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.
Demonology
53-1112 §23
Notice. Now, the woman... If I gave any of you men here tonight a dollar bill, and would say, "Is this...?" I give you this envelope. I'd say, "Is that a dollar bill?" Why, you'd say, "Certainly not." The devil's too smart for that. But Jesus said, "The two spirits would be so close together--deceive the elect, if possible." Then, if I give you a dollar bill, it'd have to look a whole lot like a real genuine dollar, or you'd recognize it right now. Is that right? That's how the devil comes around, friends. It ain't...
God's power to transform
65-0911 §56
Blind, naked and don't know it. Not them poor little women out there---there is nothing I got against them. It's that evil! And the system of the church seems to fail to recognize it, or stand against it. Let them bob off their hair, wear make-up, and shorts, and things---under the name of Christianity. What a horrible thing it is! See, they are naked again in Satan's Eden and knows it not. They don't know it. I believe I see, perhaps, looking across here, the swimming pool, at women out there now. If that woman on...
The god of this evil age
65-0801M §72
There's only two classes of people spoke of in the New Testament, the children of God and the children of the devil. Did you know that? Do you want to put a Scripture down for it? I John 3:10, if you want the scripture. I'm reading it right here, got it wrote out. All right. All right. In Ephesians 2:2, they are called the children of disobedience, like Eve was, disobedient to God's Word. The children of obedience and disobedience have nothing in common. Then how can the bride of Christ associate in a denomination...
Does God ever change His mind about His Word?
65-0418E §61
Now, after he got God's clean-cut decision, "Don't you go!"... But you see, instead of doing it, it was the same thing like Cain, like Korah. He was jealous, and he wanted a reason to go anyhow. Notice, his denominational headquarters, after he sent back, said, "Nope, don't believe I'll go down. Don't believe I'll have anything to do with them. I won't debate with them people, because God's done told me they're his people, and I don't believe I'll go." If he'd have stayed with that! But down in his heart he didn't...
Corinthians, book of correction
57-0414 §40
I stood the other day in a church, where a great man of God that I have great respects for, and he was exposing this. After one of the men who is one of the head of it goes out and he has all this blood running out of their hands and things. And I've become hoarse from east from west trying to condemn that thing on the grounds of the Bible, when it's not of God. Any blood that would come from Christ would be corporeal blood. Then His corporeal body is here. Then the second coming is over. Jesus said, "Believe it no...