And He said, Take heed that ye be not deceived, for many shall come in My Name, saying I am Christ, and the time draweth near; go ye not therefore after them. Luke 21:8
When I was a young Christian, one of our Bible teachers had a valuable saying: whenever you encounter the word ‘therefore’ in the Bible, make sure you understand what it is there for. The word ‘therefore’, transliterated ‘oun’ from the Greek, occurs 526 times in the New Testament. One Greek dictionary says it means ‘By extension, here’s how the dots connect.’ So, whenever we see the word ‘therefore’, we go back in the context, to see the reason for what has just been stated. In our text, Jesus is telling His disciples not to go after those who claim to be Christ. He includes the word ‘therefore’ because He has just warned them not to be deceived. So, the word ‘therefore’ is pretty important! But if it is so important, why has it been deleted from almost every modern version of the Bible?
It’s true; if you look at any of the newer versions – RV, ASV, NIV, NASV, ESV, RSV, and most of the others – you will find ‘therefore’ is not there in this verse. There is a simple reason why this word is absent from all of those other versions; those versions are based on a different set of Bible manuscripts from the Majority Text, or Textus Receptus, on which the King James Version – and other good versions – are based. They are based on manuscripts that were corrupted by Egyptian scribes in the fourth century, men who took the original text and made alterations to it to conform to their heretical beliefs. It is to be expected that men who would create false versions of the Scriptures would eliminate warnings about false Christs.
The Lord Jesus did not issue warnings indiscriminately. When He issued a warning, the disciples paid heed. In our text, He links His warning about being deceived directly – by using the word ‘therefore’ – to the instruction not to follow after the false Christs. His warning has always been valid, but at no time in history has it been any more valid than today. False teachers and false claimants to the title of Christ or Messiah are becoming more common, and are becoming more devious in their messages. For example, Oprah Winfrey of TV fame was recently heavily promoting one such false Christ and his/her teachings. It seems strange that the Bible and its message of Jesus Christ is being rejected and ignored like never before, while the fakes and the false are being welcomed and promoted. Maybe it’s because people are using Bibles that don’t warn them of the terrible danger of following after the fakes and the false.
Remember what Jesus said: Take heed that ye be not deceived, for many shall come in My Name, saying I am Christ, and the time draweth near; go ye not therefore after them.’ – Jim MacIntosh