Will I Be Deceived? - Rod Butler - GTAN2532

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, Go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Rod Butler. My sermon today is entitled, Will I Be Deceived? And there is a link to the children's story. But before we start, just bow our heads. Gracious Father, we wanna thank youk, Lord, that we can be in church today. We thank youk, Lord, that we can open the Word. We thank youk, Lord, that yout You lead us and guide us into truth. And Lord, as we have this sermon now, please speak through me and I ask with your angels which excel in strength surround this building, please remove all interruptions Lord. May our focus be on youn we pray in Jesus name, amen. Well on April 15 in 2018, Pope Francis was visiting a parish in Rome and he was meeting kids and talking with them and answering their questions. and a boy spoke to him in tears telling the Pope that his father was recently deceased. And he wanted to ask the Pope whether or not his father would be in heaven. But he then told the Pope that his father was an atheist, but his father wanted him all to be baptized. So what would a Pope say to a young boy wanting to know what the eternal destiny of his atheist father was? Here's what the Pope said: God has the heart of a father. Your father was a good man. He is in heaven with Him, be sure. God has a father's heart and would God ever abandon a non-believing father who baptises his children? God was certainly proud of your father because it is easier to be a believer and have your children baptised than to be a non-believer and have your children baptised. Pray for your father, talk to your father, that is the answer. Now there's actually four major theological problems with what that Pope said, but I just want to pick up on one of them. Pray for your father, talk to your father. The Pope encouraged the boy to pray and talk to his dead father. The Pope was saying that his dead father, who was an atheist, was actually in heaven. and that was okay. So the question I had this morning, is it important to know what we believe and what happens when we die? Okay, any misunderstanding or incorrect understanding of what happens when we die can lead to deception and deception can lead to to the loss of our salvation. So it is really important we understand what happens when we die. Now, I want to look now at the way the world was thinking not so long ago. So cast your mind back only five years ago, back to February 2020. Now in February 2020, the world was just learning of an emerging pandemic. called this thing the coronavirus. And we were introduced to it. Wow, it's a global thing. And then we were introduced to other things like massive daily death tolls being announced on the television. We were introduced to lockdowns, mandated vaccinations coming in, personal medical liberty being lost. Companies ceased trading, supply chains were destroyed, countries' GDP started to tank. and the world was looking down the barrel of a major recession. People were wondering what's going to happen to me? People were terrified. People seriously thought about the possibility, would I die? Was the world going to be wiped out by wave after wave of evolving coronavirus, which was more contagious than the previous one, and eventually it would get me? So what did the the world think? Now the aphorism, There are no atheists in foxholes, really was apparent. What did the world say? Well, this is Business Insider at the end of 2020, and it was quite clear that the astrology business was booming. People wanted to know what the heck was going on? What's my future? People were turning to astrology for clarity and guidance, and the business saw huge increases in demand for booking up schedules and people trying to learn the craft as well as knowing what their future held. Then there was this lady, Natasha Moore, Dr. Natasha Moore. She works at the Centre for Public Christianity. She said in an ABC article that traditional religious affiliation was declining, but belief in something beyond ourselves was booming. And that belief was an intensely personal journey. and it was a self-defining journey. She said on the ABC TV in an interview, she said, while the concept of the soul may traditionally be embedded within a religious belief system, the fact that belief in or openness to it persists at higher rates than for associated concepts like God or life after death suggests that it taps into something important for 21st century Australians, especially the young people. especially the young people. So what is a soul? Well, if you look at the Collins Dictionary, it says that a soul is, your soul is part of you that consists of your mind, character, thoughts and feelings. Many people believe that your soul continues existing after your body is dead. So we're talking now, we have this thing called a soul, that's what the world believes, we have this thing called a soul and it goes on. Now there's really three options when it comes to what happens after we die. and the first option is, there's no life after death. And that option is that when you die, that's in oblivion, you cease to function, it's all over. And Paul actually writes about this in 1 Corinthians 15:32. He says, if after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Well, let's have a good time now, because very soon we're in the grave and that's it, it's all over. that's the Darwinian School of Thought, that's option one. Then there's option two, option two is there is life after death in some form and this is where the soul comes into play. They believe that most people believe in this, who have this option that there is some sort of part of us which keeps going and where it goes, that's a whole other story but it keeps going. At death, yes our body decays but this part of us goes go somewhere, or it'd be reincarnated into another life form. There's all sorts of beliefs in what happens after that. But the majority of Christian denominations, Catholics, Copts, Protestants, believe that we have a soul that keeps moving. It keeps going. When we die, the body goes and decays, but our soul goes either to heaven, hell, or if you're a Catholic or a Copt, it goes to purgatory. So, that's option two. Then we get to option three. Death is a temporary cessation of life until God resurrects the dead. This option is basically option one, except there is a calling from the dead by God. And this particular option is believed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, that Jehovah's Witnesses and a few other minor evangelicals of smaller membership of less than 100,000. So this is very much the minority view. Well, in April of 2021, now I think what was happening back in April of 2021, by this stage the coronavirus was just going ballistic. The ABC took a poll. The McCrindle Research Centre for the Centre for Public Christianity took a poll. And this was the question. They polled a thousand people. These were just the public. Do you believe in the idea that we have a soul? We are more than the stuff of which our bodies are made. And you could answer, I don't believe, it's unlikely, unsure, or I believe we're open to the existence of the soul. So, let's see what the public believes. Only 9.9% believe that it exists. A smaller amount was unlikely, some were unsure, but the vast majority, nearly 70%, believe that we have a soul. They did the same survey for Gen Zers and Gen Zers are people born after 1997 and Gen Zers, more of them believed. So for the younger people, they're in tune with we have a soul. That was interesting that that would be the case because people were, if you think back to what that lady said, they were turning away from organized religion but they had a belief in something greater than themselves. Well, in August of 2021, we had the Australian Census. And by the way, when we look at that, that says that more than two out of three people believe we have a soul separate from the body. So when you walk down the street, you're on the train, two-thirds of the people you're looking at believe they have a soul. So the census came about and 2021, you'd think after this is August now, now August 2021, there was lots happening in the world again with this coronavirus, people were losing their jobs, there was a whole heap of things happening, the world was changing. So the question was really, do you believe in Christianity? And the trend there was, almost the perfect linear mathematical negative trend. You would have thought that 2021 would have kicked up, but 2021 was following the same trend. People were becoming more spiritual, but they weren't interested in Christianity, which is really surprising. And if you look at that further for those geeky people, there's a 17.2% decline. if you extrapolate, by 2041, there'll be no more Christians if we're still here. So the trend is negative for Australia. This applies to Australia from the census data. Well, that was in August. Then something else happened in the world in February of 2022. In February 2022, there was a Russian invasion and There was talk of people launching nuclear weapons and there was an existential threat going on. So the people in Russia from that headline, by the end of 2024, they were really panicking. They were thinking that this is not good for us. They were spending as much on occult services as they were on food. It was having a major effect on them. and another article, again, this is like January of this year, the Russia Orthodox Church was now riddled with sorcerers. So this is again the occult, the spiritualism coming into mainstream Christianity and people are happy with this. They're going with it because they have this view that there's something beyond themselves. so you'd say, well, look, that's on the other side of the world. What about in Australia? Well, this was an article from December last year, modern day witchcraft is on the rise in Australia as support for organised religion plummets. And this was a quote from, now, I didn't want to put a picture of the lady who gave this quote, because I didn't want a picture of a witch on my PowerPoint. But it says, a huge part of the rising popularity in social media and the internet It is so easy to jump online and find information. This was a 36-year-old Melbourne lady who was a self-proclaimed witch. She had set up a YouTube account. She had 40,000 subscribers and this is what she had to say in this article. Once upon a time it was really difficult to find a willing teacher or even get your hands on a few occult books available. Now we have abundant information at our fingertips. I don't know anyone who is interested in magic but But thanks to YouTube, I discovered a community of like-minded practitioners both in Australia and overseas. Thanks to YouTube, we have social media. We now can get access to anything. And this is growing big time. I said, if you saw a picture of this particular lady who's got a picture of a 36-year-old attractive young lady that you think was just a normal person working in an office, but she's a full-blown witch and she's proud of it, and she's gathering support from other people. So satanic practices are becoming more and more mainstream, even trendy in Australia today, because people are fearful of what's going to happen in the world, but they themselves believe that it's not the end for them if they die. So there's confusion there. which brings us to our scripture reading, and thank you Eden for reading the scripture reading, which is, Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ or there, believe it not, for there shall false Christs and false prophets arise and shall show great signs and wonders, inasmuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Now it says, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. The corollary of that is this: by implication, if I'm not part of the very elect, I will be deceived. This is a binary thing. You're either deceived or you're not. So the elect are those who are faithfully following God's Word. They're living up to what they know to be true. They are severely tested and tempted. They're chosen and called, but they are obedient and following. Are you one of the elect? Am I? That's the question. And I want to now put a quote up. You know this quote, famous 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. Okay, so it mentions a word there. It mentions spiritualism lays the foundation of spiritualism. So what's spiritualism? Spiritualism is the belief that the spirits of people who are dead can communicate with people who are still alive. Very straightforward definition. And that quote from Ellen White would then say, talking with the dead lays the groundwork for Sunday sacredness. And you'd say to yourself, well, I don't talk to the dead. I don't go to seances and all these occult things. Well, you may not have to to talk to the dead. In great controversy, it also says on page 588, the same page, it says, As spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. So spiritualism is going to be coming into our churches. It's going to imitate Christianity. So let's look at what the Bible has to say. This is Deuteronomy 18:10-12 and it says, There shall not be found among you any that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord. not because of these abominations, sorry, and because of these abominations, the Lord thy God does drive them out from before thee. So the first key word there is abomination. All these things are an abomination. God can't stand them. He detests them. We aren't to do them. And the second word which necromancy, necromancer, what is necromancy? It's got a definition for necromancy. Well, necromancy is the practice of talking to the spirits of dead people. Does that sound familiar? It sounds very much, it's spiritualism. So that says, or a charmer or a consultant with familiar spirits or a wizard or a spiritualist, someone that talks to the dead. that's the definition. Necromancy is an abomination to God and any religion that teaches that when we die we have an immortal soul that goes straight to heaven and hell is setting a foundation for necromancy. Any religion that teaches that we are to pray to people who have died and are now in heaven, the saints so to speak, is by definition necromancy. Now I was raised a Catholic. I used to be in a motorcycle club and when I used to go on long rides, I had my faithful Saint Christopher and I used to pray to my Saint Christopher all the time. He was the patron saint of travel and safe travel and we used to travel very fast. So I used to pray to that Saint Christopher and that was necromancy. I'm praying to what I think is a a dead saint. But in actual fact, sometimes those St. Cyprius talk back to you. So any religion that teaches that we are to receive instruction from people who have died or are in heaven is promoting necromancy. So the Pope, when he spoke that little boy, pray to your father, talk to your father, was promoting necromancy, was promoting spiritualism. and that's the system that I grew up in. Well, I'm now an Adventist and there's another quote that says, Through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible and manifest respect for the institution of the church, their work will be accepted. as a manifestation of divine power. Now, nearly all Christians and most non-Christians today believe in the souls out there. And if you talk to that soul, and I used to do that regularly, I used to talk to my dead relatives because that's what we were taught to do, That's dangerous for me. That was dangerous for me. Nearly all Christians who are brought up in those churches do that. And the problem is those spirits can talk back to you in various ways and what they say is where the danger lies. I'm now an Adventist and thankfully we have this fundamental called Fundamental 26. and this is what I now believe about what happens when I die. The wages of sin is death, but God, who alone is immortal, will grant eternal life to His redeemed. Until that day, death is an unconscious state for all people. When Christ, who is our life, appears, the resurrected righteous and the living righteous will be glorified and caught up to meet their Lord. The second resurrection, the resurrection of the unrighteous, will take place a thousand years later. That's our core belief, that's my core belief. All the dead right now are asleep. My father, who had a very hard life, is resting peacefully in the grave, waiting for God to call him forth. There's no immortal soul here. In this definition, there's no immortal soul. There's no going to heaven or hell at death. This is waiting until the Lord comes back. So as an Adventist, how could I possibly be deceived through spiritualism One of the last two great errors if I have this as my belief. How's it possible? It's very clear. The dead know nothing. They're out of it. Well, I pose a question. Can professionals and experts can they make mistakes? Yes. That's why the professional indemnity insurance industry is big business. That's why professionals have to do yearly, every year, professional development to maintain their credentials. You cannot just sort of do a course, hang the certificate on the wall and say, hey, I'm an expert forever. You have to keep going at it. You've got to keep learning. If you're an engineer or a doctor, every year you've got to keep up with what's happening in your industry. It's a lot of work. and if you don't do that and there's a problem, you can be in big trouble. So, you know, I'm thinking of your story, Toya, the guy that drowned, clearly an expert in scuba diving, probably done hours and hours of training and course, but makes a mistake. Do you know in engineering construction, when you're building something, the safety procedures, that apply on sites, do your head in. They're unbelievable. And yet, I've been involved in jobs where people have still died. And there's a police inquiry, there's a coronial inquiry, there's an insurance inquiry, there's a work cover inquiry. And it all drills down to find out where was the problem. And in all those inquiries, somewhere they find out there's a problem. But do you know what the problem is mostly? The same thing that happened to that poor scuba diver. Someone's just knows the rules, but they've done a little thing on their own and they've deviated and it's cost them big time. So we're Adventists, we have this, our safety procedure. We know the state of the dead, but do we deviate? Do we dabble? Do you know in Exodus 23, verse 13, it says, Now this is when, if you think back in Exodus 20, the 10 commandments have just been given, Then God says to Moses, Moses, I have the judgments for you. These were the ordinances, the statutes, the regulations which were to apply to the children of Israel. And they go from chapter 21, 22 and 23, all these regulations on slavery and property and if you're a bulgore or someone, what happens, all these rules. But in 23 verse 13, Exodus 23 verse 13, it says, and in all these things that I have said unto you, be circumspect, and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. This isn't talking about worshiping another god, you're not even to think about it or speak their name. And you think, well that's pretty heavy, but you think today in modern marketing, what's marketing all about? Marketing is to get a brand or a concept in your mind everywhere, everywhere you turn, there's the brand. So when you need that service or that, what happens? That brand comes to your mind. God doesn't want us to have anything to do with any other gods. We're not even to think of their name. It's an abomination. We're to worship one God. And yet most of the Christian world today believes we have an immortal soul. Go somewhere and people want to communicate with that immortal soul. It's necromancy. So, Adventists are secure. Well, let's look at a survey of the Adventist Church. This is getting a bit closer to home now. This was a survey taken seven years ago, but it was in the record in October 2023, sorry, the Adventist world in 2023. Some of you have probably seen these, but some may not have. The question was asked, Do you believe that the soul is a separate spiritual part of a person that lives on after death? Now before we go to the results from this, we have strongly disagree, disagree, not sure, agree, strongly agree. And I'm going to put out what we would expect Adventists. We've got Fundamental 26. What would you expect the results to be? Well let's have a look. This is what we would expect, wouldn't we? We'd expect 100% of Adventists would either strongly disagree or disagree that we have a soul. Okay, let's see what the survey revealed. Let's look firstly strongly, well, hey, pretty good. That just means the next one will be probably around 50 and maybe one or two, not sure. Let's have a look. Whoa, 59%. And then we have a few people on the fence, and here's the killer. 33% of 70 venous in this survey believe that there's a soul, a separate part of us which goes on. What happened to Fundamental 26 for those people? Okay, we're gonna do a quick test here. So the takeaway from that slide is this: 1 in 3 SDAs believe in the immortality of the soul. We're going to do a quick test here. These are tests. We go through just five texts which imply there could be some sort of soul. And bear in mind the Bible does not contradict itself. It's in harmony with itself. So if we believe Fundamental 26, what we're about to see here, these five texts, even though they look way out there, they've got to be in harmony. And my question to you is, do you know your Bible well enough on the state of the dead, to know the context of these texts and to be able to put them into proper perspective to comply with Fundamental 26. Is Jesus pointing out that we have a soul that is distinct from the body? Don't be afraid those that cannot kill the soul but rather can destroy both soul and body in hell. That looks like we have a soul and a body separate. What are this one? Luke 2342-43. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come to your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, Assuredly I say to you, Today you will be with me in paradise. Is Jesus saying that those who accept him go straight to heaven when they die? What about this one? This is Paul in Philippians, For to me living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ, so I really don't know which is better. I'm torn between two desires. I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me, But for your sakes, it's better that I continue to live. Is Paul saying he'd rather be dead so his soul can be in heaven with God while others do his missionary work? Yes, we are confident and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. Is this saying we have conscious souls that go to heaven and our bodies stay in the grave? and this final one, you've come to the assembly of God, firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You've come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. Other saints now in heaven. So you've got to harmonize those with our State of the Dead, Fundamental 26. Well, let's look at some other texts which portray something a bit more positive. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul. We have that formula, dust plus breath of God equals soul, a soul is the total person. There's no separate part as one third of us believe that goes off somewhere else. For the living know not that they shall die but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward for the memory of them is forgotten. When you die, you cease to exist. It's oblivion until God calls you forth. Yes, your memory of who you are is locked in His memory bank somewhere and He calls you forth with a new body, with your personality. But you're dead until that happens. The dead cease to exist, they have no consciousness. For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels and then He shall reward every man according to his works. The reward of heaven does not happen at death. It's when Jesus returns. And then finally we have this one. I won't read it all. Immortality, only God has immortality. 1 Timothy 6:14-16 and the last one, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, the dead in Christ shall rise first. and that says that the dead in Christ come to life at Jesus' return. They're very clear, very plain, and you've got to harmonize all these texts to get to that fundamental belief. So I just say to you, when you look at some of these texts, they aren't straightforward. So you've got to study, and you can't study today and then say, oh, I know that, and then let it go for years and years and years. you've got to keep reviewing your doctrines. This is a quote from Clifford Goldstein: the devil will come at us from all directions, seeking an opening, any opening, attacking any weak area, all in an effort to turn us away from the truth. It will be hard enough to stay faithful when you lose your job, your home, when you can't buy food if you believe this message, but imagine all this external pressure, even threats against your life, while you seriously doubt the truths. So imagine if you're all by yourself with this belief that when I die, it's all over, and your neighbors who are strong Christians, and the spirits are telling them that the Bible really does say Sunday's the day of worship, there could be some persecution coming your way, because they'll think that you're on the devil's side. and if you don't really understand it, are you able to make a stand? We have to know our doctrines, we have to know our Bible. When we know our doctrines and our Bible, making a stand becomes automatic. But if you don't, if you're wavering, if you're a bit half-hearted, that decision becomes very hard. As Clifford Goldstein makes mention there. The last day church in prophecy is the church of Laodicea. Revelation 3:18, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. This is the remedy for the last day church, who are lukewarm, who think they're great but they're naked. So what's the remedy? Gold. and gold is our faith tried in trial and affliction. It's white raiment. We need Christ's righteousness. We can't stand on our own righteousness. It's like filthy rags. So we need to surrender, to ask forgiveness, to give our life to Christ. Christ is the answer. And finally we need the I-salve, and the Holy Spirit gives us the I-salve to see our true condition, to see truth from error, we know that from John 16:8-11. Now, disregarding the I-salve, without that I-salve, we won't know our true condition. Any belief that degrades the role of the Holy Spirit or the personality or the entity of the Holy Spirit will degrade our I-salve. And we can't have that. Any belief that teaches that is not good because we need the Holy Spirit to discern truth. If you don't have the correct view of the Holy Spirit, that can affect your understanding of truth and that could be critical. And it's a lie. Revelation 24:14-15 says that, Blessed are they that do His commandments, they that have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. So we have to know and believe that the Holy Spirit is an eternal, full member of the Godhead, and He is the one that gives us the I-selves that we need as the last day prophetic church to make it through, to be the elect. It's that important. So how do we ground ourselves? How do we... I wanna go through two quotes very quickly. This is the first quote. We know this quote. None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict. To every soul will come the searching test, Shall I obey God rather than man? Now there's a similar quote, very similar, and I want you to spot the difference in phrase. This is from Spirit of Prophecy, volume 4. None but those who have trained the intellect to grasp the truths of the Bible will stand through the Shall last great I conflict. obey God To every rather soul than man? will come the searching test Those two phrases throw a completely different emphasis on those quotes. Fortifying the mind. To fortify something means to strengthen it. How do we strengthen our mind? Well, we learn Bible, we sort of memorize Bible texts. When the temptations come, it is written. But the next one, those who have trained the intellect to grasp the truths, How many people here are runners? Go jogging, cross-country? Well, what does it take to win a cross-country running event? Training. And when do you do that training, if you're working? You do it when it's raining at 4:00 in the morning or 5:00 in the morning or late at night. Training can be inconvenient. Training can be a pain. It can be physically painful. Training could be something that is not comfortable, but you do it because you know the goal. You train. Athletes know all about training. To train your intellect means to study your Bible. It means to harmonize these texts in our Bible, which at first glance, some of these texts are used by other religions, other denominations, as proof texts to support their view. You've got to understand how that harmonizes with your view. and to do it, you've got to study it. You train the intellect, not just memorizing a text. So that throws a whole new emphasis on what it means to make and stand in the last days, to make that stand. Training the intellect to grasp the truths of the Bible means discipline, study, inconvenience. Today we live in a world of ecumenicalism. And ecumenicalism is very dangerous because it's a love, love, love message. And it's a leave your doctrines at the door. We're all united in the Spirit. But we need doctrine. Doctrine is vitally important. How do you know the truth if you don't know what the doctrine is? You have to know what the doctrine is. 1 Timothy 4:16 says, Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Do you know, that was given by Paul to a young minister called Timothy at the start of his ministry. And we should take heed. We have to know our doctrines. We don't leave our doctrines at the door and be united in love, love, love. I mean, love is the greatest gift of the Spirit. So, yes, we need love. but we need doctrines. We don't leave them aside. Now, training our mind, I found this quite interesting. Harvard Health Publishing says, guidelines to maximize brain training. You need something which is challenging, you need something which is complex, and you've got to practice it to build those pathways. And, you know, if something, you know, challenging, if you're in your 60s, learn to play the piano, that's challenging. My neighbor, for example, down the road is in his mid 80s. He flies really, really big radio controlled planes and does aerobatics. And he said, that's his crossword training, his crossword puzzles. Because when you're flying it this way, everything's left to right. When a plane comes this way, it's all reversed. So his brain's constantly flipping backwards and forwards doing maneuvers. And he said, I'd rather do that than do crosswords, and he's keep very the sharp. brain active. So learn something complex. But what does Ellen White say is the most complex thing we can do for our brains? The Bible is the only rule of faith and doctrine that there is nothing more calculated to energize the mind and strengthen the intellect than to study the Word of God. Now the book is so potent to elevate the thoughts, to give vigor to the faculties, as the broad, ennobling truths of the Bible. If God's Word was studied as it should be, men would have a breadth of mind, a nobility of character and a stability of purpose that is rarely seen in these times. That's what you do. You study your Bible, train the intellect to grasp the truths of the Bible. I want to close with three short stories. A Perth family of six were holidaying in cabins on a fishing trip on the Uruguay River, which is the border of Uruguay and Brazil. They were staying in a large two-room cabin which was on stilts overlooking the river. The large main room had all the beds, kitchen facilities, that's where they all sort of hung out together and ate and all the rest of it. The other room was the laundry. and the bathroom. Having a great time. On the third night after a great day of fishing, they had had their meal, they had all sort of washed the dishes, they had all washed up, it was late, they were tired, they all got into bed and just as they were getting to bed, they heard a storm coming. They got into bed, turned the lights out and then the outside lights went on, the storm hit and there was like lightning they've never seen before, constant flashing over and over again. It was constant. And while they're laying there enjoying the light show, suddenly the wind picked up and it picked up from a breeze to a howling gale. And then the next thing was the double doors of the cabin blew open. And the sound of it, all the wind gushed in through the place and they're all laying in bed, the light is going berserk, the doors are open, wind's coming in. And while that was happening, they all saw running through that door a young girl. She looked about 10 years old. She had soaking wet clothes, her hair was dripping wet with water. She ran in, she stood there, she looked at them all in bed, she had this look of fear on her face, dripping wet. She ran down the end of the room and climbed under the last bed. One of the The sons dove for the light switch, flicked the light on, and then looked under the bed, and of course there's nothing under the bed. They were all very unsettled by this. They closed the doors, the lightning sort of started to dissipate, the storm went over, and they did the best they could to get to sleep. Next morning, the cleaner comes in from the cabin company, the cleaner comes in. A cleaner comes in and says to the father, I believe you had a visitor last night. The father was shocked and said, yeah, how did you know? And the cleaner says, Come with me. And he takes him over to the far window and says, See out there? At about 80 yards away was a tombstone. And then he said that about three or four years ago, A young girl, she drowned just out there in the river. And every time there's a lightning storm, she comes and visits this cabin. Now how do I know that story? The father of that family was my brother and I spoke to his daughter who was in that room only a few months ago and they're Catholics and to this day They are convinced the dead live on. They've seen it with their own eyes. The dead live on. Story number two. A good friend of ours was staying with us. She was depressed and Robin was helping her. Robin's my wife. Robin was helping her with her long-standing depression. Part of that help was Robin was asking her about her sleep patterns. and she told Robin that her sleep was being disturbed most nights and it was such that she started to sleep with a light on every night. It was disturbed because her husband would walk in the room, sit on a bed and start talking with her. Her husband was a violent man, the relationship wasn't good, he was a difficult man and this had her on edge. But she knew that something was not right because her husband had been dead for many years. But there he was on her bed every other night talking with her. Now our friend had been a baptized Seventh-day Adventist for 42 years when she told this story. And Robin said to her, well you know who that is on the bed, don't you? and she didn't. So Robin gave her a Bible study on the state of the dead. And Robin told her that she is to ask God for forgiveness for talking to the dead, that's necromancy, and also that if it happened again to command in a firm voice to leave now in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Well, she went home, that never happened again. Third story. The mother of a close friend of mine was grieving the loss of her husband of 54 years. She and her husband had been strong committed SDA Christians for their entire married life. He had been a coal porter in South Australia. There he ran a business selling pianos and organs. Then he ran in Perth and he'd sent all the children to Carmel College in WA. Now they were retired and they'd been living happily in an SDA retirement village up in Queensland. Her faith in God was as strong as ever, her Bible knowledge was as strong as ever, but with her husband now deceased, she missed him enormously and she was grieving. She would sit in her lounge room feeling the loneliness. This lady, which I've met of course, was a giant in the Scripture. She was really, really, she knew her Bible really well, but her husband had died after all her life and she was feeling the loneliness. One evening as she sat there, she heard a noise at the door and looked up to see her husband open the door and walk through the door. He had the jacket over his arm as he normally does when he walks in at home. and he smiled at her and walked towards her. She was startled, of course, and surprised and amazed. She then noticed another person in the room she hadn't noticed before, and there to her left was her grandson. She was just shocked by this sudden state of affairs. Her mind was rapidly processing this incredible sudden visual event. Her husband was dead, she told herself, but there he was. Her grandson was living in the USA, but there he was. While her momentary startled state was still processing and unfolding, her husband walked towards her and then pointed to the grandson and said, what are you doing here? In the perfect voice of her husband. The grieving woman, she looked very closely at her husband, and then she noticed that the husband looked slightly younger than when she last saw him. And then the shock and surprise was now over. She knew exactly what was going on. Her mental processing was concluded. She said firmly and authoritatively, you,'re dead in the name of Jesus Christ, leave. Everything was gone. Immediately the room was empty. Now, why do I tell these stories? I tell because of this question. Firstly, not all Adventists know their doctrines. And non-Adventists have a different view altogether. So if you don't know your doctrine or you have a different view, you can be deceived. And for a lot of people, seeing is believing. That's the first thing. Now, for those that do know their doctrines, Do you think that demons are going to bother to try and deceive you if you really need to know your doctrines? Well, I'd argue that demons will try harder to deceive you more subtly if you know your doctrines. What if this dear grieving lady was one of the 33%, one in three Adventists who thought there might be a soul, would she have been deceived? She didn't trust her feelings, she trusted the Word of God and she knew the doctrine. Now I told that story recently to another group and after that a lady came up to me and said, that happened exactly to my mother. And her mother also was an Adventist. So this is an isolated thing. The Spirit of Prophecy says, Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. And deceptions are deceptions. They're not sort of obvious errors. They're subtle deceptions which will take you off guard to make you make a mistake. We also have to remember 1 Peter 5:8 says, the devil walks around like a roaring lion. seeking whom he may devour. How does a lion hunt? A lion stalks its prey and it ambushes. And once it's latched on, usually that victim doesn't get away. So we've got to be very careful. We've got to fortify our minds with the Bible so we can say, 'Thus saith the Lord.' We have to train our intellect to harmonize the difficult parts of the Bible. so we can talk to people who'll come to us with their views which are false and they'll be locked onto their interpretation. So I encourage you all to do your daily study and I encourage you all to embrace the doctrines and particularly the state of the dead. It's a doctrine that most of us feel that because we know it, we don't have to look over it. But we have to always continually revise the doctrines, it's so important. for our own salvation. And finally, we are to ask the Holy Spirit to give us that ice-alve, to give us that clear eyesight that we can see the true condition of ourselves and that we can take the necessary steps for Jesus to act in our lives. We can have His white raiment and we can stand firm for Him. Gracious Father, we thank youk for your Word, the Bible, Thy word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. In these days, Lord, we just thank youk so much for that blessing. Thy word is truth. May youy word be sweet to our taste, sweeter than honey. We are represented in Bible prophecy, Lord, as the Laodicean church, the last church before Jesus returns. And please, we pray, give us yous strength to endure trials, as the gold is refined in the fire. Please give us your white robe of righteousness, Lord, that we need so desperately. And may we have the eyes of the Holy Spirit to see our true condition. May we be faithful witnesses, Lord, for you day by day. May we be able to speak to our neighbours, to our friends, when the opportunity arises to speak of you, Lord. Please bless every head bowed here. We pray this morning We pray Lord for this church, may this church continue Lord to meet the needs of the community with programs, with door-to-door work Lord. May this message of the last days go to the community. May Dora Creek Church be that special place that you can use to take your message of what's soon to happen Lord in the last day events we pray. You've got many souls in this area Lord, many souls in Dora Creek. May we reach them. May you set up the divine appointments and may we boldly speak for you. This message was made available by the Dora Creek Seventh Day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit doracreek.church. SPEAKER 2 This program has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia Radio.