Sabbath: End-Time Deceptions
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study: Matthew 7:21-27, John 11:40-44, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 Samuel 28:3-25, Ephesians 6:10-18.
Memory Text: “And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15, , NRSV).
Our contemporary world has become a melting pot of the supernatural and the mystical, helped on by Hollywood, which has no problem making movies with religious and mystical themes in a hodge-podge of error and deception. The old lie, “You surely will not die!” (Genesis 3:4, NASB) has also inspired some of the most-read books and most-watched movies of the last decades, and many popular videogames, as well. Undeniably, we are exposed to and tempted by the enchanted ground of Satan, which can appear in myriad forms and even, in some cases, can come hidden in the veneer of science.
One of the most deceptive phenomena has been what has been called “near death” experiences (NDEs), where those who had “died” have come back to life with stories of an afterlife. Many people have seen these events as proof of an immortal soul!
During this week we will consider some end-time deceptions, including mysticism, near-death experiences, reincarnation, necromancy and ancestor worship, and others. These are dangerous subjects that we should be aware of but without exposing ourselves to their influences.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 10.
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In communication electronics, we often discuss a concept called the signal-to-noise ratio. Simply put, if the signal is not louder than the noise we won't hear it. In the old days, noise was a nuisance. For example, if you were listening to some music on the radio and there was a bit of static, it would be annoying but most of the time you would be able to identify the music. (admittedly some music is little more than noise anyhow!)
But when the digital age came along noise became a serious problem. The flipping of one bit could change the meaning of a whole digital instruction. Imagine that you had a satellite out at Saturn and you wanted to take a photograph. So you sent a digital message to the camera to take a photograph. It takes half an hour for the message to get to the satellite. The satellite checks the instructions and finds it is nonsense so it sends a message back to earth asking to send the instruction again. The turnaround on that is about an hour and by that time the opportunity to take a photograph has passed.
Engineers came up with a really great idea for recoverable digital signals. I won't try and explain it here but in class, I love to explain the algorithms because they are a great bit of lateral thinking. The idea is that you send the code with extra information so that when it arrives at the destination you can not only detect the errors but correct them as well. I might add that this kind of algorithm is used all the time on the Internet, disk storage, DVD storage, and so on. It illustrates the importance of not just making the signal louder. You cannot get rid of the noise, but you can get the message through the noise.
What has this got to do with end-time deceptions? The world is spiritually noisy and the signal about what really happens is easily lost in the noise. It is not just a case of increasing the volume of the signal. It is about thinking smartly to get the signal through the noise. Hopefully, we will think about that a bit as we study this weeks lesson.
Maurice,
I as always appreciate the clarity your analogies bring to the lesson. Something I do to filter the noise is hyper-focusing on the point of my interest. This helps me filter out or decrease the volume of the noise. Reminds me of the hymn, turn your eyes upon Jesus look full on his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
In line with Maurice’s comment about noise algorithms is the quality of the medium of communication channels. Digital processing allows the channel to be characterized so that noise in the signal is minimized thus increasing the effectiveness of communication.
What does this have to do with us? When we are communicating the Truth (Jesus) with others, we should characterize the way we communicate so that “noise” in their perception is minimized. But this can fail because we do not know how the “receiver” of our audience works and cannot tune our message to be effective. And our own perceptions can introduce “noise” into dialogue that will make it difficult for the person with whom we are communicating to receive the message that God intends. Thank God, the Holy Spirit can “tune” the communication channel not only between us and God, but also between each of us and another. He will guide us all to the Truth.
What a great illustration. As a matter of fact, the noise of deception will remain until the end of time and will incrementally increase. Hence the need to focus on the signal.
I live near a runway. Initially I was concious of the noise from the airplanes taking off and mastered their schedule. I could tell which flight was taking off at what time. However, the more i focused on my duties instead of the sound of the noise, flights taking off because a moment of surprise. I believe at times I actually missed it. So it is possible to focus on the signal despite the noise.
Praise God!!!
Do you remember the story where Satan took advantage of Joshua’s kind heart? Joshua and his army were able to recognize “the enemy” in all the other kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country when they came to attack Joshua as one. But instead of the usual obvious war weapons, the Gibeonites used old sacks, old wineskins, old and patched sandals, old torn clothing, dry and moldy bread, and a sob story and fake humility (Joshua 9:8-13). They deceived Joshua into sympathizing with them so much that he made a covenant of peace with them, even though Israel was forbidden to make peace with any of the tribes of Canaan (Exodus 23:23-24).
Joshua was a man of deep faith who had a lifetime of seeing God’s miracles, and hearing God’s voice with Moses up upon the mountain. This is a good story for a reminder, how even the very elect will be deceived as the line between truth and fiction gets thinner and thinner in these end times. Today’s lesson mentions “science” and we know that science and scientific inquiry is a good thing, just like Joshua‘s kind heart is a good thing, but it can be applied incorrectly, if not aligned with God’s Word. We see in the story that Joshua and his men “asked not council at the mouth of the Lord” (Joshua 9:14-15). God reveals Satan’s deceptions when we’re relying solidly upon God’s Word rather than on our own instincts and sensibilities.
This is a powerful illustration