A SLAVE TO DARKNESS
Since God created humanity, our world has experienced significant advancements. Our technological progress has revolutionized communication, transportation, and even healthcare. Yet, knitted in every fabric of our advancement is the thread of deception, darkness, and error. It is all around us. However, no need to despair. You can be insulated from it.
We continue the study of the three angels’ messages in Revelation 14, in its context, look at Satan’s Final Deception and how you can recognize it and avoid being a part of it.
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Let us invite God’s presence:
Holy Father, open our understanding and remove the darkness from us so that we may walk in the light. In Jesus’ Name Amen
It was on a morning in September in the city of Chicago. The sun’s rays beamed down on Lake Michigan as the Chicago commuters wrestled with the Kennedy and Eisenhower expressways traffic to get to work while their children went to school. It seemed like a morning like no other. But little did the people know that the morning had been tainted. It had been contaminated with darkness. That morning, a chilling dark evil, frightening story came across the news. This report put fear in the hearts of the people of Chicago. The news reported that people were getting sick. They discovered the sick people were dying just a few hours after taking Tylenol.
Tylenol is a pill commonly taken to relieve pain that can be purchased at drug stores.
Further testing revealed that each capsule had been laced with potassium cyanide, a deadly poison. Some evil person had tampered with the medication. To this day, no one knows who committed this awful crime. Yes, we live in a world of advanced technology, but it is tainted with darkness even more deadly than this. How do we escape the darkness? (Split)
Jesus in John 17:17 gives us the answer. In his prayer to His Father, He says: “‘Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth’” (John 17:17, NKJV).
If God’s word is truth, then there must be a counterfeit.
In our previous lesson, we discovered that the book of Revelation warns us that the people on this earth will drink a potion called the “wine of Babylon.” Little do they know this wine is laced with poison. This “wine” is false teachings. These false doctrines or false teaching will lead to everlasting death. But the antidote or cure for false doctrine, the cure from drinking Babylon’s wine, is found in the Three Angels’ Messages of Revelation 14. (Split)
In this series, we look at Babylon’s deception and false teachings. And we also will look at Jesus’ plan to keep us from falling and stumbling in darkness, to save us and protect us from the death that this Babylon potion of false teaching could otherwise bring.
The people of Chicago had no idea they were taking a drug laced with poison. How can we avoid drinking this Babylonian potion laced with false teachings?
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Continue Watching Part 2: The Way That Seems Right
Despite our great technological advancement, Jesus in Mark 13:22 gives us a powerful warning about the end times. He says:
22 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. (Mark 13:22). (Split)
This leads one to wonder who is “the elect”? In Matthew 24:31, Jesus 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’ ” (Matt. 24:31, NKJV).
The point Jesus makes in Mark 13:22 is that Satan’s tricks and lies will be so laced in darkness, so deceptive in the end times, that God’s people (His elect) will be in danger of believing Satan’s lies. The deception in the last days will be so great that even the faithful ones, those committed to Jesus, will be in danger of being deceived.
Notice who all are deceived according to Revelation 12:9
9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelation 12:9)
He deceives the whole world? A little scary, right?
But there is hope. For God has provided a way out of darkness; he has provided an antidote to Satan’s deception.
God will have people who are obedient and faithful to Him in the end times. But even so, down through the ages, we see that Satan’s deception is widespread. He will deceive many people.
Proverbs 14:12 offers a powerful warning that is especially relevant today in a world that is filled with so much information. Access to information is at the touch of a finger with our cell phones, Ai, Internet search engines, Social Media, Youtube, and you name it!)
But Proverbs 14:12 warns that.
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12)
Much of the information provided today tells us that we should follow our own ideas about what we think is right or wrong and what we think is good or evil.
But there is a big problem with this thinking. Why? Because the Bible says that we are all sinners: Here is what
Jeremiah 17:9 says about our hearts.
9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
Then Paul in Romans 3:9-18 describes us this way:
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”
13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;
17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:9–18). (Split)
So, I ask, can we trust our own feelings? Can we trust our own thinking? We can be sure that sooner or later, our thoughts and feelings will lead us to take the wrong road. Our thinking will even lead us to do wrong.
You have seen it! A lot of evil has been done by people who thought they were doing good. They did what they thought was right in their own eyes. People have even killed under the assumption that they were doing what was right.
So, how do we avoid wrong feelings and thinking?
Answer: We must study God’s Word, the Bible. We must immerse ourselves in the Word of God. We must fill our hearts with Bible truth. By doing so, we give ourselves over to the Power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will help us understand truth as it is in the Bible. When we surrender our minds to the control of the Holy Spirit, then we will be able to distinguish between truth and error, good and evil, right from wrong.
He will help us see Satan’s lies and evil for what they are. Without the Holy Spirit’s help, we are in darkness. In darkness, we can be easily carried away by the lies and deceptions of Satan.
There are many people, some you may know, who did what they thought was right or even believed was God’s leading, yet they did things that were evil or dead wrong. Therefore, rushing ahead based on our own feelings or urges can be dangerous in many ways. We should instead think carefully about what things could go wrong, even when you are trying to do what is right. We should allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and make certain our actions align with the will of God. This can only happen if we become students of his word, the Bible, and sincerely and humbly desire to allow his will, not our will be done.
Another aspect of darkness and deception Satan uses that has penetrated our world is spiritual enchantment. What is it, and how can we avoid being misled by it? View part 3: The Old Lie of Immortality.
Hebron Seventh-day Adventist Church
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Houston, TX 77088
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