17. Deception

If your were deceived, would you know it?

Jesus repeatedly warned His disciples that deception will be a hallmark of the End Times. Deception has taken on a new and pervasive form in our modern digital world that Jesus' disciples could not possibly have imagined 2,000 years ago! But God isn't surprised by this new development. He is outside of time and knows the end from the beginning.

Deception in the Church
There are over 200 different Christian denominations in America with substantially different teachings and beliefs about the fundamentals of the faith. They can't all be right. They all use the same vocabulary (Bible, Holy Spirit, salvation, etc.), which gives the superficial appearance of agreement. But they have substantially different dictionaries (i.e. different definitions and interpretation of these words). They all put a cross on their Church steeple. But it means something different to each denomination. I'm reminded of Madeleine L'Engle's famous quote: "Everyone thinks their own opinion is the right one. If they didn't, they would get another one."

Deception in Academia
The most respected universities in America are being taken over by radicals who want to replace the tradition of academic excellence by their own "woke" culture of propaganda.

Deception in Government
The Covid epidemic revealed the depth of manipulation and intentional deception practiced by government leaders and agencies. Instead of speaking the truth, they spoke whatever was convenient and supported their agenda. Lying, equivocations, and cover-ups by people in positions of power and responsibility have become so commonplace that Americans are no longer surprised or outraged. We have stoically come to accept them as the "new norm." Nearly half of adult Americans say that "fake news" and social engineering have eroded their confidence in both government and news agencies.

Deception in the Media
Special interest groups deliberately misuse the media to mislead, misinform, or create a narrative that advances their own interests and agendas. Hardly anyone reads books any more. Most of the information that we take in now comes from the media. And unlike books, the media is easily used to manipulate the public and widely available to the entire population. Sophisticated computer programs assess the impact of various media campaigns and fine-tune them based on the response of the population. Their analysis includes detailed statistics on how many people read the posts, how many share or comment on them, the response from various age and ethnic groups, etc.). The younger generation is particularly susceptible to "social engineering".