Chapter 56 — SATAN'S DECEPTIONS

In the Garden of Eden Satan said to Eve, "You will not die." This was the first time Satan taught people that life does not end, that people will live forever. Living forever on this earth is called immortality. Satan still keeps deceiving the world with his first lie, "You will not die."SRme 1.1692

I [Ellen White] was shown Adam and Eve in Eden. God warned Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God told them if they ate of this tree, they would die. But Adam and Eve disobeyed God. They ate fruit fromSRme 1.1693

that tree. God quickly sent Adam and Eve out of the garden. Then God placed a flaming sword around the tree of life. God would not let Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the tree of life because the fruit of the tree of life would make them live forever.SRme 1.1694

I heard an angel ask, "Has anybody in the family of Adam gotten past the flaming sword and eaten of the tree of life?"SRme 1.1695

Another angel answered, "Not one person in Adam's family has passed the flaming sword and eaten of that tree. So there are no immortal sinners."SRme 1.1696

Unless sinners accept Jesus, they will die an everlasting death--a death from which there is no hope of being raised to life.SRme 1.1697

I [Ellen White] was amazed that Satan had succeeded in making people believe exactly the opposite of what God had said. God's words were, "The soul [person] that sins shall die" (Eze. 18:4).SRme 1.1698

Satan has made people believe that the person who sins shall not die, but shall live forever in suffering and misery.SRme 1.1699

The angel said to me [Ellen White], "Life is life, whether it is in pain or in happiness. Death is without pain, without joy, without hatred."SRme 1.1700

Satan told his angels to make a special effort to spread the lie he first told to Eve, "You will not die." This lie was believed and led people to think they are immortal. Satan next made the people believe that sinners would live in eternal misery. This terrible lie opened the way for Satan to work through people who said God is revengeful, cruel, and not fair. Preachers taught that God throws all people who do not please Him into hell. These preachers taught that God makes sinners feel His wrath forever, and that God feels good when He sees the wicked suffering terrible pain, tormented in never-ending fire.SRme 1.1701

Satan knows that if people believe this lie about God's character they will hate God instead of loving and worshiping Him [God]. Other people believe that the threatenings of God's Word will not really happen, for they know a loving God would not throw people whom He created into eternal fire.SRme 1.1702

Satan led other people to believe that God is all mercy, so God will not punish anybody. They believe that both the righteous and the wicked will at last be saved in God's kingdom. Not one person will be lost.SRme 1.1703

The popular false teachings about immortality and burning people forever in hell lead many people to reject the Bible as the inspired Word of God. They think the Bible teaches many good things, but they do not trust or love the Bible because they have been told it teaches the doctrine of an everlasting hell.SRme 1.1704

Satan leads other people to say there is no God. How could there be a loving and just God who would bring never-ending pain and misery on earth's family? So these people deny the Bible and God. They believe that death is an eternal sleep.SRme 1.1705

Satan deals with timid, fearful people in a different way. Satan leads timid people to do wrong, then Satan torments them with thoughts of the horrors they will suffer in hell. Satan says, "The wages of sin is not death. The wages of sin isSRme 1.1706

living forever in the fires of hell." Satan presents the horrors of hell before the people until they go crazy. Then Satan takes possession of their minds.SRme 1.1707

Satan and his angels are happy when they deceive people about God. They are especially happy when people who say there is no God make fun of Christianity. Satan and his hosts say that believing the Bible and God makes people afraid and unhappy. But they are wrong! These evils are the results of believing Satan's terrible lies that God burns people forever inSRme 1.1708

hell.SRme 1.1709