Father make Your presence known in a very palpable way. We should be heading into a relative time of peace and gratitude but with all that is about us, the norms for many will not be the norms any time in the near future. No matter how much we may say we do not need You, the reality is that we most definitely do. You know that we do. Help us to see You. May Your radiance pierce through our darkness. Amen.

Luke 21:5-8 (<<click here to read the passage)

Charlatans seem to have always been amongst us. They may be in it for wealth or power. One would think that average everyday people wouldn’t buy into whatever they were selling but that is most definitely not the case.

Another word that comes to mind in this line of thought is the word hoodwink. Cambridge Dictionary’s definition is to deceive or trick someone.

When Jesus’ disciples commented on the beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem, He made it very clear that though a formidable structure it would be a pile of rubble in the not too distant future. Though it had been in existence for over six centuries, shortly after Jesus’ time here on earth it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Of course, they asked,

“Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to happen?” v7 AMP

And He replied with a warning,

“Be careful and see to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name [appropriating for themselves the name Messiah which belongs to Me alone], saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not follow them. v8 AMP

Enter the charlatans ready to hoodwink. Did you realize that even in the “enlightened” time in which we live there are numerous – yes, numerous! – individuals who claim to be the Messiah…Jesus Christ returned to earth?

One such individual is a man by the name of Vissarion, the Christ of Siberia. A traffic policeman in the 1980s, his first revelation that he was Jesus Christ came at the same time as the breakup of the Soviet Union. Since then he has gathered a following of 5,000–10,000 disciples in the Siberian forest. They live there in separate villages with their own infrastructure and social systems.

Do not be hoodwinked by charlatans! Again Jesus’ words,

“Be careful and see to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name [appropriating for themselves the name Messiah which belongs to Me alone], saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not follow them. v8

I don’t know what took place in the minds and lives of the individuals who all believe they are God’s Anointed One…but He has yet to arrive. We will know, for Jesus Himself in Mark’s Gospel tells us,

Then everyone will see the Son of Man [a title Jesus used for himself] coming on the clouds with great power and glory. Mark 13:26 NLT

What a day, glorious day, that will be!

Nov 18th, 2020, Wed, 1:03 pm