Deceiving The Elect
This is one of a series social media posts that I wrote in 2021 during the height of my Faith Transition. Because I was publicly deconstructing in front of an entirely faithful network of friends and followers, I received a lot reactions, questions, and backlash from people I loved regarding my journey. Many of them were dismissive or hostile towards me because they had been trained to me as a “defector.”
Since an overly long response in a comment or personal message would have been seen as aggressive, I took quotes from these reactions to write these public posts in response. I never attributed the person who asked the question since I didn’t want anyone to feel specifically blamed or called out for having the response. The questions are also not unique. They are part of the scripted response we were taught to have as members of the “in-group.” Still, each post begins with a quotation because it is a question I personally received during my Transition.
Q: “We know that even the very elect will be deceived–you leaving only strengthens my testimony.”
👻 What a fantastic phobia Matthew 24:24 has planted in many of us!
Like many people in faith crisis, I also worried about being one of the “deceived elect” for a while…
👍 Until I actually read the scripture, again.
Here’s what it actually says,
📜 “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” 📜
🤓 Stay and be nerdy with me.
Let’s break this scripture down.
✔️ The chapter features Jesus telling his disciples about the last days–giving them the signs about Solomon’s Temple being destroyed, natural disasters and the conflicts between peoples.
💬 Several times, themes of false prophets, leaders using the name of Christ in vain, and cold-heartedness come up as key indicators of the end-times, along with more specific bits of instruction such as telling those in Judaea to flee into the mountains.
🥔 This chapter has done more than its fair share in perpetuating reactive millenarianism because as each generation has passed (including the one directly following the historical Jesus, in which the disciples were literally killed and the temple literally destroyed). But, the big problem with this chapter is that eventually, the immediate crises fade and life finds a new normal and the world carries on with no sign of a Second Coming.
🥔 This has created a perpetual cycle of millenarian prepperism that continues to massage this chapter to sound as if the Second Coming is just around the corner. Every war, natural disaster, pandemic, etc. triggers a way of end-time frenzy, only to pass and allow the next generation to take the torch of being the final, super-chosen, actual-last-days-generation.
🥔 In recent decades, the Mormon apologetics on this subject have started to shift into a shoulder-shrugging posture of not knowing how we apparently don’t understand how God’s time works, so we just have to be ready always.
(Note: None of this proves or disproves the possible reality of a Second Coming–these are just observations on the how this chapter of Matthew has been repurposed over the years.)
🖊 Now, on to the actual scripture.
The second half of the verse is the key part that we cling to as members watching formerly-devout friends of family leave the fold, but in order to understand that, we need this first half:
📜 “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,” 📜
👉 In the context of the verse, these are the deceivers, the mis-leaders, the con-artists, the magicians–the ones who are “showing forth great signs and wonders” in order to gain followers.
🤷♀️ How does this apply to the Post-Mormons who are dismissed by this verse?
🌿 Here is a handy guide.
- Is [your Post-Mormon friend] claiming to have found the Christ, already returned to Earth? 🤔
- Is [your Post-Mormon friend] enamored with a new charismatic thought leader, who is claiming to be OR whom they see as a “prophet”? 🤔
- Does this new leader or break-off group or political party or Bible study or whatever dazzle his or her or their followers with signs and wonders? Is there talk of supernatural miracles that have only been seen by friends-of-friends buzzing around? 🤔
😬 If you answered yes to any of these questions, then Matthew 24:24 could apply. Concern would be more appropriate a reaction than vindication, though, and you should consider running intervention (as appropriate to your relationship to the person) because this friend is showing signs of being sucked into the wake of a cult-leader.
✂️ If not, then the situation of your friend doesn’t really match Matthew 24:24, so using this scripture to dismiss their experience will likely just sever your relationship.
🪓 Notably, when a formerly-faithful loved one leaves the Church, there is often an assumed “they” on the other side of the line pulling them out or deceiving them. This does happen, but (from what I can tell), this occurs is far more with those who leave for ultra-conservative/fundamentalist reasons. (Example leaders: Trump, Julie Rowe, Denver Snuffer, Warren Jeffs etc)
🧍🏻♂️🧍🏼🧍🏽♀️When a member has human rights concerns, historical/validity concerns, or political differences regarding the conduct of the Church, they are more likely to rationalize their way into a nuanced corner of non- or semi-believing participation with the Church, where they can preserve their sense of community, without taking testimony meeting too seriously. Rarely is there a unifying personality or leader modeling the decisions for this side of the spectrum, since each person finds their way to their place of comfort alone.
Note: Highly-visible figures on this side of things tend to be accused of acting as cult-leaders anyway (like John Dehlin), though, perhaps because the Mormon-mindset depends so heavily on a centralized leader that it has trouble imagining decision-making without an alternate leader.
We could stop there, but, for the sake of discussion, let’s look at the second half of this scripture, too.
📜 “…if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” 📜
To examine this in isolation, we have to ignore the operative “they” and talk about the elect deceiving themselves.
Note: This is not what the scripture is talking about, but we all know that self-deception is real and common, so that’s still a fair concern to have.
Without the acting agent in this phrase, we’re left with an enigmatic statement about whether the elect are deceive-able. The grey area in reading this, though, which means that this phrase can be taken to mean:
📈 –“when the elect start being deceived, then you really REALLY know it’s the last days.”
🔒 –“the elect can’t be deceived and so, anyone who is loyal to the Church is Elect and anyone who falls away was not really elect, regardless of previous devotion.”
🔄 Either way, it feeds into circular logic that is already too common throughout the Church. For example:
✔️ If [friend] is devout and active in the Church, it means they are Elect and the Church is true.
✔️ If [friend] decides to leave the Church, that means they weren’t really Elect, so the Church is even more true.
✔️ If [friend] decides to stay, but doesn’t believe, that means they are deceived but still Elect, which means the Church is true.
☄️ There is a lot more to say about the Last Days mentality within the Church, but let’s wrap it up with this:
Assuming that Matthew 24 still has relevance on our modern day at all, we should acknowledge that the things New Testament Jesus was most concerned in warning his disciples about were:
–people claiming to speak in his name 🗯
—fear of calamities creating division🌪
—self-proclaimed prophets who lead people astray 👤
—lack of love between people 💔
Things he wasn’t worried about:
–the gay “agenda” 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
–consistent branding 🚹
—feminism and uppity women 🚺
–hoarding weapons 💸
–making sure members don’t ask the Internet too many questions, lest they find out historical answers that conflict with their worldview 💻
–whether Church apologists could justify Joseph having coercive extra-marital sex with minors and possibly another 30-ish women 👰🏻♀️👰🏻♀️👰🏻♀️👰🏻♀️👰🏻♀️👰🏻♀️👰🏻♀️👰🏻♀️👰🏻♀️👰🏻♀️👰🏻♀️
What an interesting contrast.
-Thomas Paine
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