"Watch out that no one deceives you" (Mark 13:5).

Deception abounds in our world today. Actually it has since the first act of deception in the Garden of Eden. I read in the paper the other night a letter to the editor written by an avowed secularist proclaiming that a person holding a Bible-based outlook on life was deceived. Indeed from his perspective and belief system he felt that he was right and the one holding the contrary view to his was deceived! Of course I would assert that he is the one who is deceived.

This week in my personal study I am especially noting the passages that I shared in yesterday's encouragement that chronicle the events and teachings that took place in Christ's life the week of His death. All three synoptic gospels record a message known as the "Olivet Discourse" (Matthew 24 & 25), so named because the Lord shared this as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives. According to the chronological chart this message was given early in the week of His death, perhaps Tuesday or Wednesday.

It's a long message that has a lot to say about the end times. However He begins the sermon with the daily text, "Watch out that no one deceives you." Although I believe we do well to hear this in a general sense he specifically says, "Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many." Thus foundationally we need to be on guard that we are indeed following and serving the legitimate Christ.

Since Christ spoke these words there have been and are presently many false christs. This may be a self-proclaimed individual or a contrary belief system. In my own lifetime false christs have come and gone and surely more will be coming, culminating with the antichrist.

Today we need to not only hear but heed the words of the one and only legitimate Christ. We have in the Holy Scriptures a most certain and dependable record of His life and call to each one of us. As I am pondering these truths this morning I am especially drawn to a powerful passage in 2 Peter (see below).


Be encouraged today,


Stephen C. Weber

Note from Brooksyne:  Before Ester leaves for school in the morning we're reading a selected passage from the chronological events of Passion Week corresponding with the day of the week.  I was preoccupied this morning but Ester was quick to remind me that it was time to read about what Jesus was experiencing on this date.  After reading Matthew and Mark's writings she quickly left the room and brought her book "The Passion of the Christ" which correlated the events we read about.  Since Ester's visual learning is so much sharper than her auditory skills she read to me the captions that underlined the photos of what we'd just read about.  If you have young children in your home set aside time to share with them not only the events of the week, but the chronological order which puts it into story form making them feel like eye witnesses.  Of course you will want to break it down at their level of understanding.

PS: Here's an interesting observation that I have made before in this series: The gospels cover the life of Christ, a period of about 33 years.  Most of this material deals with the 3½ year period of His ministry.  However an astounding 30 of the 89 accumulative chapters in the gospels deal with the period from Christ's triumphal entry through His resurrection and post-resurrection appearances.  Mathematically this means that approximately 33% of the written material in the gospels deals with a mere .05% period of His life!  The critical historian might say this is surely way out of balance, but in the providence of God we have a much greater proportion of material dealing with God's greatest act of mercy in providing our redemption.


Desktop image - This powerful work of art is actually on the gymnasium wall at our local Christian youth center. A local artist paints the murals on large surfaces such as barns and walls of buildings throughout south-central PA. You can open this image to enlarge it and it can be saved as a desktop image on your computer of desired.

Here is the passage I referred to at the conclusion of today's encouragement: 2 Peter 1:12-21

Final note - Satan attempts to tempt and deceive us in so many ways. He indeed remains a roaring lion seeking whom he may desire. Or as the great hymn states, "For still our ancient foe, doth seek to work us woe." Yesterday I was on a trusted Christian site and as a point of humor they had a link to a cute screensaver that humorously claimed to be a washer for the inside of your monitor screen. It appeared to be a cat licking the inside of the screen and it was really cute. It's the kind of thing I like to share with readers to bring them a chuckle. However I clicked on a link that came up alongside it that indicated it was a screensaver of the image. But instead it had a very unseemly image completely unrelated to the first one. I immediately cleared it from my computer and cursed the darkness. Incidentally I know the longstanding credibility of the Christian site I initially got the link from and don't believe they had any idea of the underlying motivation.

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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; and the King James Version.
 
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."

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