And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
God sends strong delusion so that those who refuse to love the truth that would save them believe a lie and are lost, because they take pleasure in unrighteousness rather than in truth. He does this not by arbitrary decree but by withdrawing His Spirit and leaving them to the deceptions they love, so light becomes darkness and they are blinded and hardened in heart. The delusion comes through Satan's working with all power and signs and lying wonders and every deceit of unrighteousness, making the way to ruin look attractive, safe and glorious. Its chief lies are spiritualism built on the claim that the dead do not die, the exalting of a false sabbath above God's Sabbath, and the papal man of sin exalting himself as God, all ripening just before Christ's coming in the last great crisis. Safety is only in receiving the love of the truth, studying Scripture with contrition and prayer, obeying present truth and heeding warning, while the deluded are still to be approached in pitying tenderness without ridicule.
Cause and Coming Judgment
For this cause the sending of powerful misleading influence comes from God Himself, so that those who did not welcome love for truth that would have saved them instead accept falsehood and fall under condemnation for delighting in wrongdoing. The judgment is described as a working of error permitted to take hold, giving over to delusion those who refuse saving truth and choose unrighteous pleasure. That working stands connected with deceptive activity marked by power and signs and lying wonders and every deceit of unrighteousness, operating in the period just before the coming of Christ. Through that same operation the man of sin, the son of perdition, the mystery of iniquity is revealed, opposing and lifting himself above everything called God or worshiped and seating himself in the temple of God as if he were God, displaying the character and principles of Satan's government in the Papacy, until he is consumed by the spirit of the Lord's mouth and destroyed by the brightness of His coming. In the last days the signs include spirits of devils performing miracles and impersonating the dead.
The refusal that draws this judgment is unwillingness to receive plain pointed truth because it demands a cross, with preference given to pleasing stories that quiet conscience and to less spiritual, less self-denying, less humiliating doctrines. It is a choice for convenience, policy, worldly approval, and freedom for the carnal heart rather than variance with the world, degrading mental powers to serve fleshly desires. Those affected are too wise in self-conceit to search the Scriptures with brokenness of soul and earnest prayer for divine guidance, finding doubt and questioning easier than obedience, turning aside counsel to fit personal ideas, and neglecting the Word and the warnings given through word and testimony so that they are left without shield and without excuse. Satan supplies what such a heart desires and substitutes his deceptions for truth, so that neglect for convenience leaves them to take damnable heresy as religious truth. By this course the papal power gained control of minds, and Protestants who reject truth for the same reasons follow the same path, with every conceivable error accepted by willful rejecters so that one who recoils from one deception readily embraces another, which calls for vigilance over what doctrines are received and for loving and obeying present truth in order to be saved from delusion.
Sincerity in believing falsehood does not avert the outcome, for condemnation rests not merely on sincerely holding a lie but on failing to believe truth and neglecting opportunity to learn it. Whatever contradicts God's word has its origin from Satan, and disregard of recorded warnings and instruction leads to ruin.
How God Gives Over
God gives people over by withdrawing His Spirit and leaving them to the deceptions they love, permitting them to choose what they desire. Warnings cannot be rejected with impunity, for those who refuse to obey truth and choose policy and deception find the light in them become darkness. Those who reject God's warnings and refuse the love of the truth that would save them are given over to strong delusion and come to believe a lie, left in blindness of mind and hardness of heart. This is retribution for past sins, so that their feet become entangled in inconsistencies and they cannot discern where they stumble.
The hardening is progressive and cumulative, for one brought by providence to see truth and convicted by God's Spirit who refuses to walk in the light sets the heart to pursue its own course, and its influence grows stronger and stronger to resist light and truth. Resisting sufficient evidence once makes choosing evil easier the second time and still more eager the third, until withdrawn from God to stand with Satan and confirmed in evil, cherishing as truth the lie that has been cherished. As despisers of God's law harden their hearts like Pharaoh and reject God's voice for human theories and satanic suggestions, resisting and setting aside the Holy Spirit, the Spirit has less and less influence to restrain them, warnings have less and less power, conscience becomes benumbed, fear of God is lost, contempt for God's commandments grows, and the heart of flesh becomes a heart of stone. The resistance produces its harvest, for sowing to the flesh reaps corruption and iniquity as in the antediluvian world of lawlessness, crime and violence, and by precept and example the seed is reproduced in children so that the iniquities of the fathers are visited upon the children and others are led to follow the same resistance. Refusing greater light and correction leaves people more vulnerable to deception and darkness and sinking deeper, for the greater the light rejected the greater the deceptive power that follows, and while the enemy's seductive work foretold in Scripture cannot be changed, some may have eyes opened but many may recognize errors too late to correct them.
This giving over is not an arbitrary decree making men blind or forcing them, for God does not make man spiritually blind and does not force man to receive truth. God gives sufficient light and evidence to distinguish truth from error and leaves men free to choose good or evil, while His Spirit keeps evil under the control of conscience. The delusion is retribution and harvest of continued rebellion and refusal of thorough repentance, entangling the rejecter in inconsistency until unable to discern the cause of stumbling.
Satanic Working and Lies
The strong delusion is sent in connection with Satan's working with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, and it falls on those who received not the love of the truth that they might be saved but had pleasure in unrighteousness, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth. It includes strange miracles, evil angels making dead saints and sinners appear visible, deceptive appearances of the dead, false explanations for calamities, and deceptive reasonings that make the path to hell look attractive, safe, happy and glorious through spiritualism, vain philosophy, riches, power, genius, eloquence, pride, and perverted reason and passion. This satanic work belongs immediately before Christ's coming in the clouds with power and great glory, and all must be on guard and not depart from the faith.
The verse exposes the Papacy as the man of sin, the son of perdition, and the mystery of iniquity, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or worshiped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. It manifests Satan's character and principles of government, put forth by men who claim to be Christ's vicegerents upon earth inspired by Satan, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. It will be consumed with the Spirit of the Lord's mouth and destroyed with the brightness of His coming, and its working marks the last great crisis now present.
The lie is above all Spiritualism, founded on the original lie Thou shalt not surely die and built on the claim that the dead continue to live and communicate, denying the plain Scripture teaching concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead that the dead know nothing and that man is not immortal. Evil angels make dead saints and sinners appear visible to human eyes, impersonate departed friends, and claim communication with the dead, with these manifestations becoming more frequent and more startling as the close of time nears. Multitudes close their eyes to the light rather than yield the liberty agreeable to the carnal heart and renounce the sins they love, and walk straight on regardless of warnings, so Satan weaves his snares about them and they become his prey, while those who cut themselves off from Christ the Head lose strength and nourishment and come under Satan's control and those who tamper with it leave themselves open to his control.
The lie includes exalting a false and spurious man-made sabbath above the Sabbath the Lord blessed and sanctified for man, disregarding the fourth commandment and rejecting the Sabbath memorial of creation to take Satan's side and join worldwide apostasy against God's law. Professed Christians who give God's Sabbath glory to a human institution and compel others to worship that idol are idolaters not sealed by God, and their belief of the lie ends in God's retributive judgments poured out without mixture of mercy upon unrepentant despisers of His law. With the immortality of the soul these kindred heresies become the wine of Babylon, and churches that will not receive the warnings of the first, second, and third angels' messages therefore become the fallen Babylon of Revelation 18 in corrupt harmony with kings, merchants, rulers, and religious teachers.
Other forms of the lie are that there is nothing displeasing to God in licentiousness and adultery, deceiving even those who profess the truth and bringing reproach on it. They are that men can do good by their own power, need no atonement or dependence on the crucified and risen Saviour, and can earn God's favor through their own merits, while rejecting the Bible and denying the existence of a personal devil and leaving themselves without a rule by which to measure conduct. They are that no matter how wicked men are and whether they believe God or the Bible, Heaven is still their home, proved by the claim that Thomas Paine is exalted in glory with the holy apostles and angels; that the Bible is uninspired, no better than a story-book; that Jesus is no more than a common man with nothing miraculous about His birth, death, and resurrection; and that modern miracles and lying wonders far exceed the works of Christ, by which Satan tears away the foundation of the Christian's hope, puts the book that is to judge him back into the shade, puts Jesus in the background, draws attention to himself, and lulls the world to a feeling of security not broken until the seven last plagues are poured out. They include praying to Mary and to dead apostles and saints for favors, when Mary and the saints are not in heaven but lie in their graves until the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven and the sound of the trump of God that shall call the dead from their prison house, so all such prayers fall to the ground.
Satan himself leads the delusion disguised as an angel of light, clothing spirits of darkness in pure robes of heaven, and as conductor of a train going with lightning speed to perdition, appearing as a stately, fair person whom all reverence, with his agents as engineer and other officers, and the whole world on board bound in bundles ready to burn and taken captive to believe a lie that they may be damned. In contrast a little company travels an opposite narrow pathway, firmly united and bound together by the truth in bundles for the heavenly garner, sealed and being bound by the third angel, care-worn from severe trials and conflicts yet triumphant as if their victories were nearly won. In the last desperate effort he will personate Christ's second coming, clothed in royal garments as a beautiful majestic being with soft voice, pleasant words and unsurpassed glory, proclaiming himself Christ and blessing followers as on earth, while Scripture exposes the false Christ and the true coming will be unmistakable, and every word spoken against Christ will burn into the guilty and overwhelm them with terror, remorse and shame.
The deception works through phrenology, psychology, mesmerism and animal magnetism, seized by Satan as powerful agents though good in their place, working cures and appearing as a lovely young person or beautiful shadow to be worshiped as benefactor, preparing minds by error and disregard for God's commandments to be ensnared by lying wonders. It works near the close of probation through sciences and science falsely so called that make God and Christ seem unreal and lead people away from faith in Christ, and through spiritualism, theosophy and like counterfeits that imitate truth and genuine goodness, which is their power to deceive. Through subtlety Satan gives his soul-destroying errors the appearance of truth, pretends to be the Saviour and benefactor of man and of the human race, hails humanity as God with multitudes looking for a god in humanity, contaminates the world with false and ruinous principles, and works to restrict religious liberty and bring slavery and control of men by men, with fraud and guile bearing the semblance of zeal for truth.
The verse applies to ministers and professed Adventists who heard and rejected the light of the Advent doctrine and present truth and carry on false revivals and false reformations with no travail of soul for sinners, through whom Satan breathes power so that when they preach or pray or talk hearers fall prostrate helpless not by the Holy Spirit. They use mesmerism in preaching, prayer and conversation to gain adherents who rejoice in the influence because they think it is the Holy Spirit, with some so deep in darkness and the devil's deception that they think it is God's power given them to use, picturing God as just like themselves and treating His power as worthless. It applies to rejecting the prophetic time fulfilled in 1844 and repeatedly setting new dates afterward, which was not God's leading and gave the enemy power to delude into believing a lie, including the false claim that probation would end in October 1884 and saints be sealed in fifteen and thirty days with false reckonings, visions and dreams, when probation was still open and the time for salvation of those given over was held to be past only for those who had heard and rejected.
It also catches those who mistake outward religion and form of godliness for its spirit and power, trusting their works and worldly policies while remaining spiritually defiled, following worldly policies and disregarding His law while thinking themselves spiritually rich and needing nothing when they are in need. They become lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, departing farther from truth and allying more closely with the world. Those who have had great light and precious privileges but have not received the love of the truth, have not improved them, and have not built upon the solid rock will be taken in the delusions of the enemy when trials thicken and times of real peril come, and will under one pretext or another go out from God's people, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and departing from the faith, in peril through continuing in worldliness and ambition unless they stop, press against the current, and change worldly relationships and pursuits.
Last-Day Timing and Division
The powerful delusion belongs to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, placed immediately before the coming of Christ in the clouds with power and great glory. It is his last mighty effort to deceive and destroy not only the unbelieving world but the great mass of professed Christians, made with greater power because his time is short and therefore bringing greater difficulties and more determined opposition than the early Reformers faced. It constitutes the last great crisis and the future trials about which all must be warned beforehand, with strange miracles and spirits of devils working miracles and impersonating the dead drawing many into departure from the faith.
The change is progressive and its perfect fulfillment is yet future, reached only when the union of the church with the world is fully accomplished throughout Christendom and the fall of Babylon is complete. That completeness comes through rejecting the threefold warning of Revelation 14:6-12, refusing the warnings of the first, second and third angels' messages and becoming the fallen Babylon of Revelation 18. When that religious declension like that in the first centuries is reached, apostate churches unite on common points of doctrine, seek the aid of civil government to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, form an image of the Roman hierarchy, and bring civil penalties upon dissenters, so that the same results follow as in the first centuries.
It is the same exercise of Infinite Power seen when the world rejected Noah's message and perished in the flood after the Spirit was withdrawn, when mercy ceased to plead with Sodom and all but Lot and his family were consumed by fire from heaven, and when the house of the unbelieving Jews was declared desolate. False assurances of peace and safety and ridicule of prophetic warnings now turn people away from repentance and readiness for Christ's coming, while Satan's deceptive power and lying wonders deceive many. The winds are still held by the four angels in a gracious moment of respite to carry the warning to all parts of the world without delay.
The outcome is only two parties, with the greater part falling into line under the first great apostate while the whole world is taken captive to believe a lie that they may be damned. Satan leads as conductor of a train rushing with lightning speed to perdition, appearing as a stately fair person in the form of an angel of light whom all reverence, with his agents as engineer and other officers, and the world on board bound in bundles ready to burn. Against them stands only a little company traveling the opposite narrow pathway, firmly united and bound together by the truth, whom the third angel is binding and sealing in bundles for the heavenly garner, care-worn through severe trials and conflicts yet triumphant as if their victories were nearly won. When the days of apostasy are ended those who believed a lie will be defeated, for though Satan in cooperation with his angels and evil men puts forth every effort and appears to succeed, from this conflict truth and righteousness come forth triumphant in victory as the last message accomplishes its work.
Safeguard and Compassionate Response
Safety from the strong delusion is in receiving the love of the truth that saves, loving and obeying present truth for this time. Those who refuse its cost and prefer pleasing teachings, convenience, worldly approval, less spiritual and self-denying doctrines, and fables to quiet conscience become vulnerable to false religious doctrines and damnable heresy received as religious truth. Protection requires searching the Scriptures with contrition of soul and earnest prayer for divine guidance rather than degrading intellectual powers to serve carnal desires or resting too wise in self-conceit to seek guidance. It requires maintaining prayer, abiding in the straight path, building on the solid rock, standing firm in given principles, keeping sleepless vigilance as to what doctrines are received, and heeding warnings in the Word and testimonies. Faithfulness to given truth shields from delusion and sanctifies the soul while exposing the counterfeit, for every conceivable error will be accepted by those who willfully reject truth and he who abhors one deception will readily receive another, but neglecting the Word for convenience and policy, neglecting prayer, and despising reproof leaves without shield and without excuse.
Those innocently deceived for a time are not beyond hope if teachable and sincerely seeking truth. Such can recognize error and the inconsistencies of trusted guides, and their doubts vanish when truth is seen. Honest minds can distinguish false visions that mingle error with truth to discredit the genuine and uproot confidence from genuine messages, for God does not lie or deceive His people. Those in whom interest in truth has been raised must be followed up, instructed in principles of faith, and built up and strengthened, lest left uninstructed they perish and receive delusions.
The deluded must be shown their danger in pitying tenderness without censure, blame, condemnation, or ridicule, which will not open blind eyes nor attract to truth. Some blind, deluded souls in grievous danger, turned from truth to fables and ensnared by subtle reasonings in Satan's power, may still be recovered from Satan even though deceivers appear sincere and seek to mislead even the elect. There is no need to test the delusion by listening to its reasonings or attending its circles, for God has already tested that class for the benefit of His people living amid last-day perils. The Holy Spirit is needed to discern the path the devil is preparing and to escape it, and approaching the ensnared with retaliation or triumph puts one on the enemy's ground and risks the same stumbling.
Failure to share the light leaves people vulnerable to darkness, for when truth is not shared souls are turned from truth by deceptive error, accept error and give up truth. Neglect to walk in cherished light, to heed admonition, to overcome love of self and conform the will to God, and despising reproof closes the only door through which God's voice counsels and warns, leaving in the enemy's snare captive at his will by pleasing flattering deceptions, with benumbed conscience, lost spiritual strength, and power to discern the True Shepherd's voice from a stranger's only a small part of the time. Therefore precious truth in its native force must unveil the errors, Bible truth and God's law must be taught clearly against coming miraculous sophistries that will trap souls and draw many, and the warning must be carried promptly.
God sends strong delusion so that those who refuse to love the truth that would save them believe a lie and are lost, because they take pleasure in unrighteousness rather than in truth. He does this not by arbitrary decree but by withdrawing His Spirit and leaving them to the deceptions they love, so light becomes darkness and they are blinded and hardened in heart. The delusion comes through Satan's working with all power and signs and lying wonders and every deceit of unrighteousness, making the way to ruin look attractive, safe and glorious. Its chief lies are spiritualism built on the claim that the dead do not die, the exalting of a false sabbath above God's Sabbath, and the papal man of sin exalting himself as God, all ripening just before Christ's coming in the last great crisis. Safety is only in receiving the love of the truth, studying Scripture with contrition and prayer, obeying present truth and heeding warning, while the deluded are still to be approached in pitying tenderness without ridicule.
Cause and Coming Judgment
For this cause the sending of powerful misleading influence comes from God Himself, so that those who did not welcome love for truth that would have saved them instead accept falsehood and fall under condemnation for delighting in wrongdoing. The judgment is described as a working of error permitted to take hold, giving over to delusion those who refuse saving truth and choose unrighteous pleasure. That working stands connected with deceptive activity marked by power and signs and lying wonders and every deceit of unrighteousness, operating in the period just before the coming of Christ. Through that same operation the man of sin, the son of perdition, the mystery of iniquity is revealed, opposing and lifting himself above everything called God or worshiped and seating himself in the temple of God as if he were God, displaying the character and principles of Satan's government in the Papacy, until he is consumed by the spirit of the Lord's mouth and destroyed by the brightness of His coming. In the last days the signs include spirits of devils performing miracles and impersonating the dead.
The refusal that draws this judgment is unwillingness to receive plain pointed truth because it demands a cross, with preference given to pleasing stories that quiet conscience and to less spiritual, less self-denying, less humiliating doctrines. It is a choice for convenience, policy, worldly approval, and freedom for the carnal heart rather than variance with the world, degrading mental powers to serve fleshly desires. Those affected are too wise in self-conceit to search the Scriptures with brokenness of soul and earnest prayer for divine guidance, finding doubt and questioning easier than obedience, turning aside counsel to fit personal ideas, and neglecting the Word and the warnings given through word and testimony so that they are left without shield and without excuse. Satan supplies what such a heart desires and substitutes his deceptions for truth, so that neglect for convenience leaves them to take damnable heresy as religious truth. By this course the papal power gained control of minds, and Protestants who reject truth for the same reasons follow the same path, with every conceivable error accepted by willful rejecters so that one who recoils from one deception readily embraces another, which calls for vigilance over what doctrines are received and for loving and obeying present truth in order to be saved from delusion.
Sincerity in believing falsehood does not avert the outcome, for condemnation rests not merely on sincerely holding a lie but on failing to believe truth and neglecting opportunity to learn it. Whatever contradicts God's word has its origin from Satan, and disregard of recorded warnings and instruction leads to ruin.
How God Gives Over
God gives people over by withdrawing His Spirit and leaving them to the deceptions they love, permitting them to choose what they desire. Warnings cannot be rejected with impunity, for those who refuse to obey truth and choose policy and deception find the light in them become darkness. Those who reject God's warnings and refuse the love of the truth that would save them are given over to strong delusion and come to believe a lie, left in blindness of mind and hardness of heart. This is retribution for past sins, so that their feet become entangled in inconsistencies and they cannot discern where they stumble.
The hardening is progressive and cumulative, for one brought by providence to see truth and convicted by God's Spirit who refuses to walk in the light sets the heart to pursue its own course, and its influence grows stronger and stronger to resist light and truth. Resisting sufficient evidence once makes choosing evil easier the second time and still more eager the third, until withdrawn from God to stand with Satan and confirmed in evil, cherishing as truth the lie that has been cherished. As despisers of God's law harden their hearts like Pharaoh and reject God's voice for human theories and satanic suggestions, resisting and setting aside the Holy Spirit, the Spirit has less and less influence to restrain them, warnings have less and less power, conscience becomes benumbed, fear of God is lost, contempt for God's commandments grows, and the heart of flesh becomes a heart of stone. The resistance produces its harvest, for sowing to the flesh reaps corruption and iniquity as in the antediluvian world of lawlessness, crime and violence, and by precept and example the seed is reproduced in children so that the iniquities of the fathers are visited upon the children and others are led to follow the same resistance. Refusing greater light and correction leaves people more vulnerable to deception and darkness and sinking deeper, for the greater the light rejected the greater the deceptive power that follows, and while the enemy's seductive work foretold in Scripture cannot be changed, some may have eyes opened but many may recognize errors too late to correct them.
This giving over is not an arbitrary decree making men blind or forcing them, for God does not make man spiritually blind and does not force man to receive truth. God gives sufficient light and evidence to distinguish truth from error and leaves men free to choose good or evil, while His Spirit keeps evil under the control of conscience. The delusion is retribution and harvest of continued rebellion and refusal of thorough repentance, entangling the rejecter in inconsistency until unable to discern the cause of stumbling.
Satanic Working and Lies
The strong delusion is sent in connection with Satan's working with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, and it falls on those who received not the love of the truth that they might be saved but had pleasure in unrighteousness, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth. It includes strange miracles, evil angels making dead saints and sinners appear visible, deceptive appearances of the dead, false explanations for calamities, and deceptive reasonings that make the path to hell look attractive, safe, happy and glorious through spiritualism, vain philosophy, riches, power, genius, eloquence, pride, and perverted reason and passion. This satanic work belongs immediately before Christ's coming in the clouds with power and great glory, and all must be on guard and not depart from the faith.
The verse exposes the Papacy as the man of sin, the son of perdition, and the mystery of iniquity, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or worshiped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. It manifests Satan's character and principles of government, put forth by men who claim to be Christ's vicegerents upon earth inspired by Satan, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. It will be consumed with the Spirit of the Lord's mouth and destroyed with the brightness of His coming, and its working marks the last great crisis now present.
The lie is above all Spiritualism, founded on the original lie Thou shalt not surely die and built on the claim that the dead continue to live and communicate, denying the plain Scripture teaching concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead that the dead know nothing and that man is not immortal. Evil angels make dead saints and sinners appear visible to human eyes, impersonate departed friends, and claim communication with the dead, with these manifestations becoming more frequent and more startling as the close of time nears. Multitudes close their eyes to the light rather than yield the liberty agreeable to the carnal heart and renounce the sins they love, and walk straight on regardless of warnings, so Satan weaves his snares about them and they become his prey, while those who cut themselves off from Christ the Head lose strength and nourishment and come under Satan's control and those who tamper with it leave themselves open to his control.
The lie includes exalting a false and spurious man-made sabbath above the Sabbath the Lord blessed and sanctified for man, disregarding the fourth commandment and rejecting the Sabbath memorial of creation to take Satan's side and join worldwide apostasy against God's law. Professed Christians who give God's Sabbath glory to a human institution and compel others to worship that idol are idolaters not sealed by God, and their belief of the lie ends in God's retributive judgments poured out without mixture of mercy upon unrepentant despisers of His law. With the immortality of the soul these kindred heresies become the wine of Babylon, and churches that will not receive the warnings of the first, second, and third angels' messages therefore become the fallen Babylon of Revelation 18 in corrupt harmony with kings, merchants, rulers, and religious teachers.
Other forms of the lie are that there is nothing displeasing to God in licentiousness and adultery, deceiving even those who profess the truth and bringing reproach on it. They are that men can do good by their own power, need no atonement or dependence on the crucified and risen Saviour, and can earn God's favor through their own merits, while rejecting the Bible and denying the existence of a personal devil and leaving themselves without a rule by which to measure conduct. They are that no matter how wicked men are and whether they believe God or the Bible, Heaven is still their home, proved by the claim that Thomas Paine is exalted in glory with the holy apostles and angels; that the Bible is uninspired, no better than a story-book; that Jesus is no more than a common man with nothing miraculous about His birth, death, and resurrection; and that modern miracles and lying wonders far exceed the works of Christ, by which Satan tears away the foundation of the Christian's hope, puts the book that is to judge him back into the shade, puts Jesus in the background, draws attention to himself, and lulls the world to a feeling of security not broken until the seven last plagues are poured out. They include praying to Mary and to dead apostles and saints for favors, when Mary and the saints are not in heaven but lie in their graves until the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven and the sound of the trump of God that shall call the dead from their prison house, so all such prayers fall to the ground.
Satan himself leads the delusion disguised as an angel of light, clothing spirits of darkness in pure robes of heaven, and as conductor of a train going with lightning speed to perdition, appearing as a stately, fair person whom all reverence, with his agents as engineer and other officers, and the whole world on board bound in bundles ready to burn and taken captive to believe a lie that they may be damned. In contrast a little company travels an opposite narrow pathway, firmly united and bound together by the truth in bundles for the heavenly garner, sealed and being bound by the third angel, care-worn from severe trials and conflicts yet triumphant as if their victories were nearly won. In the last desperate effort he will personate Christ's second coming, clothed in royal garments as a beautiful majestic being with soft voice, pleasant words and unsurpassed glory, proclaiming himself Christ and blessing followers as on earth, while Scripture exposes the false Christ and the true coming will be unmistakable, and every word spoken against Christ will burn into the guilty and overwhelm them with terror, remorse and shame.
The deception works through phrenology, psychology, mesmerism and animal magnetism, seized by Satan as powerful agents though good in their place, working cures and appearing as a lovely young person or beautiful shadow to be worshiped as benefactor, preparing minds by error and disregard for God's commandments to be ensnared by lying wonders. It works near the close of probation through sciences and science falsely so called that make God and Christ seem unreal and lead people away from faith in Christ, and through spiritualism, theosophy and like counterfeits that imitate truth and genuine goodness, which is their power to deceive. Through subtlety Satan gives his soul-destroying errors the appearance of truth, pretends to be the Saviour and benefactor of man and of the human race, hails humanity as God with multitudes looking for a god in humanity, contaminates the world with false and ruinous principles, and works to restrict religious liberty and bring slavery and control of men by men, with fraud and guile bearing the semblance of zeal for truth.
The verse applies to ministers and professed Adventists who heard and rejected the light of the Advent doctrine and present truth and carry on false revivals and false reformations with no travail of soul for sinners, through whom Satan breathes power so that when they preach or pray or talk hearers fall prostrate helpless not by the Holy Spirit. They use mesmerism in preaching, prayer and conversation to gain adherents who rejoice in the influence because they think it is the Holy Spirit, with some so deep in darkness and the devil's deception that they think it is God's power given them to use, picturing God as just like themselves and treating His power as worthless. It applies to rejecting the prophetic time fulfilled in 1844 and repeatedly setting new dates afterward, which was not God's leading and gave the enemy power to delude into believing a lie, including the false claim that probation would end in October 1884 and saints be sealed in fifteen and thirty days with false reckonings, visions and dreams, when probation was still open and the time for salvation of those given over was held to be past only for those who had heard and rejected.
It also catches those who mistake outward religion and form of godliness for its spirit and power, trusting their works and worldly policies while remaining spiritually defiled, following worldly policies and disregarding His law while thinking themselves spiritually rich and needing nothing when they are in need. They become lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, departing farther from truth and allying more closely with the world. Those who have had great light and precious privileges but have not received the love of the truth, have not improved them, and have not built upon the solid rock will be taken in the delusions of the enemy when trials thicken and times of real peril come, and will under one pretext or another go out from God's people, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and departing from the faith, in peril through continuing in worldliness and ambition unless they stop, press against the current, and change worldly relationships and pursuits.
Last-Day Timing and Division
The powerful delusion belongs to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, placed immediately before the coming of Christ in the clouds with power and great glory. It is his last mighty effort to deceive and destroy not only the unbelieving world but the great mass of professed Christians, made with greater power because his time is short and therefore bringing greater difficulties and more determined opposition than the early Reformers faced. It constitutes the last great crisis and the future trials about which all must be warned beforehand, with strange miracles and spirits of devils working miracles and impersonating the dead drawing many into departure from the faith.
The change is progressive and its perfect fulfillment is yet future, reached only when the union of the church with the world is fully accomplished throughout Christendom and the fall of Babylon is complete. That completeness comes through rejecting the threefold warning of Revelation 14:6-12, refusing the warnings of the first, second and third angels' messages and becoming the fallen Babylon of Revelation 18. When that religious declension like that in the first centuries is reached, apostate churches unite on common points of doctrine, seek the aid of civil government to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, form an image of the Roman hierarchy, and bring civil penalties upon dissenters, so that the same results follow as in the first centuries.
It is the same exercise of Infinite Power seen when the world rejected Noah's message and perished in the flood after the Spirit was withdrawn, when mercy ceased to plead with Sodom and all but Lot and his family were consumed by fire from heaven, and when the house of the unbelieving Jews was declared desolate. False assurances of peace and safety and ridicule of prophetic warnings now turn people away from repentance and readiness for Christ's coming, while Satan's deceptive power and lying wonders deceive many. The winds are still held by the four angels in a gracious moment of respite to carry the warning to all parts of the world without delay.
The outcome is only two parties, with the greater part falling into line under the first great apostate while the whole world is taken captive to believe a lie that they may be damned. Satan leads as conductor of a train rushing with lightning speed to perdition, appearing as a stately fair person in the form of an angel of light whom all reverence, with his agents as engineer and other officers, and the world on board bound in bundles ready to burn. Against them stands only a little company traveling the opposite narrow pathway, firmly united and bound together by the truth, whom the third angel is binding and sealing in bundles for the heavenly garner, care-worn through severe trials and conflicts yet triumphant as if their victories were nearly won. When the days of apostasy are ended those who believed a lie will be defeated, for though Satan in cooperation with his angels and evil men puts forth every effort and appears to succeed, from this conflict truth and righteousness come forth triumphant in victory as the last message accomplishes its work.
Safeguard and Compassionate Response
Safety from the strong delusion is in receiving the love of the truth that saves, loving and obeying present truth for this time. Those who refuse its cost and prefer pleasing teachings, convenience, worldly approval, less spiritual and self-denying doctrines, and fables to quiet conscience become vulnerable to false religious doctrines and damnable heresy received as religious truth. Protection requires searching the Scriptures with contrition of soul and earnest prayer for divine guidance rather than degrading intellectual powers to serve carnal desires or resting too wise in self-conceit to seek guidance. It requires maintaining prayer, abiding in the straight path, building on the solid rock, standing firm in given principles, keeping sleepless vigilance as to what doctrines are received, and heeding warnings in the Word and testimonies. Faithfulness to given truth shields from delusion and sanctifies the soul while exposing the counterfeit, for every conceivable error will be accepted by those who willfully reject truth and he who abhors one deception will readily receive another, but neglecting the Word for convenience and policy, neglecting prayer, and despising reproof leaves without shield and without excuse.
Those innocently deceived for a time are not beyond hope if teachable and sincerely seeking truth. Such can recognize error and the inconsistencies of trusted guides, and their doubts vanish when truth is seen. Honest minds can distinguish false visions that mingle error with truth to discredit the genuine and uproot confidence from genuine messages, for God does not lie or deceive His people. Those in whom interest in truth has been raised must be followed up, instructed in principles of faith, and built up and strengthened, lest left uninstructed they perish and receive delusions.
The deluded must be shown their danger in pitying tenderness without censure, blame, condemnation, or ridicule, which will not open blind eyes nor attract to truth. Some blind, deluded souls in grievous danger, turned from truth to fables and ensnared by subtle reasonings in Satan's power, may still be recovered from Satan even though deceivers appear sincere and seek to mislead even the elect. There is no need to test the delusion by listening to its reasonings or attending its circles, for God has already tested that class for the benefit of His people living amid last-day perils. The Holy Spirit is needed to discern the path the devil is preparing and to escape it, and approaching the ensnared with retaliation or triumph puts one on the enemy's ground and risks the same stumbling.
Failure to share the light leaves people vulnerable to darkness, for when truth is not shared souls are turned from truth by deceptive error, accept error and give up truth. Neglect to walk in cherished light, to heed admonition, to overcome love of self and conform the will to God, and despising reproof closes the only door through which God's voice counsels and warns, leaving in the enemy's snare captive at his will by pleasing flattering deceptions, with benumbed conscience, lost spiritual strength, and power to discern the True Shepherd's voice from a stranger's only a small part of the time. Therefore precious truth in its native force must unveil the errors, Bible truth and God's law must be taught clearly against coming miraculous sophistries that will trap souls and draw many, and the warning must be carried promptly.