I’ve been a Christ follower all my life, and Matthew 24:24 troubled me deeply for 40 years. How could a diligent Christians to be deceived? Don’t we have the Holy Spirit in us guiding us to all truth? Although I didn’t dwell on it, the possibility that this verse might apply to me was a significant concern.<\/p>\n
I wondered if I had lived in the period when slavery was accepted would I have also accepted it without giving it a second thought? What about women’s rights or the rights of minorities; would I have stood up for them or have simply accepted them as normal because it was what other Christians believed? I wondered if I had lived in Nazi Germany if I would have accepted the political philosophy as readily as the state church and many of the national believers.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t until US Presidential elections in 2016 that I realised what this verse meant. When well-meaning Christians swore allegiance to a regime that was godly in name but not in practice. I saw how biblical words were used to sway believers who focus on external meaning instead of internal intent. I saw believers rush to find biblical parallels for practices that were clearly not in line with Jesus’ example of a loving God.<\/p>\n
The past 14 months have accelerated the diversion from Christlike living at a rate I could not have imagined. The second of the Ten Commandments says that we should not take up the name of our God in vein, yet this is common practice. US leaders encourage war in God’s name and the support base is unchanged from 2016 when Trump was first elected. How can 80% of conservative Christians support a regime that treats fellow humans with such disdain?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a smoother, more natural version that keeps your meaning but improves flow and readability:<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to believe that this group is so deeply invested in their political beliefs that stepping back would feel like admitting they were wrong\u2014that God had not, in fact, deliberately placed this administration to accomplish some greater good. In that case, their resistance could be explained as pride, a reluctance to acknowledge\u2014to themselves as much as to others\u2014that they had been misled. But the reality, I suspect, is more subtle than that.<\/p>\n
Perhaps these Christians think that God is in control and puts in the governments that fulfill His purposes regardless of how distasteful the policies. Such people would be forced to believe that deaths of millions of people by Hitler, Pol Pot, Idi Amin and Stalin were all part of God’s will. Just collateral damage expediting the arrival of the new kingdom.<\/p>\n
Bringing it closer to home, it would mean that Christians who believe God has everything under control, predestined that all deaths in mass shootings are part of His plan. Can you hear God saying to the shooter, “Keep going, I need you to shoot two more children to fulfill my plan today.”?<\/p>\n
Circling back to the topic of deception, why are Christians so gullible? Perhaps it’s because we have been encouraged to leave our brain at the door of the church and believe everything we are told. Perhaps its just easier to not think at all, because faith in God is all important regardless of what happens around us.<\/p>\n
I have seen the deception of the elect with my own eyes and now I understand how easily it happens. It gives me significant reason to pause and assess my own beliefs and check their alignment with the life of Christ as the truest example of the character of God, lest I too am deceived.<\/p>\n\n\n