Much confusion in Christianity has been the result of botched Bible translations. The verse below is not the least of them.

Luke 21:8 "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."

It is clear from reading the whole chapter that the men He was speaking to were His faithful followers. In this verse Jesus Himself was speaking. He told His people, "Take heed that ye be not deceived." The question is, how were they going to be deceived? Popular Bible scholars say that these are going to be deceived by "false Christs," men who pretend to be Christ.
That is not true. Modern Bibles have modified the verse to make it seem that way, but they overlook the obviously poor logic of their teaching. Jesus said, "Many shall come in MY name," which means that they come in the name of Jesus. But then they supposedly say, "I am Christ," as though claiming to be Christ themselves. This is what some of the modified verses say. But to any thinking person that is an absurdity. How can a sane person come in the name of Jesus, then claim to be Christ himself. If he claimed to be both Jesus and Christ, that would make more sense, but the Bible simply says that many shall come in the name of Jesus. These deceivers are not claiming to be Christ themselves. They are in fact, acknowledging that Jesus is Christ. So, where's the deception? They are not false Christs, they are false teachers; they propagate false doctrine.

Jesus also cautioned His disciples: "and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them." Now, "them" is more than one, so if these were false Christs, the verse would be saying that Jesus' disciples were going to go chasing after every Tom, Dick, and Harry who comes along in the name of Jesus, claiming to be Christ. That would be an indication that His disciples were morons. I truly believe that the Lord Jesus Christ would not choose such idiots to be His followers. After they had seen Him, walked with Him, and been taught by Him, I don't think they would have trouble recognizing a false Christ when they saw one. No one would need to remind them not to go after them.

But in the case of false teachers, that is a whole different story. Jesus said that there would be many such, and history surely bears this out. Since the time Jesus warned His people, there have been virtually millions of false teachers, and many millions who have gone after them. A good case in point: the false Bible scholars who perverted this verse to decieve multitudes into believing that it speaks of false Christs instead of false teachers. These same "Bible experts" pass up few opportunities to villify the Bible which translates the verse correctly.

cpmac
www.tribulationhoax.com