WHY THE ELECT ARE NOT DECEIVED.
By W. S. Sadler
FOR there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matt. 24:24. The Saviour tells us that in the last days marvelous signs and great wonders will be seen, and that these things will have such deceptive power that if it were possible the very elect would be deceived. We find that the prophet John calls attention to this same wonder-working power in the book of Revelation. “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.” Rev. 13:13. “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Rev. 16:14. These scriptures clearly show that, to all human appearance, the devil will have power to work miracles in the last days, and that in the last phase of this last-day wonder-working power even fire will be brought down from heaven. We must remember that angels were deceived in heaven, and that, with Satan’s six thousand years’ experience of perversion and deception, it is very clear that the elect must be in possession of superior discernment and discrimination in order to escape these deceptions. How, then, may we know that we shall be free from the deceptive influences of these signs and lying wonders? This is the promise: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32. The people of God must be searching for truth instead of watching for signs and miracles. Signs and wonders the devil will be able to produce, but truth, divine truth, has no connection with the powers of darkness. This is an age when people are looking for the miraculous. Even many professed Christians are asking now, what Herod asked of old, “Show us a miracle.” Elijah’s fidelity to God was vindicated by the miracle of bringing fire down from heaven, but in these last days Satan will reproduce this miracle for the accomplishment of some deceptive purpose. Satan’s deceptions in these last days will be so subtle, his miracles so marvelous and so nearly approaching the manifestations of the workings of God recorded in the Bible, that, if it were possible, as noted in the warning of Christ, even the very elect would be deceived. But, thank God, it will not be possible, for the elect know the truth, love the truth, and obey the truth, and the promise is, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” It is the ability to discern truth by the flavor of the divine spirit that is in the truth, that renders the elect unsusceptible to the influence and deceptions of this last-day, master miracle-working power. The one great miracle which the elect of God should be eagerly seeking for is that miracle of transformation,—a transformation of character. True, other miracles will follow according to the promises of the Gospel commission. Satan can work apparent miracles, but this transformation of character from the sinful to the sinless is a work wrought only by the power of God. Satan is well acquainted with many of the plans in the eternal purpose of God, and it is this knowledge which makes it possible for him to construct such deceptive counterfeits and to so successfully carry them out before the eyes of the world. Dear reader, we must come to that place in our experience where the love of truth will be the thing uppermost in our minds and hearts. We must come to that place where we will be able to deny any one or all of our senses in favor of principles which we know to be true. Truth, and only truth, can save from the deceptions that will be abroad in the closing of this world’s history. Miracles are not to go before as an evidence of truth, but to follow after as a confirmation of the truth that went before. The miracle which God works in transforming the hearts of sinners, in bringing them out of darkness into the marvelous light of His truth, in breaking asunder the bands of the prisoners of sin, and setting free the captives of the arch-deceiver,—this great miracle of conversion is little appreciated by the world to-day, while at the same time we find the majority of even professed Christians eagerly calling for miracles, and expectantly watching for signs and wonders. We shall only be saved from the deception of false miracles by having acquired a knowledge of the flavor of divine truth. This knowledge of the flavor of truth we get by accepting truth in the heart, by living truth in the life, by making truth our rule of action, by being sanctified by the truth. Having once acquired a knowledge of the flavor of truth, let us deny even our own eyes and hearing, and hold fast to those principles which the Spirit of God has borne witness to as truth. Truth, dear reader, and truth only, will save us from being deceived by the sophistries of the arch-deceiver.