Deceptions Facing the "Church"

There are two great dangers facing the professing church today, which are deceptions from Satan to ensnare God's professed people in these end times and draw them away from the Kingdom. And this page will reveal what those two great deceptions are. Our prayer is that you will study this with open eyes and embrace the truth of God's Word in the Bible, rather than hold onto traditional church teaching. This study is based on the following inspired quote:

"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." (E.White, Great Controversy, ch.36, p.588)

So, this inspired quote reveals two things about the professing church in the end times. It reveals that Satan has deceived the majority of churches into accepting the teaching that we have immortal souls, and that when we "die", we continue to live for eternity, either in heaven or "hell" through our "soul". And the churches have also accepted the teaching that the seventh day sabbath of the 4th commandment has been replaced by the first day of the week (Sunday).

Did you know that both these teachings are from the Roman Catholic Church and are not Biblical?

So on this page we will reveal why these two teachings are dangerous and how Satan will use them to deceive the world in the last days. And we will also reveal the Bible TRUTH about these two important topics.

Why are these two teachings so dangerous? Well, any erroneous teaching is dangerous to follow, but these two specific teachings are going to be used by Satan to deceive the world into taking the mark of the beast. Revelation 13 talks of a three fold union that will deceive and cause the world into taking the mark of the beast. That three fold union is the Sea Beast (Roman Catholic Church), the Earth Beast (America), and the Image of the Beast, which will be a church-state union, an "image" of the Roman Papacy.

The teaching of Sunday replacing the seventh day sabbath of the 4th commandment is a deception and a danger in itself. But it becomes even more dangerous when you take into account that the Roman Catholic Church are pushing for a Sunday law to be enforced. They are trying to influence the world powers into making Sunday a "day of rest", so that no work or commerce can be undertaken on that day. But what day did our Heavenly Father command as being our "day of rest"? The seventh day, which is our Saturday. So treating Sunday as a holy day or our day of rest directly goes against the commandment and express will of our Creator God, who made the heavens and earth in six days and then rested and blessed the seventh day of the week.

The Roman Catholic Church have even boasted about "changing" the sabbath day from the seventh day to the first, and regard it as their MARK of authority.

"Of course the change (from Sabbath to Sunday) was her act .... and the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters." (signed by H.F.Thomas, Chancellor for Cardinal Gibbons, in a letter dated Nov. 11, 1895)

Interesting that the beast of Revelation 13 is the Roman Papal Church, so the "mark" that is to be enforced is the MARK of the Roman Catholic Church!

What about the teaching of the immortality of the soul? How is that dangerous, and how will that be used to deceive the people of the world? Well, in Revelation 13, it says that the earth beast (America) through the power of Satan, deceives the world with great "signs and wonders".

Revelation 13:13-14 ...'And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.'

The end time battle will involve great deceptions and "signs and wonders" from Satan in order to deceive. And how can he use this teaching of the immortality of the soul? By advancing the evil of spiritualism, and impersonating loved ones who have passed away, with "messages from above". If you believe that Christians who passed away have gone to heaven and continue to live through their "immortal soul", then you are in a position to be easily deceived by the evil one. Just imagine a loved one who has passed away "appearing" to you with a message supposedly from God. You would be taken in completely!

And Satan is already using this false teaching of the immortal soul by impersonating Mary and giving "messages" to the people, supposedly from God.

The majority of so called "Protestant" churches in America and the rest of the world have embraced these two dangerous deceptions, and in doing so, they have placed themselves in a position to unite with the Roman Catholic Church, the whore of Babylon and will end up being drawn in by Satan's final end time "signs and wonders".

We must seek the truth and live according to it!

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 ...'And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.'

Do you see how important it is to seek the truth and to live by it? If we do not have a "love" for the truth and desire to live according to it, no matter what the rest of the world believes, we will end up without God's protection and will be deceived by Satan's miracles and end up being forever lost and destroyed in the lake of fire. Are you happy to just follow a lie, or do you want to be saved through the truth?

Nowhere in the Bible does it say we have an immortal soul. Not one verse says that we continue to live on after death. So let's look at the truth about this subject of what happens when we die. In Genesis 2 we can see the creation account of Adam. Take a look.

Genesis 2:7 ...'And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.'

So let's look at this logically, just as the Bible is teaching it. God makes Adam from the "dust of the ground". He then breathes into Adam the "the breath of life". This breath is the spirit (air) that God uses to give us life. Then what happens? Adam BECOMES a "living soul". Did you notice the fact that God DID NOT GIVE Adam a soul? Adam BECAME a living soul with the breath of God in him. So let's reverse this process. Take the breath (spirit, air) of God out of Adam and what does he become? DUST!

Genesis 3:19 ...'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'

Do you realise the simplicity of this Bible truth? With the spirit (breath) of God in us, we are LIVING SOULS. But when that spirit (breath) of God leaves us, we become DEAD SOULS and return to the dust from where we were made. And the WHOLE of the Bible supports this. All throughout the Old Testament we are told that there is no knowledge or memory or praising of God after we are dead (Psalm 115:17, Ecclesiastes 5:9,10,). And what does the New Testament say? Well, where would you say King David is now? He should be in heaven if this immortal soul teaching is correct:

Acts 2:29,34 ...'Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day ... For David is NOT ascended into the heavens.'

Are you beginning to see the truth about this subject now? The Bible is so clear in teaching that we do NOT have an immortal soul. Because it is only Christ who has immortality (1 Timothy 6:16). And it is only those who follow Him and overcome who will RECEIVE immortality when Christ returns at the second coming (1 Corinthians 15:53).

For a more indepth study on this, please see What Happens When We Die.

This is another subject where virtually the whole Christian world takes Roman Catholic tradition over the true Word of God in the Bible. What is the TRUTH about the sabbath? Well, as usual, we turn to the only source of truth, and that is the Word of God.

Genesis 2:2-3 ...'And on the seventh day, God ended His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.'

Do you realise that this one verse alone shows the seventh day sabbath could NOT be abolished or changed to another day? Why? Because it was blessed, sanctified and instituted BEFORE sin entered the world. Therefore it was God's plan that the seventh day sabbath be observed as a holy day, a day of rest for all eternity. And guess what! Isaiah confirms this fact:

Isaiah 66:22-23 ...'For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.'

The seventh day of the week is the ONLY day that God has ever blessed and sactified. And do you know what the word "sanctified" means? It means to set something apart. So what did God do with the seventh day of creation? He set it apart from the other 6 "common work days". And then we find that God showed us the importance of His holy day by including it in His ten commandments, commanding us to keep that SPECIFIC DAY.

Exodus 20:8-11 ...'REMEMBER the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.'

Now many people don't believe that God instituted the sabbath at creation. Well, take another look at the 4th commandment above. Notice that God is referencing the "sabbath day" with the seventh day of creation. God is pointing us back to creation week in this commandment and saying that the seventh day of creation IS the sabbath day. And what did Jesus say about the sabbath day in Mark 2:27? He said that the sabbath was MADE for mankind. When was the sabbath made? During creation week! So even Christ Jesus confirms that the sabbath day was instituted at creation. But then again, He would, because He is the Creator! (Colossians 1:16). And He is the one who created the sabbath for MANKIND.

Acts 16:13 ...'And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.'

And as you can see, the disciples continued to keep the seventh day sabbath even AFTER the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. (See also Luke 23:56, Acts 13:42, Acts 13:44, Acts 17:2, Acts 18:4). The Bible does NOT even hint at them keeping the first day of the week as the "new sabbath". This is just twisting of the Word of God to suite Roman Catholic tradition.

The mark of the beast is all down to worship. It's all down to who we give our allegiance to, the beast or God. And the sabbath commandment is the only command from God that tells us WHO IT IS WE WORSHIP. We worship "Yehovah", the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And the final warning to the world contained in the three angels message of Revelation 14 proclaims the same point. That we are to fear God and "worship Him who created the heavens, the earth and the sea and all that is in them". And by keeping the seventh day sabbath of the fourth commandment, we are giving our honor and worship and allegiance to God. But by keeping the Roman Catholic sabbath (Sunday), we are giving our honor and worship and allegiance to the beast!

Please follow TRUTH, not tradition!

For a more indepth study on the Sabbath, please see Bible Sabbath and Sabbath Day.

The final deception will be so powerful and even have much truth contained in it, that we will need to be rooted in the Word of God. We need to have a daily walk with Christ Jesus. And we need to keep the commandments of God (Revelation 14:12). Friend, Satan is the arch deceiver, and please don't think that "belief" in Christ Jesus alone will save you from the evil one. As mentioned above in 2 Thessalonians 2, if we don't have a real love for the truth that God has provided for us and seek to walk according to it, then we will not have God's protection, which will leave us wide open to be deceived by Satan.

Time is short my friend. It's time to know the truth and walk in it. Please study for yourself these issues of the sabbath day and immortality of the soul and ask God to guide you to His truth. So that you will be protected from the many snares of Satan. There is a great deception to come for the professing Church. Be ready! Be prepared! Have the Word of God close to your heart!