HopeLives365

Guest (Male): God is leading a body of believers alone. And you may see something in scripture that may be ever so right, but it is not worth dividing the church over. Pray, seek God. Let God bring His church together.

Guest (Female): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, "Discerning End Time Deceptions, Part 2." Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Stepping back and saying, let's look at a profile of what we should expect in the world, what we should expect in the church just before the coming of Jesus. In the world, we should expect natural disasters: famines, fires, flood. We should expect political uncertainty. We should expect economic uncertainty in the world.

We should expect everything around us to be uncertain, where sociologists, philosophers, and political leaders look at the world and they say, "What are the answers? What are the solutions?" Then we should expect as well in the church the devil introducing a variety of false teachings that appeal both to conservatives, moderates, and those that are more liberal. We should expect that to happen. That should not surprise us.

Heresy should drive us to our knees to know Christ, to be anchored in Christ. Heresy and false teaching should drive us again to study the word personally. And we should expect a great shaking. As that shaking occurs, God uses it to purify His church. He will pour out the latter rain power on His people. And although multitudes will go out, we will see tens of thousands come in, and the earth will be lightened with the glory of God.

Now, there is a statement that I really hesitated putting in. I thought to myself, "I don't know if I should put this statement in." As I thought about it, I felt impressed by the Spirit that I better not leave it out. Dare I put it in, but dare I leave it out? The statement is the next statement in the paragraph, and I'm not going to read it all. I'll leave that to you. Well, maybe I will.

Satan has made his boast of what he can do. He thinks to dissolve the unity which Christ prayed might exist in His church. So one of Satan's greatest goals is to destroy unity by bringing false teaching in. He says, "I'll go forth and be a lying spirit to deceive those that I can." I mean, what a strategy of the enemy.

He says, "I'm going to be a lying spirit to criticize and condemn and to falsify." The devil will come into a church. He will criticize leadership. He will falsify. He'll help to misconstrue statements that are made. Let the son of deceit and false witness be entertained by a church that has had great light, great evidence, and that church will discard the message the Lord has sent and receive the most unreasonable assertions, false suppositions, and false theories. Satan laughs at their folly, for he knows what the truth is.

Next sentence. I will not comment on it; I'll simply read it. It's something to ponder on and pray over. Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan. Many, many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan.

The challenge that you and I have is to see something that is not in harmony with what we think ought to be true and become unusually critical of that individual. The other danger is to be so asleep that we don't know how to detect what may be coming upon the church. That's what I want to share with you in the rest of our class. Remember the theme of our class is every wind of doctrine is going to be blowing. I've identified about five of those winds for you.

The first wind I call the dust storm of doubt. Every wind of doctrine. I'm going to read the first paragraph. Have you ever been in a dust storm? Incidentally, anybody here ever been in a dust storm? What's the big problem of a dust storm? You can't see. So when you're in a dust storm, you're driving down a road, and vision becomes a difficulty, doesn't it?

Have you ever been in a dust storm with the wind blowing fiercely across the prairies? Dust storms obscure vision. They make staying on the right road nearly impossible. They create confusion and make proper decision-making difficult. If the devil can persuade us to doubt God's word or question His revealed will, he knows we're on a pathway to apostasy. Doubt is like a dust storm. In a dust storm, you can't see clearly; you become confused.

When you begin to doubt, you become confused. Can you think of two times in the Bible where the devil used doubt in an attempt to lead into sin? One time he was successful and one time he wasn't. Adam and Eve. Remember there in Genesis three, Satan said to Eve, "Has God said?" Now notice, here is the question: "Has God said?" What is the devil doing? What's his strategy? He is insinuating doubt in the word of God.

Now, the devil was successful there. Can you think of another time in the Bible that the devil tried to insinuate doubt and he wasn't successful? In the wilderness. What did he say to Jesus? "If you are the Son of God." What was he trying to do? What was his strategy? To insinuate doubt. Once he could get Jesus to doubt his own inherent divinity, he could get him to fall.

Here is the devil's strategy: to insinuate doubt. Let me give you three specific areas where I think the devil tries to insinuate doubt. First, the first 11 chapters of Genesis. His doubts will come like this: "You know, the first 11 chapters of Genesis, can you really take those literally? Was this Moses' reflection of what he believed about creation, but not really the actual fact? Because the Bible really isn't a scientific document."

You see how the devil's strategy comes? He insinuates doubt. If the devil can insinuate doubt about creation, then he insinuates doubt about the entire Bible. If he insinuates doubt about the flood, whether it was a universal flood, then how do you relate to Jesus' statements about the flood? How do you relate to Jesus' statements about creation?

If you doubt the first 11 chapters of Genesis and say this was just the reflection of what Moses thought, but science today is more enlightened than that, what that leads you to do is cast doubt on the Bible—whether it is indeed the inspired Word of God and an accurate record of things. It leads you to cast doubt on the ten commandments and the Sabbath, which refer back to creation. It leads you to infer doubt on Jesus.

So one area that you can expect doubt to be inferred on is the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Because if they fall, the Word of God falls. If they fall, the teachings of Jesus are brought into incredibility. If they fall, the Sabbath falls. You can expect that to come.

Guest (Female): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence His life-changing truths with others. You can support this ministry and help us reach even more by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Here's another area that is very much like that, and that is the concept of the remnant. God did raise up the Seventh-day Adventist Church. And the argument goes like this: "God raised up the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but it's one of many churches. We have our contribution to make, and so do other churches." Once you begin questioning the remnant, then you ask yourself, "What did I leave my job to become a Sabbath-keeping Adventist? What significance is it?"

I had to make this decision. I was part of a Catholic youth organization at 17 years old. We had 500 young people in our Catholic youth organization. I was the captain of the Catholic basketball team. Our parish had probably 5,000 people in it in Norwich, Connecticut, St. Patrick's school. I heard the Adventist message, and I had to make a decision. Would I become part of a little group? We had 40 people in our church and zero youth at all. And we met in a Masonic temple in a rented room.

Was I going to leave 500 young people and a basketball team that I was the captain of just to join some other church that had a little bit of truth? But I'll tell you what appealed to me: that God had raised up a movement of destiny around the world. The Seventh-day Adventist Church was a divine movement of God. When I went and met in that little room of 40 people, I had that sense that I had brothers and sisters in countries all over the world and that God had a message that was going to impact the world.

So here's what you can expect in these dust storms of doubt. How do you detect heresy? Here's how you detect it. If I were with a less sophisticated group, I would call it the smell test. But since this group is a little more upmarket at ASI, I have to think of a different way to phrase that. I'm going to use the smell test anyway. Dust storms of doubt, you give it the smell test. If it smells like it's inferring doubt—doubting the first 11 chapters of Genesis, doubting the remnant movement—if it smells like that, go find a place where the smell is better.

You know that it's leading to serious questions. In this area of doubt, there is one other area that the devil is going to use. It is from *First Selected Messages*, page 48. Here it is: "The very last deception of Satan." When I read a statement that says "the very last deception of Satan," what do I know? The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

Guest (Female): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence His life-changing truths with others. You can support this ministry and help us reach even more by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: How do you make something of none effect? You use a sophisticated method. You know what the sophisticated method is? "*Desire of Ages* is a wonderful book. I really get inspired when I read it." You see the argument? But you make it of none effect by denying its teaching and biblical authority. That's what you do. One of the last deceptions is to make of none effect the Spirit of God.

If the devil can do these three things, he knows that he can accomplish his ultimate goal. Number one: to get God's people to doubt creation. Because if you doubt the first 11 chapters of Genesis, it leads you to doubt the entire Word of God. Number two: to doubt remnant theology. Once you begin doubting that, then it takes the cutting edge off of evangelism and off of witness. Number three: to doubt the Spirit of Prophecy, to make it of none effect. Anything that attempts to do that is part of the dust storms of doubt.

We're going to move through our teaching process. We looked at dust storms of doubt. Notice the devil's first deception. What was the devil's first deception with Eve? To get her to doubt. What was the devil's attempt on Jesus? To get Jesus to doubt. What are three areas that the devil's going to work in today? Creation and the flood to undermine the Word of God, the remnant theology to undermine the great mission of the church, and the Spirit of Prophecy to keep us from the mission and message that we need.

Second great wind: the pestilent-laden breezes of heresy. There are some diseases that are airborne. An airborne disease is any disease that's caused by pathogens transmitted through the air. The pestilent-laden breezes of heresy rapidly travel from one person to another, from one church to another, causing spiritual disease and death, leaving conflict and division in their wake.

Now, I want to look at some counsel that Paul gave young Timothy in Second Timothy, chapter 2. Please take your Bible and turn to Second Timothy, chapter 2. This is an interesting one; it's one that is often overlooked. Paul is counseling this young preacher to establish churches that are doctrinally strong and Christ-centered.

Second Timothy 2, verse 14: "Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved of God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Have you noticed that each time the Bible talks about heresy, it often links that with the word of truth? What is the answer to heresy? It is saturating your mind with the Word of God.

We continue: "But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like a cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort." Paul names two people: Hymenaeus and Philetus. Here's my question: what did Hymenaeus and Philetus teach that was so heretical, and is there any application of that for the church today?

The next verse tells you: "Who have strayed concerning the truth." So were Hymenaeus and Philetus on target or off target? They were off target. What did they do, according to the Bible? They strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and they overthrow the faith of some. What was the heresy of Hymenaeus and Philetus? They said the resurrection has already passed.

They were speaking of the resurrection of the dead, not Christ's resurrection. They said the resurrection is already past. Would there be a resurrection in the future? They got the event right, but the timing was wrong. Is it possible that the heresy of Hymenaeus and Philetus could ever impact Adventism?

"There's no eschatological judgment in the future," some will say. "That judgment took place on the cross." The heresy of Hymenaeus and Philetus: an event that is in the future is labeled to the past. Here's the heresy: it is the misunderstanding of timing. You may have the right event, but you may be off on time. When you introduce into the church speculative issues of timing, it's the heresy of Hymenaeus and Philetus.

You can look at that at creation. "Creation took place millions and millions of years in the past." Timing's off. Timing in the Bible is critical. Six days God created the heaven and the earth, and the seventh day He rested. If you take the six days of creation and you bring them in thousands of years of periods, what are you going to do with the seventh-day Sabbath? This is a very fascinating passage for those who fail to understand timing issues.

Heresy infects a local church. It could be false biblical teachings, it could be issues of timing, or it could be going beyond what God says in His word. There's another way that the devil focuses as well, and that's the fiery winds of fanaticism. Fanaticism is often based on an emotional type of religion. It emphasizes feelings above God's word. Signs and wonders become the essence of faith. Miracles become the sum of religious experience and a sign of God's favor.

The devil is going to use miracles, signs, and wonders in a powerful way in the last days. You know that to be true from Matthew and Revelation. Let's look at Revelation 19, verse 20. It talks about the coming of Jesus and the final destruction of Satan. "Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs or miracles in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those that worshiped his image." What was the agency that the devil used in the last days? Signs, wonders, or miracles.

Seventh-day Adventists will be too wise ever to be taken by the miracles of Satan, won't they? Look at the next reference: *Second Selected Messages*, page 53. "Wonderful scenes with which Satan will be closely connected will soon take place. God's word declares that Satan will work miracles. He will make people sick and then will suddenly remove from them his satanic power. They will be regarded as healed." These works of apparent healing will bring Seventh-day Adventists to the test.

I'm going to share with you a conviction. The Seventh-day Adventist Church today is poised in many places to be on the verge of a false revival. If you have a church that is complacent and Laodicean, where people come Sabbath after Sabbath and there is little spiritual life, the yearning for the heart is spirituality. So what will the devil do?

He will bring in a form of either eastern mysticism or, as a reaction against cold formalism, he can bring in fiery fanaticism. The devil doesn't care if he gets you in cold formalism, where you don't have a heart burden for Christ, or he gets you in fiery fanaticism. How does he get you in fiery fanaticism? Your heart longs for something more spiritual, so he introduces, at times through music, an emotional form of religion that is not Word-centered, but it's person-centered.

When you're focused on a "me" form of religion that's person-centered, and that person-centered religion drifts away from a biblically foundational-centered religion, it opens you to substitute experience for substance. It opens you to substitute the solid foundation of the word. Seventh-day Adventists believe not in preaching a 12-minute homily on Sabbath morning that makes people feel good, but that there's power, life-transforming power, in the Word of God.

Guest (Male): God is leading a body of believers alone. And you may see something in scripture that may be ever so right, but it is not worth dividing the church over. Pray, seek God. Let God bring His church together.

Guest (Female): You've been listening to HopeLives365. We thank you for tuning in. For more both audio and video messages, plus valuable ministry resources, go to hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Guest (Male): God is leading a body of believers alone. And you may see something in scripture that may be ever so right, but it is not worth dividing the church over. Pray, seek God. Let God bring His church together.

Guest (Female): You've been listening to HopeLives365. We thank you for tuning in. For more both audio and video messages plus valuable ministry resources, go to hopelives365.com. And right now for a $25 donation, we'll mail you a copy of *Satisfied: How God Can Meet Your Deepest Needs*. That's hopelives365.com.