Thursday: Spiritualism in the Last Days: Part 2
Daily Lesson for Thursday 6th of June 2024
Our hope of salvation is rooted in Christ. His bloodstained hands beckon us to accept the sacrifice so freely provided at infinite cost. Soon Christ will return to claim His own. Titus 2:13 calls the second coming of Christ “the blessed hope.”
Satan’s goal is to destroy this hope. He will perform miracles, signs, and wonders, anything and everything that could lead people away from Bible truth and salvation in Christ.
Image © Darrel Tank from GoodSalt.com
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12, NKJV). In the final struggle, Satan is going to do all that he can to prevent people from either keeping the “commandments of God” or having “the faith of Jesus,” or both. Hence, the need to be careful of any teaching that, even if accompanied by signs, wonders, and miracles, would turn us away from either of these two characteristics of the remnant.
Read Matthew 24:23-27; 2 Corinthians 11:13-14; and 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. What do these passages tell us about Satan’s deceptive power and manner of working?
In the last moments of time, Satan will enact his final deception: “Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be revealed in the heavens, in token of the power of miracle-working demons. The spirits of devils will go forth to the kings of the earth and to the whole world, to fasten them in deception, and urge them on to unite with Satan in his last struggle against the government of heaven. By these agencies, rulers and subjects will be alike deceived. Persons will arise pretending to be Christ Himself, and claiming the title and worship which belong to the world’s Redeemer. They will perform wonderful miracles of healing and will profess to have revelations from heaven contradicting the testimony of the Scriptures.
“As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour’s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. Revelation 1:13-15.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 624 (emphasis supplied).
Why is understanding the truth about how Christ returns, as well as the state of the dead, so important in order not to be deceived?
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There is a story in the Old Testament that goes like this:
Our strength in the battle is not determining the size of the enemy but placing our trust in the one who leads the winning side.
I am reaching that stage of life when I think about the important things I want to pass on to my grandchildren. I want them to know the importance of the relationship with Jesus in the battle with evil.
I agree. One of the common thoughts in all of today’s texts is that those who are deceived are those that didn’t love the truth. If we focus on not being deceived instead of focusing on Jesus, it’s a lost cause. If we don’t immerse ourselves in truth and scripture, then we are in danger of “not loving the truth”.
I agree. We aren't lost by accident. Those who are lost chose to turn away from God and are deceived as a result.
"Fearful sights of a supernatural character"
The median age of the world population today is 31 years. Half the world is too young to recall the "Golden Era of Christianity", when most developed countries were nominally Christian, and going to a nearby church was still considered normal, even by those who only got there for christenings, weddings and funerals.
Many Christian people who grew up in that slightly earlier age (& some since) learned to trust in God, and trust in the Bible, with trust in the the preacher and leaders being secondary to their personal relationship with God. It was ok to express a personal view of Christianity, and belong to a church, even if church and personal opinions differed.
However, Satans work is multi-pronged and multi-faceted. He is the expert at lulling people into complacency when a firestorm is approaching. The distinct separation between churches is becoming more obvious, yet churches are also becoming much more alike in being inward focussed, instead of looking out for others. Churches are becoming more like any exclusive club, where people who belong will keep up appearances by welcoming only other people just like them.
Conservative churches are becoming more conservative, leading to fanaticism and denigration of "others" who are outside the "flock", heaping self-congratulatory praise for being the perfect people who keep all the rules perfectly. Conservatives could rightfully be labelled cultish, because only the in-group know the special language, keep the special rules, and dress the special way. They may listen to many preachers, but each preacher must repeat the rules of how to work hard enough to get to heaven.
Liberal churches are becoming more liberal, leading to the acceptance of almost anything, as long as it doesn't disrupt the comfortable atmosphere of self-congratulatory success. Liberals may be even more interested in having the right wardrobe, because appearance is important, and being seen with the right people, because success comes via who you know. These may listen to only one special preacher, because he is the master, the expert, the one who, thank God, has already travelled the path to riches and worldly fame.
Meanwhile, both types of church are seen as archaic, irrelevant, and unnecessary in a world immersed in Spiritualism, but so gently immersed that no-one notices anything has really changed. Spiritualism means that what I believe really doesn't matter, because it is all magic, or karma, and out of my control, and if it happens, it happens. When Satan does amazing and spectacular things, most people will say "cool", and join in, like the best AI and special effects ever.
In the Seventh-day Adventist church, it was once almost impossible to say "this church is liberal" or "this church is conservative", but today it is a question travellers and tourists ask before visiting a church. We are at risk of focussing inwardly, of making ourselves comfortable, going to church to meet like-minded people, but forgetting we should all be Jesus-minded people.
We should take stock of our own attitude every day, and hold the ground that made us known as an others-focussed church, going out of our comfort zone to meet people in need, where-ever they are. This is Jesus' method of breaking down barriers, of overcoming prejudice, and of taking a bunch of fisherman from apathy to victory.
Now is the time to get firmly rooted and grounded in Christ!!
To put off making Him our science and our song is to play into the enemies' hand.
Today, brothers and sisters, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts!!!!!!
Evil does not care about the truth; on the opposite, it is the father of lies. Whatever it can do to make people cling to false things, evil will do. Evil enslaves people, while the truth gives freedom. Evil knows that people also like to adhere to "comfortable" explanations, so it takes advantage of this. The truth may hurt sometimes, but it always leads to freedom.
What power can we set against the forces of evil in this world? Is it not a broken and contrite heart lifted up to God in prayer? We are sinners saved by His Grace - safety is only found in His Presence!
With his song of worship and praise, David pleaded with God –
Psalm 51
v.1-2 -
”Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
v.10-12 –
”Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.”
v. 17 - ”My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
Thanks to all for the wonderful comments.
More prayers to my family,we are going through a lot at the moment.I believe in God's saving grace.
What does the “Faith of Jesus” look like? What is it?
I like this explanation. The faith of Jesus is the unfailing faith that Christ exercised that becomes ours as a gift from Him.
The Third Angel's Message: General Conference Bulletins 1895: The Science of Faith and Salvation Explained Simply
by Alonzo T. Jones,
To be without Christ is to be without God; and there the man can do nothing; he is utterly helpless of himself and in himself. That is where the man is who is without God. Jesus Christ says: "Of mine own self I can do nothing." Then that shows that the Lord Jesus put Himself in this world, in the flesh, in His human nature, precisely where the man is in this world who is without God. He put himself precisely where lost man is. He left out His divine self, and became we. And there, helpless as we are without God, He ran the risk of getting back to where God is and bringing us with Him. It was a fearful risk; but, glory to God, He won, the thing was accomplished, and in Him we are saved. When He stood where we are, He said, "I will put my trust in Him;" and that trust was never disappointed. In response to that trust, that Father dwelt in Him and with Him, and kept Him from sinning. Who was he? - We. And thus the Lord Jesus has brought to every man in this world divine faith. That is the faith of the Lord Jesus. - That is saving faith. Faith is not something that comes from ourselves, with which we believe upon Him, but it is that something with which He believed, - the faith which He exercised, which He brings to us, and which becomes ours, and works in us, - the gift of God. That is what the word means,"Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." They keep the faith of Jesus, because it is that divine faith which Jesus exercised Himself.
See also: Habakkuk 2:4 (Greek version) I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away. / But the righteous person will live by my faith.