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.
Events made clear by prophecy
65-0801E §34
God does His own choosing, by predestination, chose the prophets for every age. Notice it. He fixes the nature of that prophet to fit that age. See, He fits his style, whatever he does. He fits him whether he's educated or not educated. He fits the gifts, the manner that he will preach in, the gifts he will have, and the message for that certain age. God's predestinated that certain thing to happen and there's not another thing can take its place. Don't care what it is, how many man-made achievements, nothing can t...
Daniel 9: Daniel's Seventy Weeks
61-0806 §88
what's these two prophets going to do when they come? This beast, this prince that shall scatter the power of the holy people, what will he do? He'll break his covenant with them after three and one half years. He'll oust them. Now, people thinks that's communism. That's just because the Spirit of God hasn't dealt with you yet. It's not communism; it's religion. The Bible said it'd be so close it'd deceive the very elected if possible. Jesus said so. See, we're in the last...
God's power to transform
65-0911 §82
Cain was such a person as that. He was very religious indeed. Now, if religion is all that you have to have, then God was unjust by condemning Cain, because he was religious. He was just as religious and sincere as Abel was. Now remember, he thought of God. He worshipped God. He had a church, he built an altar, he made a sacrifice, he prayed, he worshipped; but he was rejected. No matter how... Esau was also, see. Religion, see, that's Satan's business---not to kill the whole thing; but just contaminate it, that's...
The unveiling of God
64-0614M §88
Moses knowed, no nothing bothered him. How many impersonators they had, didn't make a bit of difference, Moses just stood still. The first thing you know, they crawled around a while and, directly, Moses' snake just eat the rest of them up. Why? Like them apostles, they couldn't explain it. Moses didn't know how God was going to do it, but He was going to do it. Remember, He said Jannes and Jambres will return in the last days, see, impersonations. "And would deceive the very elect if possible," Matthew 24:24, see....
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...