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Posted on 02/11/2026 6:01:57 AM PST by ViLaLuz
In Matthew 24:12, Jesus provides His disciples with an overview of the end times. He says, “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (ESV). This verse is part of a larger discussion of the end times; the passage is often referred to as the Olivet Discourse. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at gotquestions.org ...
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First, Jesus warns His disciples about deception. He says, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray” (Matthew 24:4–5, ESV).
Next, Jesus speaks about wars, rumors of wars, famines, and earthquakes (Matthew 24:6–7). Though we may be startled by these events, Jesus assures us that “these are but the beginning of the birth pains” (verse 8, ESV). ...
Jesus says, “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold,” He is speaking of moral decadence. In the last days, there will be a decline or decay in moral standards and values. God’s holy and righteous standard for living will be spurned. Instead of following God’s standard, sinful humanity will follow their own way. Lawlessness and wickedness will increase.
Paul also sounded the warning about “terrible times in the last days” (2 Timothy 3:1). He expounded on the lawlessness of that future time: “People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:2–4, ESV). Unsurprisingly, love for God and neighbor—the two greatest commandments—will grow cold. This is the result of rampant and unmitigated lawlessness. ...
I think we are seeing what it means.
Without a doubt. Now is the time to shed all useless distractions and focus on what’s really important, getting/ being right with God; and helping out families and neighbors do the same.
Just turn on the TV and you’ll see exactly what that means. I am absolutely certain that we are living in the end times and that the extreme narcissism and rapidly increasing lawlessness of our time demonstrate it. I also am convinced that the great apostasy that is predicted is with us now as well, in the form of alleged “churches” that are more focused on mystical personal experiences and chasing “signs and wonders” as well as personal revelation, than they are on simply hearing God through his printed word and preaching the plain gospel. “Itching ears” indeed.
THAT is what Jesus is referring to in Matthew 7, when he says, 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
“Instead of following God’s standard, sinful humanity will follow their own way. Lawlessness and wickedness will increase.”
He was referring to events in Jerusalem. Humanity had never followed God’s standard, at no time in history, up to that point.
GotQuestions.org is a favorite!
Thanks.
DEMOCRATS are LAWLESS because REPUBLICANS are BALLLESS!
When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?
He’s talking about the End Times, not just Jerusalem.
Next, Jesus speaks about wars, rumors of wars, famines, and earthquakes
“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (ESV
1) lawlessness indicates a standard of judgement. What is it?
2) because............then. It is the lawlessness that leads to a love (choosing God) that grows cold. Not the other way around. Something to think about.
Yep, just go to any democrat ran city and take a photo. Thats what it looks like!
He connected the end times, (end of the age) with the destruction of the temple. That was 2,000 years ago.
It’s pretty clear isn’t it?
“See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray” (Matthew 24:4–5, ESV).
Here is part of a post I made on Monday on a “Devil’s Infrastructure” thread. It applies to this scripture as well.
Many years ago I was guided to attend a Christian Businessman’s Association dinner with an evangelist speaking after the meal.
I arrived late as I had been traveling out of the area, and the people had finished their meal, all setting in a separate room with chairs lined up like the pews in a church. By the time I arrived, all the chairs were full, except for a few off to the side of the evangelist, similar to where an acolyte normally sits during a church service. I was looking at the side of the evangelist and by turning to my left, I was looking at the faces of all people attending.
The evangelist was very charismatic, manipulating people’s emotions and using song to amplify the mood. I noticed that he held a Bible in his hands the entire time, but never opened it. It was more a stage prop than a reference tool.
Normally, I can physically see the Light of the Holy Spirit. It appears to me as a liquid golden Light that flows into a person from above and surround their upper body when it is present. Often I will see it come down upon a minister like a spotlight that moves with them as they walk around. I tried and tried to see the Holy Spirit in the evangelist, but there was nothing. I blamed myself as I had just driven several hours in the rain at night, with the wipers on high to get to the event. I was very tired and assumed that my tired eyes from the strain of the drive were failing me.
Soon, the evangelist walked back into the people attending, pointed his finger at a woman seated along the center isle, and shouted “The Holy Spirit is in you now. You are drunk with the Spirit.” She fell off the chair onto the floor and couldn’t stand up.
I strained my eyes and squinted, but could not see the Holy Spirit in or around her.
Soon, the evangelist had people standing and as he waved his hand in front of them, they fell backward into the arms of assistants that were there to catch them.
I kept trying to see the Holy Spirit, with no success.
Suddenly, I realized that the evangelist was using stage hypnosis techniques. I had gone through all the training, learning hypnosis and stage hypnosis as part of my studies in neuroscience and consciousness, so I was aware of the techniques. Although trained in it, I never used stage hypnosis, nor never will as it is pure mind manipulation and control, something I couldn’t live with myself if I ever did.
I became physically sick seeing this. I left the event, standing near my car in the rain, turned to God with tears flowing from my eyes and asked “Why was I led here to see this atrocity?”
God answered immediately, loud and clear, “This is how the anti-messiah will lead my people astray.”
The surrender to God must be done within self. Never should an individual surrender their will to another human being, as if they do, they don’t have control over their own will and cannot surrender it within self to God.
About a month later, I was sitting in Sunday School which was held in the church library, and a book on the shelf behind the teacher stood out to me, almost as though it glowed. After the class was over, I walked up, opened the book, and began reading. The book was by Chuck and Nancy Missler, “The Way of Agape: Understanding God’s Love.”
In this book, Chuck explained a four step process that I know from experience, parallels a stage hypnosis trance induction. It works in any size group, even football stadiums full of people.
He qualifies it by stating that if anyone uses this process to do harm, they are accountable to God for their actions. It is provided only to help people learn discernment.
The following are the steps which cause human consciousness to be surrendered horizontally to another human being rather than to God. A person experiencing this will swear on a Bible that they are Born Again. It is a false process that satan uses to lead people astray. The following is a paraphrase from my memory as I read this book over thirty years ago. The words may not be exact, but the message is accurate.
The process works better in an evening service or at the end of a weekend retreat.
Step 1: Shout and then whisper. Allow the volume of your voice to change frequently causing people to listen more carefully. If using a PA system, have the operator turn the volume up and down.
Step 2: Get emotional and create emotional swings in the group. Tell a very sad story with a happy ending. Have people give testimonials how finding Jesus changed their life to complete this process. Music amplifies this process. You will often see this in congregations where the people put their hands in the air and sway back and forth. It destabilizes the emotional consciousness of a person.
Step 3: Induce guilt or anger. Guilt is very easy to create in a religious setting. This really destabilizes human consciousness. When this happens, it causes the person’s consciousness to lock onto another person, surrendering their individual will and losing individual discernment.
Step 4: Offer them a way to get rid of the guilt. Surrender! Problem is, in the above setting, it is a horizontal surrender to another person and not a surrender to God.
The false process creates an external surrender of your will to the speaker. The real process creates an internal surrender to God. Often it is very difficult to tell the difference.
I spent over a dozen years, traveling and attending charismatic churches of many denominations, from Messianic Jewish, Pentecostal, Catholic Charismatic, Independent, Baptist, Lutheran, New Age and also Hindu and Buddhist services. The techniques are the same, no mater the religious wrapper that is placed around them.
Please recognize that just because I observed the techniques in a religious group does not mean that all groups within a denomination or group use the false techniques. Please do not throw out the baby with the bath water.
I pray that these words are helpful.
PS. The irrational behavior related to Trump Derangement Syndrome functions in a very similar manner, except the individual surrenders to the peer pressure of a group with whom they associate. They lose their ability to use logical discernment and become very emotional and irrational.
Agreed.
Agreed.
All failures.
Your welcome. So much good reading and studying there.
Here’s the most important part:
How to get right with God
https://www.gotquestions.org/get-right-with-God.html
Thanks so much for sharing this. It’s a powerful warning. It gives insight as to how “even the elect” can be fooled, if that were possible. I’ve also noticed 0bama used these same techniques.
I’ve been to some church events, too, where there was no Holy Spirit but knew there was mass deception going on. Also individuals under something other than the Holy Spirit wanting to lay their hands on me. Other times a spiritual heaviness of evil is present, so strong it could be oppressive without the armor. Thankfully Jesus protects His children. If it weren’t for Him we’d be lost, for sure.
I also learn much from Missler’s studies. That book you mention is new to me, I’ll have to look it up. Thank you Brother.
Like a lukewarm church. We know what happens to a lukewarm church.
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