If you keep up-to-date with world news, then you probably saw the headline about a South African resurrection of a dead man on Sunday the 24th of February. The videos went viral on social networks and news channels. When I saw the “resurrection” I chuckled because everything about it looked staged. From the fact that the man was breathing and sweating in the coffin to the fact that his mouth was wide open (I assume it’s standard practice everywhere that you don’t bury the dead with open mouths) and he had a phone in his pocket. To my surprise, the 500-plus congregants jumped up and down, shouting for joy, saying that this is a miracle from God. Some were in tears and some clapping their hands and shouting, “Favour! Favour!”

Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com

While that may sound and look like a fictional story, it really happened. A few days later, I found myself thinking hard about the near future, and my heart skipped a beat. The congregants at that church strongly believe that the “prophet” is a man of God and that he performed the resurrection miracle. Even now, they are out on social media defending the pastor from what they call “Faithless, doubtful and judgemental people who don’t believe God.” The depth of deception! What scares me is that we are fast approaching a time when Satan will have perfected the art of deception so well that there will be no slip-ups in the fake miracles. Have a look at the following verses:

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Revelation 13:3,13‭-‬14

What grips my attention is that “… the whole world wondered after the beast.” Not to say the true followers of God will also follow the beast, but that the number is so great that it may seem as though there are no true believers. In a 1906 article of the Review and Herald I found this gem:

Miracles Performed in Our Sight

The time is at hand when Satan will work miracles to confirm minds in the belief that he is God. All the people of God are now to stand on the platform of truth as it has been given in the third angel’s message. All the pleasant pictures, all the miracles wrought, will be presented in order that, if possible, the very elect will be deceived. The only hope for anyone is to hold fast the evidences that have confirmed the truth in righteousness (The Review and Herald, August 9, 1906).

What a timely message! We are at the doorstep of earth’s last history and Satan knows it all too well. He is working at triple the effort and I ask myself, are believers also studying and praying in triple the strength and zeal? Forget other people for just his second. Are you preparing your soul to not wonder after the beast? Is your prayer life strong enough to resist the coming tide of deception? Does Jesus possess your heart so much that Satan has no foothold in your soul? Have you applied the same formula to your family members, friends, colleagues and those you meet on the street? Jesus once said, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. John 4:23”

The time has come where playing church on Sabbath will reap results of deception. We are not waiting for a time in the next millennium but have  entered a time that will test if we truly are His sheep and know His voice. The weak spots in our lives are where the devil is plotting to hit us hard. Are we giving those over to Jesus Christ so His strength may be made perfect in our weakness? How I pray that God may wake us all up the way He did to me this week – that we may assess the time we are living in and see the need for a deeper walk with our Lord. Only He can save us from the poisonous soup that the devil has been preparing for us.

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