Lost and Afraid
By Tom Gilbreath
When we consider end-times Bible prophecy, it’s important to watch for specific signs and, at the same time, step back and see the big picture. In other words, study the brushstrokes, but don’t forget to take in the whole canvass.
Bible prophecy paints a picture that is both dramatic and mundane. End-time people will continue with ordinary human things like eating, drinking, and getting married. But the Bible also describes an end-of-the-age world increasingly filled with chaos, fear, and despair. There will be an increasing number of unsettling threats and events. Human attitudes will take a drastic turn for the worse. These big-picture movements come as a fulfillment of many end-time signs, but especially from deception.
Jesus gave special emphasis to deception as a sign. And we 21st century people know something about deception. We have more powerful communication tools than anything dreamed of in previous generations. Simultaneously, we see a dramatic lowering of moral standards. Lying has been normalized at just the point in history when lies spread most easily.
Jesus spoke of deception in terms of people trying to take His place, His title, His role. In Matthew 24:4-5, He said, “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.”
Lies will become ever more ubiquitous as the father of lies becomes ever more active. This will grow much worse after the rapture. The ultimate example of a deceiver claiming the authority of Christ will be the antichrist. He can’t come to power until the Church is gone, but we already see deception rising in thousands of ways. That part of the end-time scenario seems well underway, and it is devastating lives.
It’s one thing to walk through a “fun house” at a county fair; it’s something else to live inside one. Modern life easily becomes a never-ending loop of chaotic noise, screams, distortions, and deceptions as though each life has become a dark ride. What’s real and true? What can you depend on? To steal people’s peace and destroy their mental health, subject them to a continuous bombardment of adrenaline-inducing noise and reality distorting lies.
When a society hides truth and promotes lies, it drives its people toward destruction. Studies show that children suffering from gender dysphoria are more likely to commit suicide if adults push them to transition. Lies imprison and kill. Truth brings life and sets captives free.
If a global positioning system malfunctions, but the user thinks it’s still doing fine, that user is in trouble. Never throw away reliable maps or GPS programs in favor of one that tells people only what they want to hear. To follow a lying map means becoming lost in a dark and dangerous place. That’s how it works for individuals, and that’s how it works for nations.
We need an Absolute on which to orient our lives, reveal what’s right and true, and give us peace—not just a feeling, but actual shalom. God alone stands above space and time. He alone is sufficient.
