Monday, May 28
Read the following texts. What do they tell us about Satan’s power to deceive?
As we noted in an earlier lesson, Jesus had warned His followers about end-time deceptions. Among those He specifically warned about were the rise of false christs and false prophets who would “deceive many” (Matthew 24:5).
False christs and false prophets, however, are not the only end-time deception we have to be aware of. Our enemy in the great controversy has many ploys designed to deceive all whom he can. As Christians, we need to be aware of those ploys, and we can do that only through knowing the Bible and obeying what it teaches.
Ellen G. White explains what two of those grand deceptions are: “Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience”. — The Great Controversy , p. 588.
How incredible for us, even many years after she wrote those words, to see just how prevalent “the two great errors” continue to be in the Christian world.
Why is knowledge of Bible truths and a willingness to obey those truths the most powerful weapon we have against the deceptions of the devil, especially in the last days?
