Key Thought: Mysticism, near-death experiences, reincarnation, necromancy, and ancestor worship are dangerous, end-time deceptions that we need to be aware of without exposing ourselves to their influence.
December 10, 2022

1. Have a volunteer read 2 Corinthians 11:14,15.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. How can Satan be turned into an angel of light? Why would God allow him that opportunity of deception?
3. Personal Application: How can we fight the tendency to allow our feelings, emotions, and desires from doing things contrary to the word of God? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Who are Satan’s ministers that are transformed into ministers of righteousness? Are they the fallen angels or people who claim to be ministers of Christ who are deceiving and being deceived?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Hebrews 9:25-28.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What is the key to understanding and refuting the near-death experiences that people have?
3. Personal Application: How can we counteract the influence of the media in promoting falsehoods like the dead coming back and interacting and helping the living? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Life never really ends. If we live a bad life, we might come back as a lesser form of life or in a lower caste of poverty and misery. If we live a good life, we might come back in the upper caste system until we reach nirvana and a god-like state of being.” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read I Samuel 28:3-25.

1. a. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. Why did Saul go to a witch to try and get a message from God? Can we go to mediums and crystal-ball gazers and horoscopes to get messages from God?
3. Personal Application: Have you ever experienced a person returning in spirit to talk to you, or know someone who has? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “Didn’t Samuel come back and talk to Saul? Doesn’t that show that the dead are still alive after death in spirit form?” How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read2 Corinthians 11:14,15; Ephesians 6:10-18..

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. How often do we look at the experiences in our lives and interactions with others as spiritual warfare rather than just human-to-human interaction?
3. Personal Application: How often do we do things that we know are wrong? Why are faith, prayer, and obedience our only sure defense against ourselves? Share your thoughts?
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

Amen!(0)

The post 11: End-time Deceptions – Teaching Plan first appeared on Sabbath School Net.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/11-end-time-deceptions-teaching-plan/

Some of the most popular modern arguments to “prove” the theory of the natural immortality of the soul are “near-death experiences.” In his book, Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon — Survival of Bodily Death (Atlanta, GA: Mockingbird, 1975), Raymond A. Moody, Jr., presented the results of his five-year study of more than one hundred people who experienced “clinical death” and were revived. These individuals claimed to have seen a loving and warm being of light before coming back to life. This has been regarded as “exciting evidence of the survival of the human spirit beyond death” (back cover). Over the years, many other similar books have been published, promoting the same idea. (See lesson 2.)

Read the resurrection accounts of 1 Kings 17:22-24, 2 Kings 4:34-37, Mark 5:41-43, Luke 7:14-17, and John 11:40-44. How many of them talk about any kind of conscious existence while the resurrected ones were dead, and why is that answer important?

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

All near-death experiences reported in modern literature are of people considered clinically dead, but not really dead, in contrast to Lazarus, who was dead for four days and whose corpse was rotting (John 11:39). Neither Lazarus nor any of those raised from the dead in biblical times ever mentioned any afterlife experience, whether in Paradise, in purgatory, or in hell. This is, indeed, an argument from silence, but it is in full agreement with the biblical teachings on the unconscious state of the dead!

But what about the “near-death” experiences so commonly recounted today? If we accept the biblical teaching of the unconsciousness of the dead (Job 3:11-13, Psalm 115:17, Psalm 146:4, Eccles. 9:10), then we are left with two main possibilities: either it is a natural psychochemical hallucination under extreme conditions, or it can be a supernatural satanic deceptive experience (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satanic deception could indeed be the explanation, especially because in some cases these people claim to have talked to their dead relatives! But it could be a combination of both factors.

With this deception prevalent, and so convincing to many, it is crucial that we stick firmly to the teaching of the Word of God, despite whatever experiences we or others might have that go against what the Bible teaches.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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