Stephen
Terry, Director
;
Satan's
Final Deceptions
Commentary
for the June 3, 2023, Sabbath School Lesson
"Then
I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth
of the dragon, out of the 
mouth
of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet." Revelation 16:13,
NIV
An adage, "A lie can travel around
the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots," is attributed
to many different sources in slightly different wordings. In today's world with
the rapid spread of lies and false conspiracies through social media and amateur
video productions that certainly seems true. But is it a harbinger of the End
Times? The prophet Daniel when writng of the End Times said, "many shall run to
and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."[i]
Some equate the running to and fro with the increase in the speed and scope of
travel in our day. We went from riding horseback to landing on the moon in less
than a century. For thousands of years prior, the speed of a horse, galloping at
approximately 40 miles per hour, was the fastest land travel available. Now
bullet trains and some automobiles are capable of speeds of 200 miles per hour
or more.
This appearance of prophetic
fulfillment seems to ring true, but others point out that this reference could
refer to scanning to and fro over the lines of a scroll in a search for
answers. The statement that knowldege will be increased implies that those
answers will be forthcoming. We no longer read from scrolls. Even books are gradually
being replaced by electronic media. It is easier now to run to and fro with cross-referencing
from a global database than I could ever have imagiined
as a child when research was done in libraries and referencing was done using a
card catalogue. But the technological advances can themselves be problematic.
With so much information at our fingertips, how do we sort through it all? How
do we make it germane to our lives? Some rely on Influencers to sort it all out
for them. They will spend hours upon hours watching Influencer videos while
doing little on their own to sort through data the Influencer's circle has not
considered. But there are thousandss of influencers. How do people decide which
Influencers to give their precious time to? Often, they are drawn to those Influencers
who are presenting a perspective their audience already half believes.
Confirmation bias then sets in, seeking reinforcement of the correctness of a
particular perspective. The Bible warns us to be careful here. We are told, "There
is a way that appears to be right, but in the end, it leads to death."[ii] We
may feel something is right in our hearts, but we are also warned to be careful
with what the heart wants. The prophet Jeremiah said, "The heart is deceitful
above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"[iii]
The danger is amplified when despite the deceit, we find it hard to abandon a
position we are emotionally invested in. Like a drowning person, we grasp at
every bit of flotsam floating by in a desperate effort to remain afloat
ourselves despite the contrary currents swirling around us.
This is our nature, and the
Devil knows it. He knows how to use it to his advantage. After all, he invented
the lie.[iv] He
was skilful enough to use it as a tool to sway a third of the angels of heaven
to his cause.[v] We should certainly not
expect him to abandon such a useful tool during the End Times, when it matters
most. Much of his work is based on a lie he perpetrated at the very beginning
of humanity's experience. God told us that if we were not careful, we would
die. But the Devil said, "Not really."[vi]
And because the Devil's lie appealed to our desires more than God's warning, we
succumbed to his sophistry. Even though billions have died since, we still do
all we can to avoid admitting we were lied to. We continue to believe that no
one really dies. We may believe they go immediately to heaven or hell despite the
Bible saying that when they die their thoughts perish,[vii]
and they do not praise the Lord,[viii]
something I would expect the dead to do profusely if they ascended to heaven. As
a side note, I have attended many funerals and despite how wicked the person
may have been in life, the preacher never prays them into hell. All, even the
most profligate, are said to be enjoying the blessings of heaven since they
died. While there is no biblical basis for this, I believe such preachers are
more interested in currying favor with the relatives of the deceased than in speaking
the truth.
Some may ask, "Why is this even
important? Just let the dead lie in peace." It is important because it is the
false foundation that gives us ghosts and spirits. After all, if they are still
living, is it not reasonable to think that they may try to communicate with us?
We miss them so, and our hearts lead us to believe a lie because we want it to
be true. But the selfish nature of such a desire reveals its false foundation.
Do we really think it would be heaven for our deceased relatives to witness all
the trials and suffering the living continue to experience? There are so many
tragedies that happen in life that I think would be a nightmare for someone in
heaven to witness happening to those they loved. I believe even God, who does
see, weeps at our heartaches.[ix]
Another lie perpetrated by the Devil
is that what day we declare holy each week does not matter. This is a more recent
lie, but it is like a wine that has fermented for almost two thousand years
until much of the world is drunk on the toxic spirit. In the beginning, God
gave the Sabbath as a gift of grace to mankind, a symbol of his love for us. We
had done nothing to earn it since we had just been created. This is such a
crowning act of grace that the Devil has done all he can to abolish it. Many
are told that the Sabbath is legalism, but the Sabbath predates the
commandment. The commandment testifies to that. It says "remember" indicating
that the Sabbath gift has been forgotten, and then it points back to the end of
that Creation Week in Genesis as the origin of the gift.[x]
Throughout the history of Christianity, a small remnant have
enjoyed the blessings of that gift, but the majority have substituted Sunday to
replace the Sabbath blessing. This is problematic because there is no command
to observe Sunday found anywhere in the Bible, nor is there any indication that
Sunday has any sort of special blessing or holiness attached to it. Instead, it
arose along with growing antisemitism in Christianity's early centuries and the
eventual outlawing of all practices deemed Jewish in the 4th
century. There are several reasons for this, all founded in the animosity
between Jews and Christians. One factor was the Romans persecuting the Jews, so
the Christians wanted to distance themselves from the Jews to aovid
persecution. However, Nero made it evident that was not necessarily protective.
Another cause of the antisemitism was the Christians failing to support the Jews
when they revolted against Rome in the early 2nd century. A third
factor that went back to the experience of John the Baptist and Jesus was the
ongoing persecution of Christians by the Jewish priesthood.
All of these are significant
reasons for changes that took place, but they deny the faith of Jesus who did
not alter his message to avoid persecution but embraced the persecution. He
admonished us to take up that same cross.[xi]
Instead, we tend to compromise our way out of trouble. This is a broad path that
many follow, believing it to be the right path and taking comfort that so many
are on the same path, so it must be right. But Jesus pointed out that the
narrow path which few follow is the correct one.[xii]
If we are looking around to see what everyone else is doing before deciding for
ourselves, we are not seeking that narrow path.
For the Christian, the Bible is
the only confirmation we need for our direction in life. Through the ages many
have died as martyrs in confirmation of that belief. We like to think that we
would also stand true like those martyrs, but when we allow others to compell
us to follow them in practices never taught in scripture, our actions testify
against us. I have read the Bible through from cover to cover more times than I
can count, and every time I came away with a deeper understanding of God's
loving character and a deeper willingness to follow Christ's example. I know it
would do the same for each of us. Sadly, few do that. They remember a few key
proof texts from a devotional they read or a sermon they heard while the great
sea of wisdom in the Bible remains unexplored.
Now for the question you may
have been dying to ask, dear reader, what has this to do with three frogs?
Those three frogs are the manifest result of denying the authority of scripture as a whole. In the 19th century, those three
frogs were thought to represent the Papacy, Spiritism, and Apostate Protestantism.
This was a time of severe anti-Catholic sentiment following Irish Catholics
immigrating to the United States. Interest in seances and communicating with
spirits of the dead was popular. Protestantism was in denial regarding Christ
returning physically. This was the milieu for assigning meanings to the symbolic
frogs back then. However, in present context, we might just as well see them as
symbolizing croaking out the messages of Dominionism, Triumphalism, and
Nationalism. Whichever definitions we find in the symbolism, one fact remains.
The only safety from deception is to be constantly immersed in the Bible, allowing
its living waters to wash over and into us daily. After over seven decades of
life and countless times reading it through, I have never come away without
something new to shed further light on what I learned before.[xiii]