Deception in the Last Days

Dr. Couch, you speak often about deception that will come in the last days. What does the word mean? ANSWER: In Greek the word is "apatee" meaning "to cheat, mislead, entice" with the idea of seduction. In my commentary on Thessalonians I write "It stood as a sign of the end times with all its destructive consequences. When the seven year tribulation begins, with the church gone in the rapture, this seduction will grow worse as the kingdom of the Antichrist becomes darkened and then starts to disintegrate." Paul first used the word in prophecy in 2 Thessalonians 2:10 and shows that this is what the Antichrist will do ("deceive") with the generation that follows him. I believe verses 10-12 could begin even now, before the rapture of the church. In other words, the departure of the lost, moving deeper into evil, could begin even before the church is taken away. It will grow worse as the Antichrist captures the minds of the lost. Paul goes on and says men will be deceived "because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false." The result: "They will be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." There is the apostasy of the church before the rapture, and also an apostasy of the world, in that men will gallop deeper into sin and deception even just before the seven year tribulation starts. I believe both could be happening right now. Some have asked me, "But is not the rapture imminent, in that it could happen at any time, with nothing taking place before?" Dr. Couch, are you saying that the apostasy must come before the rapture?" There is a little phrase that we often miss when discussing the "difficult times that will come" (2 Tim. 3:1). In these verses (3:1-9) Paul is talking about a kind of departure that will happen with the lost, "in the last days …" (v. 1). His description is about the lost who will morally turn worse and worse in their actions. (Read the verses.) Then the apostle says, "And avoid such men as these." While on one hand, the world will fall deeper into sin and an apostasy, some men were already around in Paul's days, who were living the way he describes before the "last days." Paul did not know God's timetable. Paul was not certain—God had not given him all the information as to the "when" of these events. Then how can we know we're into the final days before the rapture? Because of the (1) universal nature of all that is now happening, that is, the explosion of evil, and because (2) the Jews are back in the land in preparation for the seven year tribulation! I believe we are now rapidly moving into the apostasy of the church, and the deepening immorality of the world! The next event will be the rapture of the church! Thanks for asking. Dr. Mal Couch