MISINFORMATION IS A HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE

By Akin Ojumu

Toward the end of His ministry on earth, the disciples of Jesus came to Him one day in private, as He sat on Mount Olive, to ask Him a question that had troubled their minds for a while. They wanted the Master to tell them the things they should look out for as signs for His return and the end of the present age.

Jesus’s response to their inquiry is quite illuminating. Considering all that’s going on in our world today, what the Lord told them literally blows my mind.

In Matthew 24:4-8 we read, “And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many people. And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.”

These are the signs of the end times that Jesus told his disciples to look out for in Matthew 24:4-8:

Misinformation/Disinformation

Matthew 24:4-5: “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many people.

War

Matthew 24: 6-7: “And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…”

Famine

Mathew 24: 7b: “…and there will be famines in various places”

Death (i.e., Natural Disasters/ Pestilence/ Plagues)

Matthew 24: 7b: “…and there will be earthquakes in various places”

Revelations 6 parallels Matthew 24:4-8. The horse riders in Revelation 6 represent peace, war, famine, death. These are the same that Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 24:4-7. The Lord said, "you will be misled, war will break out and rumors of war will fill the airwaves, famine will be everywhere, and natural disasters (i.e., widespread destruction, mass killings and massive deaths) will be a daily occurrence."

Before war, ahead of famine, and preceding death, however, the very first thing Jesus listed as a sign of the end times was misinformation. Jesus told them they will be misled and lured away from the truth.

Jesus said, “…See to it that no one misleads you.” 

Prevarication and obfuscation are the first signs of the end times. The earliest manifestation of increased satanic activities of the end of times is the spread of false information. The propagation of fake news and explosion of hoaxes are the hallmarks of the apocalypse. At the first light of the end times, people will be misled into believing in lies and they’ll be lured into false saviors and drawn into a false sense of peace.

To those out there who still doubt that this present age is coming quickly to a close, who still wonder if we are really at the end times, who question the coming judgement and deny the existence of hell, I have great pity for you. We are witnessing our world drowning in a sewage of disinformation, deception, and delusion, and many continue to live in denial. Peddlers of misinformation and disinformation beguile many into a faux peace, and many kid themselves into believing the hype heaped on them by wolves in costly sheep's clothings.

The Church is at the lowest and weakest moments in its history, and that’s not because of persecution. On the contrary, it is the lack of it. Having gotten accustomed to unrestrained comfort and given to a rapacious appetite for uninhibited pleasure, the Body of Christ has grown lazy and fat. The Church is being deceived into believing it is rich, has become wealthy, and has no need of anything. What it doesn't realize is, it is wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

Drunk on the Kool-Aid of deception, the secular world thinks everything is hunky dory; the economy is booming, scientific breakthroughs are commonplace, and technological advancement is at its highest peak. Inebriated with the toxic brew of falsehood, the Church confuses its steep relapse with a spiritual renaissance; the church buildings are massive and palatial, huge crowds attend Sunday services, and the tithe and offering bowls are full to the brim. Then suddenly, war, famine, death and destruction come upon them.

But as the Lord Jesus told His disciples that day, on Mount Olive, “...all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains of the intolerable anguish and the time of unprecedented trouble.” Worse things are coming.