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.
Does God ever change His mind about His Word?
65-0418E §92
Just look at it in the fields today. As Balaam married into God's church a harlot---married the harlot into God's church---so is these false teachers today trying to tell you. They're going to marry every one of these organizations and these people into the old harlot of Revelation 17. Their Balaam doctrine, going around today and say, "We're just the same. We're all Christians." And priests and popes and whatevermore all compromising and doing this. The preacher said... Even I know a Pentecostal preacher... All of...
The Oddball
64-0531 §36
Now, Jesus in Matthew 24:24 said that these two groups would be so close in the last days to deceive the very elected, if possible. The people ... still, the people... Sometimes the Pentecostal ... you outcomers from Pentecost, you see, when they organized and got over there in those groups like that, and you come away from it... See, the Bible said that it would deceive the very elected, if it was possible, see. The very elected---that's the ones that's elected to do this. Said, one ... see, the bolt... Don't come...
The True Easter Seal
61-0402 §31
But in the garden of Eden, where they had only two boys, the decision was forced upon man to make a decision. And I think it's done to show his true color, what he is, to show what he is inside of him. Now we find that the time came, between Cain and Abel, that the decision had to be forced, because that the time of worship had come, and each boy had provided a way to make a worship to God. And if you'll notice, between right and wrong there's just one little breath of difference. And the wrong, in the last days, h...
Door to the heart
58-0316E §84
That's the reason when Paul spoke of it in Corinthians there ... or, Romans, he said, "Before either child was born, Esau, and Jacob, both with good, holy parents, God said, 'I hate Esau, and love Jacob,'" that His election might stand true. How many ever read that? And you can't believe in election? He knowed just exactly what would happen. Certainly. He's not willing, but His foreknowledge lets Him know. He don't just say, "I'm going to save this and lose that one." He wants you all saved, but His foreknowledge k...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 3:E-11
Now let us be very careful that we are not confused at this point. Thus we will seek the Word to validate this claim. Let us go back to the Book of the beginning, Genesis. In the Garden of Eden there were TWO trees. One was good; one was evil. One produced LIFE, the other produced Death. There were two children who originally offered sacrifices to God. Let me repeat that, they BOTH offered sacrifices to God. Genesis 4:3-5, "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offe...