Friday: Further Thought ~ Satan’s Final Deceptions
Further Thought:
“‘Babylon the great’ in the book of Revelation designates in a special sense, the united apostate religions at the close of time. … ‘Babylon the great’ is the name by which Inspiration refers to the great threefold religious union of the papacy, apostate Protestantism, and spiritism.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
… The term ‘Babylon’ refers to the organizations themselves and to their leaders, not so much to the members as such. The latter are referred to as ‘many waters.’ (Revelation 17:1, Revelation 17:15).” — The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, Pages 851, 852.
“Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome.” — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 588.
In the Old Testament, the spirits of the dead played a major part in Babylonian religion. The Babylonians had a strong belief in the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. They believed at death the soul entered the spirit world. The concept of the immortal soul is foreign to the teachings of Scripture. The Jewish Encyclopedia clearly identifies the origin of the false idea of the immortality of the soul. “The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is … nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture. … The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended.” — Kaufmann Kohler, The Jewish Encyclopedia, “Immortality of the Soul,” (1906).
Discussion Questions:
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In the days when I taught mathematics, I always had some students who thought they were very bright and knew their maths pretty well. They left their study until the night before the tests and examinations and then they would swat frantically to be ready.
I had some students who were not so bright. They would come to me after class and ask me to go through another example, explaining the steps. They did their homework and would ask for help when they stumbled.
When the final assessment came the not-so-bright students would do well, while the bright students would claim the assessment wasn't fair, or they were sick, or something.
What did I learn from this interaction? Well, if you are bright, you can easily deceive yourself into thinking that you are going to do well in the assessment, and if you are not so bright, it helps to know the way to get good results.
We have been talking about Satan's final deceptions. So, I will spell it out. Some of us think we know the roadmap pretty well and are convinced we will not be deceived when the time comes. Others of us will build a saving relationship with the road-maker now.
Satan does not have to work very hard to deceive some of us. He has willing allies in ourselves.
Very good advice. Absolutely, it is our duty to heed the road signs (Deception Up Ahead, Pray).
We can, though, be confident in whom we believe. However, I pray to God that He will protect me from getting complacent in my belief.
It is important to understand the truth about death because the truth about death keeps us knowledgeable of the truth about reincarnation, life after death, haunted houses, appearance of deceased loved ones and other things down that line. Basically when we understand the state of the dead correctly from the Bible we are keeping ourselves on God's ground, rather than falling to Satan's deceptions.
If we are pressing on the upward way, to new heights every day, to a higher ground, we must understand the Biblical truth of death. When I was put out for a colonoscopy three years ago, I knew absolutely nothing till I woke in the recovery room. No bright lights, no dreaming, nothing. That is what death is. Ecclesiastes 9:5.
Solomon goes on to basically say enjoy the one life in the Lord. Christ came to us declaring, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes on Me shall live. Meaning if we die in Christ we will not experience the second death.
It is very comforting to have the faith in Jesus. That is, If we die tomorrow He will resurrect us into eternal life. We die in peace because we can say we have fought a good fight, henceforth there is laid up for us a crown of righteousness waiting for us when Christ calls us from the grave.
For the curious mind my colon exam was clear of polyps and tumors. Glory and honor be to God, and for my godly parents who brought me up a vegetarian, and who ingrained in me to to cling to Christ. There are several mountains that stand in the way of me being lost; one is godly parents, since parted, another godly siblings, and a godly wife. I feel humbled and honored to wear a 😇. Actually, I will wait for Romans 8:24-25 and be satisfied totally with a crown of righteousness, and of life.
2 Timothy 4:8
James 1:12.
Revelation 2:10.
The "fake news" has become popular lately. But their origin is in the very beginning of our fallen state. There is something "easy-going" about what is fake, which means nothing but instability. To consciously survive in our present world, we need to be, at the same time, moldable and grounded. Moldable to receive the blessings of change but safely grounded on the Truth. "Your Word is the Truth," nothing else! To upstand the strong currents that bounce us around, we urgently need to be anchored; we sleep when we die and have the Sabbath as a sign!