To Deceive, If Possible, Even the Elect

    The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, is interesting in many ways, but nothing beats the verses warning us about the dangers of our future in Matthew 4:23-24 which say, “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

   Behind these words are stern warnings for us to pay attention to what Jesus is telling us for our own good. Two areas of danger I see today that could relate to the warnings Jesus gave us in this passage in Matthew are two websites I found on the Internet: Ascension Press and Catholics Come Home.  While we can apply Jesus’ warning to these programs, recently there seems to be an increase in Catholics who are fighting for their religion more so than ever before.  It’s like a tug-of-war. We are warned to beware of deceptions that will increase, while those loyal to deceptions are fighting hard to protect and defend them.

   What are these two Catholic programs and how do they so smoothly attempt to deceive people? The material that follows is coming straight from the information that is sent out to the programs’ members in advertisements each month. This month we’ll look closer at the Ascension Press material and leave the Catholics Come Home material for next month.

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