Deception or pride.....

My opinion—- hmmmm! Dare I say, the Angel of Light will have gazillion times more power to deceive and with the restrainer gone, unimaginable.

I know that scripture tells us “their heart and mind is blinded to the truth” John 12:40. As God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to show Israel God’s power, 2 Thes. 2:11 says “ they will receive strong delusions “.  Pride is always man’s downfall.

I’m going to stick out my neck here and say, I think it may be a combo affect with Pride of life being the driver for them to believe the Father of lies to devour them in a strong delusion. Just my thoughts :unsure: :wacko:

I believe its pride when this event occurs ... how could they be deceived ... they see the Lord Jesus sitting on the throne in heaven and instead of repenting ... they hide in their underground shelters and cry for the rocks to fall on them.

Revelation 6:24-17
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

———————

When the mark of the beast chip/patch/tattoo is rolled out ... it’s deception by that point ...

II Thess 2:9-12
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; 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.

Strong delusion because they loved not the truth.

Great responses one and all!  Anyone else?

Pride of life and too proud to ask for forgiveness, or self deception.  When witnessing to non receptive  people,  we might do well to pray against these things first!

TR

T.R. said “when witnessing to non receptive people, we might do well to pray against these things first!”

Yes and I also include in my prayers for the Lord to not remove the Holy Spirit upon that lost person because they need the Holy Spirit to draw and convict them in their need for Jesus.   John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”  Apparently there is a point of no return marker when the unsaved keep refusing the drawing process  before the Holy Spirit leaves them alone to their wishes.

I was reading death bed accounts written down of the saved and the unsaved. It was very eye opening.  For the saved ... it was a joy to read their last minute death bed testimonies ... they either saw their angel in the room or Jesus came for them personally to carry them home.  Some heard the beautiful music of heaven, or saw the beauty of the gardens and they claimed they could smell the flowers.  Some saw  their child or grandchildren waiting at the gates to greet them.  Meanwhile for the unsaved it was totally different for them.  They saw a demon come for them. If a believer was beside them in the room urging them to call out to Jesus, that lost person would say “no its too late” ... and then give an account when they rejected the prompting of the Holy Spirit years ago and they apparently no longer had the faith to believe and to call out to Jesus on their deathbed.  It was sad to read the deathbed accounts of all the lost.

Good point Geri7!

Aside from the historicity of Christ, and apart from the prophecies He fulfilled in His first coming,  I believe the continued apparitions of Christ throughout history with believers and non believers alike, speaks thunderously to His authenticity!

Also without failure, everyone He appeared to knew immediately who He was.  Not only by name, but filled with the innate knowledge that He was God!  Some powerful testimonies here!  What has termed as infallible proofs.

I agree that deception and pride are inseparable!  Each distinct, but inseparable.  Whereas deception is the road traveled by pride.  :good:

TR

Geri,

Interesting book, I’ve not read it. I have lived some of it as a witness to way too many deaths. Working in a high acuity ICU for both adults and children and a level one trauma center, I can tell you I have witnessed the horror of death for individuals who did not know Christ, to the extend of crying out how hot their feet where. Those deaths always creeped me out and made me so sad, that I couldn’t do more to rescue them before it was too late. I would work my job and pray.

I have also been privileged to hold the hand of dying saints as they smiled, looked far past me and breathed their last, to little ones who saw no fear but peace as death closed around them, such peace in the room, surrounding even me.

I have lost loved ones and friends as many of our RITAN family has, death has a powerful sting, but soon, VERY soon, it will be swallowed up! :yahoo: :heart: :prayer-hands:

Yes, it is sad to hear or read about the death of  the lost.  I did read some accounts about them mentioning feeling the heat of the flame.

Yet there are many who do get saved on their deathbed too but I think its because they have never heard the Gospel until that very moment.  One relative said to my aunt can you please talk to my husband since he never went to church and he is dying.  My aunt said I will gladly visit him in the hospital.   So she presented the Gospel to him and he prayed to Jesus for salvation on his deathbed.  Here he made heaven and his wife, I don’t think made it because she was Catholic and went to church every day and was depending on her works.  How sad.

I have always thought that pride is the root of all sin. Lucifer had pride and attempted to overthrow God Almighty. It was pride that led Adam and Eve to covet being like God and thus they were deceived by Satan's lie. It is pride that most of us fight in our walk with God because we must humble ourselves before the Holy Spirit can do His work in our hearts. I think self-pride leads to being deceived; whether by our own deceitful hearts or by Satan.