[Darris McNeely] Have you ever heard anyone make a prediction about the second coming of Jesus Christ only to be proven wrong? A lot of people do that. It's probably one of the most popular past times regarding Bible prophecy and predictions. We're into a series on BT Dailies here on Bible prophecy and you. In the Olivet Prophecy in Matthew 24, the apostles asked Jesus Christ what would be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. One of the first things—actually, the first thing that He mentioned was in verse 4 where He said, "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name saying, I am the Christ and will deceive many'" (Matthew 24:4-5). 

So He immediately warned against religious deception. One of the aspects of religious deception that does quite often come up regarding Bible prophecy is false predictions about when Christ will return. In fact, in the earlier Sermon on the Mount Jesus made this prediction again in Matthew 7:15. He said, "Beware false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." What Jesus was doing there as well as in the prophecy in Matthew 24 was just reiterating what was a long standing warning in God's word against people who make false predictions, false claims, and indeed are false prophets.

[Steve Myers] And it's amazing that Christ would start with that very point—don't be deceived. Because I think it's an indication that we could be fooled about this. And there are many out there that bring a false message. And the Bible's very clear when it comes to whether things are truth or whether they're counterfeit. And if someone is preaching, and you're listening to that, and what they predict—if that doesn't come to pass, there's an interesting passage that's over in Deuteronomy and in this particular passage, it's in 18:21. It talks about a prophet  predicting things. And if those prophecies don't come to pass, Deuteronomy 18:21 says they are a false prophet—don't listen to them. It's proof that they are not following God. They are not God's prophet. And so Christ was very concerned about truth verses what is counterfeit. And that is very important as we come to the end time.

[Darris McNeely] Absolutely. This was carried on by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. The Apostle Paul himself talked about false apostles and people making false claims. He says in verse 13, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ." It's even possible for someone to, by their own efforts, by their own charisma, personality, appear to be an apostle or delegate of Jesus Christ, even speaking His words and appearing to be truthful or even having aspects of the truth. But, this very clear warning from Paul labels them as false apostles. And here's why, because of the power that's behind such efforts and such people. Paul goes on in verse 14 and he says, "No wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works" (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). That's verses 13 to 15 here in 2 Corinthians 11. And so Paul really reveals the true power behind people who make false claims about even who they're representing and by what they teach and certainly when it comes to prophecy and the predictions that they make about any aspect of prophecy.

[Steve Myers] And I think that's the interesting thing when you consider this subject. You've got the truth that Christ preached and that is opposed by what is counterfeit. Because the counterfeit can be the counterfeit gospel, the counterfeit message—that's what Satan is doing. He's appearing as an angel of light, and so Christ warned right off the bat, many would come in my name saying I'm the Christ—so they'll sound religious. They'll be false religious leaders, false ministers, false preachers, false prophets. And that's what Satan does. He loves to counterfeit the truth and mix the truth with enough error just to throw people off.

[Darris McNeely] Now remember, the critical question that the disciples put to Jesus was what would be the signs of the end of the age and of your coming. And that tends to be the most popular type of false prediction, when will Jesus Christ return. I don't even have to give popular, current names of people, ministers and ideas that are out there where people set this date is going to happen, the beginning of the time of the end or the return of Jesus Christ and they appear and they are proven to be false. So this is a critical question. It's a critical point for you to understand about Bible prophecy and how it's going to impact your life because you don't want to be deceived or caught up in anything like that. In our next episode on this topic, we're going to give you some keys to help you understand how to discern between those that are true and those that are false on this matter of predictions and Bible prophecy.

[Steve Myers] That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.