Matthew 24:3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
Jeremiah 29:8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
Ephesians 4:14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Colossians 2:18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,
2 Peter 2:1-3 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
When shall these things be? – There are three questions here: When those things should take place? What should be the signs of his own coming? What should be the signs that the end of the world was near? To these questions He replies, not by noticing them distinctly, but by intermingling the descriptions of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the end of the world, so that it is sometimes difficult to tell to what particular subject his remarks apply. The principle on which this combined description of two events was spoken appears to be, that “they could be described in the same words,” and therefore the accounts are intermingled.
Why didn’t Jesus simply say it so clearly that there was no possibility anyone could misunderstand Him? One reason why prophecy may seem vague or imprecise is that God wants every age to have reasons to be ready for Jesus’ return. We should not think of Jesus’ return as an event far off on a timeline, but as something we have been running parallel with since the day of Pentecost. Though some prophetic interpretations are different, we are sure of this: He is coming again, and we must be ready.
The pretended wisdom of the heathen philosophers; and vain deceit — Sophistical and delusive reasonings, and unprofitable speculations will come in every generation by men or women who are led astray by demonic influences. We should not deny or condemn sound philosophy, but the kind of it which had no foundation in truth; and, being formed merely from imagination, aided by the pride of human reason, was supported by tradition; that is, by the affirmation of the inventors, handed down or built upon from one to another. There is a philosophy that is vain and deceitful; and while it pleases men’s fancies, hinders their faith: such are curious speculations about things above us or no concern to us. Those who walk in the way of the world, are turned from following Christ. Opinions, speculations, philosophies, and traditions are used by Satan to corrupt the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is danger in being swept away by them and led down paths in life away from following, obeying, trusting, serving, worshiping, honoring, and glorifying Jesus Christ.
What kind of workman or servant does not study and learn what is expected of them? Are we not to study God’s Word with a seeking and desire to be taught and led by the Holy Spirit, rightly dividing the Word of Truth? When we spend more time listening to what others think scripture says than reading it for ourselves we are exposing ourselves to being led astray. There are many fine pastors and teachers who are able to unpack scripture. I love to read or listen to them on scripture that seems unclear or to see if what I am understanding it says, is in line with godly teachers. There are many times I am in line just as there are times when I am not. This is called “Studying”. When we only rely on what others think and say we are weak and shallow in our understanding and leave little room for our own growth by the hand of God through the Holy Spirit. I am not saying we should not listen – God uses men of God to proclaim truths that we should be fully grounded in and reminded of. What I am saying is that when all of our studies are based on what others have interpreted from Scripture we are not working through the efforts of study that grow us spiritually, establish our faith-roots, waters and feeds our souls, fixes our eyes on Jesus, softens our hearts, quickens our minds, or produces fruits in line with what honors and glorifies Jesus Christ.