From the verses prior to Matthew 24:11, we can see that the Lord is prophesying a spiritual conflict between two groups of people: the well-established and humanly-recognized leadership of the Church vs. a humanly weak prophetic remnant with no recognizable authority but the Anointing of Christ in their lives. Therefore, verse 11 is speaking of how the Church's leadership would operate in the spirit realm to solidify their support among believers and to prevent the spiritual rise of God's prophetic remnant. Through a spirit of subtle spiritual deception, the Church's principalities will try to prevent their own inevitable fall.

As we have shared in a previous article, a "false prophet" is a person who puts spiritual power to work that relieves external symptoms without dealing with the root issues. False prophets focus on mental peace and emotional peace while neglecting the peace that really counts: the peace between our wills and God's will. False prophets are "workers of iniquity" who emphasize dynamis power over judgment logos. They emphasize the blessings of power and neglect the "painful" word of judgment that destroys roots of iniquity. Without a foundation of righteousness built on judgment logos, dynamis power becomes a deceitful appeaser that tricks people into thinking that they are right with God when they really aren't.

As we saw when we studied the 4 horses of the Apocalypse, the prophetic remnant comes with a strong judgment anointing that will destroy the roots of iniquity inside the Church. As we have seen before, the Lord cannot come without the cursing unto destruction of all the roots of unrighteousness inside the Church first. He cannot fully manifest Himself from inside the Church and out to the entire world without the Church being cleaned up first.

"²⁶And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. ²⁷Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. ²⁸And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed." (Isaiah 1:26-28)

As verse 27 above declares, God will redeem His Church through judgment, and that judgment will lead to the fall of the strong oaks that are now worshipped by the Church, i.e.- the leadership:

"²⁹For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. ³⁰For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. ³¹And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them." (Isaiah 1:29-31)

The "maker" that verse 31 refers to are all the believers who provide the ground-swell of soul support for the "strong" leaders. It is this group of supporters which can either make or break the domination of an earthly king. As the Church's leaders have begun to be threatened by the prophetic remnant, they have sought to strengthen their weakening kingdoms by solidifying their "fan base". This has opened a door in the spirit realm that has allowed for a massive influx of Hittite spirits of deceit into the Church. 

As we have said before, the gifts of the Spirit that God gives us act as "power plugs" that can be either connected to God or to Hittite spirits of deceit. When those power plugs are connected to God, dynamis power flows out of a foundation of righteousness, and that power works to destroy iniquity and to transform people's lives. However, when those power plugs are connected to Hittite spirits, dynamis power is released into the natural realm that does nothing but remove external problems, without transforming people on the inside. This type of dynamis power is less painful and "quicker" because it removes God's judgment sword (Hebrews 4:12), which makes this type of power more "popular" and appealing to carnal believers. Such power, however, comes at a terrible price. As Hittite spirits are allowed to infiltrate into the natural realm, the influence of other left-handed spirits (the Canaanites and the Hivites) increases. As all these spirits flood in, immorality increases, public lewdness increases, violent crime increases, and blaspheming increases. The saddest consequence of all is that direct relationship with God is lost. The present benefits of deceitful power are paid in the near and distant future -- with 700% interest (Luke 11:26)!!!

No unrighteous ruler can ever rise to power if there is not a significant group of people who support his unrighteousness. These supporters are the unrighteous ruler's "maker"; they create their "golden calves" by yielding their spiritual gold and silver to it. Once they "make" their ruler, they sustain his authority through their continued soul support. The unrighteous rulers know this, and they give their supporters superficial presents that are motivated by a hidden agenda, and that agenda is "control". These unrighteous rulers act like "regal clowns" that keep the little children happy by performing magic tricks that distract the children from the truth that would lead to their true growth.

As the Church's leaders are threatened by the truth-bearing, judgment-making remnant, they are making full use of their God-given gifts to release people-pleasing dynamis power into the Earth. Since judgments bring temporary suffering, the Church's rulers are appealing to the believers' natural fear of suffering by offering a grace-based "gospel" that promises health, happiness, prosperity, and the end of all problems, without the need for righteousness' growing pains. This is the essence of the false prophets' deception in these latter days.

Who is most likely to be deceived by false prophets in these latter days? The answer can be found by studying Hosea chapter 7:

In a positive sense, wine is a figure of the joy of evangelistic conquest, but, in a negative sense, it is a figure of Canaanite and Hivite excess. Therefore, verse 5 speaks of how the "princes" (i.e.- the Church's leaders) have inebriated believers by instilling them with Canaanite and Hivite attitudes. Notice also how verse 7 speaks of the judges being "devoured". This emphasizes the fact that the "grace drunkenness" (Ephesians 5:18) has been fostered by a Canaanite hate for God's judgments; those who speak of a God of judgments are immediately devoured by the Girgashite-Canaanite serpent inside the Church.

Notice also how verse 5 begins with the phrase "in the day of our king". This refers to "King Jesus" and is a prophecy on how the Church's princes would obstruct God's latter-rain plans. This is the day of the Lord's Glorious manifestation inside His Church, but the Church leadership has refused to understand this. Instead, they have worked to hinder His manifestation. Why? Because, once Jesus is manifested as King, they will no longer be able to claim kingship over God's people. King Jesus will be manifested in the flesh through righteous believers who will manifest Yeshua's authority and anointing on Earth. This manifestation is hindered by leaders who want to preserve a human hierarchy where they are "top dogs" (literally) and where believers are not allowed to manifest their spirit nature. All believers are kings (Revelation 1:6, Isaiah 61:6) with God's spirit nature in them, and leaders are called by God to help in the growth and manifestation of that nature. However, the Church's leaders have chosen to suppress the believers' spirit nature. This is why verse 7 speaks of "all their kings being fallen". Whenever any "average" believer begins to manifest a kingly nature in the Spirit, the Church's Amorite kings immediately knock him or her down, as if they were knocking off "potential competition". Cursed be these men and women, for they beat down those whom they must lift up, and they lift up those whom they must beat down.

"My Day is coming", says the Lord, "and I will demand payment; My wrath is upon you; your glory shall fade, and your kingdoms shall fall"

"⁴⁴Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. ⁴⁵Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? ⁴⁶Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. ⁴⁷Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. ⁴⁸But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; ⁴⁹And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; ⁵⁰The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, ⁵¹And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 24:44-51)

In Hosea 7:7, quoted above, the Lord makes a reference to all 3 "male" ministries:

This means that the matriarchal congregations that emphasize the "female" ministries and suppress the "male" ministry anointings are prime candidates for the false prophets of Matthew 24:11.

From all of the above, we can now answer the question at the top of this section: The believers who are most likely to be deceived by false prophets are the "leader pleasers" who are willing to do anything to gratify their human leaders; these believers abhor the God of judgments, and they are comfortable with the effeminate God championed by the pastoral matriarchy. Such believers do not know the God of Israel.

Why is God allowing many in the Church to be deceived by the false prophets in these latter days? To answer this, we have to continue reading Hosea chapter 7:

"⁸Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. ⁹Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. ¹⁰And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this." (Hosea 7:8-10)

In verse 8, the Lord is declaring that "Ephraim", i.e.- the "grace-aware Church", is using and abusing its grace the same way the unbelievers who don't know God do. In verse 8, the Lord also calls Ephraim "an unturned cake", meaning that it looks "holy" and "pious" on the top side, but it is burning with Canaanite, adulterous passion underneath. It compares itself to the unbelieving world and judges itself to be righteous and "walking with God", but it is operating under the same spiritual principles of Canaanite adultery and Amorite fornication on the inside.

Verse 9 says that strangers have devoured the Church's strength. These "strangers" are the evil spirits that roam inside the Church and are foreign and contrary to God's Spirit. Most believers are not aware of these "strangers" in their midst; they are unknown and "strangers" to them. In the meantime, these strangers continue devouring the Church's Spirit-strength.

Verse 9 also speaks of how the Church is "aging". As we have said before, the evil spirit most related to "aging" is the Girgashite spirit of earthliness. Believers throughout the Church (especially pastors) derive their sense of "spiritual strength" from the number of years they have been a "Christian" or from the age of their denomination. Instead of seeing their temporal humanity as a sign of weakness, many believers see it as a sign of strength. To the Most High God, temporal measures of "strength" are pathetic and irrelevant.

The manifestation of our spirit nature does grow in the context of time, but not necessarily with time. Besides that, the eternal value of our spirit-being is the same at any stage of our spiritual growth. Is an adult human being, for example, more valuable than a child? Don't we in fact tend to treasure and care for a child more than we do an adult? Both the child and the adult have the same value on the inside, but we tend to be more protective and caring towards a child because his or her internal value is being transported in a more fragile shell. I know old believers who proudly raise their heads and shoulders when they are asked how long they have been a Christian; these same "Christians" immediately look down upon any believer who may not be half as "old" as they are, in "Christian years". Instead of treasuring the "younger" believer, these older believers see their irrelevant "Christian seniority" as a stamp of superiority. The more mature a believer really is, the more likely he or she will be to see the inherent God-value inside every believer. Truly mature believers also understand that a believer's spiritual growth can defy the normal limitations of time. Why? Because the Spirit is not bound by time -- it never has been, and it never will:

"⁴⁶And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. ⁴⁷And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. ⁴⁸And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. ⁴⁹And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? ⁵⁰And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them." (Luke 2:46-50)

"²⁵And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. ²⁶And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, ²⁸Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, ²⁹Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: ³⁰For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, ³¹Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; ³²A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. ³³And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him." (Luke 2:25-33)

Hosea 7:10, quoted above, declares that Ephraim is full of pride. She is decaying under the curse that God placed on the Girgashite spirit she takes so much pride in (Genesis 3:17-19), and the sad thing is, she doesn't know it!!! She thinks that she is spiritually strong and healthy, but strangers drained her strength long ago, and she never found out about it!!! Her pride has blinded her and has set her up for an inevitable fall:

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)

"⁵And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. ⁶They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them. ⁷They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions." (Hosea 5:5-7)

God has set a trap for Ephraim's feet. He is ensnaring the proud believers who love blessings more than righteousness. He has set up a net where He will trap these believers in order to cleanse His Church by separating them out of her:

"I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD." (Jeremiah 50:24)

As we have seen before, the "dove" is related to the apostolic ministry of judgments. The word for "silly" in the phrase "silly dove" of verse 11 was translated from the Hebrew word pathah meaning "to be spacious, to be open", and it refers to believers who are so "open-minded" that they accept iniquity as "good". Verse 11, therefore, refers to believers who hate judgments and who therefore open themselves up to spiritual contamination; they defer judgment to higher authorities and simply say to themselves, "If the pastor says it is good, it is good; if he says that it is bad, it is bad". Instead of being doves that herald God's spiritual laws and judgments, leader-pleasing believers turn into silly, useless doves with no judgment authority to transform the world.

Even though the silly doves will try to take refuge in Egypt and Assyria, they will not escape God's snare. As we have said before, Egypt represents the Girgashite spirit of human traditions. Some doves will think that they can stand before God and say, "Lord, I based my life on the traditions that were taught to me at church, and those traditions were centuries old", without realizing that God does not care for traditions; He cares for truth. It is completely abhorrent to me to hear well-known pastors speak on television about returning America to her "traditional values". The core of their argument is, "America acted in such and such way for decades and decades, and that's the way it should always be". I would like to ask these silly doves the following questions: "Would adultery suddenly become OK if it were an American tradition? Wasn't racial discrimination a Southern tradition for decades and decades, and did that make discrimination OK?". The only reason why these foolish pastors base their defense of certain values on "tradition" is because they have no arguments in the Spirit to convince and confront others. Truth must stand on its own merit, not on whether it has been a "tradition" or not. Let those who have ears hear what the Lord is saying.

The silly doves will also try to take refuge in Assyria. As we have said before, the spirit of Assyria is the spirit that promotes a left-handed "gospel" of blessings and happiness. Therefore, the silly doves will think that they can escape from God's snare by taking refuge in a "gospel" where judgment is abolished and where the important thing is to live a happy, prosperous life surrounded by family and friends. Taking refuge in Assyria is equivalent to standing in the middle of a busy highway and closing one's eyes while saying, "There are no cars on this highway; if I say it and claim it long enough, the cars will automatically go away, and I won't get hit". You can pretend that the God of judgments is not there, but He will continue to be there. You can pretend that the God that calls us to pay a price for others is not there, but He will continue to be there. You cannot wish Him away.

Oh, silly doves! You can fly but you cannot hide:

As we have said before, to "curse" something is to condemn it unto destruction. Therefore, God is cursing the silly doves in verse 13 by saying "destruction unto them". Notice, also, that He is no way referring to unbelievers here, since He declares that He has "redeemed" them.

In verse 13, the Lord accuses those that He has redeemed of speaking lies against Him. These lies consist of saying false things about God such as "God is a God of love, and God would never curse anyone" or "God is a God of mercy, and He would never call any of His children to suffer". Another typical lie is "God has called us to obey authority; therefore, if you disobey your pastor's orders, you are automatically sinning against God". It is interesting to me how pastors who proclaim this lie suddenly stop believing it when a believer moves to "their" congregation despite the orders of the pastor in the other congregation. When the believer's disobedience benefits them, the disobedience is suddenly "from God" (we share more on the issue of obeying authority in two previous articles).

[A better translation for the word "corn" in verse 14 would be "wheat"]

Notice how the Lord declares in verse 14 that the lovers of iniquity assemble for wheat and wine. Many believers think that the ticket to avoiding God's judgments is to go to church every Sunday and to have an emotional experience while being there. Even though there is nothing inherently wrong with going to church every Sunday or with having an emotionally impacting experience there, all of that means nothing to God if your heart is rebellious against His judgments. Notice how the Lord says in verse 16 that the lovers of iniquity return, but not to the most High. The lovers of blessings return to church Sunday after Sunday, but not to repent of their ways and seek God's Face; instead, they return time and time again to get more and more blessings from God's Back.

As we have said before, bows and arrows in Scripture refer to the prophetic ministry. Therefore, the phrase "deceitful bow" in Hosea 7:16 means that blessings-lovers have perverted the prophetic anointing, turning it from a channel of God's purposes on Earth to a cheap means of getting a "religious thrill". Notice also how the Lord ends verse 16 by declaring judgments on the "princes" (i.e.- the Church leadership) for the "rage of their tongue", which refers to how the Church's leadership so violently attacks those who move in the true prophetic anointing of God.

In conclusion, we can say that that the real ensnarer of the blessings-seekers will be God Himself. Just as God sent a Hittite spirit to deceive the false prophets in 2 Chronicles 18:18-20, and just as He sent satan to attack Job, so will God release Hittite spirits into iniquity-loving congregations so that the distorters of God's truth may be ensnared. Both the "leader" and the "led" will be deceived, and both shall fall:

"I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers." (Jeremiah 51:23)

God will get the leader-pleasing blessings-seekers drunk on "blessings" and "religious experiences" so that they may fall and never get up again:

"³⁹In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD. ⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats." (Jeremiah 51:39-40)

Would a God of love get people drunk in order to destroy them? Apparently He would, and He does, and He is doing so even as we speak. To the stubborn mules who persist in saying, "That was the God of the Old Testament" goes the following passage from the New Testament:

"¹²For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. ¹³Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. ¹⁴And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: ¹⁵For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Matthew 13:12-15)

Notice how God is saying that He does not want certain people to understand, because if they understood, He would be forced to heal them. He does this with those who are thick-hearted (v15), i.e.- those who are so stubborn in their hearts (i.e.- wills) that they refuse to accept God's desires and God's ways of judging things. The New Testament also says the following:

"¹¹And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. ¹² His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. ¹³And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. ¹⁴And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." (Revelation 19:11-15)

Does the Yeshua of the passage above sound like the soft and delicate "Jesus" that the Assyrian pastors preach? It is interesting to me how pastors love to speak about the "marriage supper of the Lamb" that is mentioned in Revelation 19:9, but they rarely preach about the Jesus who appears two verses later, in verse 11!!! The Gospel is not like ordering a pizza; you can't pick and choose which ingredients you want and which ingredients you don't.

The false-prophets Trojan horse is inside the Church, even as we speak, and it is God who has sent it. He has sent it to test the Church. Those who love to please their leaders and who love blessings more than they love God and His Truth will fall for the horse, and will fall by it. Those who are willing to go against the tide and suffer persecution, rejection, betrayal, and isolation for the sake of righteousness will not fall for the horse. They will flee out of Babylon before it's too late, and they shall be raised up in these latter days to manifest God's Glory on Earth.

"⁶Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence. ⁷Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. ⁸Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. ⁹We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. ¹⁰The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God." (Jeremiah 51:6-10)

{The next article is titled "The Gospel of the Kingdom"}