and say that He is indeed the Messiah, but that they will deceive many. So, before He dealt with all the ‘cool stuff’ like wars, earthquakes, plagues, and miracles, His first concern was deception. We are told in the books of Daniel and Revelation that the adversary would use all of it to ‘wear down’ those who set themselves apart.
Daniel, writing about the same coming false Messiah, put it this way:
“And he shall speak words against God Most High [Elyon], and shall wear out the consecrated ones [K’doshim] of God Most High [Elyon]; and he shall think to change the Mo’adim and the Torah.”
The ‘mo’adim’ are the Feasts of God given to us in Leviticus 23 and observed by Yeshua and all the apostles, and Polycarp and other faithful believers until the 4th century. In the fourth century, a king arose and spoke against God Most High, elevating the Son of God and Mary to deity, when God said there is but One Divine One, and He has a Son. They also changed the feasts of the believers in Yeshua from the Biblical manner to the manner of Rome, Greece, and Egypt. And it was around the same time that The Torah was dismissed as mere alegory, and two ‘Biblical’ gods were defined, the god of the Old Testament and the god of the New Testament. They changed the “Torah”, the instructions of God for right living, from authoritative and immutable to suggestive and malleable.
All of this change came in spite of Yeshua’s warnings in Matthew 24 and the other gospels, and of the warnings of Yeshua directly to seven congregations in Revelation 2 and 3, and warnings from the Shlikhim/Apostles [those sent personally by Yeshua as witnesses to His resurrection].
Paul, very shortly after he taught for two years in a rented pagan building in Ephesus, warned the congregation there that there were already wolves among them, about whom Yeshua had warned us. They were ‘savage’. They were ‘from outside’ and from ‘among you’. Remember, God sends false prophets to test us, but Paul wept because he saw what was coming! It is historically interesting that Yeshua warned Ephesus first in the seven letters in Revelation 2 and 3, telling them to return to their first love. Their first love was Yeshua as Paul taught about Him from the Scriptures for two years. What Scriptures? The now dismissed “old testament”, the Torah and the Prophets, which Yeshua said speak of Him! [Luke 24:27] But they had turned from that teaching. They were tested by ‘self proclaimed apostles’, people who claimed that title but had not witnessed Yeshua’s resurrection with their own eyes, and had passed the test, [Rev 2] apparently, but they were not doing the ‘first works‘, the works of the Torah. They had two things in their favor: denying false apostles, and not becoming ‘nicolaitans’. Nicolaitanism is clergy v. laity. Ephesus held out. But, just two hundred years later and Ephesus would be the city were the doctrine of “Theotokos” was formed, where Mary is declared to be the ‘mother of god’. She is not. She is the mother of the Son of God. Yeshua had warned Ephesus that if they did not return to their first love He would take away the Jewish symbol of the Menorah, the symbol of the Messianic Community under the Spirit of Messiah. And today, there is no congregation in Ephesus. It is overrun by Islam. They did not heed Yeshua’s warning. Do we?
Paul also warned Thessalonika.
“Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come unless it is preceded by a departure.” [2 Thess 2:3]
[That departure is not the apostasy Yeshua predicted, but the ‘taking from midst of them’ from just a few verses down: the natzal/rapture]
Paul understood that Yeshua’s warning about deceit was very, very real. He’d ‘felt’ and warned of deceivers in Ephesus, and was hearing about them everywhere. Yet people today cannot even think that it might be possible that the early congregations were strong-armed into changing their doctrine, first by the Adversary and anti-Judaic, gentile believers, which we see in the Apostle’s letters and the seven letters, Ignatius and Martyr, and then by the Roman Emperor. Paul goes on in this passage and warns about Ben HaAbadon, the Son of Destruction [man of perdition]. He then says that the ‘mystery of iniquity is already at work!’ And says that something/someone that hinders it [Ben HaAbadon as the mystery of iniquity, where iniquity is disobeying God’s instructions of Torah] must first be ‘taken out of the midst of them’ before he can ‘be revealed’. He then tells them to ‘stand firmly established and be strong in The Mitzvot/The Commandments, which you have been taught [are] in The Word, and in our letters.’ Paul shows the continuity and singularity of The Written Word across the first and renewed covenants. And he foretells of a false Messiah predicted by Daniel and Yeshua.
Peter also warned of these same people who would steer people astray, the same way the Serpent/Nakhash did in the garden: by twisting God’s Word.
By now, readers who are not familiar with last-days prophecies might have already balked and left the conversation. That’s not a surprise. Peter said it would happen:
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the Last Days [Akharit HaYamim], mockers who scoff, following after their own lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since our fathers died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” [2 Peter 3]
He then explains that people will deny the creation and the flood, which is the root and the very motive of evolution. He explains that the pre-flood generation was judged, and that our generation will see the destruction of the universe by fire. But remember, Satan’s tactic is to make people disregard the warning of judgment. Their mocking embodies that tactic.
Peter then shows us the ‘timing’ according to ancient Judaic understanding, the 1,000 years/day, pointing to a ‘world week’ ending with a 1,000 year millenial reign of Yeshua, seen at the end of the book of Revelation. After that last millenium, the Sabbath of the World Week, final judgment comes, and all who persist in denying the Creator and His Son Yeshua will be condemned, not because God hates them, but because they deny and hate Him and His Son. He also alludes to the natzal, when He says “But Yom יהוה [The Day of the LORD / יהוה ] will come as a thief in the night, when the heavens shall suddenly pass away, and the elements shall separate as they burn, and the earth also and the works that are in it shall not be found. ” That is Judgment Day.
After warning all believers, including us, he then says,
“Therefore, my beloved, while you look for these things [we are still looking, and beginning to see evidence of greater nearness], be diligent that you may be found by Him in shalom, without spot, and blameless. And consider that the longsuffering of Our Master [Adoneinu] is for Salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his letters he speaks concerning these matters, in which there are certain things so hard to be understood that those who are ignorant and unstable twist their meaning, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, my beloved, seeing that you know these things beforehand, beware, lest you follow the error of those without Torah, and fall from your own steadfastness.” [2 Peter 3:14-17]
So we see that Peter was aware of the serpentine twisting of Paul’s letters already IN HIS DAY, and readers today do not think it is possible that their teachers, sharing the line of interpretation all the way back to Ignatius in the late first and early second century, could possibly have given them a twisted interpretation of Paul. If they have, is it then possible that they will themselves also be deceived by that Ben HaAbadon that Paul predicted would come? He also said that if they disobeyed God, God Himself would force them to believe “The Lie“, the “Mystery of Iniquity”, that the man of perdition is Jesus: god on earth.
Let’s consider whether Paul abandoned Torah and a Judaic life:
There are at least 19 places in the NT where Paul defends his lifelong observance of Biblical, 1st Century Messianic Judaism. We will start here:
“But this I confess, that in that very teaching which they mention [Torah], I worship the God [Elohim] of my fathers, believing all the things which are written in the Torah and in the Prophets [Nevi’im]; and I have the same hope in God [Elohim] which they [unbelieving Jews/Pharisees] themselves hold, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. For this reason, I labor to have always a clear conscience before God [Elohim] and before men.” [Acts 24:14-16]
Paul is defending himself in testimony before the governor. It is official testimony; so, he either told the truth [he did], or he lied and purjured himself, and is himself a deceiving, False Messianic person. But, according to this passage and the following, Paul was very, very consistent in both practicing and professing allegience to a Torah-obedient, Judaic life in Yeshua the Messiah.
Paul’s own testimony about his walk:
•Acts 23:1
•Acts 24:14–16
•Acts 25:8
•Acts 26:4–8
•Acts 26:21–23
•Acts 28:17
Paul’s actions in keeping Torah:
•Acts 16:3 — circumcises Timothy, a Torah precept, AFTER they had decided not to circumices gentiles.
•Acts 18:18 — takes a Nazirite vow.
•Acts 20:16 — hastens to be in Jerusalem for Shavuot/Pentecost.
•Acts 21:20–26 — joins Temple purification rites to demonstrate that he “walks orderly, keeping the Torah.” This rite ended in animal sacrifice, which he conducted as a believer in Yeshua.
•Acts 22:3 — identifies himself as trained under Gamaliel, a very notorious Rabbi.
Support for Torah From Paul’s letters
•Romans 3:31
•Romans 7:12
•Romans 7:22
•Romans 8:4
•1 Corinthians 7:19
•1 Corinthians 9:20
•1 Timothy 1:8
Paul also taught Gentiles to live the very same way. In Ephesus, before he feared for their pending attack from internal and external wolves, he taught them the Scriptures daily. [Acts 19]. Those scriptures were only Genesis-Malachi, as the NT had not been written as yet.
To Corinth, a congregation he founded, he writes: “You, then, should imitate me, even as I also imitate Messiah. Now I praise you, my brethren, that you remember me in all things, and keep the customs as I delivered them to you.”
He taught Scripture in Ephesus; we are certain that is what he taught in Corinth as well. And, he said he imitates Yeshua the Messiah, so he must keep the Sabbath and the feasts, as Yeshua did, since sun-day worship, easter and christmas had not yet been invented. Paul gives these same words twice to the Thessalonika community [2 Thess 2:15, 3:6]
So, Peter and Paul are both warning about deviating from the lifestyle that they lived as Jews and taught to gentiles, and those warnings are very harsh, and imminent sounding. Peter even said, “God is not slow in keeping his promises, as some think.” And along with warning about changing course, they warned of a lying Messiah who would pretend to be ‘god’, as Yeshua warned that many would lie in His Name and say they believe He is the Messiah, but they would deceive many.
It is our estimation that so very few today heed those warnings. Many throughout the ages have, and have tried to correct the course of the ship while suffering persecution for the doing of it [these are the ones the world hates, especially religious authority], but successive generations seem to fall pray to the same wiles of the adversary, which Paul also warned us about. It did not take long at all for the children of the Pilgrims to wander from their parents’ faith, necessitating the ‘First Great Awakening’; and then, short years later a ‘Second Great Awakening’ in America was necessary. Well, most are back to sleep. And the Bridgegroom’s Shofar is about to blast and wake them, but only too late.
THAT is why Paul said, “Put on the whole armor of God [Elohim], that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the Accuser. For your war is not with flesh and blood, but with the authorities, and with powers, with the rulers of this world of darkness, and with the evil spirits under the heavens.” [Eph 6:11-12]
Evil spirits create bad doctrine: “Now The Spirit [Breath/HaRu’akh] says expressly that in the Last Days [Akharit HaYamim] some shall depart from The Faith [HaEmunah], following after misleading spirits and doctrines of demons. Some with false appearances [drummed up piety] will mislead and speak lies, and are seared in their own conscience…” [1 Tim 4:1]
Most people’s doctrine today is not rooted at all in the Scriptures Paul taught. They put a twisted interpretation of Paul over Yeshua’s example, Paul’s actual example and teaching, all in spite of Peter’s warning.
Thus, many people in the near future will do exactly what the scriptures warn: they will believe the lie and damn themselves. The purpose of this article has not been merely to frighten anyone, nor to persuade believers to distrust every preacher they hear. It is to urge every disciple of Yeshua to do exactly what our Master commanded: “Take heed that no one deceives you.” A ‘disciple’ in Hebrew is a “Talmid”, someone who studies Torah! He spoke those words warning of deception before speaking of wars, earthquakes, famines, signs, or tribulation because He knew that the greatest danger to His flock would not be persecution alone, but deception.
The adversary has never changed his strategy. In the Garden he questioned God’s Word, altered God’s Word, promised hidden knowledge, denied judgment, and exalted man. Throughout Israel’s history he sent false prophets. During the days of the apostles he raised false teachers from both outside and inside the congregations. Before the return of Messiah, Scripture says he will culminate his work in the appearance of a false messiah who exalts himself above all that is called God, and declare himself as “Jesus is God”. Thus, a ‘false‘ Messiah [christ].
The question, then, is not whether deception exists. Scripture settled that long ago. The question is whether we will love the truth enough to reject every voice that contradicts the written Word of יהוה, even when that voice comes with miracles, popularity, tradition, or centuries of acceptance.
We are not called to follow the majority. We are called to follow the Shepherd.
If anything in this article seems difficult or unfamiliar, do not reject it—or accept it—because of me. Search the Scriptures. Test every teaching. Read the Torah, the Prophets, the Gospels, and the Apostles together. Ask whether the Messiah you hear being preached today is the same Messiah proclaimed by Yeshua Himself, by Peter, by Paul, and by John.
The stakes could not be higher. Yeshua did not warn us repeatedly about false prophets, false shepherds, false apostles, false spirits, and false messiahs because these dangers would be rare. He warned us because they would be persuasive and commonplace. He warned us because many would follow them. And He warned us because He loves His sheep.
Hold fast, therefore, to the faith once delivered to the consecrated ones [Apostles]. Hold fast to the commandments of God and the testimony of Yeshua the Messiah. Learn His voice so well that no counterfeit can draw you away. Because the Good Shepherd is faithful, and those who remain in Him will not be ashamed at His appearing.