Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS024023S
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00:11 [uplifting music] 00:14 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:16 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:17 We're happy to have you with us today 00:19 as we look at the great controversy. 00:21 And today we're looking at lesson number 10, 00:24 "Spiritualism Exposed," 00:26 a really interesting study today. 00:28 Let's begin with prayer. 00:30 Father, we thank You for being with us today 00:33 as we study Your Word and study through the events 00:37 that are happening in our day and in the very near future. 00:40 Today, we ask that You would bless us 00:42 with a deeper understanding of this subject 00:44 and we thank You in advance for doing so, 00:46 in Jesus' name, [both] amen. 00:49 Well, we're grateful today to have back with us again, 00:52 Pastor Mark Finley. 00:53 He is the author of this quarter's 00:55 "Sabbath School" lesson, 00:56 well-known author, speaker, and evangelist 00:59 all around the world. 01:00 We're glad to have you back again, Pastor Mark. 01:02 >>Mark Finley: Thank you, Pastor Eric. You know, 01:04 we have been walking through this quarterly, 01:07 going on a journey, and we're on lesson number 10 today, 01:11 and I've just been enjoying it. 01:13 Thank you for hosting me. 01:14 >>Eric: Oh, it's been fantastic, and we've enjoyed having you. 01:18 Some very interesting subjects that we've covered, 01:20 and we still have four lessons to go, including this one. 01:23 This one is called "Spiritualism Exposed," 01:26 sort of an interesting title, an interesting subject. 01:29 But what about spiritualism? 01:30 Is spiritualism something new, or is it a new idea? 01:34 Has it been around for a while? 01:35 Tell us a little bit about spiritualism. 01:37 >>Mark: Spiritualism has been around since the Garden of Eden. 01:41 You remember the Lord said to Adam and Eve, 01:44 "If you eat of the tree of the knowledge 01:47 of good and evil, you will surely die." 01:49 And here in Genesis, chapter 3, we have the first lie of Satan. 01:55 You remember Jesus said, regarding Satan, he's "a liar, 01:58 and the father of lies," so lies originated with Satan. 02:03 The first lie had to do with the subject of death. 02:06 Genesis, chapter 3, verse 2, 3, and 4. 02:11 Go ahead and read those, please. 02:13 >>Eric: "And the woman said to the serpent, 02:14 "'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 02:17 "'but of the fruit of the tree which is 02:19 "'in the midst of the garden, 02:20 "'God has said, "You shall not eat it, 02:22 "'nor shall you touch it, lest you die."' 02:25 "Then the serpent said to the woman, 02:26 'You will not surely die.'" 02:29 >>Mark: The devil's argument there was, 02:31 you're naturally immortal. 02:33 You can eat of the tree, disobey what God says, 02:36 and you will live. 02:38 And then he goes on to say in verse 5, 02:41 "For God knows that in the day [that] you eat of it 02:44 "your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, 02:46 knowing good and evil." 02:47 So, the lie of spiritualism is that, through disobeying God, 02:53 through communication with the dead, who do not really die, 03:00 the idea is you have an immortal soul-- 03:02 this is what Satan argued here in Eden-- 03:05 that you'll enter into a higher sphere of existence, 03:08 that you will enter into an exalted state, 03:12 be like the gods with this larger, mystical knowledge. 03:17 Spiritualism has been around since the Garden of Eden. 03:21 And we can trace it down through the centuries. 03:23 In the Old Testament as well, you look at God's condemnation 03:27 against witches, psychics, astrologers, spiritualists. 03:31 And then you come to the deceptions 03:33 in the New Testament in particular, 03:35 which we'll get into later in the lesson, 03:37 about Satan's attempt in the last days 03:39 to deceive through spiritualism. 03:41 >>Eric: So we have a better idea of what spiritualism now-- 03:43 you mentioned the immortality of the soul, 03:46 which is a prevalent belief in Christianity 03:50 and certainly without, outside of Christianity. 03:53 What evidence do we have that the soul is not immortal? 03:56 I mean, talking with many Christians, it just-- 03:58 it sounds like it's a given that you have an immortal soul. 04:01 What evidence is there that it isn't? 04:03 >>Mark: Well, you know, when you look, for example, 04:05 at Sunday's lesson, we quote in Sunday's lesson 04:10 Matthew 10, verse 28 that says, 04:13 "Do not fear those who kill the body 04:16 "but cannot kill the soul. 04:18 "But rather fear Him who is able to destroy 04:20 both soul and body in hell." 04:22 In other words, in the fiery destruction 04:26 of the wicked, at the end of time, 04:30 the total person will be destroyed. 04:33 In the Bible, the term "soul" is never used to describe 04:37 something that's immortal. 04:39 In fact, in 1 Timothy, chapter 6, it says, 04:44 verse 16 and 17, only God has immortality. 04:47 So God has immortality. 04:49 And here in the book of Matthew, it says 04:54 to "fear Him who can kill body and soul." 04:56 Soul represents the essence of the human nature here, 05:02 the whole part of man, and the body, of course, 05:05 is the physical part. 05:06 So the soul can represent the mind, the emotions, 05:10 everything that the person is, other than physical body. 05:13 But both of those can be destroyed in the fires of hell. 05:16 In other words, hell totally destroys. 05:19 And then if you look, for example, at death 05:21 in the Old Testament, you find no evidence 05:26 of the idea of the immortal soul at all; 05:27 death in the New Testament, 05:28 no evidence of the immortal soul. In fact, 05:30 the Bible uses the term "soul" 1,600 times; 05:33 never once does it use the term "immortal soul." 05:36 In the Bible, "soul" is used in two ways-- 05:39 first, something a person is. 05:43 You remember in Genesis, chapter 2, it says God 05:46 "formed man out of the dust of the ground, 05:47 "breathed into his [life] the breath of life,... 05:49 man became a living soul." 05:50 So you're a living being. You're a living person. 05:55 In Acts it talks about 276 souls aboard the boat. 05:59 You know, it's not floating essence around here. 06:01 Not at all, it's 276 people. 06:04 So soul is something you are. 06:08 You are a living soul; you are a living personality. 06:11 The Bible also talks about soul as something we have. 06:15 But it talks about something we have; it's we have life. 06:18 We have life. 06:19 So when it says you can destroy the body, 06:23 that's our physical life, 06:24 but the essence of life is destroyed in the fires of hell. 06:27 So, so it's never something immortal in the Bible. 06:30 That's, of course, a pagan idea. 06:32 >>Eric: So if the soul is not immortal, 06:34 if the soul doesn't go flitting off at death somewhere, 06:38 then what is it that happens when a person dies? 06:42 We know what it's like to be alive. 06:44 We don't like to think of death-- 06:46 at least, most people don't look forward to it. 06:48 But what happens when a person dies 06:50 if we're not somehow naturally immortal? 06:54 >>Mark: In Monday's lesson, we look at death 06:56 in the Old Testament, 06:58 and let's look at a few passages that really answer your question 07:02 about death in the Old Testament. 07:04 We're going to go to Psalm 6 and verse 5. 07:07 And would you be so kind to read Psalm 6, verse 5? 07:10 >>Eric: Psalm 6, verse 5 says, 07:12 "For in death there is no remembrance of You; 07:15 in the grave who will give You thanks?" 07:18 >>Mark: So why is it that there's no remembrance 07:21 of God in death? 07:22 If you were in heaven, it'd certainly be 07:25 the remembrance of God there. 07:26 Psalm 115, verse 17 helps us as well. 07:31 So the Old Testament sets out the reality of the fact 07:35 that there's no conscious existence in death. 07:40 Psalm 115, verse 17. 07:43 >>Eric: "The dead do not praise the Lord, 07:45 nor any who go down into silence." 07:47 >>Mark: So if the dead don't praise the Lord, 07:49 they're certainly not up there someplace. 07:51 And probably the classic passage in death in the Old Testament-- 07:55 there's multiple ones-- is Ecclesiastes, chapter 9, 07:58 verse 5. And I can pick that up and read it. 08:03 Ecclesiastes 9, verse 5, and then we'll add to that verse 10: 08:07 "For the living know that they will die; 08:10 "but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, 08:14 "for the memory of them is forgotten. 08:16 "Also their love, their hatred,... 08:18 their envy have now perished." 08:20 So the living know that they die. 08:22 The dead don't know anything. Why not? Why don't they? 08:25 Well, verse 10: "Whatever your hand finds to do, 08:28 "do it with your might; for there is no work 08:30 "or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave 08:33 where you are going." 08:34 So if indeed the dead went immediately to heaven or hell 08:37 when they died, they certainly have some knowledge 08:39 of what was going on, but in death, Psalm 6, verse 5, 08:43 there's no remembrance of the-- Psalm 115, verse 17 points out 08:48 that the dead praise not the Lord. 08:50 Now, what happens when we die? 08:52 There is a quote right under Monday's lesson 08:59 that starts out with, 09:00 "The Old Testament does not teach 09:02 the immortality of the soul." If you'll just read 09:03 that first paragraph because it really clarifies it 09:06 with multiple Old Testament texts. 09:09 >>Eric: "The Old Testament does not teach the immortality 09:11 "of the soul. Nor does it teach that after death 09:13 "the faithful soar off to the bliss of heaven 09:16 "for eternity... [or that after death] 09:18 "the unfaithful descend to hell, where they burn for eternity. 09:21 "It teaches that death is a sleep. 09:23 "The book of Kings uses the expression 09:25 "'they rested [or slept] with their fathers' 09:28 "to describe the death of the patriarchs. 09:31 The Psalms call it the 'sleep of death.'" 09:33 Psalm 13:3 and Psalm 90, verse 5. 09:37 "Referring to death, 09:38 "Job speaks of not awaking from sleep ([in] Job 14:12). 09:42 "The psalmist adds, 'As for me, I will see 09:45 "'Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied 09:48 when I awake in Your likeness.'" That's Psalm 17, verse 15. 09:51 >>Mark: And then when the Assyrian army 09:53 was destroyed by the angel, 09:55 the Bible says the soldiers slept. 09:57 In other words, in the Old Testament 10:00 and in the New Testament, death is but a sleep. 10:03 It's a rest until the resurrection. 10:06 Surprisingly enough, even the Old Testament 10:09 talks about the resurrection. 10:11 We can go to the book of Job, chapter 19. 10:15 So the concept of the resurrection 10:17 is not simply a New Testament concept, 10:19 although we see it more clearly in the New Testament. 10:22 But Job 19, verse 25 and onward, Job says, 10:28 "For I know...my Redeemer lives, 10:30 "and He shall stand at [the] last [day] on the earth; 10:32 "and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh 10:38 "I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, 10:41 and my eyes shall behold, and not another." 10:44 So Job says, "Although this body is destroyed, my Redeemer lives 10:50 and at the last day, I'll see God," 10:51 and he's talking about that day of the resurrection. 10:54 Daniel speaks about this as well in the last chapter 10:58 of the book of Daniel. I like these Bible passages, 11:01 particularly because they show that the Old Testament hints at 11:05 and points forward to the resurrection, 11:09 as well as the New Testament. 11:11 So throughout the Bible, the soul is not immortal. 11:14 When a person dies, they don't go off to heaven 11:16 to worship God or praise God. 11:20 Death is but a sleep until the great resurrection morning. 11:25 Daniel, chapter 12-- and let's go down there, 11:30 and why don't you read verse 2 and--verse 2 and 3. 11:37 >>Eric: "And many of those who sleep in the dust 11:39 "of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, 11:42 "some to shame and everlasting contempt. 11:44 "Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness 11:47 "of the firmament, 11:49 "and those who turn many to righteousness 11:51 like the stars forever and ever." 11:53 >>Mark: So there we have it. 11:54 Many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, 11:57 some to everlasting life. 11:59 So if you had everlasting life and ascended to heaven 12:02 in some immortal soul, 12:04 it wouldn't make sense for Daniel to say 12:06 we sleep until the day of the resurrection. 12:10 So in the Old Testament, the immortality-of-the-soul idea 12:14 is a pagan idea. 12:15 It comes from Satan, who told the first lie. 12:18 Death is but a sleep until that glorious day 12:20 of the resurrection of Christ. 12:22 >>Eric: So we've seen consistently through the Bible 12:23 so far, Old Testament, 12:25 and you've mentioned New Testament-- 12:26 we may look at that a little bit more-- 12:28 that we see death is like a sleep. 12:31 We're gonna look in the latter part 12:33 of our study together today 12:35 at one of the crowning deceptions 12:37 that the devil is going to have. 12:39 But for somebody who wants to see how it applies to us today, 12:43 share with us a little bit about that companion book 12:45 and why they might want to pick that up. 12:47 >>Mark: Yeah, the companion book is titled 12:48 "The War Between Good and Evil." 12:50 And I was taking a look at this particular chapter 12:52 just momentarily before we came on the air today, 12:55 and we trace Hydesville, New York, 12:58 the spiritualistic wrappings there. 13:00 We trace the evidence in the Old and New Testament 13:03 that death is but a sleep. 13:05 We explore Satan's lie, and particularly we come 13:09 to the point where we look at Satan's final deceptions 13:12 of spiritualism. 13:13 This is a book that will really help you, 13:15 that you'll certainly want to pick up from It Is Written. 13:17 >>Eric: Very good. And if you want to pick that book up, 13:20 and I would encourage you to do so, it's easy to do. 13:22 Just go to itiswritten.shop. 13:25 Again, that's itiswritten.shop. 13:27 Find the companion book to this quarter's 13:29 "Sabbath School" lesson, and you will be blessed by it. 13:32 We're going to be back in just a moment as we continue looking 13:34 at one of the last great deceptions 13:36 that Satan is going to pull upon the world 13:39 on the subject of spiritualism. 13:41 We'll be right back. 13:42 [uplifting music] 13:47 >>Announcer: If you'd like to deepen your understanding 13:48 of the powerful themes brought out in this program, 13:51 we invite you to explore the book 13:53 "The Great Controversy." 13:54 For more information, simply text the code 13:56 "GC24" to 71392. 14:00 This book delves into critical end-time themes, 14:02 offering profound insights into historical events, 14:05 Bible prophecy, and spiritual preparation 14:08 essential for today's unique challenges. 14:11 Discover how "The Great Controversy" 14:12 can illuminate your path in these uncertain times. 14:17 >>John Bradshaw: Crystals, yoga, Ouija boards, witchcraft 14:21 are back in vogue. 14:23 What the Fox Sisters popularized is now part of pop culture. 14:27 Books and movies about witchcraft, wizardry, 14:29 and magic are everywhere. 14:32 What's often said to be just entertainment 14:34 is part of something much larger and darker. 14:38 Don't miss "Dancing With the Devil," 14:40 where we'll explore the rise of the occult, 14:43 and you'll meet a young woman who overcame her involvement 14:45 with the occult through the power of God. 14:49 In a world where the media is saturated with occult imagery, 14:53 in a society where ghosts and demons are treated 14:55 as trivial and fun, 14:57 it's never been more important 14:58 to discern between the sacred and the profane. 15:01 In "Dancing With the Devil," 15:03 you'll learn there's nothing new under the sun 15:05 and that the roots of what we see today 15:07 go all the way back to the origin of sin. 15:11 "Dancing With the Devil," 15:13 brought to you by It Is Written TV. 15:17 [uplifting music] 15:21 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School" 15:23 here at It Is Written. 15:25 We are looking at "Spiritualism Exposed," 15:28 and Pastor Mark, you've-- 15:29 we've looked at the Old Testament 15:31 and what the Old Testament says about what happens 15:33 at death. It's kind of like a sleep. 15:35 Does anything change when we get over 15:38 into the New Testament? 15:39 Does death look any different in the transition 15:43 from Old Testament to New Testament? 15:45 >>Mark: The Bible is consistent. 15:46 And here in the New Testament, we find that same emphasis 15:50 again and again. Probably one of the classic experiences 15:54 is Jesus in the death of Lazarus. 15:57 Lazarus is sick unto death. Jesus waits. 16:00 Somebody titled a sermon once, 16:02 "When Jesus Was Four Days Late But Right on Time," you know? 16:06 And here in John, chapter 11, we find, in verses 11 to 14, 16:14 Jesus clarifying this. 16:16 And he says in John 11, verse 11, 16:19 "These things He said, and after that He said to them, 16:21 "'Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him 16:25 [out of sleep].'" 16:26 The disciples think, in verse 12, 16:28 that if Lazarus sleeps, he's doing well. 16:32 "However, Jesus spoke of his death, 16:34 "but they thought that He was speaking 16:36 about taking rest in sleep." 16:39 So here you find that Jesus equates Lazarus' death 16:44 with sleep. 16:45 Christ comes to the grave, and we look a little later 16:49 in the chapter, and Jesus prays and He cries with a loud voice. 16:54 Can you take a look at verse 43, please, and 44? 16:59 >>Eric: "Now when He had said these things, 17:01 "He cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!' 17:04 "And he who had died came out bound hand and foot 17:07 "with graveclothes, 17:09 "and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 17:12 'Loose him, and let him go.'" 17:14 >>Mark: So Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead 17:18 as a symbol of the great resurrection 17:21 that will take place at the end of time, 17:24 the resurrection of the righteous. 17:26 You know, Paul says, "The Lord Himself 17:28 shall descend from heaven"-- 17:29 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 16 and 17: 17:32 "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 17:34 "with the voice of the archangel,... 17:36 "with the trump of God: 17:37 "...the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17:39 "then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up... 17:42 "with them..., to meet the Lord in the air.... 17:45 [Comfort] one another with these words." 17:47 So the death is but a sleep till the great resurrection. 17:51 The resurrection of Lazarus is a symbol of the resurrection 17:55 at the end of time. 17:56 You know, I've smiled and I've said 17:58 to my evangelistic audience, if anybody could have written 18:01 a book that would become a bestseller 18:04 on what happens when you die, 18:06 it would have been Lazarus, you know? [chuckles] 18:08 And I've thought about that a lot and I've thought, 18:10 you know, if I were Lazarus, Pastor Eric, up in heaven, 18:13 and Jesus said, "Lazarus, come forth," 18:16 and He didn't say come down-- 18:17 but let's assume that that was true; it's not-- 18:20 and I would have yelled back, "Lord, I'm not coming back 18:22 to that old world," [laughing] you know. 18:24 "You called the wrong name. 18:25 Please, Lord, I wanna stay up in heaven." 18:28 But Lazarus didn't write a manuscript on heaven. Why? 18:31 Because he was sleeping and the dead--living know 18:33 that they shall die, but the dead know nothing. 18:35 That's the classic understanding in the New Testament. 18:39 The New Testament writers point us forward. 18:42 Whether you look at Paul's writings in 1 Thessalonians 4, 18:45 whether you look at Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15, 18:49 whatever you look at in the New Testament, death is a rest. 18:53 New Testament writers are looking forward 18:54 to the great event of the second coming of Christ, 18:57 where the righteous dead are resurrected. 18:59 The righteous living and the righteous dead 19:01 receive immortality. They're caught up with Christ in heaven. 19:04 Why would the second coming of Christ be such a glorious event 19:07 to loved one-- to us, if indeed our loved ones 19:12 were already in heaven? 19:13 >>Eric: Yeah, it's an excellent question. 19:15 And, you know, what's the purpose of the-- 19:17 of the Second Coming? >>Mark: Sure. 19:18 >>Eric: Yeah, the devil has done a good job of deceiving people 19:22 about what happens at death since the beginning. 19:27 What about spiritualism in the last days? 19:30 What is that going to look like? 19:31 Are we seeing any evidence of it today? 19:34 How are people going to be misled, confused 19:38 by spiritualism in the last days? 19:41 >>Mark: You know, when you look at 19:42 what's taking place in the media, 19:44 whether it's Hollywood, the social media, 19:47 when you're looking at what's taking place 19:49 in many of the bestselling novels, 19:51 the devil is conditioning the minds of people 19:54 to accept the spiritualistic delusions 19:57 that are coming in the last days. 19:59 Hollywood is shaping our mind with the whole concept 20:02 of appearances of the dead. 20:03 In fact, many Christians have gotten on board that, 20:08 with the idea of the NDEs, the near-death experiences, 20:12 where they believe that a person who has died, 20:15 they've gone on to another world, 20:18 but then they come back, and they live to tell about the fact 20:22 that they saw another world. 20:24 I should say something about these near-death experiences, 20:28 unless anybody be deceived by them. 20:30 What is the story about near-death experiences? 20:33 There's a couple things to keep in mind. 20:35 Number one, could this possibly be of God? 20:38 Because when you look at near-death experiences, 20:41 people always say, "Oh, we went to heaven," 20:45 or, "We saw this being, a beautiful brightness." 20:48 They don't talk about judgment, they don't talk about, ever, 20:51 about going into another world and facing eternal loss-- 20:57 not at all. What they talk about is, 20:59 "We saw this beautiful world." 21:01 Whoever they are, that's what they say. 21:04 The other thing to keep in mind is the Bible says 21:06 in Hebrews, chapter 9, "[We were] appointed unto men 21:09 once to die,... [then] the judgment." 21:11 So we don't die, then come back and die again. 21:14 In Job, chapter 7, it talks about that when you die, 21:17 nobody can return to their house again. 21:21 So the devil is trying to deceive people. 21:24 What about near-death experiences? 21:26 Are there any possibilities? 21:28 There are three possibilities that I see 21:31 in near-death experiences. 21:32 One, there's the pharmacological impact of the drugs 21:36 on the mind where experience-- 21:38 a person may experience some hallucination. 21:41 Secondly, a person who strongly believes that the soul 21:45 is immortal has that kind of experience. 21:49 Thirdly, the devil deceives that person into perceiving 21:54 that they had that experience. 21:56 It's not a real experience, but it's a perceived experience. 21:59 Why might the devil be doing this? 22:01 Let's look at some of the warnings that Jesus 22:04 gives in this area. 22:06 You're going to take your Bible and turn to Matthew, chapter 24. 22:10 Matthew, chapter 24, 22:12 the devil is preparing to deceive men and women. 22:18 And if you look at Matthew, chapter 24, 22:22 let your eyes drop down, for example, to verse 24. 22:26 Matthew 24, verse 24, 22:29 Pastor Eric, could you read that please? 22:30 >>Eric: "For false christs and false prophets 22:32 "will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, 22:36 if possible, even the elect." 22:38 >>Mark: False christs and false prophets shall arise. 22:41 Could it be that the devil masquerades 22:45 as one of the prophets through one of his fallen angels? 22:49 And they show great signs and wonders before our eyes, 22:52 apparently coming back to us trying to share-- 22:57 to say that the teachings of the Bible 23:00 now relate only to love and certainly not obedience. 23:03 And it's not necessary to keep God's law. 23:07 Signs and wonders will be one of the ways the devil deceives. 23:09 Let's go over to Revelation, chapter 16. 23:15 We notice throughout Scripture 23:17 the devil is going to try to deceive 23:20 in a variety of ways. 23:22 Revelation, the 16th chapter, the 13th and 14th verses, 23:28 go ahead and read those, please. 23:30 >>Eric: "And I saw three unclean spirits 23:32 "like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, 23:35 "out of the mouth of the beast, 23:36 "and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 23:38 "For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, 23:41 "which go out to the kings of the earth 23:43 "and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle 23:46 of that great day of God Almighty." 23:49 >>Mark: So here you have in the last days 23:52 the three unclean spirits, and these come out of-- 23:58 and the false prophet-- they're spirits of demons. 24:01 They deceive the kings of the earth. 24:03 Now notice also Revelation 13, 24:07 and you could read verse 13 and 14. 24:10 What we're showing here is the devil is going 24:12 to use spiritualism in the last days to deceive. 24:15 >>Eric: "He performs great signs, so that 24:17 "he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth 24:20 "in the sight of men. 24:22 "And he deceives those who dwell on the earth 24:24 "by those signs which he was granted to do 24:27 "in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell 24:29 "on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded 24:32 by the sword and lived." 24:34 >>Mark: Both in Matthew 24, Revelation 13, Revelation 16, 24:38 Satan deceives by signs and wonders. 24:40 Now, Ellen White rounds that out. 24:43 She expands on those passages, 24:45 and I'd like to look at two passages. 24:47 I'll read them both. 24:49 One is in Wednesday's lesson in the second-to-last paragraph, 24:53 beginning with, "Satan has long been preparing 24:56 for his final effort to deceive the world." 24:58 How's he's going to do that? 24:59 Listen, "Little by little he has prepared the way 25:02 "for his masterpiece of deception 25:04 in the development of spiritualism." 25:06 That's interesting sentence: "little by little." 25:09 Through Hollywood, through mass media, 25:12 through movies, through TV programs, 25:15 through books that are written, bestsellers. 25:18 "Little by little he has prepared the way 25:19 "for his masterpiece of deception 25:21 "in the development of spiritualism. 25:23 "He has not yet reached the full accomplishment 25:25 "of his designs; but it will be reached 25:27 "in the last remnant of time.... 25:29 "Except those who are kept by the power of God, 25:32 "through faith in His word, the whole world will be swept 25:36 into the ranks of this delusion." 25:38 That's spiritualism. 25:39 Now, last day's-- Thursday's lesson, 25:44 last paragraph, what's the crowning act 25:45 in the drama of deception? 25:48 "As the crowning act"-- last paragraph-- 25:50 "in the...drama of deception, 25:51 "Satan himself will personate Christ. 25:54 "The church has long professed to look 25:55 "to the Saviour's advent as the consummation of her hopes. 25:59 "Now the great deceiver will make it appear 26:01 "that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, 26:03 "Satan will manifest himself 26:05 "among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, 26:08 "resembling the description of the Son of God 26:11 given by John in...Revelation." 26:14 That's "The Great Controversy," page 624. 26:17 So let me draw this picture for-- 26:20 what the devil is doing is this. 26:23 The devil is, right now, preparing people to accept 26:28 his final overmastering delusion. 26:32 When you turn from the clear teachings 26:34 of the Word of God and depend on signs, 26:38 wonders, and emotionalism in religion, that leads you 26:43 to be predisposed to the deceptions of Satan. 26:47 So the idea of the immortal soul, 26:49 the idea that the dead live on, 26:51 the idea that at times those dead may die 26:56 but not be dead but come back and appear to the living, 26:59 the idea that there's gonna be this great revival-- 27:06 and the devil can do a counterfeit revival, 27:08 appear as Christ-- what is our safety? 27:11 Our safety is the Word of the living God. 27:14 >>Eric: Pastor Mark, thank you for helping us 27:16 to see some of how spiritualism 27:19 has worked its way into the world today, 27:21 and you're going to see more and more of that. 27:24 So now you know what to watch out for. 27:27 We have three more studies left in this quarter 27:31 as we look at "The Great Controversy." 27:33 We're looking at some very significant subjects 27:37 coming up over the next three lessons. 27:38 You do not want to miss them. 27:40 So we will look forward to seeing you back again 27:42 here very soon on "Sabbath School," 27:44 brought to you by It Is Written. 27:46 [uplifting music] 28:23 [uplifting music] 28:26 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abercap.com] |
Revised 2024-05-29