Stay Woke! The Last Hour is Here, Don’t Be Deceived

Shared on March 23, 2026

Introduction

Certain men, some who love to proclaim themselves as Christians, are proudly standing against what they call “woke-ism”.  This is a term that they have demonized and co-opted from a phrase created just a few years ago.  A few years ago, a community wanted surrounding communities to be aware of their plight.  Imagine the spirit that demonizes awareness.

Don’t let politicians or anyone, for that matter, proclaiming to be Christ, but moving wickedly, deceive you.  There’s an evil spirit at work and moving today.  No matter how much being woke is spoken against, you must stay woke and stay vigilant so that you don’t fall.

The Hour of Deception

I want to share a moment in scripture with you today where Jesus’ disciples asked Him about the signs of His return and the end of the age.  Jesus had a very pointed message to them that some may not want to hear today.

In Matthew 24:4, Jesus told the disciples that one would need to “take heed” so that they wouldn’t be deceived during those days.  To take heed means to pay attention— that is to be aware or, in terms some may not like, be woke.  One would need to pay attention because Jesus warned that many would come in His name, proclaiming they are Christ, and will deceive many (Matt. 24:5).  

When we think of “the end of the age”, most of us think of a time we will never see.  Many of us think of the apocalypse that we see in movies and on TV.  Yet, what is made clear by Jesus and throughout New Testament scripture is that the “end of the age” is now.  

The end of the age began at the birth of Christ.  Yes, Jesus’ coming changed everything for mankind.  When Jesus died, rose, and ascended that made it made way to the age we live in today.  I want you to understand that you are living in the hour of deception— take heed!

Attacks on the Truth

In this hour of deception, there is a blatant attack on the truth.  Deception, you should understand is a blatant attack on the truth.  The act of deception is to cause someone to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid.  In other words, the act of deception is knowingly making someone believe a lie that you know is a lie.

Don’t believe the truth is under attack?  Take a look at the attack on the day-to-day truth.  Some are blatantly lying about what we can see happening with our eyes.  Some are blatantly lying about things we were taught as they try to whitewash history.  Some tell us that the things we have experienced in our lives didn’t happen!

If the day-to-day truth is under attack, you better believe that spiritual truth is also under attack.  Why is the truth under attack?  You see, what one feels or believes is true, they will faithfully follow and live by it.  Some even swear by it!  So, when one tries to control what you feel or think is true, they seek control over your thoughts, emotions, and actions.

What we see playing out in our society today is a push for control.  What’s scary is how many people are willingly giving themselves over to deceivers.  Some are losing jobs today because what many felt was true, was a lie.  Some are losing homes today because what many felt was true, was a lie.  Livelihoods are in danger today because what many felt was true, was a lie!

What’s even more worrisome is that many of the deceivers are tying Christ’s name to their deceptions as they ruin the lives of others!  So, do you see why we, the child of light, must stay woke today?  Not only do we not want to fall to the deception of deceivers, but we don’t want any of those around us to fall for lies as well.

As Jude said, we must contend earnestly for the truth today (Jude 3).  We who worship in spirit and truth must be ready rebuke and to exhort with teaching (2 Tim. 4:2).  We are stewards of the gospel!  Christ has put us in authority over the holy and righteous truth!  So, we must contend for the faith today as that is the task we have been commissioned with by Christ!

Recognizing the Deceiver

Let’s now focus on who the deceiver is so that we can recognize them and not fall for their deception.  To do this, I am going to turn our attention to John’s first epistle.

Faithful believer vs. deceiver

In 1 John 2:1, John tells us that he wrote this epistle so that the believer would not fall into sin.  In this portion of his letter, John focused on the difference between one living faithfully, and one who lives unfaithfully and will deceive.

John wrote, “By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments (1 John 2:3).”  The “Him” that John wrote of is Christ.  One shows that they know Christ by living in submission to His instructions.  As I’ve said in this series, Jesus’ instructions should dwell in the hearts of all those who lay claim to being a child of God.  

Not only should Jesus’ instructions dwell in our hearts but we should move according to them, in spirit and truth.  John wrote, “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:4).”  

This speaks of the “professed” believer who will proudly speak of being a child of God.  As I have said in the past, it is simply not good enough to go around proclaiming to be a Christian.  You can say you’re a Christian all day long but if you don’t move in obedience to His word, you are not a Christian.  You must not deceive yourself to even believe that you’re a child of God if you aren’t living true to the command of grace!

Again, John wrote, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk as He (Jesus) walked.”  To walk implies that there is motion, action, and activity!  Christ walked faithfully and with grace.  The Christian should walk faithfully in the word of God and move with grace in their hearts.  If we don’t move in such a manner, then we aren’t being true to our proclamation of being a child of light!

The spirit of the deceiver

There are many who claim to be Christ but don’t want as He walked.  As Jesus said, many will proclaim to be Him or of Him, and they deceive.  Yes, they attend church every Sunday.  Yes, they even open up their bibles and read from them; they sing hymns and put money in the collection plate.  You may even believe they are the most devout Christian but take heed!

John was familiar with this kind.  John wrote, “It is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come (1 John 2:18).”  John wrote of those who stand in opposition to the way of Christ.  John wrote of those who move in opposition to the way of Christ.  

John said they were present in the world in his day, near the end of the first century.  If they were present and active in the world during John’s day, you better believe they are present and active today.  Again, take heed and just look around and you will see their works with your own eyes!

Even more, John wrote, “They went out from us, but they were not of us (1 John 2:19).”  This is to say that at one point, those of such a spirit once were a part of the congregation!  Though they were a part of the congregation, John said, that they were not of the church spirit – they were not a child of light!  As I said, John was familiar with the kind of spirit present in the world today!

John finished by saying, “If they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest (revealed), that none of them were of us.”  You see, those of the spirit of antichrist eventually revealed their true nature in how they moved.

You see, some ignorantly move in opposition to the truth because they have been mistaught and misled.  To those who move against the grace of God, I encourage you today to wake up from how you were taught!  

However, there are others who have moved maliciously this whole time, knowing what they are doing.  I remind you that Jesus warned that we must be aware that the wolf will come in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15).  The wolf puts on sheep’s clothing knowing that it desires to fool the sheep into thinking that it is one of them.  The whole time, that wolf only desires to scatter, conquer, and devour (John 10:12).

Revelation of the wolf

If you pay attention, the wolf eventually does reveal himself.  As John wrote, the wolf eventually denies that Jesus is the Christ.  The wolf eventually denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22).  

Now, don’t think that such a denial will simply be by word.  Yes, the deceiver can deny Christ by speaking against the way of Christ; speaking against love, uplifting, truth, and sound doctrine.  However, again, be woke to every action of the deceiver!  The deceiver reveals themselves when they move against the works of love, uplifting, and the sharing of knowledge and wisdom.

When one sets out to hinder the gaining of truth, recognize this spirit as one of a deceiver.  One who will tell you that only they have the truth, with no sound doctrine to back up their truth must not be believed!  When one is proud to hinder the works of love and uplifting, recognize this spirit as one that is wicked and evil!  

What we see happening here today is a work that I truly believe to be wicked and evil.  There is an effort to attack works that are good and help to bring awareness and to uplift.  We must not lie about the spirit behind such efforts as that spirit stands against, and blasphemes, the Spirit!

If we don’t speak the truth about the spirit that is active in our land today, many will be fooled and fall into its deception.  The spirit of antichrist blasphemes the Spirit.  Blasphemy of the Spirit is a sin that will not be pardoned (Matt. 12:31-32).  Do not fall victim to this deceptive spirit as, sadly, many already have.

Preventative Measures Against Deceivers

So, how does one prevent themselves from falling victim to the deceptions of the wicked?  

Stop desiring the world

One of the first things John tells us is to not love the world or the things in the world (1 John 2:15).  The danger of loving the world is that the deceiver loves the world and the things in it.  When the devil tempted Jesus, he offered Jesus the riches of the world. The deceivers will offer the world while knowing they are selfish and will never share the supposed riches they have!  

Again, many today have been fooled by such deceptions and have sold their soul for the riches of deceivers. So that you don’t fall for such deceiving lies, you must turn off your lust and love of the world.  You must put your best foot forward to turn off your craving for earthly and worldly devices!  You don’t want to give the deceiver any tools in their efforts to deceive you!

Remember your anointing

In the first of my key verses, John reminds us believers of our anointing.  John wrote that we have an anointing from the Holy One, and we know all things.

Your anointing was poured out on you by God, the day that you confessed faith in your heart.  The anointing of the believer is the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit leads and guides all true worshipers in all truth so that we may know the truth.  Yes, we have the spirit of truth and error – to know right from wrong, and to discern good and evil (1 John 4:6).

Now, someone may wonder:  How do I know that it is the Holy Spirit that is guiding me to the truth?  The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  The fruits of the wicked spirit is made manifest in self-righteousness, envy, covetousness, greediness, and provoking (Gal. 5:22-26).

To be clear, the Holy Spirit is not going to lead you from a place that causes you to act out of self-righteousness against another.  There is no truth of the Spirit found in covetousness and greediness.  There is no truth found in contentions and confusion!  God is not the author of such, He is the author of peace (1 Cor. 14:33)!

When we remember our anointing, that helps to prevent us from falling into the lies of the deceiver.  We must not only remember the Holy Spirit, but to help prevent us from falling into deception, we must heed the Spirit!

Heeding the Spirit

In the second of my key verses, John wrote that we should let abide in us what we heard from the beginning.  John said if what we heard from the beginning abides in us, then we will also abide in the Son and Father.  To be clear:  both the word of God and the Holy Spirit are what abides in us.  If you heed your teaching, then your fellowship with the Lord is true.  

With our anointing and fellowship with the Spirit, John wrote that we don’t need to be listening to everybody (1 John 2:27).  The problem that many of us have is that we not only listen to everybody, but we’re listening to the wrong people!  

The believers needs only to listen to the Spirit and those who are of the Holy Spirit!  You don’t need anyone who doesn’t know how to pronounce books of the Bible trying to teach you truths.  You don’t need anyone who does not know scripture, the meaning and interpretation of sound doctrine, teaching you truths.  You don’t need anyone who does not know the Lord, because they don’t live in obedience to His word, teaching you truths!

The Holy Spirit is and those truly filled with the Spirit are all you need!   So, to prevent yourself from falling into the lies of the deceiver, you need to turn them off.  Flee from those lying spirits as fast as you possibly can!  Watch who you listen to and watch what you read because not every spirit is of the Spirit!  

Stay Woke, Stay Vigilant

If you aren’t “woke” today, I tell you that it is time for you to wake up.  Yes, the hour of deception is here and many deceivers are in the world today trying to pull the wool over our eyes.  Wake up before you are deceived!

If you’re already awake today, don’t turn of the light so that you can fall asleep.  Don’t act like you are tired and if you are tired, you need to go to God so that He can renew your strength!  You must stay woke, and you must stay vigilant during this hour!  We must stay read for ourselves, for our loved ones, and for all of those who are around us.

To those fighting against all of us who are awake, we’re not going to sleep any time soon!  Yes, we are wide awake to your works – we are here!  We are going to proclaim the truth today no matter what.  We are going to proclaim Christ, by name, and in our works so that the living truth is made manifest both in word and deed.