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.
Trying to do God a service without it being God's will
65-1127B §78
Watch how close it gets to that razor edge now, between right and wrong. And remember, it'll fall on one or the other sides, and it comes down sometime like a honed razor between the difference of right and wrong. It's got to be every word of God. Not just almost every word, but every word! And it's got down today not to Lutherans, not to Methodists, not to Pentecostals, but to that honed age, in this age where the antichrist anointing is so perfectly, it would deceive the very elected. They'll fall on the wrong si...
The Seal of God
54-0514 §58
Now look, one more little thing, if you'll excuse me for making that remark a few moments ago, about the men. But, looky here: "Deceive the very elect..." Now, we've been hitting Lutheran, Baptist, and so forth, and the Catholics, now let me get down to you holiness people just a minute, see. I believe in holiness. You must be holy. "Without holiness no man shall see God." Not my holiness; His holiness. And nothing I can do about it; it's what He's done for me. Don't stand in my own, 'cause I have none, don't ever...
God's covenant with Abraham
56-0428 §92
...our brother, He is your Lord, but it's just me yielding myself to Him that's doing it. Is this the patient ... or, the lady? I didn't mean to say, "Patient." Some might not be a patient. But you seem to have a very fine welcome spirit, lady. And I appreciate your sincerity in Christ, your sincerity in me to believe that not by my choice, by God's election, a poor unworthy person was called, maybe, to deceive the rich, and wise, and prudent. Isn't He wonderful? How He does things? Looky, when Nicodemus came to Him,...
God is His own interpreter
64-0205 §50
Now, so it'll get it out of your mind that I'm trying to say something to the woman, looking her in the face, or get all the things about telepathy or whatever you want to know. Anybody that knows about telepathy should have better sense than that. See? See? Did you ever see a telepathist preaching the Gospel? Did you ever see a spiritualist preaching the Gospel, doing signs and wonders, proclaiming Jesus Christ the same? No. See, it's just... it's people's mind. See, they're blind. Do you believe they can be blind...
There is only One Way provided by God for anything
63-0731 §37
Some of them say, "Shake hands, be sprinkled, come into the church, this is it, this is that." God's got to judge the church, the world, by something. If He's going to judge it by the church, which church will it be? If He judges it by the Catholic church, which Catholic church? If He judged by the Romans, the Orthodox is lost. And if He judged by the Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox, then the others are lost. If He judged by the Baptist, the Methodist's lost, by the ... 'cause you can't add one word, or take one from...