Sunday: The Way That Seems Right in a Man’s Eyes
In the context of the last days, Jesus uttered a powerful warning, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Mark 13:22, NKJV). Who are the “elect”? He later says, “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31, NKJV). A little scary, isn’t it, when the deception in the last days will be so great that even the faithful ones will be in danger of being deceived?
Read Revelation 12:9. Who is deceived by Satan? How do we understand these words?
Image © Darrel Tank from GoodSalt.com
Obviously, God is going to have some faithful people in the last days, as He has had all through the ages. However, the wording here shows just how widespread Satan’s deception really is.
Read Proverbs 14:12. What powerful warning is presented here?
People are often told to follow their own conscience in order to determine for themselves what is right or wrong, good or evil, and then live accordingly. But the Scripture says that we are all sinners, all corrupted (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:9-18), and so to trust our own sentiments is almost a guaranteed way to, sooner or later, get it wrong and even to do wrong. A lot of evil has been perpetrated through the ages by people utterly convinced of the rightness of their cause. That is, they followed the “way that seems right” to them.
Instead, we must immerse ourselves in the Word of God, and from His Word, as we surrender to the Holy Spirit, learn truth from error, right from wrong, good from evil. Left to our own devices, or even to our own senses, we can become easy prey to Satan’s deceptions.
| Think through examples of people, who had acted based on what they themselves believed was right, or even what they believed was God’s will, but had done evil things. What can we learn from these tragic events? |
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One of the issues that I have had to deal with during my lifetime is that often, Seventh-day Adventists, in their enthusiasm for promoting the notion that Jesus is coming soon, have developed ideas that are quite radical. Perhaps the most well-known case is the David Koresh (Branch Davidian) movement that came to a tragic end in Waco Texas in 1993. He came to Avondale College sometime in the 1980s to the early 90s and convinced some students that his version of the end-time was the right one. The fact that this happened right under my nose, has left me with a deep concern.
Not all apocalyptic end-time movements have ended as tragically, but they have the potential to deceive and destroy the lives of those who become involved with them.
I remember at the time we had a seminar with a Uniting Church minister, David Millikan, who was an expert on doomsday cults. We had a wide-ranging discussion on cult formation and church relevance. In the discussion, one of my colleagues asked him what advice did he offer to Seventh-day Adventists?
His answer was both quick and pertinent. He advised us to engage with the real world! And he added: you have so much to offer - particularly in lifestyle.
We do tend to become focussed on end-time events in some of our discussions and David Millikan's advice - engage with the real world - is perhaps a reminder about the practicality of the Gospel.
Good morning. Maurice you offer so many practical life solutions that are still rooted in Christianity. Thank you sir for your approach to life and your willingness to share, it really is quite priceless. God bless you sir real good
Satan formed a cult while in the very midst of heaven; thus deceived one-third of the angels. That act, by no means, should discredit GOD or negate our desire to go to heaven. Likewise, Koresh formed a cult after turning his back on our teachings. The danger, in both cases, was trusting in the created as opposed to the Creator, as is so clearly stated in Psalm 146:3-10.
Terror is an example, an ideology gone mad. While through the eyes of a terrorist, even god justifies the means. When I am blocked by my perception and follow strictly what I think is correct, it is probably when I am most wrong. My actions must be tempered with the openness of my faith, but my faith cannot surpass the fundamental rights of others.
Deceptions of the Devil.
I do believe today's lesson is talking about the intensification of the wiles of the devil, and how they can be very deceptive. As Satan intensifies, let us intensify our grip on Christ. If we ask Christ to live out His life within us, and read His Word, our grip on Him intensifies, and the devil's grip is lost.
Psalms 119:105. Keeping a grip on God.
Ephesians 5:1-2. Keeping a grip on Christ.
Regarding Mark 13:22.
I like those two words, "if possible." They imply the deception of the elect as impossible, as long as we keep a strong grip on Christ. After all, we would not be the elect of God if we did not have a strong grip on Him.
Is there a relationship between David Karesh, the Branch Davidians and the shepherds rod. I have heard it said that there is a direct relationship. Is this true?
Yes. Branch Davidians are essentially an offshoot of the Shepherds Rod movement.
As I understand it, Branch Davidians is just another name for the Shepherd's Rod. David Koresh led an offshoot of the Branch Davidians. His offshoot was obviously wiped out, but the main Branch Davidians continue.
Yes and no. There were a couple of groups that essentially fought it out between them over leadership, property, names, and doctrine, probably in that order. Their history makes interesting but tragically sad reading.
Where can l read about the history and current state of the Shepherd rods and the offshoot the branch Davidians? They seem to all but disappear from our churches (at least in the UK)
There is an Adventist Review article, later reproduced by the Bible Research Institute (Seventh-day Adventist organisation) that is quite informative:
https://www.adventistbiblicalresearch.org/materials/the-branch-davidians-shepherds-rod-who-are-they/
The consequences of the great deception man is faced with require a new heaven and a new earth. Considering the extent which the re-forming of that which at one time was ‘perfect’ requires, man will need to come to a full understanding of what God considers ‘error’ or he loses the opportunity of a new life in the earth and heaven to come.
Prov.14:12 mentions this 'way-of-error' as seeming right to man, but our Creator has shown us that we can know what the right way is according the God’s Will, Truth, and Light as found in the Scriptures. They testify of His Way, and the Holy Spirit will bring His Way to our understanding.
As far as I am concerned, one sure way of knowing that we are moving forward on the right way is when we seek to love our heavenly Father through loving our fellow man. If one just takes a moment of reflection to consider a pending action or reaction, it will be enough time for the Holy Spirit to direct us in the 'right' way.
To know all the details of the return of the Son of Man correctly is not possible, but we can make sure that we are ready at any time for His return when He finds us engaged in loving God and man – Eph.2:10. We battle the good fight and know Who it is that we believe in, confident that He supports us when standing strong in His Word by faith - Joshua 1:9.
Regarding Revelation 12:9, Satan did literally lead the whole world astray through leading Adam and Eve to sin. That's how I understand that verse. All of us need Jesus.
As for the idea of not being able to trust our conscience, I have mixed feelings about that. Obviously the Bible must be our standard and it's possible for the conscience to be corrupted. However, I believe God has given us a certain degree of a "pure" conscience through Jesus. John 1:9 tells us that Jesus gives light to every man. So just as Satan corrupted all humanity, the influence of Jesus gives each person the ability to know something about God and His character. This fits with Romans 2:14 which talks about Gentiles following the law without knowing it.
I don't dispute the verses quoted about everyone being sinners as that is true too, but mention these verses to bring some balance to the discussion.
Christina, I have problems with that idea of not trusting our conscience too. The conscience is a God given thing used by the Holy Spirit to convict us of right and wrong; to speak to us about what we should do. Obviously knowing what the Bible says about what is right or wrong gives us the foundation to know what to do.
The author talks about conscience but then mentions sentiments as though they are the same. I could be wrong but I see them as different. Sentiments or feelings are what can get us into trouble if we base our actions or beliefs on them because feelings come and go.
What about people who don’t have the Bible to read? How do they know right from wrong?
Yes, God has given people a conscience through which the Holy Spirit can lead us to make right choices. But we can grieve away the Holy Spirit and end up following wrong spirits, who are only too happy to take over. We can turn the volume of our conscience down so that what seems more "right" in our own minds governs our choices, not what God tells us is right. We are all very capable of adjusting our conscience to fit culture.
Our conscience needs to be fortified with the sure Word of Scripture and placed under the will of God.
When Luther stood before the tribunal in Worms, he did not say, “My conscience is held captive by my culture and what others demand is the right way for us all to believe". No, he said, "Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture, or by evident reason, I cannot, and will not recant, for my conscience is held captive by the word of God."
We need to be sure our consciences have been captured by the word of God. He has given us His word. It exposes the lies we tell ourselves to make us feel better, as well as exposing the lies our culture and the propaganda feed us through media to change our paradigm of thought and concepts of right and wrong.
Yes, "we must immerse ourselves in the Word of God, and from His Word, as we surrender to the Holy Spirit, learn truth from error, right from wrong, good from evil. Left to our own devices, or even to our own senses, we can become easy prey to Satan’s deceptions."