The apostle Paul endured “persecutions” and “afflictions” more than any Christian in America today can fathom. Yet, he said, “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:11-12). He looked toward the future and foretold of a time when “evil people and impostors 
will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (3:13, ESV).
The apostle was warning those first-century Christians of a time when men would not love the truth, but instead would wholeheartedly accept and believe a lie (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10-12). While the immediate application of Paul’s words was to the lives of those early brethren and the suffering that they would endure for the name of Christ, is there any application for us today?
What would it look like for our society to be “deceiving and being deceived”? Would it look any different than what we are seeing today? People around us would rather believe a lie than the truth. Let us wholeheartedly love the truth, accept it, hold to it and proclaim it! Let us not be deceived by falsehoods all around us!