Can the Elect be Deceived?

“Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you.” Deuteronomy 11:16-17.

The idea of deception is hard to grasp. Some say “ I will not be deceived”, or “I am not deceived”. Then there are those who wonder if they have already been deceived. What is the base line for deception? Some would say the Bible, yet there are over 40,000 denominations or sects that claim a different interpretation of the Bible. How can this be with a creator that says, “ For I, Yahweh, have not changed, and you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.”? If Yahweh God does not change, then we should be able to establish that those who say he has changed, are deceived.

Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Here is an exercise for the reader: determine attributes of the Creator, clear in scripture, and look around to find examples in some of the 40,000 plus denominations that claim those attributes have changed.

Jesus gives us a warning that in the end times, that even the very elect will be deceived.

Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

So who are the elect? In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he admonishes us to “put on as the elect of God”.

Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Col 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

In these verses Paul defines the characteristics of God’s elect. It is clear that the elect exhibit these attributes in order to be considered “elect”. The word elect is also used in the book of Enoch quite frequently. The New Testament authors would be very familiar with the book of Enoch, found along with the oldest known copy of Genesis in the caves of Qumran, as well as being contained in the original Ethiopian Bible.

The elect shall possess light, joy, and peace; and they shall inherit the earth. But you, you unholy, shall be accursed. Then shall wisdom be given to the elect, all of whom shall live, and not again transgress by impiety or pride; but shall humble themselves, possessing prudence, and shall not repeat transgression. CHANOK (ENOCH) 6:9-11 את CEPHER

The elect are so because of their way of life, not because they are predestined to be such. The elect are the opposite of unholy in the verses from Enoch. This is in line with Paul’s description we looked at in Colossians, where he uses the word holy to describe the elect. Holy is Strong’s G40.

G40
ἅγιος
hagios
Thayer Definition:
1) most holy thing, a saint

I don’t find this definition particularly helpful. In this case I like to go back to the Hebrew, which can be accomplished by finding cases where New Testament writers quoted Old Testament scripture. Peter quotes the following verse from Leviticus:

Lev 11:44 For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.
Lev 11:45 For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
Lev 11:46 This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground,

1Pe 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
1Pe 1:15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
1Pe 1:16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

From the Ancient Hebrew dictionary we get the best definition of Strong’s H6918:

H6918
Set apart co: Prostitute ab: Special: Set apart from the rest for a special function. [from: dh – separating and joining to something]
Set apart: To set someone or something apart for a special purpose. [freq. 172] (vf: Paal, Niphal, Hiphil, Hitpael, Pual, Piel) |kjv: sanctify, hallow, dedicate, holy, prepare, consecrate, appoint, bid, purify

Set apart, consecrated, dedicated and holy can all be used to define elect ones. Many of my blogs explain living a set apart and holy life before Yahweh through the power of the Holy Spirit. As Paul states “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”. Philippians 4:13. A good example of one of Yahweh God’s elect or dedicated, by definition, is King Solomon.

2Ch 1:7 On that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask what I shall give to you.”
2Ch 1:8 Then Solomon said to God, “You yourself have shown steadfast loyal love to David my father and have made me king in his place.
2Ch 1:9 Now, O Yahweh God, let your word to David my father be fulfilled, for you yourself have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.
2Ch 1:10 Now, give to me wisdom and knowledge that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can judge this, your great people?”
2Ch 1:11 Then God said to Solomon, “Because this was with your heart and you did not ask for wealth, possessions, honor, and the lives of your enemies, and also did not ask for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge that you might judge my people over whom I have made you king,
2Ch 1:12 wisdom and knowledge is given to you. And I will also give to you wealth, possessions, and honor, the like of which was not had by the kings who were before you, nor will there be the like after you.”
2Ch 1:13 So Solomon went from the high place which was at Gibeon to Jerusalem before the tent of assembly. And he reigned over Israel.

I think it is a solid case that Solomon would be considered holy, set apart and one of God’s elect. Even so, God’s warning in Deuteronomy still applies to him.

Deu 11:16 Take care so that your heart is not easily deceived, and you turn away, and you serve other gods, and you bow down to them.
Deu 11:17 And then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, and there shall not be rain, and so the ground will not give its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land that Yahweh is giving to you.

I am using the Lexham English Bible translation a lot because it does not substitute the name of God, יהוה, with LORD. Compare the the King James Version in this blog’s opening quotation of the same scripture.

Solomon was an example of the elect of God, who was given wisdom and knowledge by God, yet he was deceived.

1Ki 11:1 King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite;
1Ki 11:2 from the nations which Yahweh had said to the Israelites, “You shall not marry them, and they shall not marry you. They will certainly turn your heart after other gods.” But Solomon clung to them to love.
1Ki 11:3 He had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart.
1Ki 11:4 It happened at the time of Solomon’s old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father had been.
1Ki 11:5 Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of the Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites.
1Ki 11:6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully follow after Yahweh as David his father.
1Ki 11:7 At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain which faces Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.
1Ki 11:8 Thus he did for all of his foreign wives, offering incense and sacrificing to their gods.
1Ki 11:9 Yahweh was angry with Solomon, for he had turned his heart from Yahweh, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice.
1Ki 11:10 And he had commanded him concerning this matter not to go after other gods, but he did not keep that which Yahweh commanded.
1Ki 11:11 So Yahweh said to Solomon, “Because this was with you, and you did not keep my covenant and my ordinances which I have commanded you, I will certainly tear the kingdom from you, and I will give it to your servant.

Yahweh God doesn’t tolerate using symbols from the nations’ foreign gods to worship Him, so he certainly will not tolerate the worshipping of those gods. With someone specifically given wisdom and knowledge from God, and made king over the people of God having been deceived, how can anyone today think they are above being deceived? If a person thinks they cannot be deceived, they have already been deceived.

With the exception of atheists, most everyone believes in a capital G God. Sometimes people even think that the God of one religion is the same God of the other. For example, it is commonly thought that Christianity, Islam and Judaism share the same capital G God. This is not true. Here is a verse from the Quran 17:111, The Night Journey.

Muhammad Sarwar: Say, “It is only God who deserves all praise. He has not begotten a son and has no partner in His Kingdom. He does not need any guardian to help Him in His need. Proclaim His greatness.

Theirs is a Capital G God, even seemingly the God of Abraham, but he doesn’t have a beloved son, so he can’t be Yahweh. Also, Jesus has something interesting to say concerning a stone.

Mat 7:9  Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 

Stephen hits upon some information before he is stoned, exposing the Jewish leaders of his day.

Act 7:42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
Act 7:43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Act 7:51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
Act 7:52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
Act 7:53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Jesus also exposed the Babylonian religion that became Judaism.

Mat 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Mat 23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
Mat 23:31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
Mat 23:34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,
Mat 23:35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Another capital G God is described by Albert Pike in Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.

“Forget not, therefore, to what you have devoted yourself in this Degree: defend weakness against strength, the friendless against the great, the oppressed against the oppressor! Be ever vigilant and watchful of the interests and honor of your country! and may the Grand Architect of the Universe give you that strength and wisdom which shall enable you well and faithfully to perform these high duties!”

“The true name of Satan, the Kabalists say, is that of Yahveh reversed; for Satan is not a black god, but the negation of God. The Devil is the personification of Atheism or Idolatry.

For the Initiates, this is not a Person, but a Force, created for good, but which may serve for evil. It is the instrument of Liberty or Free Will. They represent this Force, which presides over the physical generation, under the mythologic and horned form of the God PAN; thence came the he-goat of the Sabbat, brother of the Ancient Serpent, and the Light-bearer or Phosphor, of which the poets have made the false Lucifer of the legend.”

“Masonry, like all the Religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled; to conceal the Truth, which it calls Light, from them, and to draw them away from it. Truth is not for those who are unworthy or unable to receive it, or would pervert it. So God Himself incapacitates many men, by color-blindness, to distinguish colors, and leads the masses away from the highest Truth, giving them the power to attain only so much of it as it is profitable to them to know.”

Excerpt From
Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Albert Pike

The motto “In God We Trust” on US currency comes from this Masonic line of thinking. What God are they actually trusting in? It’s not Yahweh.

Below is a short video clip that is a good example of what we are discussing. This is not to criticize any particular ministry, but just to show things are not always as they seem. The light that is spoken of here is none other than “God”, as Albert Pike would call the Grand Architect of the Universe, the Force, but not Yahweh.

Mat 7:13  “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
Mat 7:14  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Jesus said the wide path Rev. Schuller spoke of leads to destruction, and the only way to the father is through him.

Joh 14:6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Joh 14:7  If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Another interesting character to look at is Alice Bailey, who explains how the New Age will be ushered in using the Church as one of the conduits. Below are a couple quotes from her book, Stages in the Externalisation of the Hierarchy, written in the early 20th century.

“The three main channels through which the preparation for the new age is going on might be regarded as the Church, the Masonic Fraternity and the educational field. All of them are as yet in relatively static condition, and all are as yet failing to meet the need and to respond to the inner pressure. But in all of these three movements, disciples of the Great Ones are to be found and they are steadily gathering momentum and will before long enter upon their designated task.“

“In all these bodies there are to be found esoteric groups who are the custodians of the inner teaching and whose uniformity in aspiration and in technique is one. These inner groups consist of occult students and of those who are in direct or occasional touch with the Masters and of those whose souls are in sufficient control so that the will of the Hierarchy may be communicated and gradually filter down to the channel of the physical brain. These groups which constitute the true inner esoteric group are many, but their membership is yet small, for the fact that a student may belong to any of the outer esoteric groups so-called is no indication of his true esoteric status. When the few who are the true esoteric students of the world know the difference between etheric and astral forms, between mental clairaudience and clairvoyance and their astral counterparts, between the elementals of thought and the elementals of nature, then will the Christ and His church have a real esoteric group on the physical plane and the outer organisations receive the needed stimulation. That is why it is necessary to work with the students at this time and train them in the nature of true occultism. When we understand better the significance of time in prevision, and of force in movement, and when we comprehend more fully the laws that control the subtler bodies, and through them therefore the laws that function on the planes whereon those bodies express themselves, then will there be more intelligent and more useful work offered in cooperation with the Occult Hierarchy.“

What Alice is saying is that they are going to infiltrate the Church and other groups to twist things away from the true Messiah in order to lead the masses, unknowingly, to the false Messiah. The inner esoteric group will know the true mission, but the average, biblically lazy person, will just be going along with this leadership. In another part of her writings she estimates the mission will be accomplished around 2025. She may be right on track.

2Ti 4:3  For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
2Ti 4:4  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

We could go on and on discussing the deception that abounds around us. Most religions that don’t serve Yahweh and his son, Jesus, are drawing from the mystery religions of Babylon and Egypt. This includes the Kabbalah, new age, mysticism, right hand left hand magic, Luciferianism, Gnosticism and all of its subsidiaries. Unfortunately, much of this has crept into the modern Christian church in the form of new age beliefs and witchcraft, which are essentially the same.

This is the reason I prefer to declare the name of Yahweh and stay away from titles like God and Lord. I am speaking of a specific God who created everything through his living Word and is above all the other gods. He also has a name and does not need to be disguised by titles, or terms like force and Grand Architect of the Universe. These terms are hiding the fact that it is the god of this world that is being spoken of, not יהוה .

Psa 102:18 Let this be written for the next generation, so that a people yet to be created may praise Yah,
Psa 102:19 that he looked down from his holy height. Yahweh looked from heaven over the earth
Psa 102:20 to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to liberate those destined to die,
Psa 102:21 so that they may make known in Zion the name of Yahweh, and his praise in Jerusalem,
Psa 102:22 when the peoples assemble, together with kingdoms, to serve Yahweh.

So how do we ensure we are not deceived or being deceived? I suggest learning who the real capital G God is. Learn his sayings, what He likes and doesn’t like, then compare him to the god being presented. They have to be the same. For end times and determining the second coming, Jesus is clear about what that will look like:

Mat 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
Mat 24:22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
Mat 24:23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.
Mat 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Mat 24:25 See, I have told you beforehand.
Mat 24:26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

There won’t be any mistaking the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, when he comes to gather his elect that have not been deceived. He is going to light up the sky, and as verse 7 in chapter 1 of Revelation states, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “