Counterfeit Moves of Satan in the Last Days - Part 1 (introduction)

It is important to understand and look for the end time promises and deceptions. "Watching" and praying are the two central components to being ready for what is unfolding all around us. Because Peter wouldn't watch and pray, satan was able to use fear to get him to react in a wrong way, thinking he was serving Jesus. What Peter couldn't come to terms with was that Jesus cared more about fulfilling the plans of the father to rejoin heaven and earth than avoiding trouble:

John 18:10-11 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”

Peter could have avoided a ton of trouble if he would have humbled himself and agreed with Jesus that there was something to watch for that night and something to pray about:

Mark 14:37-41 Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words. And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him. Then He came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Jesus warned the entire end time Church that this same watching and praying was essential to getting ready for trouble...tribulation much worse than Peter experienced in Gethsemane is coming to the end time Church. I am supposed to be all about watching for it and praying in agreement with Jesus' plans for it in order to "be ready." Jesus doesn't want to slow down or stop His plans to return...He wants me to learn to love His plans!

Mark 13:33-37 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning— lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”

There comes a moment where it is too late to watch and pray anymore, and Jesus moves on in His plans. All is not lost, but day by day we loose opportunities in God to walk through the time before us well. This will result eventually in a "falling away" for those who will not humble themselves and agree with Jesus.

Daniel 12:1-3 “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.

Jesus warned His disciples to be ready for the same end time Great Tribulation, and He warned that "praying" and watching for the counterfeit moves of satan were essential to being ready for this hour of human history:

Matthew 24:15-25 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.

There is a cost for not humbly receiving Jesus' warnings, but that cost is apparent over time. Jesus warned Peter several times, but Peter thought he knew as much as Jesus:

Matthew 26:31-41 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. ” Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus didn't condemn Peter for not watching or praying, but there came a time when Peter simply didn't have enough information or discernment to make good choices, because he would not get ready. This resulted in Peter trying to use a sword when it was too late to submit his heart to God to be made ready. This moment of cutting off the servant of the high priest's ear in Gethsemane began a chain reaction of bad decision making for Peter that resulted in denying Jesus...this is "falling away."

Peter's falling away is a sobering example to the end time Church. Peter claimed to be ready, and Jesus warned him he was not.

Many in the end time Church falsely assume, like Peter, that being saved is the same as being ready. It is not. Jesus told saved people to be ready. You don't need to be ready to die or get raptured...neither of these will require your help...you need to be ready to be counted a criminal with Jesus, you need to be ready for that identity to cost you everything, and at the same time feed others the truth in confidence that Jesus is returning... Jesus restored Peter by pointing Him to what it really means to be ready:

John 21:17-19 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

Peter was able to be restored, since the Holy Spirit hadn't been given to the disciples yet. But we must realize that to fall away now is without hope of restoration.

Falling away now has MUCH greater consequences. Once you are filled with the Holy Spirit...once God comes to live inside you...falling away is permanent:

Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

Falling away was something Jesus warned of and clearly explained...it means to get saved and later deny Jesus when pressure comes to deny Him:

Luke 8:11-15 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

All of the writers of the New Testament were informed and warned about the falling away resulting from an end time apostasy...or false Christianity. In our hour of history apostasy is snowballing and many do not have the basic information to recognize it...it is all leading to a great falling away. The end time falling away mostly won't look like a bunch of people quitting Christianity...it will be much more subtle...it will be a rationalized "denying" of Jesus for the sake of "unity" that will eventually result in many rationalizing taking the mark of the beast. Many of those who fall away will still assume they are Christian:

II Timothy 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Paul said this must happen before the return of Jesus and the rapture (gathering together with Jesus):

II Thessalonians 2:1-12 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

I have heard it taught that the "falling away" is the rapture...clearly from this passage Paul did not believe that. Paul taught that the same "lifting of restraint" that would allow the antichrist to emerge, would simultaneously result in many Christians falling away, because they did not love the truth... what truth, Tom?...the truth that satan would counterfeit the same moves of righteousness and power the Bible promises will operate in the pure and spotless Bride in the last days! Dark and light are BOTH maturing to a whole new level at the same time. That harlot is going to try as hard as she can to be the Bride!...

"The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved."

The key to recognizing the counterfeit is to study the truth! We are supposed to watch the end time trouble unfold and love the truth of it! This is because it is a clear indication that Jesus is coming home! If all your desire is directed at Jesus, you will GLORY in the tribulation because it means Jesus is returning with more and more certainty. Loving the end time events will result in a natural fascination that will inform you.

If you love Jesus' appearing, you will respond with watching, praying, and being ready...loving the truth...the hard truth...of Jesus' return is essential to being prepared to spot the counterfeit moves of satan intended to produce the falling away!

I Thessalonians 5:1-11 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

As we study the end time plans, we will find comfort, not fear, being produced in our hearts...and we will be ready to stand in truth!