Wednesday: Spiritualism in the Last Days: Part 1
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 5th of June 2024
Read Matthew 24:5,11,24; 2 Thessalonians 2:7-9; Revelation 13:13-14; and Revelation 16:13-14. What kind of deceptions will people face in the last days?
The devil will use “signs and wonders” and spectacular miracles to deceive multitudes just before the coming of Jesus. Commenting on the deceptive power of demonic spirits, Ángel Rodríguez makes this telling statement:
Image © Justinen Creative Goodsalt.com
“Their power of persuasion is to be found not in the content of their message but in the power of supernatural manifestations called ‘signs’ or ‘miracles.’ They perform/do (poieō) signs, thus appealing to the affective side of human beings rather than to their discretionary and rational abilities. The fact that these signs are performed by demons shows that the unifying force of the message of the three demons [dragon, beast, and false prophet] is spiritualistic in nature—God is not their source or origin. As the cosmic conflict approaches its closure, demonic power will enter the arena of human history in an unprecedented way. Spiritualism, whose very foundation is the non-biblical teaching of the immortality of the soul, will nearly take the world captive.”—“The Closing of the Cosmic Conflict: Role of the Three Angels’ Messages,” unpublished manuscript, p. 6.
Why is it dangerous to trust our emotions? What roles do they play, good and bad, in our faith experience? How might Satan bypass our thinking processes and appeal to our feelings?
“Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to deceive the world. . . . Little by little he has prepared the way for his masterpiece of deception in the development of spiritualism. He has not yet reached the full accomplishment of his designs; but it will be reached in the last remnant of time. . . . Except those who are kept by the power of God, through faith in His word, the whole world will be swept into the ranks of this delusion. The people are fast being lulled to a fatal security, to be awakened only by the outpouring of the wrath of God.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 561, 562.
Our sole security is in Jesus and His Word. It’s not hard to see how millions, even billions, who do not understand the state of the dead could be swept away by delusions involving the idea that the dead live on after death.
Even now, what are some common deceptions that those who understand that the dead sleep are protected from?
(24)
The real issue at stake here is "delusion". How is this for a modern attitude:
In a world where the supernatural is treated as "hokum" The notion that we can save ourselves by technology has taken root. The problem is that we all depend on technology for communication, safety, medical and surgical cures and so on. The delusion is the extrapolation that just because we can fix a few problems and indeed benefit now, we can go on to save ourselves.
We sometimes restrict our view of end-time delusions to essentially a battle between churches. We like to think that it will be a battle between which church got their ideas right. We forget that faith is not limited to conventional religion and that the biggest battles is between God and self. It fuelled the battle in heaven between God and Satan and is at the basis of every good/evil conflict.
Satan is determined to delude us to put our faith in ourselves.
I just checked out the book, Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown and see, by the description, that the object of the evil Illuminati is the Catholic Church, which presumably stands for the good. It seems to me that that is as much a delusion as the "Science is God" claim. The book is fiction, but we should not underestimate the influence of fiction - both written and cinematographic - on popular culture and perception. (Dan Brown is also the author of the best-selling The Davinci Code.) Satan has been using the powerful medium of popular fiction to cause people to accept his deceptions for a very long time. "By beholding we become changed." That's also something to consider in what we choose to read and watch in our own lives.
2Co 5:6Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
2Co 5:7Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
2Co 5:8Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2Co 5:9Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
The text was referred to in yesterday’s comments. Whilst l wholeheartedly endorse the unconscious state of the dead and the resurrection l find some difficulty in explaining the meaning of verse 9 in this passage. I therefore welcome the thoughts of others.
Taken in context, the passage is essentially saying that in the resurrection we will have new bodies. I like the way it is expressed in:
Vs 9: “ But whether we are here or there isn’t the point. Our great desire is to be more like Christ and to show Him how much we love Him by obeying Him.” TCW
"people are fast being lulled to a fatal security"
27 years ago, the first Harry Potter book began an unstoppable tide, sweeping up all children of reading age, and most older brothers and sisters, to embrace the exciting world of spiritualism. The book series was followed by movies, sequels, prequels, games, TV series and more, translated into many languages, with the books now considered to be amongst the top 100 most influential works of all time.
A reasonable estimated is that more than one billion people (now up to the age of 40) have been directly influenced by the Harry Potter franchise to view spiritualism as harmless, acceptable and normal. The change of opinion between generations is subtle, not requiring overt reasoning. This is the world we live in, a world not resembling the world anyone over 40 can relate to.
At first many Christian groups spoke against the influence of her books, and against the moral compass of the author. Even while production of new Harry Potter work has continued for 27 years, the attitude of Christians has reversed. She is now celebrated by "Christians" as a virtuous woman defending the Christian right to vilify and hate certain minority groups.
As Christians, we pride ourselves on being not fooled by Satan's work to cloak Spiritualism in normality. We must be even more careful as Satan seeks to use Christians to divide, by cloaking selfishness, hatred and division in respectability. Every person on earth is an individual that Jesus died to save.
Ellen White provides some of the most chilling insights into Spiritualism's activities in the last days. She write in Chapter 34 of the Great Controversy:
"Many will be confronted by the spirits of devils personating beloved relatives or friends and declaring the most dangerous heresies. These visitants will appeal to our tenderest sympathies and will work miracles to sustain their pretensions. We must be prepared to withstand them with the Bible truth that the dead know not anything and that they who thus appear are the spirits of devils."
Do we have Scriptural evidence for this?
Ranko Stefanovic (Adventist professor at Andrews and author of The Revelation of Jesus Christ), in a major interpretation departure from early Adventist pioneers, comments that Revelation 9's description of the 5th and 6th trumpets...locusts from the Abyss, whose king is "the destroyer" (Satan)...represent the very demonic forces that Ellen White describes. Jon Paulien (Dean of LLU's School of Religion, see thebattleofarmageddon twitter) agrees. The (late) Pastor Ken Cox (see 3ABN Prophecy seminars) has similarly identified the 5th and 6th trumpet locusts as demonic forces which will appear in the last days, disguised as familiar people, attempting to deceive humanity.
Such an interpretation of these last trumpets opens up to us as Adventists a new vista of scriptural evidence that we can use in our witnessing to others about Spiritualism in the last days.
In the book of 1st Samuel 28 we have the story of king Saul recourse after not getting any answer from God,Saul went and " seek out one with with familiar spirits "
I'm told that the person who protects federal money in different countries never spends anytime study the counterfeit money
Time is spent studying the real money.
It then stands to say the study of bible truth is the answer to our sin problem which requires our reading and studying of the word of God which under the leading of the spirit of Christ will begin its reform and revival in the SOUL !
Now the battle begins ,our five senses rule or lives under the guise that we can run our lives not understanding that we were born
As sinners in need of Christ saving grace so just imagine billions of human being thinking the same thing all at " once "
Every last one doing what he or she think is right in there own eyes!!
The senses have not been reform so unless it concur we not having any of that,that being the gospel of Christ with gives salvation.
Satan knows us personally ,and unless we who call ourselves CHRIST children give over our ears,eyes,hands,feet,nose,and our tongue TO Him in truth , we will be deceive into spiritualism.
In 2 kings 6 v 1 to 7 the ax head story.
Note the man of God roll in this situation.
In these time the true miracle is what ever one of us as Christians go through God hears and answers the prayers of His children and will bring us out more than conquer ( vanquish).
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Thank you all for sharing,we continue to learn more
As I was reading 2 Thess.2:7 - ”...; He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way”, it occurred to me that I cannot identify who it is that is ‘taken out of the way’. Both times, 'He' is capitalized. Is it the Holy Spirit?
It appears to be important to be able to identify who it is that presently prevents the lawless one from being revealed.
Since the ‘mystery of lawlessness’ is already at work, who is restraining it from leading to the revealing of the lawless one?
Good question, Brigitte. When you asked, "Is it the Holy
Spirit?" I believe you revealed that the Holy Spirit was already showing you the truth.
Although I had a pretty good idea already, I checked this out at in all English versions at BibleGateway.com.
And then I checked the meaning of "he who now" on the BlueletterBible site. Apparently the phrase is usually translated just as "now." (No pronoun or noun in the meaning.) It's supposed to mean "now, at this moment."
Then I checked out "he be taken" on the BlueLetterBible site. Surprise, surprise! This was only a verb - no noun or pronoun implied. So the "He" is also supplied by translators here.
Notice that in all English versions at BibleGateway.com, the Phillips paraphrase goes into quite a bit of detail that I believe is correct. The Holy Spirit now restrains this evil force until He (the Holy Spirit) moves out of the way and lets the evil force reveal its full malignity. In the original, there's no need to suppose that someone else moves the restraining power out of the way.
I believe that in The Revelation, this holding back is represented by four angels holding back "the four winds" that have power to hurt the earth until after the servants of God are sealed. I believe that, after that, there will be a time of trouble such as this world has never seen, and it will be caused by the evil one who is now constrained from exercising his full power.
(Note that I believe The Revelation is written in the form of a drama, the chapters are artificial, and events are not in sequence, with each act showing truth from a different angle. It is also a book for "insiders" who are familiar with the rest of the Bible, including the Old Testament, because it contains many references to symbols clarified through the rest of the Bible.)
Inge – thank you for providing this informative explanation. I especially appreciate your attention to providing links to help support your findings with research references and have noted their web addresses for use in the future! 🙂
Did you notice that the first 'He' is 'the one who now restraines' and takes away the 'He' who does 'the restraining? Is the one God and the other the Holy Spirit?
Thanks, Brigitte. If you'll check the original language at BlueLetter Bible, you'll see that there is no "He" in the original - neither the first one nor the second one.
Check the various English versions to see how different translators treated this. And take a look at Phillips paraphrase.
As I study these troubling issues it is becoming clear to me that the warning given to the Laodicean church in Revelation 3:14-22 is now timely beyond measure. As many have stated, the deceptions are prevalent now.
The deceptions in the last days will not be something new or contentious; the deceptions will simply be affirmations of the lies told from the Garden of Eden forward. Satan and his demonic forces will only be telling people what they already believe, and what they truly want to hear. But this time, the deceptions will be presented with revelations of supernatural power. We think we are ready. We are not.
The only recourse we have starts now, and not when the deceptions come. Here and now we have the time and resources to establish the Word of God in our hearts and minds. Attempting to do so when the the need is upon us will avail no one. Our only hope is Jesus Christ only, and Jesus Christ now. Our only recourse is seeking God with all our hearts and minds. This can only be done in relationship with Jesus Christ and in purposeful study of His revealed word. We think we are ready because we have all the information we need. Yes, we have the information, but information means nothing without it being melded into our hearts and minds by Jesus Christ Himself.
Now is the acceptable day of the Lord... 2 Corinthians 6:2.
I like this wording better. Both times, there is no capitalization. Avoiding the confusion.
For the mystery of lawlessness is at work already; only the one who now restrains will do so until he is out of the way.
2 Thessalonians 2:7. LEB.
My thoughts are since Christ has promised to give us the Holy Spirit to be with us forever. The One is the Holy Spirit.
John 14:15-16
A several years back my Sabbath School teacher said I don't need capitalization to know which is which, the context tells me. Come to think of it he maybe right because capitalisation gives us the translators' view, not necessarily the correct picture, which makes a big difference.
The first lie, in the garden of eden; to our parents Adam and Eve, by the serpent,Satan also called the devil was ye shall not surely die.. and this seed was planted to all generations and it also creeped into Christiandom, to those who we think that they know the truth and have the truth but they have also been deceived.