The whole concept of “past lives” and “implanted memories” rang quite a few alarms within me – but not, apparently, in this young man. He went ahead to the headquarters for his “programming,” happy as a lark to let someone play around with his mind and memories.

Science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard, believed that the modern-day science fiction genre is merely an unconscious recollection of real events that took place millions of years ago. It is a basic belief of the Church of Scientology – an approach to life based on Hubbard’s writings – that a human being is actually an alien spirit, called a “Thetan,” that is presently trapped on planet Earth in a human body. Scientology doctrine says that a Thetan is immortal and powerful, but because of its imprisonment in a human body, is unable to reach its full and awesome potential.

According to Scientology, every person has a Thetan within them – whether they know it or not. These Thetans have had innumerable past lives and all of these previous lives, before the Thetan’s arrival on Earth, were lived on other planets in extraterrestrial cultures.

The Scientologists describe how Thetans have been repeatedly mistreated over the eons, the result being that Thetans today are handicapped in a sense, causing various emotional, mental, and physical problems. The “auditing” sessions or methods are the only way to resolve these issues. More can be read about this concept in the books "Dianetics" and "Have You Lived Before This Life?"

Some, if not all, of the beliefs of this religious movement sound like some elaborate science fiction movie or comic book. Yet as unbelievable as their “space opera” doctrines sound, there are over 500 thousand people who belong to the Church of Scientology – which include notable celebrities who are outspoken advocates of Scientology, such as actors Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kirstie Alley if the media and internet reports are accurate.

The Apostle Peter knew this would happen. He warned us: “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. (2 Peter 2:1-3)

God may not be dealing with them right now – and that delay in His judgment may make us feel like maybe He isn’t going to do anything about these false teachers but, Peter assures us that their correction is just on hold for awhile – but it’s coming for sure.

• People who are intelligent and people who are foolish. . .
• People who are searching for truth and people who are complacent in their faith. . .
• People who are rich and people who are poor. . .
• People who are bored with life and people who are ecstatically happy. . .

. . . all have something in common:
they think first with their feelings, long before ever engaging their minds,
and because of that – they can be deceived.

Advertisers and marketing people have known for years that people will respond first with gut-level feelings - long before their intellect kicks in. Strong emotions grab a person’s attention. For someone in search of the meaning of life and emotional connections with others, a lie told well can look more attractive than the Truth!

Jesus warned us: “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even [the people of God] the elect – if that were possible.” (Matthew 24:24)

Fake Messiahs and teachers of false religions and gurus of off-base philosophies are going to pop up everywhere. In fact, it’s happening in our world today. Their “feel good” teaching or charismatic personalities or amazing theories and philosophies mislead everyone - even those of us who ought to know better. These deceivers are rising up in our culture and are doing and saying things that completely dupe and misinform people – including people who claim they follow Christ but who don’t have their faith screwed on straight.

Friends, when we don’t know what we believe or why – we can fall for anything. When we don’t maintain a steady footing in our faith – the world becomes a very slippery slope. Sometimes, people get tired of hearing the Truth – because it’s demanding and perhaps feels somewhat restrictive – so some decide they want something else that “feels better.” Sometimes, people get lazy with the Truth, and stop growing and developing – until something else comes along that catches their fancy.

The Apostle Paul warned us about that. He told us: “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

These “myths” might include what you might think of when you hear the word “myth”: ancient, traditional stories about heroes or supernatural beings that attempt to explain the origins of the world or aspects of human behavior.

But, “myths” are more than that. They’re a set of idealized or glamorized ideas and stories surrounding a particular phenomenon in the world, stories surrounding a concept, or perhaps even ideas and stories about some famous individual or group. “Myths” are widely held, but mistaken beliefs. They’re beliefs in somebody or in something that is fictitious or nonexistent, but whose existence is widely accepted as fact.

It would be like starting a religion based on the myth of Santa or the myth of the Easter Bunny! Paul says people will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to glamorous ideas and stories – widely held – about something fictitious or nonexistent! (2 Timothy 4:3-4) We’re in an age – right now - when people have no stomach for solid teaching and truth about God. The people in our world – and in our churches – want, instead, to fill up on “spiritual junk food”. . . catchy, cool fashionable opinions. . . feel good “New Earth” philosophies that tickle their fancy.

The people we know and love – and some of them are people we think are followers of Christ – these people are coming to the place, or may have already arrived – where they will no longer listen to right teaching, but they’ve decided to follow their own desires and are looking for ancient philosophies, New Age gurus, or cult teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear!

Perhaps you will face New Age teachers and false prophets. . . how will you hold up to their lies and deceit? Is your faith screwed on straight? Are your feet firmly planted?

Not only do we have celebrity spokesmen for Scientology, we’ve also got Oprah Winfrey leading a huge New Age television, radio and print empire!

Now – I’m convinced that right now, Oprah has no idea that she is spreading false teaching or starting a false religion. I still have some faith in Oprah. I believe she is just trying to supply a new “feel good” philosophy in order to help people. If she rakes in the dough in the process – that’s a plus for her. But I could be wrong. She may be doing this on purpose! She has a lot of wealth and a lot of power – and we know that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”

The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter what the initial purpose was for Oprah and her friends deceiving millions of people with false teachings that are not in line with Biblical Christianity. What matters is that people are, in fact, being deceived.

Beginning in January of this year, “Oprah & Friends,” (Winfrey’s XM Radio group) began a year-long course on New Age teachings called "A Course in Miracles," hosted by her long-time friend, Marianne Williamson. A special lesson each day throughout the year will completely cover the lessons from the "A Course in Miracles" workbook, available for sale in nearly every bookstore.

• Lesson #61 tells you to continually repeat the affirmation “I am the light of the world.” Funny – I thought JESUS was the light of the world.

• Lesson #70 teaches the student to say and believe – get this: “My salvation comes from me.”

("A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume" (Glen Ellen, California: Foundation for Inner Peace, 1975), (Workbook), page 16, and the preface, page ix.)

By the end of the year, Oprah’s listeners will have completed all of the lessons and will have a completely re-defined spiritual mindset - a New Age worldview that includes beliefs that there is no sin, no evil, and that God is “in” everyone and everything.

“A Course in Miracles” teaches people to rethink everything they believe about God and life. In fact the Workbook bluntly states: “This is a course in mind training” and is dedicated to “thought reversal.”

In fact, the Workbook states:
“Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy. But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than that is required.”

In other words – even if you don’t agree with them or believe them at first – do the mind training exercises anyway. And they are most definitely mind training.

Here’s how I’ve come to that realization. When I used to get in trouble in school, the teacher would make me write “sentences.” Ever do that? I would write “I will not talk in class” 100 times on the board or on some notebook paper. The goal was to modify my behavior and my mindset. When I made mistakes on my math problems, I had to do 10 more similar problems until I knew the formula forwards and backwards. The goal was to train my brain to think in this new paradigm. When I was in a school play, I’d “run my lines” over and over again to memorize them. The goal was to get them solidly planted in my memory. I can remember some of my lines even now, 30+ years later. In track, I would practice “exploding” out of the blocks until I could get the fastest start. The goal was to make each start “second nature.”

The lessons from Oprah’s radio show – which I checked out online - ask the student to do a prescribed series of 6, two-minute practice periods each day with the same pattern repeating. This is a form of self-hypnosis and behavior modification through regimented mind training techniques.

For example, in Lesson #29, “God is in everything I see,” Williamson told the students to:

1. begin with repeating the idea to yourself “God is in everything I see;
2. then apply it to randomly chosen subjects about you, naming each one specifically.
3. The student was to do this 6 times in a row for two-minutes each time.

Williamson even gave the students a sample list of subjects that make up a suitable list:
• God is in this coat hanger.
• God is in this magazine.
• God is in this finger.
• God is in this lamp.
• God is in that body.
• God is in that door.
• God is in that waste basket.

Williamson then tells the students, in addition to the assigned practice periods, to repeat the idea “God is in everything I see” at least once an hour, all day long, looking slowly about, saying the words unhurriedly to yourself.

Mind training – and they make no apologies for it.

The book, "A Course in Miracles," originally published in 1975 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, was written by Dr. Helen Schucman, Professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia University. Schucman heard an “inner voice” that she believed was Jesus, that gave her a new revelation to help humanity. Unfortunately, this book has misled and misinformed thousands in the last 30 years. Now, with Oprah’s help, this false teaching will deceive perhaps millions more.

Most of what she wrote sounds ridiculous enough that most of us would not be taken in. But, there are also phrases that sound quite nice, and reasonable at first glance:

“Light and joy and peace abide in me.”
“I am as God created me.”
“My part is essential to God’s plan of salvation.”

When people hear these can easily get sucked in. In fact, "A Course in Miracles" talks a lot about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. But scratch the surface and you get a whole different belief system.

For example, the “Light and joy and peace abide in me” (Lesson 112) also contains this affirmation: I am the home of light and joy and peace. I welcome them into the home I share with God, because I am a part of Him.

You can see these lessons at: http://www2.oprah.com/xm/mwilliamson/mwilliamson_archive.jhtml

Very dangerous lessons – sounding almost true - but are very deceiving. If it were as bizarre as “Xenu, the Emperor of the Galactic Confederacy” we might not be duped! But the very concept of deception is that it is so close to the truth that even the people who know the TRUTH can get sidetracked. When it comes to deception – the closer they are to Truth – the better the deception!

That’s why, as Christ-followers, we need to be so very careful about what we read, watch on TV and listen to on the radio! We have to know WHAT we believe and WHY we believe it! And then we must STAND FIRM on our faith!

The Apostle John tells us: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” (1 John 4:1-6)

Hear that again: This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood: whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us!

These New Age gurus and teachers love to talk about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. But when you start talking about BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY – faith in Christ the way God’s Word defines it and explains it – they turn a deaf ear and will have nothing to do with it.

Instead, they call us “narrow minded” and “fundamental” and “spiritual snobs” who are “unenlightened” and “unwilling to be accepting of other beliefs.” As far as I’m concerned - that’s some name calling I can accept and appreciate!

“New Age” teachings like the stuff Oprah is spreading – or allowing to be spread - are rampant today. Much of it is based on pre-Christian spiritualism, Eastern mysticism, pantheism, and witchcraft.

There are no specific holy writings in New Age philosophy. The Bible might be considered important to some, but it’s not considered “God’s inspired Word.” Almost any text can be used – like “I Ching,” Taoist writings, the Koran, writings on Astrology, Hindu writings, books like “A Course on Miracles” or “The New Earth” which is also a featured title from Oprah’s book club and now on the end caps of Wal-Mart.

One basic New Age belief is “pantheism” - that everyone and everything is god or has a divine spark of god in it. “God” as a being is either non-existent, or is an impersonal force or principle, not a person. Each individual has unlimited inner power and the ability perform what could be considered “miracles” and should work to discover this inner power and force.

Jesus is included by most New Age gurus as a spiritual model and a teacher of ethics and the ways of being spiritual. To many of these false teachers, Jesus has tapped into divine power just the same way anyone can. Jesus did not die or rise from the dead; he “rose” to a higher spiritual realm.

Some goals of New Age religions or philosophies are world unity, world peace, and health of mind, body and spirit, and to reach this, some New Age philosophies employ tools and activities such as Yoga, Transcendental Meditation (TM), Spirit Travel (Eckankar), channeling of spirits, Tarot Card readings, Palm Reading, Astrology, and, the use of crystals for healing or for getting in harmony with God.

But at no time do these New Age philosophies stress that Jesus is the way to God! In fact – these religions may deny entirely Jesus’ importance in attaining eternity and offer up multiple pathways to enlightenment and eternal life.

But Jesus told us: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Paul also taught us very carefully: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

The scary part is that these New Age teachings sound so nice and “feel good.” Yet, when you dig into them you find they are far from Truth!

The Apostle Peter gives us this caution about the slippery slope of not being wary: “... be on your guard, so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men, and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:17)

Be on your guard. That means that deception can sneak up on us. We have to be careful out there! And we have to be intentionally learning and growing. Jesus told us about this with a stern and careful warning: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)

In recent years:
• we’ve seen David Koresh and Branch Davidians which was an offshoot of the 7th Day Adventists;
• we’ve seen Jim Jones and The People’s Temple in Guyana which was an offshoot of the Disciples of Christ;
• we’ve seen the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church which was said to be started as a unifying ministry for all Christians denominations in the world – now boasting nearly 3 million followers worldwide.

These cults started by sounding very much like Biblical Christianity. However, these cult leaders began teaching theology and doctrine that – to most Bible-believing Christians – sounded totally off-base. All three of these leaders – as is the case in most cults - proclaimed themselves to be Jesus, or a reincarnation of Jesus, or a new Messiah.

But here’s the crux of the matter: they attracted many followers – many of them confessing Christians who were led astray. How is that possible? These false teachers looked and acted like sheep – but were really wolves. More than that – the people who listened to them were either far from faith in Christ, or were Christians who didn’t have their feet firmly planted in their own faith in Jesus and they easily fell for the lies these leaders were selling!

Now, most of these that I’ve talked about so far are fairly recent cult religions. A fairly cursory examination of their teachings, and we can find error fairly easily. However, on the surface – at first glance – most Christ-followers wouldn’t quite be sure of what’s wrong.

But, there are religions out there that have been around for generations that have beliefs that are so close to the Truth, that we tend to dismiss them almost as “denominations” rather than viewing them as outright false. We’ve heard about and dealt with the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses for generations, with their odd twists on the truth – twists that make them false in the eyes of most Bible-believing Christians – but with millions of followers.

In the news right now is the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, a splinter group from the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church. This peculiar sect has been in the news recently because of leader Warren Jeffs’ continued teaching on polygamy and under-age wives.

What does Warren Jeffs and the FLDS teach? Well, in reality, just about the only difference between the FLDS and the regular Mormon Church is that the Mormons officially abandoned plural marriage, but the FLDS have not given it up.

Mormons believe that God was once a man, but became God. The Christian, Biblical perspective states that God always was, and man is a product of the creative act of God. Therefore, man is secondary and subservient to the Creator. However, in Mormon doctrine, this belief is reversed: man always was, then became God, therefore God is a product of the obedience of a man to these distinctive Mormon doctrines which resulted is his being exalted to godhood. So, in Mormon doctrine, man predates god.

God, who was once man, has a physical body, as does his first wife, the Heavenly Mother. God has many other wives and millions of children – it’s how he became God.

Mormons teach that worthy men may one day become gods themselves. The way this is accomplished is for a man to have a certain number of spiritual children with his one wife (in the modern Mormon Church) or his multiple wives (in fundamentalist sects like the FLDS). The more wives a man has, the quicker he can get his children born! A man can have more than one wife because he can keep a number of them pregnant – sort of a spiritual baby factory – but a woman doesn’t have more than one husband, because she can only have one baby at a time. Mormons believe they will continue to procreate after their death, until the full number of children are born. At that time, the man and his wives create their own world to populate and govern.

The Mormons believe that Jesus is just a man, and that his death does not atone for sin – but it does provide resurrection. The only atonement for sin is good works on earth, including extreme faithfulness to church leaders.

When you dig only this deep – you find how they have ventured far from the truth. It’s amazing to discover that there are currently close to 12 million Mormons in the world!

Jehovah’s Witnesses are viewed as a denomination of Christianity – but there is nothing about them that is Christian as defined by Biblical Christianity.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God, named Jehovah, is a One-Person God – in other words, Jesus is not divine – not a part of God. Instead Jesus is the first thing that God created, and before he lived on earth, he was called Michael, the archangel. This man, Jesus, died on a stake, not a cross, and was resurrected as a spirit only. This spirit-only Jesus returned once in 1914, and is coming again soon with his angels to destroy all non-Jehovah’s witnesses in the battle of Armageddon – the battle between the forces of good and evil that marks the end of the world.

Salvation in heaven is limited to 144,000 “anointed ones”, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe this number has already been reached. The reason the Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to come door-to-door is to help the rest of humanity earn everlasting life on Earth. The ones in heaven live as spirits only, while the ones on earth live in a human body and must do no wrong whatsoever for 1,000 years or be annihilated by God.

Again, it is amazing to discover that 17 million people worldwide currently follow this false religion.

Clear back to the time of Moses, God was warning us about false teachers and bizarre beliefs: “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and Him you must revere. Keep His commands and obey Him; serve Him and hold fast to Him. (Deuteronomy 13:1-4)

It is the Lord we must follow and revere; we’re to keep His commands and obey Him, serve Him, and hold fast to Him. But Jesus told us that. . . “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. . .” (Matthew 24:12) He was talking about us - His followers. Our love can grow cold because of the increase of wickedness in the world!

Friends, believing something is not enough. You’ve got to know what you believe and why you believe it! Someone can believe in Jesus – and not know what that means or why they believe in Him. And when a deceiver comes along – selling snake oil cures, or “feel good” philosophies – there we go, following something that tickles our ears. If our feet aren’t firmly planted in the beliefs of Biblical Christianity – we can fall for anything that sounds like Truth; whatever strokes our fur and makes us happy.

There are lies and deception out there in greater numbers today than in any other time in history. The enemy of our souls is engaged in a full-out war on the lost of the world – tying them up in feel-good religions that have no truth so that they can’t find the real Jesus Christ of the Bible. But the enemy’s also engaged in an onslaught against you and me and our faith!

"For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible." (Matthew 24:24)

Our challenge is to remain faithful to our Lord, and not to be deceived by the lies the enemy perpetrates on the unsuspecting world and on us to mislead us if we’re not careful, obedient, devoted, and focused. We’re to know the truth, and stick to it!

We’re to be prepared in season and out of season – prepared when we KNOW we’re going to be lied to and prepared for the times when the lies and deceit come out of left field! We’re to be prepared to correct the false teaching and rumors; we’re to be prepared to stand up to people and rebuke and scold them for their misguided lies and false teachings of God’s truth; and we’re to be prepared to teach them – and our friends and family and neighbors - with great patience and careful instruction in what God’s Word really says. We’re to keep our heads in all situations because we’re all going to endure hardships.

May I give you some pointers?

Here are some of the false beliefs many cults or false religions will be spewing: This is what to look out for in the teaching. . .
• Jesus was just a man
• He was created by God, as opposed to being eternally existent with God.
• Jesus was a great prophet, but not God.
• Jesus is God, but He’s less than the Father.

None of that is accurate.

They’ll also deceive with this:
• The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three separate gods – but not one God in three Persons.
• Jesus was not raised bodily from the dead – just raised in spirit.
• There are many ways to God, not just through Jesus.
• There really is no such thing as “sin,” so Jesus’ death wasn’t necessary.
• Sin is real, but people must “pay” for their sins, Jesus won’t.
• Jesus is not the only son of God – there are other begotten sons.
• Jesus will never come again.
• Jesus has already come (and some believe may be in the form of a current world or religious leader).
• A united world government is a goal, and world peace is possible if we work hard enough and bring about a Utopia on earth.
• God will soon bring a fiery and cataclysmic Armageddon to destroy all the people who do not follow the teaching of the cult or religion.

These are some of the teachings that come close to Truth – or sound like Truth – but diverge from Biblical Christianity – making them false and misleading. That’s why it is so important to know what you believe! Get it down. Understand your faith. Then stand on it! If not – you’ll fall for any and every false teaching like leaves pushed in every direction by every wind that blows. (Ephesians 4:14)

Here are some of the things you can look out for in terms of what false teachers and cult leaders do and think: This is what to look out for in the person. . .
• They don’t believe in the authority of the Bible. It’s a nice text – but it isn’t divinely inspired by God, nor is it authoritative, meaning they don’t believe it– contains the commands and precepts of God.
• These leaders have identified or written additional texts or books that are equal to or help “complete” the Bible.
• These leaders distort the meaning of Scripture – usually by adding to it or subtracting from it, or reinterpreting it in ways that do not take into consideration the WHOLE counsel of Scripture. (Deuteronomy 4:2, Acts 20:27)
• They claim to have special knowledge or a corner on Truth. (Gnosticism)
• They minimize the claims of Jesus Christ – by claiming they can explain His miracles by scientific means or some other phenomenon.
• They claim that their teaching is more true or as true as Christ’s.
• They imply or claim outright that “god” is in all people.

The more dangerous of these leaders will generally:
• Stress unwavering loyalty to their leadership.
• Expect conformity of behavior of their followers.
• Manipulate and exploit their followers – telling them who to marry for example.
• Demand that their followers get out and fervently recruit others, including proselytizing (getting people from other churches).

Paul told us: “... just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:4-8)

How can you avoid being deceived?

1. Know what you believe and why you believe it
Find out the basic tenets of Biblical Christianity. Study them. Ask questions of your pastor. Read books. Dig deep into your beliefs. Once you know WHAT – find out WHY you should believe these things.

2. Be a committed student of the Word of God
Get into scripture and find where these beliefs are found. It’s not enough that you adopt certain beliefs – you need to study them, not only once, but many times over. Internalize them and make them part of your credo for living. The Word of God is a huge weapon for fighting false teaching. It’s where the Truth is found!

3. Be actively learning and intentionally growing
No one learns everything there is to know, and then stops learning! Keep with it. Find out more. Go deep – then go deeper still. Prayer, devotional living – all are important weapons in dealing with lies and deception in the world.

4. Be consistent in your fellowship with mature Christ-followers
Christ’s Church is a powerful tool – a weapon really – in the war to win souls for Christ, and in the battle to protect each other from the enemy’s deceit!

5. Learn to recognize error and avoid deceitful people/things
When you know the Truth – error stands out like a sore thumb. When you see or hear error, move away from it. Don’t listen to it and don’t buy in to their lies.

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Fake Messiahs and false teachers and messed up religions are going to pop up everywhere. They’ll pull the wool over the eyes of everyone - even those who ought to know better, and that means Christ-followers like you and me. They’ll and say and do things that completely dupe, mislead, and deceive people everywhere – including the people of God who don’t have their faith screwed on straight.

Believing something is not enough. Christ-followers have to know what they believe and why. Our challenge is to remain faithful to our Lord, and not to be deceived by the lies the enemy perpetrates; we must be careful, obedient and fully-devoted. With mighty weapons of God such as prayer, His Word, His Church, and the Holy Spirit, we break down all of these false arguments – and are victorious in our faith.