END-TIME DECEPTIONS
May 26th – June 1st, 2018
MEMORY TEXT: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:9
SABBATH AFTERNOON: All falsehood and all falsifying originated from Satan. “He who utters falsehood and practices deception” started his apostasy in heaven. He deceived angels in heaven, man in Eden
and still carries his scheme of deception today, and will seek to deceive many “at the end of the millennium” (Rev. 20:8; GC, p. 495). Only with Jesus can we defeat this crafty rival (Deut. 4:4).
SUNDAY: Myriads of people of which some Christians are part assert that the “cosmic controversy” is a mere theory. They posit that, God is similar to “Darth Vader of ‘Star Wars’ fame or the like”, who is at the helm of scientific fiction and that Satan doesn’t exist. Yet, Satan is real and seeks to control many minds at this end time (Rev. 2:13; 24; 12:3, 7-9, 12, 17; 13:2; 20:2, 7, 10, 2 Cor. 2:11).
MONDAY: Satan has disguised himself as “an angel of light” spreading falsehood through delusive teachings (2 Cor. 11:13-15; 2 Thess. 2:9, 10; Rev. 12:9; 20:10; Matt. 24:5). But this “false christs and prophets” are just one of many deceptive arsenals of Satan. “It is written” is the watchword to overcome the two great errors of today — Sunday Sabbath & immortality of the soul (GC, p. 588).
TUESDAY: “The doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul is one error with which the enemy is deceiving man.” It is an error forged by the devil to tell people that they don’t need Jesus. Fables about the dead who talked with a divine being/relatives, and came back to life are widespread that it has a scientific name — near-death experiences (NDEs, see Eccl. 9:5, 6; Ps. 115:17; 146:4, 1; 1 Cor. 15:16-18; Dan. 12:2).
WEDNESDAY: The Sabbath commandment is the only one among the Ten which points to God as the Creator of the universe. By the theory of evolution (it says all living things preexisted and advance with time), the devil seeks to denude the Sabbath its importance. Another alludes that the world was created not in literal days but in a 3-4 billion years period (read Gen. 1:1-2:3).
THURSDAY: The Godhead — known as the trinity is depicted in Bible. But in these last days, the devil has a “false trinity” — the dragon, the sea beast, and the land beast (Rev. 13). The dragon (falsified as God the Father) gives power to the sea beast (falsified as Christ, Rev. 12:17; 13:1, 2; 13:2-5, Matt. 28:18), and the land beast like the Holy Spirit “promotes the interests of the sea beast” (Rev. 13:11-17; John 16:13, 14; Acts 2:3).
PREPARATION DAY: Charles Darwin, the originator of the evolution theory found it difficult to grasp how a loving God could allow evil and suffering to exist. He planned to seek for answers to his questions outside the Bible. Howbeit, the Seventh-day Adventist Church just came in time to refute his claims in “the mid-to-late 1800s”. He failed to know that all was perfect until sin stained the earth. – EGW, Education, p. 26.
Discussion Questions
📌 Why do so many Christians reject the idea of a literal Satan? What does this view teach us about how dangerous it is to reject the clear teaching of the Bible?
📌 What can you say to a person who claims that his of her neardeath experience shows that we go on living after death?
📌 What other reason could there be for why those who believe in evolution would be so much more susceptible to deceptions in the last days?
Credits/Edits
Source: Brother Steve Lawrence (SDA, Bermuda)
Format: Edited for presentation and to reflect KJV
