Keeping our hearts is truly the key to preventing ourselves from being deceived. Search for Puritan minister John Flavel's book "Keeping the Heart." Is it ever a worthwhile read.
So many pastors don't teach prophecy because they're among the deceivers the Bible speaks of.
I believe 2 Timothy 3 1-6 is referring to men who call themselves Christians. Unregenerate man has always been as described. Also, I believe the verse in Matthew 24 "because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold" refers to the fact that, as unregenerate man gets even worse than he's already been since he's moving that much further away from God, the love Christians are supposed to have for the unsaved will grow cold. May this never be true with you or me.
As far as being brainwashed by the Bible is concerned: like Bob Dylan said, you're gonna serve somebody.
2 Peter 1 19 means we don't have to be like the world, or the church world, that freaks out every time it thinks Trump is going to blow up the planet tomorrow or whatever else the tare controlled media tells the sheeple to fear.
Followers of other religions are persecuted for their faith but it is hard to argue against Christians being persecuted the most.
Zionism is a huge deception in the last days. The modern state of Israel, which is called Sodom and Egypt in Revelation, (well, specifically Jerusalem), is not the fulfillment of God's people returning to their homeland, though I believe God's true Israel people, the Caucasians who believe along with everyone else who does, could return to that general area during the tribulation. Modern so-called Israel is at best one of the original twelve tribes come home, and most of them aren't even genetically Hebrew in the first place.
Incidentally, the majority of Jews aren't Zionists.
Also, the modern political state of Israel was not born in one day in 1948. The first conference about establishing a Jewish state was held in 1896 and it took a lot of political effort to get to May 14, 1948.
It is incontrovertible Daniel 12 4 refers to the increase in general knowledge as far as technology and information is concerned, and to more people being able to travel than ever before. Alexander the Great and Abraham Lincoln both rode horses. At the beginning of the twentieth century, most people, as in the thousands of years before them, never traveled more than ten miles from where they were born. Now, travel is one of the world's largest industries and people think nothing of driving short distances, say 30 miles, that would have taken an entire day to cover the old-fashioned way. If you don't think these two things have resulted in any kind of positive effect on Christianity, give your head a shake.
As far as Luke 21 26 is concerned, it is interesting to note the news report I heard during the opening days of the scamdemic in 2020. Apparently, in New York City the paramedics were run off their feet, not from patients who had come down with the fake virus, but from people suffering heart attacks.
The pretribulation rapture is another huge end times deception. None of the proof texts for it ultimately check out. Besides, the idiots who are the most die hard believers in this false doctrine of the nineteenth century seem to think everything will just run along tickety-boo until the rapture, then it'll get terrible. As if nothing bad would happen in preparation for the tribulation.
I think more unbelievers are sensing something is up, even if they would not truly identify it as the time of the end. This indeed can be a good evangelistic tool for Christians. Just make sure to pay attention and take the opportunity to get truth out to someone when they say something along the lines of what we would call living in the last days.
Lord, burn out the lukewarmness of Christians with the fire of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, amen.
