When a family member passed away, I inherited a very beautiful and healthy-looking six-foot rubber tree plant in an eighteen-inch-tall brass pot. I read online how to care for the plant. I watered it and dusted its leaves for two years. One day I was in deep-cleaning mode and took the plant outside to spray it off. The spray blew off a leaf, and I noticed water running out of the pot. I thought I had over-watered and carefully poured out the water. There was a lot. Then I picked up the leaf, turned it over to see if it was diseased, and read “made in China.” For two years, I had deceived myself, ignoring obvious signs such as it never grew any taller and the buds never bloomed. Even when I polished each leaf with mayonnaise, which I had read would keep the leaves healthy, I refused to see the fact that it was not what I thought it was.

Facts may be different than what we think or hope. Have you rented a vacation condo that looked amazing online only to discover it was a dump in a sketchy neighborhood? Have you purchased an item with five-star reviews and later found out it was a scam? Do you question the accuracy of the nightly news? According to a 2023 Gallop poll, 58% of Democrats, 29% of Independents, and 11% of Republicans feel the news is “fully, accurately and fairly presented” (https://news.gallup.com/poll/403166/americans-trust-media-remains-near-record-low.aspx).

Many are being deceived about the importance of belonging to a church. Another Gallup poll asked: “Do you happen to be a member of a church, synagogue, or mosque?” (I wonder why “happen” was in the question. Does church membership happen by chance?) Only forty-seven percent of adults in the United States answered “yes”.

Of course, belonging to a church and attending a church are not the same thing. Yet another Gallup poll released March 25, 2024, shows that three in ten U.S. adults attend religious services regularly, 21% every week and 9% almost every week. A reported 11% attend religious services about once a month, while 25% seldom and 31% never attend”. Satan’s whisperings that church is—a burden, a waste of time, irrelevant, uncomfortable because members are judgmental—is working.

Many who leave The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a different reason for leaving. They say they have been deceived, lied to about Church history. They question prophetic motives and see the Church as a large corporation rather than the Kingdom of God on earth. They seek out likeminded people to share angst. They make and listen to podcasts that support each other’s disgruntlement. They organize and proselytize.

Amazingly, this reason—being deceived—fulfills prophecy: The Lord said: “For in those days there shall also arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch, that, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect according to the covenant” (Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:22). Who are “the elect according to the covenant”? Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Alma would ask those who are deceiving or being deceived the question he asked Korihor: “Why do ye go about perverting the ways of the Lord? Why do ye teach this people that there shall be no Christ, to interrupt their rejoicings” (Alma 30:22)? Nephi said of those practicing priestcraft: They “set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion” (2 Nephi 26:29). President Joseph F. Smith warned of the “proud and self-vaunting ones, who read by the lamps of their own conceit; who interpret by rules of their own contriving; who have become a law unto themselves, and so pose as the sole judges of their own doings” (“Beware of False Prophets and False Teachers,” Ensign, Nov. 1999, 62–63).

Being deceived is a theme in scripture; a form of the word is found 125 times. Until recently, I didn’t know that being deceived is a sign of the Second Coming. I found this truth in Joseph Smith-Matthew in the Pearl of Great Price, which is a grand treatise on how to avoid deception and prepare for the Second Coming.

Joseph Smith-Matthew is Joseph Smith’s emendation of Matthew 24 as found in the King James Bible. The Lord instructed Joseph in March of 1831 to turn his energies to the New Testament and promised an outpouring of knowledge: “All these things shall be made known… that ye may be prepared for the things to come. For verily I say unto you, that great things await you” (D&C 45:60–-62).

Great things! Yes! As Joseph was working on Matthew 24, he was inspired to add 575 words and make more changes to Matthew 24 than any other chapter in the New Testament (see https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/the-pearl-of-great-price-student-manual-2018/joseph-smith-matthew?lang=eng).

One remarkable aspect of his changes is that he rearranged the verses. He put them in this order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 8, 22, 23, 24, 6, 25, 26, 27, 28, 7, 14, 29, 34, 35, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43. This reordering of verses divides the chapter in half to show which signs apply to the first abomination of desolation (when the temple and people in Jerusalem were destroyed (verses 1-21), and which signs foretell of a similar desolation (verses 22-45). Some signs apply to both events.

The Lord used the word again to make this point. This is interesting because again is not found in Matthew 24 but is found six times in Joseph Smith-Matthew. Here’s an example: “And again, because iniquity shall abound, the love of men shall wax cold; but he that shall not be overcome, the same shall be saved. And again, this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come, or the destruction of the wicked; And again shall the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, be fulfilled” (Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:30–32, italics added).

Thinking about the Second Coming can cause anxiety because we do not have control over the prophesied events: rumors of wars; nation rising up against nation, kingdom against kingdom; famines, pestilences, earthquakes, iniquity that causes the love of many to wax cold (Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:28-30).

Thankfully, there is one prophesied event over which we do have control. It is what we have been discussing—being deceived. Of all the prophesied calamities in Joseph Smith-Matthew, being deceived is mentioned the most—five times:

5 And Jesus answered, and said unto them: Take heed that no man deceive you;

6 For many shall come in my name, saying—I am Christ—and shall deceive many;

9 And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many.

22 For in those days there shall also arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch, that, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect according to the covenant.

37 And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived….

We control where we seek information. We control what we watch and listen. We control how we spend the Sabbath. We control with whom we surround ourselves—people who are believing and filled with the Spirit or those who are doubting, angry, and spiritually stubborn. We control how tightly we cling to the rod of iron. We control to what degree we treasure the word of God.

Joseph Smith-Matthew spells out how to avoid deceivers, false prophets, and ordinary men and women who sow seeds of doubt.

  1. Remain steadfast (dutiful and unwavering). “He that remaineth steadfast is not overcome” (verse 11).
  2. Be watchful and ready. Look forward to the great day. “I say unto all men; watch … and be ready for you know not at what hour your Lord doth come” (verses 46-48). “Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord, in the clouds of heaven, and all the holy angels with him” (Matthew 24 JST).
  3. Treasure the scriptures and words of the living prophet. “Whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived” (verse 37).
  4. “Stand in the holy place” (verse 12). Although “holy place” is singular, we know by modern revelation that holy places are homes, temples, sacrament meetings, and wherever “two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).
  5. Even though “iniquity shall abound,” try with fervency not to let your “love… wax cold” (verse 30).
  6. Watch out for rumor (see verses 23 and 30). Today rumor is infinitely more prevalent than the word-of-mouth transmission of former times. Satan uses the Internet and AI. “Wherefore, if they shall say unto you: Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: Behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not” (verse 25). Beware! When Jesus Christ comes, the whole earth will see it together. “For as the light of the morning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, and covereth the whole earth, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be” (verse 26).

Watering a plastic plant is not of earthly or eternal consequence. Being deceived about Jesus Christ is. There are false prophets and teachers among us. Guard against deception. If you don’t put the gospel of Jesus Christ first in your life, it doesn’t matter what you put second. Watch and be ready for great things are prophesied.