Can One of God's Elect Be Deceived?
1) Direct Answer
No. The very elect cannot be deceived from the Word. God keeps His own.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Matthew 24:24: “False Christs and false prophets… shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” That “if it were possible” shows it isn’t possible.
- John 10:4-5, 27-28: “My sheep hear my voice… a stranger will they not follow… I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
- 1 John 2:20, 27: “You have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things… the anointing… is truth, and is no lie.” The Spirit in them guards them from error.
- Romans 11:7: “The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” The elect obtain the truth; the rest are the ones blinded.
- Ephesians 1:13; 4:30: They are “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise… unto the day of redemption.”
- 1 Peter 1:5: They are “kept by the power of God.”
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- If the elect could be deceived, then Christ’s promise would fail and the sealing of the Holy Spirit would not hold. But the Bible says they are kept.
- The elect may be tested, momentarily puzzled, or pulled at by error, but the Seed in them won’t swallow a lie. The Shepherd’s Voice draws them back to the Word.
- Many are called, but few are chosen; deception catches the called-but-not-chosen. The chosen stand with the revealed Word.
- The Bride—seen overcoming and faithful—cannot be deceived from her Husband-Word.
Short Reinforcement
You see, it’s not that deception won’t be strong; it’s that God’s keeping is stronger. The elect hear the Voice of the Word and will not follow a stranger.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The unity of one God in the one Church
58-1221E §43
Then if I can show you, by God's Word, what the seal of the living God is, then you will know. The Bible said, in Ephesians 4:30 once, (many places throughout the Scripture) that "The Holy Spirit is the seal of God." Then, without the Holy Spirit, you're marked on the other side; no matter how intellectual, how many big denominations that you belong to, how pious and religious you are. Satan was the same thing. Satan is not some big brute with a forked tail and forked hoofs; he is a spirit, and the Bible said, "So...
Oneness
62-0211 §115
Oh, my beloved wanderer, have you looked at the daughters of Moab or have you seen the daughters (I'm talking of churches.) of Cain, how far off of the Word they stray? Have you, my precious friend, have you noticed in the last days that these things has come to pass? Have you been noticing recently about how the Word of God is being made manifest, how that the revival that did once strike has quietened down, there's not much left? What is it? It's a lull before the storm. The judgments are ready. Have you been den...
He that is in you
63-1110E §33
And while the harvest is ripe and the laborers are few, let's dig right into it, by chance there might be a sinner setting by. There might be someone that tonight might change the whole course. And if it wasn't the time this morning, tonight might close the books. Remember, there will not be one more come in when them names are redeemed! Before ... Now, everybody listen real close, before I read the Scripture. All that ever would be redeemed, God put their name on the Lamb's book of life before the world ever come...
Does God ever change His mind about His Word?
65-0418E §93
So now the great harlot of Revelation 17, these Balaam teachers, with their false doctrine, is marrying the church into that kind of a mess. Watch when it comes to the showdown at the end time, look at the weakness of it now. Nine hundred-and-something different organizations, one pulling one way, and one the other. There's no unity among them, and they're trying to bring unity. Not backed by the Word of God, God's original plan; they're taking it in by politics and an organization. God don't change his mind, He st...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 6:E-77
Thank God the sheep will not worship him. Everyone but the very elect will be deceived. But they will not be deceived. For they hear the Shepherd's voice and they follow Him.