Deception is something we need to guard against in the last days. I heard a pastor say, “If you do not believe you can be deceived, you are already deceived.

“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,” 2 Thess 2:3

We are warned several times in scripture to not be deceived.  

Jesus warned many were going to come in His name pretending to be Him (Mathew 24:4-5), and He warned that there would be many false prophets who would rise up mislead many (Mat 24:11).

So how do we guard against deception? First, we need to humble our selves and ask the Lord to show us what we can’t see and be a doer of God’s word, “… be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-27

Lastly, pray that the Lord would show you if you are deceiving yourself, you are deceiving others, or others are deceiving you.