Mark 13 • Avoiding Deception Trails

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Mark 13: Avoiding Deception Trails
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Did you know that a disciple’s greatest danger is not war, calamity, persecution, or betrayal? It is deception. What are you doing to protect yourself from the dangerous trap of deception? In the last article in this Mark series, we learned from Mark 12 why our God is a God you can know and love. In this post, we will learn from Mark 13 how we can recognize deception trails and avoid them.

Listen to this blog as a similar podcast from our Heartbreak to Hope Bible Study of Mark.

What We Can Know About the End Times

To many of us, the Bible’s prophetic teaching about the end times is like a wilderness—remote, hard to access, and challenging to navigate. The more you get into it, the more you feel lost. Just as there are many trails that cross in a wilderness, there are many beliefs about end-times prophecy. After a bit of study, it all begins to get more complicated. Consider Jesus’ teaching in Mark 13 or the parallel passages in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. But it is really not complicated if we stick with what we can know.

Taken directly from Mark chapter 13, there are five things we can know for sure.

  • What We Can Know #1 (vv. 7-8): Jesus said conditions on this planet are not going to get better but worse! We can forget the idea of world peace until He comes back.
  • What We Can Know #2 (vv. 9-13): Persecutions and betrayals will affect Christians until Jesus returns. He will give us strength to endure them plus the words to say. And we are not to be afraid.
  • What We Can Know #3 (vv. 14-23): This great time of worldwide, massive tribulation has not happened yet. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was not the worst that had happened before that or even since that time. It is still to come.
  • What We Can Know #4 (vv. 24-27): Jesus is physically coming back to planet Earth, and no one is going to miss it. Isn’t that good news? We just do not know when He is returning.
  • What We Can Know #5 (vv. 33-37): Jesus is leaving His disciples behind with certain responsibilities. To them and to all of us, He says, “Stay alert.”

In Mark chapter 13, Jesus warned His disciples eight times—8 times—to “watch out,” “be on guard,” and “be alert.”

“You must be on your guard. … So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. … Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. … Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back … What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” (Mark 13:9, 23, 33, 35, 37)

Be on guard for what? Stay alert to what? I looked at all His teaching and concluded that a disciple’s greatest danger is not war, calamity, persecution, or betrayal. It is deception. That is Jesus’ warning to them and to us as He says at the beginning of this chapter,

“Watch out that no one deceives you.” (Mark 13:5)

Watch Out That No One Deceives You

Bad direction

Deception affects the direction our minds are going and our bodies follow. That reminds me of hiking a trail in a wilderness. Hiking in a beautiful mountain setting can be delightful. Or it can be downright frustrating when you cannot find your trail because a signpost is misleading or three trails appear where there is only supposed to be one. You may take a trail that seems right only to find that you have been deceived.

The further we get into the last days and the more complex society gets, the easier it is to be deceived today. You can get instant information from social media, websites, and digital streaming. How do you know when your mind is being manipulated to believe a deception? That danger is enhanced through all the AI infiltrating the web!

My husband Ron directed a wilderness camping ministry for many years, often including our family. In a wilderness, there are lots of trails. Among all the trees and valleys, the trails look alike. If you do not check your map and compass and cannot see over the next hilltop, you cannot be sure if a certain trail is going to take you where you need to go. To effectively navigate the maze of trails, a hiker must rely on her map and compass.

The need for your map and compass

Our Bible is like a map that gives us an aerial view of the right trail following Jesus as well as all the wrong ones. The Holy Spirit is our compass, always orienting us to Jesus and His way. Without relying on our map and compass, we can easily be deceived. At least 33 New Testament verses warn believers about being deceived or led astray from our sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Here are two of them:

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

We have a spiritual enemy. Deceiving us is one of his best means for making us ineffective at pursuing Christ completely. We put all our energy going in the wrong directions. Let us call those deception trails.

Deception trails are anything that wastes our time, energy, and money by sending us in a direction away from our responsibilities as a disciple. These responsibilities are knowing Christ and following Him only while being His witnesses as we let Him live His life through us. When we choose to make certain mistakes, we become vulnerable to deception trails.

Let us all assume the role of a hiker. What kinds of mistakes can we follow?

Deception Trail #1: Ignore the Map and Compass; Go by How You Feel

Years ago, I was watching a teen lead her youth group on a hike using a compass. After lots of instruction, the teen ignored the “N” for north on her compass and lined up the compass needle with the “S” for south instead. Though feeling confident in her direction, the student led the whole group 180˚ opposite from where they should have hiked.

What is the deception? It is okay to ignore the map and compass. Go by how you feel and still end up where you want to go. Do any of these statements describe you?

  • I feel I am not good enough for God to love or else He would not let bad things happen to me.
  • I feel like I have to still earn His approval by working harder or being better.
  • I feel like some of my sins are not forgivable.
  • I feel like this action is right, so it must be right.
  • I feel that this is my karma.

These statements all deal with emotions.

Emotions are good. God gave us emotions. He has them. Jesus had emotions. We can use our emotions to properly respond to different situations and to God with our hearts.

But emotions can distract us because they are responders. They will line up with anything we want them to match, just like the teen’s compass needle lined up with the “S” instead of the “N.” Relying on how we feel about something rather than on the Bible and the Holy Spirit to guide us makes us vulnerable to being deceived.

Consider all those feelings I just mentioned or any other emotion that seems to be running your life—fear, worry, anger, or impatience. Trust the Holy Spirit to help you find a New Testament verse that teaches truth. Then, let your emotions respond to God’s Word. They will line up eventually since the Holy Spirit, the true compass, lives inside of you guiding you to biblical truth—never opposite of it. If you feel you are not forgiven or loved, that is not the Spirit’s voice. Your emotions are distracting you from relying on your map and compass.

As a Christian, you are forgiven. God loves you dearly. Troubles are expected with life on earth. Manipulation by guilt is bad for you. You are not self-sufficient. You are not under karma but under God’s grace.

Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you.” That includes ourselves! To avoid an emotional deception trail, rely on the map and compass to pursue Jesus’ trail!

Deception Trail #2: Thinking Great Gear and a Great Body Guarantee a Great Hike

Great gear ≠ great hike

You might think that great gear would guarantee a great hike. But it is not true. Hikers in perfect physical shape with very expensive boots and equipment still get blisters on the trail and altitude sickness.

For a successful hike, you must plan where to set up camp, where to get water, and what to do in the midst of heavy rain, hail, and lightning. You need to know where the trails lead and where you want to start and end up. That is pursuing the important things. Otherwise, you will have a miserable hike regardless of how good you look because you will be at the mercy of the weather, the wilderness, and other people.

I read an article that said the answer to emotional fitness and life balance is to get selfish and pursue whatever pleases your senses. Then, you will become healthier and happier. The message is this: If we have better gear (such as a nicer home, newer car, stylish clothes), we will be happier. If we have a better body (slim, wrinkle free, big boobs), we will be happier. Is that true?

We only have one body, so we should want to take care of it. It is the biggest ministry tool we have. And I like nice stuff around me just like you do. But that desire for great gear creates a stranglehold on us.

Be prepared for trouble

Calamities will come. When they do, Jesus warns disciples not to go back for a cloak or other belongings (Mark 13:15-16). Why would they do that? It is because when we invest in stuff, we want to hang on to it. But will getting selfish with our body and stuff help us follow Jesus only and be His witnesses? Probably not. Will it make us happy? We might get enjoyment. Yet it is no guarantee for happiness. It is a deception.

But the more serious deception is that pleasing our physical senses should take priority in our lives so we will be strong enough to get through life. The culture tells us to energetically pursue the lesser things.

Predetermine priorities

If we truly believe that knowing Christ, following Him, and being His witness in our world is our priority, that should be evident in how we spend our time, energy, and resources. We have all these other things demanding our time or things we want to do. We need to predetermine what will take priority before we are bombarded with others’ demands, or the lesser things will dominate.

We can ask Jesus to help us prioritize our lives because we have seen Him do that already in Mark. He knew how to say, “No” to some things, even good things like teaching and healing crowds of people. He did this to spend time on the important things—prayer with His Father (Mark 1:35) and building relationships with His disciples (Mark 3:7, 13).

Dear reader, if we are going to be selfish about anything, let us be selfish about giving ourselves permission to spend time with Jesus in His Word and prayer. Ask yourself if frequent time with God and His Word is just as necessary to functioning effectively in your life as going to the gym, running errands, and whatever else that could fill your free time. Then, give yourself permission to neglect a few things such as doing the dishes or checking email until you get time with God and His Word done.

Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you.” That is anything or anyone claiming to be more important than Him in your life. To avoid pursuing the lesser things, rely on the map and compass and pursue the important things in your daily hike following Jesus. Read this blog for more insight: Stop the “Jesus Is Not Lord” Infection.

Deception Trail #3: Assume All Signposts Are Accurate

Another mistake we can make while hiking is to assume all signposts are accurate. Jesus warned His disciples twice in Mark chapter 13 about listening to other voices instead of His voice.

Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. … At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. (Mark 13:5-6, 21)

Besides telling us to please ourselves, what other kinds of tricks is our culture doing to influence our thinking? How does our response affect those around us? Very few of us hike alone. We usually hike as part of a group—whether two or twenty.

Twisted signposts

My husband told me about what happened once to one of his hiking groups. At the intersection of two trails, the signpost had rotted at the bottom and was twisted, but the group did not know that. Instead of getting out their map to check, they saw that the sign read “Pecos Falls.” That is where they wanted to go so they just took off the way the sign pointed. Half an hour later, they realized they were going uphill and not downhill. Falls are at the bottom of a ridge, not at the top. So they got out the map and retraced their steps. Heading in the right direction rewarded them with the enchanting sight and sound of cascading water.

But what if they had continued on that wrong trail? Everyone in the group would have gotten way off course, spending lots of time and energy climbing uphill, and no one would have seen the beautiful falls.

Some cultural signposts are misleading, maybe even rotten at the bottom. They keep us from being effective at following Jesus.

Deceiving voices to women

Here is one cultural voice calling out to women especially. The signpost says that women are superior to men, that children do not need fathers because women are sufficient in themselves, and that men cannot be trusted because they are imbeciles.

We are fed this garbage continually—on TV, in magazines, and in books. That is a deception. Christian woman are not immune to it. When we listen to other voices besides Jesus’ voice, we can be unconsciously drawn into behavior and thinking that is very ungodly, something we really do not want to do. The more we listen to that “deception,” the more accepting of it we become.

We women have laughed at men’s quirks for years and vice versa. But now the culture makes it easier for us to get drawn into ridiculing the men in our lives and to think that we women are the only ones who can be trusted. This kind of thinking appeals to women who are angry with men. And they look at Biblical Christianity as male-domination. So they say, “Let us make God female” and “Let us rewrite Christianity.” We are seeing this happen all around us.

Paul warned in 2 Timothy that a time will come …

“… when men (and women) 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)

Be a wise doorkeeper

How do you protect yourself from this kind of deception trail and others like it? Ask Jesus to help you be a wise doorkeeper of your mind and mouth. The Bible says that God created both men and women in His image. Neither are superior to the other. Both are equal and needed in His Kingdom. Both are significant in the lives of children. Both men and women are to be God-dependent rather than self-dependent.

Just because books, music, and TV shows are labeled “Christian” or “family-oriented” does not mean that they are good for us. I have chosen not to watch certain shows because I do not like the way men are portrayed and how the women treat the men. I am too impressionable! And I have been a Christian for more than 40 years. I know myself. If I listen to that kind of stuff, it will get a foothold in my brain and come out of my mouth. I have to protect myself from that influence. I am sure you do, too.

Trust the map

Here is what our map says:

“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 2:8)

Cultural captivity is a real danger. Do not let other people’s thoughts be a replacement for the Bible. Compare what you are being told with what God’s Word says. Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you.”

Stay within Sight and Sound of Jesus

An important trail rule is for hikers in a group to stay within sight and sound of the leader. It is the best way to keep from getting lost or left behind. As believers, we need to stay within sight and sound of Jesus’ voice, which are the Bible and the Holy Spirit within us. When we don’t, we make ourselves vulnerable to following a deception trail.

We do not know what is ahead for us as 21st century Christians. But we know we can face anything described in Mark chapter 13 if we stay alert, effectively follow Jesus, and be His witnesses as He lives His life through us. The effort of the hike will be worth it, especially when we see Him in His glory.

What changes do you need to make today to keep you alert to deceptions and to rely on your map and compass so that you can hike Jesus’ trail effectively?

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with hope, healing, and love as you get to know Him and trust Him more each day.

The above information is covered in our Heartbreak to Hope Bible Study of Mark.

AI was not used to generate this post.

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