THE GREAT DECEPTION *

INTRODUCTION

In our article of 13 November, 2006 ("Iran Is Breaking the Seals") we reported on information leaked to the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) that Israel is planning a nuclear strike against Iran - a strike that is scheduled to take place as early as the summer of 2007. There is also much evidence to suggest that the Americans are in cahoots with Israel insofar as this strike is concerned - and this is evidenced by the fact that the U.S. has supplied Israel over the last few months with several thousand "smart air launched weapons" including some 500 "bunker-buster bombs;" specifically, the conventional "bunker buster" (the BLU 113), and the B61-11, which is the "nuclear version" of the BLU 113. Moreover, Israeli Dolphin-class submarines have been equipped with US Harpoon missiles armed with nuclear warheads that have been targeted at Iran. All this in addition to the two hundred nuclear bombs that it is estimated the Israelis have produced for themselves at their own facilities in the Negev.

Now new evidence is surfacing that lends additional credence to the BBC report - and that evidence lies in the fact that the United States is planning to "SURGE" ultimately as many as 50,000 additional troops (not the 20,000 or 30,000 that is being reported) into Iraq over the next four to six months - ostensibly to secure Baghdad from being torn apart by the Sunni / Shiite civil war that is raging there. And this despite the fact that U.S. military commanders say that such a "SURGE" would do little to "tamp" down the insurgent activity in Iraq generally and in Baghdad particularly. One might ask, then, What is the purpose of this "SURGE" if not to secure Baghdad? Could it possibly be a covert effort to pre-position American troops for offensive military action against Iran in conjunction with the Israeli attack?

And there's more: The U.S. navy is planning to deploy as many as two additional carrier battle groups to the area. Again, the question that fairly begs to be asked is, For what purpose? The answer given is to support the "SURGE." But how does the presence of two additional carrier battle groups in the Middle East make any sense in connection with the security of Baghdad? It makes no sense at all! The only way the presence of these new carrier battle groups in the Middle East makes any sense is that they are being pre-positioned for the impending strike against Iran.

In addition - and very tellingly - the U.S. has been feverishly deploying the new upgraded Patriot Missile System to the Middle East. This system is being deployed not only in support of U.S. troops in Iraq, but it also is being deployed in support of Israel. What's the purpose in all this?  U.S. forces in Iraq face no air or missile threat - at least not insofar as the present war in Iraq is concerned. And what threat does Israel face from such an attack? - at least insofar as present conditions in the region are concerned? Why the rush, then, to deploy these missiles? - unless something greater is being planned that transcends present conditions in the Middle East?

Finally, it should be noted that the six U.S. "super bases" that the U.S. has been covertly building in the desert out of the view of the world's news media are now complete, and they are beginning to receive massive amounts of U.S. air assets - both tactical and strategic. Again, the question to be asked is, For what purpose? These additional air assets are not needed in the present war in Iraq.

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE BEING LIED TO

Something very sinister is afoot in the Middle East - and there is a great deal of DECEPTION surrounding it. But then DECEPTION is the "coin of the realm" insofar as the neo-conservatives who surround George Bush are concerned. Neo-conservatives refer to such DECEPTION as "Noble Lies" - and my how these DECEPTIONS have proliferated in the six years of the Bush Administration.

Reporting on the malignant psychology behind this deception, John G. Mason writes:

"Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once noted in an off the cuff remark, strategic truths sometimes need be defended by a 'BODYGUARD OF LIES'. Here Rumsfeld was thinking no doubt of Churchill’s famous quip defending Operation Fortitude, the mock invasion force aimed at Calais that drew the attention of Herr Hitler and his high command away from the Normandy beaches and hid the Allies’ operational plans in the summer of 1944. Rumsfeld’s critics in Washington and London, however, have in mind more the history of contemporary philosophy than the history of WWII.

"In the past few months, the 'BODYGUARD OF LIES' metaphor has been redeployed and used to characterize the Bush Administration’s raw manipulation of the CIA and other intelligence agencies for propaganda purposes and for the gross DECEIT that seems to characterize the rationales put forward for their Iraq policy. Of these there were many - WMDs, a suspected connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda, or the humanitarian rescue of the Iraqi people. They shifted depending on their intended audience and perhaps the day of the week. The 'imminent threat' of WMD’s were emphasized for the British public while links to 'Al Qaeda-like terrorism' were stressed at home – where the fiction that Saddam was directly involved in the September 2001 attacks has been firmly embraced by over two thirds of the American public.”

Mason continues:

"By the summer of 2003 - when the hunt for banned Iraqi WMD’s had gone nowhere and the Al Qaeda connection to Saddam had disappeared into thin air … cumulative disappointment shook the official rationale for the Anglo American invasion of Iraq. This placed Mr. Rumsfeld and the civilian policy makers in his Pentagon group [i.e., the neo-cons led by Paul Wolfowitz] on the defensive and set them up for the critics who had been waiting impatiently in the wings during the short but triumphal march to Baghdad. Secretary Rumsfeld’s credibility problems had now become Blair’s and Bush’s nightmare—provoking a transatlantic media storm that has touched the political establishments of the co-belligerents.

"In London this affair has mainly raised questions about the honesty of Mr. Blair and his press and defense secretaries. In Washington it has done so as well, and the prevailing view of the Administration’s war policy among its critics is summed up succulently by the United for Peace slogan: 'Bush lies—Americans die'. BUT THIS AFFAIR HAS ALSO RAISED A RELATED AND PERHAPS EVEN MORE TROUBLING QUESTION ABOUT THE PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS OF THE IDEOLOGY THAT'S DRIVING THE 'COUNTER-REVOLUTION' IN FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY WITHIN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. IN SHORT, THE RELATION BETWEEN STRATEGIC DISINFORMATION AND POLITICAL TRUTH HAS BEEN VERY MUCH ON OUR MINDS OF LATE - ALONG WITH SOME CONCERNS ABOUT THE LESSONS TAUGHT BY LEO STRAUSS TO THE BRILLIANT GROUP OF HIS FORMER STUDENTS WHO NOW OCCUPY THE SEATS OF POWER IN WASHINGTON."

Ah, Leo Strauss again!

LEO STRAUSS' PHILOSOPHY OF DECEPTON

Jim Lobe - like John Mason - is deeply concerned about the LIES and DECEIT that seem to all but permeate the Bush Administration - LIES and DECEIT that are not "happen-chance" or "coincidental," but form a coherent philosophy of DISINFORMATION that is being practiced by the president and his followers in pursuit of their New World Order goals in the Middle East. Lobe explains:

"Many neo-conservatives like Paul Wolfowitz are disciples of a philosopher [i.e., Leo Strauss] WHO BELIEVED THAT THE ELITE SHOULD USE DECEPTION … TO CONTROL THE MASSES. For example, What would you do if you wanted to topple Saddam Hussein, but your intelligence agencies couldn't find the evidence to justify a war?

"A follower of Leo Strauss may just hire the ‘right’ kind of men to get the job done – people with the intellect, acuity, and, if necessary, the political commitment, polemical skills, and, above all, the imagination to find the evidence that career intelligence officers could not detect. The 'right' man for Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz … was Abram Shulsky, director of the Office of Special Plans (OSP) – an agency created specifically to find the evidence of WMDs and/or links with Al Qaeda, piece it together, and clinch the case for the invasion of Iraq."

Lobe continues:

"Like Wolfowitz, Shulsky is a student of … Leo Strauss … Strauss taught at several major universities, including Wolfowitz and Shulsky's alma mater, the University of Chicago, before his death in 1973.

"Strauss is a popular figure among the neo-conservatives. Adherents of his ideas include prominent figures both within and outside the administration. They include Weekly Standard editor William Kristol; his father and indeed the godfather of the neo-conservative movement, Irving Kristol; the new Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, Stephen Cambone, a number of senior fellows at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) (home to former Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle and Lynne Cheney), and Gary Schmitt, the director of the influential Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which is chaired by Kristol the Younger.

"Strauss' philosophy is hardly incidental to the strategy and mindset adopted by these men – as is obvious in Shulsky's 1999 essay titled 'Leo Strauss and the World of Intelligence (By Which We Do Not Mean Nous)' [In Greek philosophy the term nous denotes the highest form of rationality] … Shulsky and his co-author Schmitt criticize America's intelligence community for its failure to appreciate the duplicitous nature of the regimes it deals with, its susceptibility to social-science notions of proof, and its inability to cope with deliberate concealment. They argued that Strauss's idea of hidden meaning, alerts one to the possibility that POLITICAL LIFE MAY BE CLOSELY LINKED TO DECEPTION. INDEED, IT SUGGESTS THAT DECEPTION IS THE NORM IN POLITICAL LIFE ..."

THE SINISTER TELL-TALE SIGNS OF
A DEVELOPING "ORDER OF BATTLE"

Now that's weighty! - and very, very frightening! WHAT LOBE IS ESSENTIALLY SAYING HERE IS THAT DECEPTION IS NOW PART OF THE EVERY-DAY FABRIC OF LIFE IN WASHINGTON D.C. - and who can doubt that fact in light of the way the Bush Administration has lied regarding the reasons America is now engaged militarily in Iraq - and in light of the way the Bush Administration is now lying about its developing ORDER OF BATTLE in the Middle East - an Order of Battle clearly directed against Iran; once again - 

1. The movement of two huge carrier battle groups into the Middle East to augment the carrier battle groups already there. For what purpose? The defense of Baghdad? - if you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you.

2. The "SURGE" of 50,000 more troops into Iraq. Again, for what purpose? To halt the insurgent activity there prior to pulling out American forces from Iraq? - the logic here is so convoluted it hardly bears refutation.

3. The deployment of the new, improved Patriot Missile System to Iraq and Israel. Once again, for what purpose? To protect American troops in Iraq from the many sophisticated missile systems the Iraqi insurgents possess? Hardly: these rag-tag groups don’t possess any. To protect Israel from a war they are not even participants in? - it's all so farcical.

4. The shipment of several thousand "smart air launched weapons" to Israel. Again. For what purpose? These weapons are not needed to protect Israel from the crude rockets that Herzbollah possesses.

5. The additional shipment to Israel of some 500 "bunker-buster bombs;" specifically the conventional "bunker buster" (the BLU 113), and the B61-11, which is the "nuclear version" of the BLU 113.  Nuclear weapons to Israel? Why? - for use against Hamas in the Gaza strip? If Israel uses these weapons in Gaza, they'll probably take out half of Israel as well.

6. The shipment of US Harpoon missiles armed with nuclear warheads for use by Israel's submarine force. As if these weapons would be of any use to Israel except in an all out war with Iran.

7. The massive deployment of large numbers of air assets to the six "super-bases" the U.S. has built in the desert in Iraq - air assets that have no relevance to the present war in Iraq. Once again, for what purpose? The U.S. already has an over-abundance of air power in Iraq insofar as its war against the Iraqi insurgents are concerned.

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

As we have already suggested, SOMETHING VERY SINISTER IS AFOOT IN THE MIDDLE EAST - and the American people are not being told about it. Indeed, they are being purposefully DECEIVED with regard to what's going on there, and the American evangelical community is part and parcel of this DECEPTION - if only because they are doggedly looking the other way.

Now you must understand something here: this is an awful indictment of not only the neo-conservatives, but the American evangelical Christian community as well. Why? - because the Bible says that those who practice this kind of DECEPTION are of the devil; specifically, it says:

"Ye are of your father the devil … He … abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44)

Think about that. Think about what that means insofar as the neo-conservatives are concerned - people who believe in the concept of the "NOBLE LIE." These are people who - as the Bible suggests - "abide not in the truth," and this makes them "children of the devil."

Obviously, there is a "GREAT DECEPTION" underway in the Middle East - a DECEPTION that, as Phil Gasper has suggested, is intended to -

"… MARK THE OFFICIAL EMERGENCE OF THE UNITED STATES AS A FULL-FLEDGED GLOBAL EMPIRE, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination [i.e., the neo-conservatives] … In essence, these men have laid out a plan for PERMANENT U.S. MILITARY AND ECONOMIC DOMINATION OF EVERY REGION ON THE GLOBE, unfettered by international treaty or concern ..."

THE GREAT DECEPTION

This brings us at last to the matter of the "GREAT DECEPTION" of the "Latter Days."

The Bible (specifically, Matthew 24:24) speaks of a "GREAT DECEPTION" that shall come upon the whole world in the "Latter Days" - a deception so great that many of God's "elect" will be carried away by it.

When most Christians think of this DECEPTION they think of it in "New Age" terms involving the supernatural - a context that leads one to search for the Antichrist as a "New Age Shaman" or "guru;" someone who inhabits the surrealistic world of Helena Blavatsky, Trungpa Rampa, Alice Bailey, Edgar Cayce, Hugh Schonfield, Teilhard de Chardin, Peter LeMesurier, David Speangler, etc. But one may be making a huge mistake in doing so.

To be sure, there is a GREAT DECEPTION afoot in the world today, but it has nothing to do with the world of Trungpa Rampa, Alice Bailey, and Edgar Cayce. It is to be found, rather, in the neo-conservative world of -

Elliott Abrams, Richard Armitage, John R. Bolton, Richard Cheney, Seth Cropsey, Paula Dobriansky, Francis Fukuyama, Bruce Jackson, Lewis Libby, Peter W. Rodman, Donald Rumsfeld, Randy Scheunemann, Paul Wolfowitz, Dov S. Zakheim, Robert B. Zoellick, Patrick Clawson, Robert Satloff, Michael Eisenstadt, Mortimer Zuckerman, Martin Peretz, Michael Ledeen, Stephen Hadley, Norman Podhoretz, Midge Decter, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Frank Gaffney, John Lehman, Gary Bauer, Abram Shulsky, William J. Bennett, Ellen Bork, Robert Bork, Rudy Boschwitz, Jeb Bush, Eliot A. Cohen, Thomas Donnelly, Steve Forbes, Aaron Friedberg, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Fred Ikle, Donald Kagan, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol, Christopher Maletz, Daniel McKivergan, Dan Quayle, Beton Michael Kaneb, Henry Rowen, Gary Schmitt, Stephen Cambone, George Weigel, R. James Woolsey, Vin Weber, ad nauseum.

AND the evangelical world of -

Paul Crouch, Jack Hayford, Charles Stanley, D. James Kennedy, Tim LaHaye, the late John Wimber, Juan Carlos Ortiz, C. Peter Wagner, Beverley LaHaye, Ern Baxter, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Chuck Colson, Robert Stearns, Mike Bickle, Reuven Doron, Che Ahn, Frank Hammond, Cindy Jacobs, Bill Hamon, John Eckhardt, Bobbie Byerly, Dutch Sheets, Jim Goll, John Paul Jackson, James Ryle, Frank Damazio, Ed Silvoso, Carlos Annacondia, Claudio Freidzon, Roger Mitchell, Ted Haggart, Paul Cain, Chuck Pierce, Rick Joyner, Kingsley Fletcher, Jim Laffoon, Barbara Wentroble, ad infinitum.

Now, think about this! - a DECEPTION that involves the active participation of the evangelical Christian community and their neo-conservative allies? That would be a DECEPTION. That would be a "GREAT DECEPTION." It's certainly NOT what the "very elect" are looking for!  But, then, that's what deception is all about.

MATTHEW 24:24

Concerning this deception, Matthew 24:24 says:

"There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24:24)

There are three distinct parts to this passage of Scripture:

1. There shall arise false Christs and false prophets.

2. They shall show great signs and wonders.

3. They shall deceive the very elect. [Note: the words "if it were possible" do not appear in the older manuscripts.]

FALSE CHRISTS AND FALSE PROPHETS

Now, consider carefully what is being said here: the prophesy begins with the words, "there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets." What does that mean?  What is the Bible anticipating when it speaks of "false Christs" and "false prophets?"  Well, maybe not quite what you've been led to believe.

"Christ" or Christos means "Messiah" or one ANOINTED by God "TO SHOW PEOPLE THE WAY." The same meaning, of course, can be applied to the term, "prophets" - people who have been ANOINTED by God "to show God's people the way."

Now in all of this, one must remember that in speaking of the term "Christ" ("ANOINTED ONE") or "prophet," one is speaking - in the first instance - of OFFICES rather than persons.

The term "Christ" (Christos) antedates or precedes the actual person of Jesus Christ, and - as Vine's Concise Dictionary of the Bible indicates - "is a term that is applied [often] to mere human beings with a special office, Lev. 4:3, 5, 16; Psalm 105:15." For example, a king of Israel was the "anointed of the Lord" (1 Sam. 2:10, 35; 2 Sam. 1:14; Psalm 2:2; 18:50; Hab. 3:13; Isa. 45:1).

In speaking, therefore, of "FALSE Christs" and "FALSE prophets," one is speaking of people who PRETEND to the office of “Christ” or “prophet,” BUT WHO HAVE NOT BEEN ANOINTED BY GOD TO HOLD THAT OFFICE. They are practicing a DECEIT - which is, of course, exactly what today's neo-conservatives and their allies in the evangelical Christian community are doing.

They are not “TRUTHTELLERS,” but rather people who surround themselves with lies; people who - like Donald Rumsfeld - believe that truth should be protected by a "BODYGUARD OF LIES" (Rumsfeld's words). Certainly, then, these people are "false Christs" and "false prophets."

SIGNS AND WONDERS

The next question to be asked is this: What does the Bible mean when it speaks here of "signs and wonders?" - specifically when it indicates that these "false Christs" and these "false prophets" will "show great signs and wonders?"

"Signs and wonders" in the Ancient World were - in the first instance - TOKENS THAT AUTHENTICATED ONE'S AUTHORITY - especially as it related to one's presumed office, whether that office be prophet, priest, apostle, evangelist OR king. Insofar as the first four offices were concerned, the "signs and wonders" that authenticated one's right to hold those offices were usually of a supernatural or miraculous nature. For example, the miracles that Moses and Aaron performed before Pharaoh, and that Elijah performed before the priests of Jezebel; and the "signs and wonders" that Christ promised would authenticate the ministry of His disciples (cf., Acts 4:30, 5:12, 14:3; Romans 15:19; 2 Cor. 12:12, etc.)

But that’s not the case with the last in our list above: kings or political rulers. When speaking of the “signs and wonders” that accompanied them and authenticated them in their office of king or ruler one must speak of MILITARY prowess: Joshua's "miraculous" military victory at Jericho, David's hard-fought military victory over the "children of Ammon," etc.

And this has always been true of the kings and rulers of this world; from Caesar Augustus, to Constantine, to Charlemagne, to Louis XIV, and to Napoleon. Even Hitler authenticated his "right to rule" by his dazzling military victories: for example, his stunning and rapid victories over Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and finally France in the early part of the Second World War - victories that exhilarated and elated the German people and "sold them out" as slavish devotees to his "PERSON" as Fuhrer, and his vision of a Millennial Reich or kingdom.

And this is surely the way the coming Antichrist will authenticate his "right to rule." This is certainly what the "false Christs" and "false prophets" of Matthew 24:24 are referencing. Clearly, the "signs and wonders" that they are pointing to are the "signs and wonders" that only a DAZZLING and AWE-INSPIRING display of MILITARY PROWESS can produce - not the tricks and sleight-of-hand of a David Copperfield or a "Great Houdini," OR even the actual magic (so to speak) of the magicians of Pharaoh - after all, changing a staff into a snake, or making the rivers of Egypt run red with blood are certainly miraculous events of the first order. (Exodus 7:10-22)

CHRIST AND SUPPERNATURAL "SIGNS AND WONDERS"

Christ, of course, was a King (indeed, the “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lords) and at the same time He was a "miracle worker," but He NEVER attempted to authenticate His ministry by recourse to the miracles He performed. When He performed His miracles, he did so out of COMPASSION:

"And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

"And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

"And Jesus saith unto him, SEE THOU TELL NO MAN; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them." (Matthew 8:2-4)

Compassion was what motivated Jesus here, not a perceived need to authenticate Himself - and that's why He told the leper whom He had cleansed: "See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them."

As far as Christ was concerned, the WORD He spoke was - in the first instance - what authenticated His ministry:

"And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine (i.e., His WORD):

"For he taught them AS ONE HAVING AUTHORITY, and not as the scribes." (Matthew 7:28-29)

Indeed, the Bible says that  -

"… the WORD of God is quick [alive], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

Contrary to what most of today's shallow Christians think, Christ did not rely on "signs and wonders" to authenticate Himself as THE Messiah. Instead, He said:

"A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a [miraculous or supernatural] sign; and there shall NO sign be given unto it ..." (Matthew 16:4)

DECEIVING THE VERY ELECT

Finally, Matthew 24:24 says that these false Christs and false prophets who will FORETELL the coming of the Antichrist, will "deceive the very elect." But, again, How? By pointing to his dazzling military prowess.

AND ISN’T THIS PRECISELY WHAT THE NEO-CONSERVATIVES ARE DOING: they believe that the use of America's military power will, as Phil Gasper suggests, confirm forever the United States as MASTER OF THE WORLD. And now one can begin to see how the evangelical community will be tricked, because this is precisely how evangelical Christians believe that America will be confirmed as God's REDEEMER NATION: by America’s stunning victory over Islam, as if such a military victory could confirm anything insofar as the Kingdom of God is concerned.

Jesus certainly did not rely on the force of arms - EVER. Indeed, when the soldiers from the High Priest came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal, Jesus told His disciple (Peter):

"Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

"Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:52-53)

But He didn't ask for those angels. How is it possible, then, for Christians to think that a MILITARY victory over the forces of Islam will confirm anything insofar as Christ is concerned? But that's certainly what Christians think today!

WHAT THEN IS THE "GREAT
DECEPTION" OF THE "END OF DAYS"

Yes! - there are "false Christs" and "false prophets" abroad in the world today, and they intend to announce the coming of a New World Order through a DAZZLING DISPLAY OF MILITARY PROWESS; specifically, as Phil Gasper has pointed out, by the use of -

"… overwhelming U.S. military force to take control of the world - beginning first in the Gulf Region."

A display of power so massive and frightening that, as Paul Wolfowitz explains, it will -

"… deter any challenger from ever dreaming of challenging the U.S. on the world stage."

AND THE DECEPTION AND "NOBLE LIES" THAT ARE BEING USED TO ACCOMPLISH THESE ENDS ARE BREATH-TAKING IN THEIR SCOPE. Soon - very soon now - the neo-cons, like the poisonous snakes they really are, will strike, and the world will see such an astonishing exhibition of military might that the "very elect" will be carried away by it - again, as if such a display of power has anything to do with the Kingdom of God.

HOW CLEVER THE ENEMY IS

How clever the enemy of our souls is in all of this!

Yes, "signs and wonders" will accompany the emergence of the New World Order System. But they are NOT the "signs and wonders" most Christians are looking for, and are on guard against - and when they come, they will undoubtedly ASTONISH and STUPIFY them, and they will carry them away in a paroxysm of patriotism and religious fervor.

DO NOT BE CARRIED AWAY BY THIS DECEPTION

But you, dear Christian, need not be carried away by this deception. The Bible says:

"Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

"Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

"Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

"For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

"But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." (1 Thess. 5:2-6)

Listen to me here, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord: the "GREAT DECEPTION" of the "Latter Years" is not all that difficult to pierce - at least for those who "watch and are sober" (I Thess. 5:4) Jesus said:

"When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.

"And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the SIGNS OF THE TIMES?" (Matthew 16:2-3)

Clearly, we are called to WATCH for the "SIGNS OF THE TIMES" in light of the Scriptures - and Jesus calls those who are unable to discern these signs, "HYPOCRITES." In other words, these "signs" will be so clear that anyone who says he can't see them is a "hypocrite" - and that's a serious charge coming from the Lord: He is lumping those who say they can't discern the "signs of the times" in with the Pharisees of whom He said:

"Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

"But in vain they do worship me …" (Matthew 15:7-9)

Hypocrites! - people who say they love the Lord, but whose actions betray that claim - "IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME."

ARE YOU WATCHING?

Are you unable to see the "signs of the times?" Are you unable to fathom what's going on in the Middle East? Are you unable to understand what nation is Babylon the Great? Does it not concern you - truly concern you - that the armies of modern-day Babylon are now ensconced in the land of ancient Babylon? Are you unable to see the clouds of the Gog/Magog War gathering on the horizon? Are you unable to see that the stage is being set RIGHT NOW for this great war? Are you so blind that you cannot understand the significance behind the developing "Order of Battle" in the Middle East? - is it so difficult for you to understand the meaning behind -

1. The movement of two huge U.S. carrier battle groups into the Middle East to augment the carrier battle groups already there.

2. The "SURGE" of 50,000 more troops into Iraq.

3. The deployment of the new, improved Patriot Missile Systems to Iraq and Israel.

4. The shipment of several thousand "smart air launched weapons" to Israel.

5. The additional shipment to Israel of some 500 "bunker-buster bombs;" specifically the conventional "bunker buster" (the BLU 113), and the B61-11, which is the "nuclear version" of the BLU 113

6. The shipment of US Harpoon missiles armed with nuclear warheads for use by Israel's submarine force

7. The massive deployment of large numbers of air assets to the six "super-bases" the U.S. has built in the desert in Iraq.

The Bible says that if you can't put two and two together with regard to all these matters, you have to be "drunk." (1 Thess. 5:5)

NOW IT MAY BE ADMITTED -

Now it may be admitted that the "Order of Battle" that is now developing in the Middle East is not written in stone; nor is it specifically mentioned in Scripture. But certainly the presence of U.S. troops on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers is a clear "sign of the time," and when the developing "Order of Battle" as described above is added to this "sign," surely that should be the cause of some godly consternation.

The Bible compares the situation that we are in today with the situation a woman finds herself in when she is "great with child" - in other words, when she is pregnant. Specifically, the Bible says:

"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as TRAVAIL UPON A WOMAN WITH CHILD; and they shall not escape." (1 Thess. 5:3)

One cannot with any exactness say precisely when the baby will be born, but as the baby grows in the mother's womb, it becomes ever more apparent that the birth of the baby is approaching. Still, when "labor" finally begins, it can begin right "out of the blue" - in a shopping mall, on an airplane, in a car, at a party, etc.

Clearly, brothers and sisters, the first slight pangs of "labor" have begun, and they are occurring right before your eyes in the Middle East. If you don't "feel" these pangs in the developing "ORDER OF BATTLE" there, you are surely desensitized with "much strong drink."

IN THE LAST DAYS THERE SHALL COME SCOFFERS

But, oh, how hard it is to get people to take all this seriously - even friends and loved ones, even many in the ministry. I tell you the truth when I say that you cannot possibly imagine how difficult it has been for me during the last year or so to continue preaching the message that the Lord has given me. Even a great many of those closely associated with me have demurred at my insistence as to the IMMEDIACY of the situation before us, and I have been left pretty much alone to fend for myself up here in Canada. I have begun to learn through much heartache what Giovanni Papine meant when he wrote:

"NO ONE LOVES A PROPHET; he is a troublesome ... voice, HATED by the people and out of favor with the church. Like a wild, ragged, unkempt coyote scenting from afar the smell of carrion, like a raven ALWAYS CROAKING OUT THE SAME CRY, like a ... wolf howling on the mountain top, the prophet travels throughout the earth ... followed by suspicion and hatred ... He is ... a man who sees with a troubled heart - but with clear eyes - the compromises his friends and loved ones are making with the world today, and the consequences that will accrue to them tomorrow ... Like all truthtellers who disturb the slumbering majority and who unsettle the peace of the people, he is avoided like a leper, persecuted like an enemy and those who are looked upon as being 'reasonable people' detest him ..."

I am scoffed at; called foolish for moving to Canada, and rash and imprudent for advising others to get out of the United States as well. I am told that I am too severe, too brusque and too brutal, and that I should "tone down" the harshness of my message - make it more palatable.

Still - "like a raven always croaking out the same cry” - I dare not waver from the call of the Lord on my life. Eternity is pressing in upon me now, and I desperately want to hear those words on THAT day:

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant ..." (Matthew 25:21)

Being called a fool in this life is a small price to pay for that great honor.

I hope that this is the case with all of you as well; to that end, I URGE YOU WITH ALL OF MY HEART TO INVOLVE YOURSELF IN THE ANTIPAS TRAINING WHILE THERE IS YET TIME FOR YOU TO COME TO A REAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES YOURSELF. There will, after all, come a point when there is no time left for you to do so - and you will be left without a compass when you most need one. The Bible says:

"We have [this] … SURE word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place ..." (2 Peter 1:19)

You can sign up for our training here and begin putting your life on the line for Christ. This training well equip you for the hard times that are coming, and it well involve you in action. It will bring you out of your isolation into the open field where people will join you or cast insults at you and eventually persecute you for your belief. But isn't this what Christiantiy is about, and isn't this what Christ said:

"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

"Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 5:11-12, 14-16)

God bless you all.

S.R. Shearer
Antipas Ministries

* The term "Great Deception" does not appear in the Scriptures. It is a "common usage" term that is derived from Matthew 24:24 where the meaning behind the term is implied.