As Paul is or was all things to all people for their sakes and the gospel’s, so is Satan by his vessels all things to all people that he may destroy. He will be anything, including the most vile of things, but few know or truly believe that he comes as the best, even though the Scriptures testify to such.
Judas was no less than an apostle, yet was numbered with the transgressors.
In fact, it should be noted that the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, warn about the power of Satan within the nominal Christian context more so than from without, such as in the occult or in false or man-made religions or devil worship. It is about his best that we speak now, for it is the most deceitful, so much so that the very elect can be deceived if not vigilant, and the young ones are in need of warning and teaching.
It should be recognized that Cain walked in a form of godliness, offering up of his own labor to God Himself and not to other gods, yet killed righteous Abel. Ishmael, the one who was cast out with his mother because he had mocked Isaac, the chosen of God, together with Isaac buried Abraham, their common father. Though Esau was called a fornicator and had despised his birthright, yet he and Jacob together buried Isaac, their common father.
Balaam, an enemy of the people of God, had truly prophesied and blessed by God those same people. The sons of Korah were not only Israelites, but Levites, sanctified by God, and were gainsayers against the anointed of God and were destroyed by God for their antiChrist stance. Judas was no less than an apostle, chosen by none other than the Lord Himself, yet was numbered with the transgressors, having sold his Lord. Even his name is significant, meaning “Jew,” a name used in Scripture to be synonymous with “believer” (Romans 2:29).
Judas and all these others were not “devil-worshippers” nor spiritualists nor witches nor sorcerers in the outward, common, apparent sense. Nor were they Buddhists nor Muslims nor Hindus nor Ba’hai nor J.W.’s nor Mormons nor Catholics nor New Agers nor any other of many groups widely considered by the nominal “Bible-believing” Christian world to be obviously in error. Did not the Lord speak of the tares and wheat growing up together? Were not the sheep and goats in need of dividing in the end?
All pilgrims are tested at all levels. Satan comes at all levels, right to the highest, to test, to tempt, to deceive and to destroy. Was not even the Son of God Himself led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil? And did the devil use the obvious? No, he quoted Scripture.
Was not the Lord tempted from within His own chosen circle, not by Judas, the traitor, but by none other than Peter, one of the inner circle? I do not say that Peter was of the synagogue of Satan, though momentarily, he, in effect, was. What I am saying is that Satan is far more subtle and far closer than many know and if he came by Peter, it should be no wonder that he should come by those one may call their bosom brethren and spiritual mentors. In fact, I say to you now, that it is most likely.
Being the prince of this world, Satan has ruled and intends to rule forever.
Let those who have ears to hear, hear. You will no doubt be alarmed at me, and hold me suspect for suggesting such a thing, as being a divider, one sowing discord among brethren, but I will say this: If you are brethren in Satan, deceived and deceiving, it doesn’t matter to me…you’ll perish anyway. But if you are the Lord’s, and you are alerted to your status by what I say, then you will be saved, if you are prepared to forsake your earthly relationships and social advantages, and obey the call to come out and away.
“In My Name” (as Christians) said Jesus, would they come to deceive, quite declaring that He, Jesus, is the Christ.
Satan’s mission, his goal, his raison d’etre is salvation. It is the salvation of this world, as it now exists. He will do it in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, if necessary. Truly, it is to his great advantage to do it in the Name of the Lord. After all, he is not known for salvation, but the Lord is. Therefore, if he comes in the name of the Lord, posing as a saviour, he will wonderfully deceive, effectively divide, more easily steal or rather, retain that which he has usurped from God. Being the prince of this world, he has ruled, and has every intention of ruling forever if possible, even though he knows he has but a short time.
His salvation of this world is not for the world’s sake but for his own. The ultimate conclusion is destruction of all of his subjects. He won’t tell you that, but will tell you the opposite or anything else he must tell you to get you there.
Truly, as offences must come, so faith must be tried and all must be put to the test. Will the spiritual pilgrim choose this world or the next, mammon or God? Will he forsake the things of this world and the flesh for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Satan is the sifter.
He comes as an angel of light, his servants as ministers of righteousness, of Christ, as pastors, prophets, apostles, evangelists, teachers and independent “lay workers,” with Bibles under arm, as often as not with religious credentials, titles, proposing works in the Name of God and using impressive and effective powers of persuasion, revelation, religious doctrine, including salvation by the new birth and “gifts of the Spirit,” and love…that of affection, passion, emotion, feelings. He will use independent persons, or he will rally whole religious organizations and churches to do the work.
Indeed, while many, most, or perhaps all people in the organized churches and religious organizations believe they are all true Christians, serving the Lord, it is in fact Satan whom they serve and they are members of Satan’s bride, Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of harlots and abominations of the Earth. They comprise the gates of hell Jesus spoke of, against which, He said, His one true Church would prevail.
By his ministers, Satan preaches the gospel and tickles the ears.
When Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy, he comes appearing to save, to care, to love. He comes as a friend and diplomatically so. He will give his opinion and viewpoint or he will bring law. His ministers come saying, “Peace…peace, joy, prosperity, family unity, fulfilment in this life, reconciliation with loved ones, relationship with God, or better yet, being as God.” He is impressive and comes with fanfare and celebration.
By his ministers he preaches the gospel, tickles the ears, thrills the soul, gives a new outlook on and hope in life, gives new direction, entertains the mind and the flesh. He makes things so much easier and more enjoyable. He makes the friendless to have friends, the homeless to have homes, the lonely to have company, the poor to have food and shelter and clothing, the sick to have hope and the prayers of others who are now there to care.
He appeals to the ego of the man, that is, the carnal man, the first Adam who is dead in trespass and sin. He makes that man to feel wanted, important and useful, perhaps indispensable. He will call for sacrifice and devotion but he also causes that man to be loved of others, included, applauded, prospered and perhaps even worshipped.
To accomplish this, he will lead one into “cleaning up his act” if necessary, to quit drinking, smoking, doing drugs, fornicating, indulging in many of the worldly activities that the world normally enjoys. Righteousness flourishes in Satan’s kingdom and is published and proclaimed everywhere. The gospel is preached in every media with fervency and devotion, with all earnestness. Did not the Pharisees do so? All this, again if necessary, and often it seems to be so, he will do in the Name of the Lord Jesus, arm over your shoulder, with praise, promise, promotion and presents.
When the Lord Jesus Christ comes to save, give life, and redeem, He comes appearing to destroy, to be careless, to despise or even hate, to tell one what to do. He comes as an enemy…”Don’t think I came to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I’ve come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household…”
Jesus also said, “Forget about looking after your father. Let the dead bury the dead and come and follow Me.” To another who would follow Him, He said, “Birds have nests and foxes have dens but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head,” implying that the follower would be as He. He said that those who believed on Him would be hated BY ALL MEN for His Name’s sake.
Satan seeks to “save” the carnal man in this world, thus preserving his life.
He promised initial sorrow and weeping, saying, “Blessed are you that weep now: for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great IN HEAVEN (not necessarily on earth) for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.” He comes with clouds, as a thief, with no form nor comeliness nor beauty that we should desire Him.
He too preaches the gospel and both His and Satan’s messages sound much the same, (in letter they are the same), but with one CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE. Satan seeks to “save” the CARNAL man in THIS world, thus preserving his life, granting him to have his rights, using a phony cross, requiring no faith.
To Abraham, he would say, “You’re throwing your own son and his mother out into the wilderness with only a bottle of water and some bread?! Has she not served you all these years? Has she not mothered your son? Was not this situation with her Sarah’s and your doing in the first place? Is she not a victim rather than a culprit? Do you have no sense of justice, no mercy, no natural affection, man? Do you not have a heart? I guess not!”
Satan preserves earthly and familial relationships and is opposed to sacrificing those for the Kingdom of God, instead using them, in the name of the Kingdom of Heaven, to deter one from that Kingdom. Meeting Abraham on the road to Mount Moriah, knowing what Abraham was about to do, Satan would have reasoned and pleaded with him, saying, “Don’t do such a horrible thing! To your own son, yet!”
To Rahab he would have said, “Be a faithful woman, dutiful and honorable; do not betray your own people; obey them that have the rule over you; submit to your authorities.”
To Jesus at the cleansing of the Temple, he would say, “You are to be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove.”
To Elisha, he would have said, “Those are children; they don’t understand; don’t curse but bless; God is love!”
To Solomon concerning Adonijah he would say, “Love your brother; forgive him; consider all that he loses by not receiving the throne. Is not the throne established by mercy and truth? Are not true rulers kind? Do they not overlook faults and offences?”
His reasonings are “righteous” and “noble,” displaying the law of God. When Abraham was called out from his father’s house, to him Satan would say, “Honor your father and mother; don’t abandon them; be a dutiful son.”
To Moses he would say, “You have just received the commandments of God, one of those being, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ and you are going to kill your own brethren?!”
To Phinehas, he would say, “Let him that has not sinned cast the first stone.”
To Rebekah he would say, “You teach your son to lie to his father?! What kind of saint or believer are you?!”
To Jacob he would say, “How dare you lie to your own father! How dare you deceive your own employer, who is your uncle yet!”
To Mordecai and Esther he would say, “Turn the other cheek; forgive; return good for evil.”
To David on his death bed, Satan would say, “David, don’t be bitter; forgive Shimei; did he not ask your forgiveness? Forgive Joab; are you not guilty of evil yourself? What about Uriah and Bathsheba?”
By Peter, he said to Jesus, concerning the crucifixion, “Far be it that such should happen to you!”
By Judas, he advocates the plight and right of the poor.
Satan is the champion of peace and goodwill.
Satan comes to love, to do justly, to love mercy… Make no mistake. Satan’s appeal is to the emotions, to the soul. He is the architect of the peace treaty of Israel and the Palestinians and Arabs. He is the advocate of a new order in the world to bring peace and prosperity. He preaches unity among all the churches and religions, that they should cast away doctrinal differences and love one another. He it is who leads man today to feed the starving and to eliminate hunger and poverty in the world today. He is the champion of peace and goodwill. He is, he is.
But Jesus requires one’s life, the denial of one’s self, the forsaking of all near and dear, the taking up of the cross in this life by faith, that is, the going against the tide, grain, profit and reason of the world, a separation from the spirit of the world, calling for the death of the carnal man, the relinquishing of his right to himself. He is “a hard man, reaping where He hasn’t sown, and gathering where He has not strawed.” He is the hard One Who says, “The poor you always have with you.”
While Satan “saves” IN his kingdom, Jesus calls one OUT of it. True believers are called the “ecclesia,” the “called-out ones,” the church. Those who are the Lord’s are called out of the world, out of sin, out of darkness, out from among unbelievers and out of the religious systems (Mystery Babylon).
Satan keeps them in, howbeit in cliques and self-righteous clubs called churches, which members are called believers, which are all his, and promises, indeed declares salvation therein. He often does some re-arranging of club membership, doctrine, outward and even inner form of worship at times to mimic change, satisfying the convert that he or she indeed has new life.
Satan is subtle, comely, beautiful, intelligent, powerful; he knows his business. When Satan comes, and he comes through men, the world and the carnal man receive him as Jesus the Messiah, the Saviour, the Anointed One. The spiritual man in Christ will be kept FROM him. When Jesus Christ comes, and He too comes through men (though Satan often denies it), the carnal man rejects Him as Satan, antiChrist, a destroyer, a charlatan, a legalist, a false prophet. The spiritual man will rejoice and be kept IN Him. Yet he will have to learn even if at first, being young, he will not know the difference.
Satan deals in knowledge, like the pusher deals in drugs. Was not his first move to tempt Eve to receive knowledge? And promising that they would become as gods if they ate of the Tree of Knowledge, his word came to pass when she and her husband partook. Indeed, they became as God or as gods, knowing good and evil. The Lord Himself said so.
Satan speaks the truth! He is the counterfeiter of all that is real and true.
Satan brings forth religious doctrine. He is a religious person, a “theologian” who is well learned in the things of God. Was he not before the very throne of God, among the sons of God, in Job’s days? Not only then was he there but his place was constantly in the heavens and the Heaven of heavens. Therefore he has much knowledge. Does not Paul say that knowledge puffs up? Does he not say that there are those who are ever learning…but never coming to a knowledge of the truth?
Satan speaks the truth! He is the counterfeiter of all that is real and true. Therefore he must speak the truth in order to deceive and to destroy. Now Jesus said that he was a liar, the father of lies and that there was no truth in him. Yet a counterfeit must appear as the real, though it is not real. Therefore he must speak the truth.
So what was the Lord saying? The difference is not in WHAT is said but WHY it is said and how it is applied. Satan comes to save IN his kingdom, applying the gospel message to the carnal man, without the essence of the cross. I say “without the ESSENCE of the cross” because he does preach the cross, yet the cross is unfulfilled in a man’s life without the Lord applying it, which only the Lord can.
Satan will call for works, for service, for sacrifice, even unto death, but he cannot call for the cross in its true essence because he has no part in it. He didn’t die for us. There are those who say that Satan crucified the Lord and thought that he was successful in destroying the purpose and work of God until he was surprised by the resurrection. Not true. Satan tried to avoid the cross to the bitter end.
Did he not speak by some saying, “If you be the Son of God, come down from the cross”? He savours the things of men, and men hate suffering, loss, defeat, failure, humiliation, sorrow and death. Men love praise, glory, honor, power, peace, authority, success, prosperity, enjoyment, pleasure, victory, gain and happiness. Satan savours the things of men, despising the cross. Neither was he surprised by the resurrection. He knew full well the Scriptures and the power. Why did he fight over the body of Moses? Because he knew of the resurrection.
And that is how he destroys. He destroys wonderfully, with pleasures and knowledge, avoiding the cross, leading away from it. Where there is no cross, there is no resurrection unto life. Indeed, he is a liar by the truth he speaks in how he applies it.
HIS TEACHING IS THAT FLESH AND BLOOD DOES INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD, even while he himself will say that it does not. He points in the same direction but persuades to come up another way. Jesus said, “He that does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” Jesus would not have said this if it were not possible to do so. Was there not a man found at the banquet who did not have on a wedding garment? He was there. He made it up another way…a “gate-crasher.”
Satan is many, his body comprised of all those who are pretenders.
Satan deals in theory, his reasonings he calls revelation. His disciples borrow words from others, not having their own cistern from which to drink. He’s all talk, full of words and appearances but no fruits. All talk and no walk. Oh, there is a pretence of walk but only up to “the wire,” beyond which Satan dares not tread.
There is that “show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body.” But Peter says that they are wells without water. Jude says they are clouds without water. I say “they” in referring to Satan because as the Lord Jesus is many, including all those baptized into Him who comprise His body, so Satan is many, his body comprised of all those who are pretenders, as sincere as they may be. Jesus is a body of believers and Satan is a body of “believers,” unbelievers who pretend or presume to believe. Is it not said that the tares are of the enemy and that they look just like the wheat?
Do you not believe Jesus is a many-membered Person? Did not Paul say that the saints were all members in particular of His body, Jesus being the Head? Did not God refer to “us” when saying, “Behold, the man is become as one of US?” There are those who say this suggests the trinity. I say it includes the sons of God, the “gods” like whom man would become if partaking of the Tree of Knowledge. Were not the sons of God there shouting for joy when God laid the foundations of the earth (Job 38:1-7)?
The churches of Satan (synagogue of Satan), known as the churches of God under many names, are full of preachers and pulpits and pews and praise in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all these are but a pretence of reality and piety, “having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof,” which power comes and can only come by the cross.
Satan’s disciples are caught as flies on fly paper in the belief that talk and religious appearance and friendliness are sufficient. They say “praise the Lord,” or smile and wave, go to church, “testify” to others, have “family day” and “family hour,” read the Bible, pray, be actively involved in any number of church activities including even, perhaps especially, pastoring and preaching.
Their children go to church with them, come home and relate Biblical events, sing “Christian” songs they learn in Sunday School and witness to their friends but are only carbon copies of the carbon copies because as their parents, when it comes to everyday life, they have nothing, and hate those who will not partake of their evil ways.
To Satan’s children, the cross is anathema.
When it comes to reality, these flee as cockroaches when the light is turned on. They want to preach but are deathly afraid of “being preached to.” Their faces go white or blank when anyone speaks contrary to their doctrines and practices. They are intimidated, fearful of being found out, knowing they are phonies, subconsciously if not aware. Not knowing the reality, they truly think that their unreality is all there is to it and is the reality itself.
Those who walk in the light are a savour of death unto death for them. Why? Because the only way one can walk in the light is to take up the cross, denying one’s self. To Satan’s children, the cross is anathema. They are not interested in the reality, only in the copy of the reality. Somehow they think that God will be enough satisfied with the form, with the words and the show. They think He will be thrilled when they bring in others, persuading them to “ask Jesus to come into their hearts.” Now they are surely “laying up treasure in Heaven!”
Hear the praise from the pastor or the others: “He is wise; he wins souls for the Lord” they say. It is “another Jesus” however, and they are simply cloning themselves, making their proselytes twice the children of hell they are themselves. They are the descendants of Nimrod, that mighty Babylonian hunter of souls before the Lord, the one who slays the simple and the idolatrous and pleasure-loving, the seekers of man’s praise rather than that of God.
Satan loves to use the law on others but he denounces the law in itself and where it applies to him. “Grace, grace!” he cries, “We are all under grace…no need for law! The law was done away in Christ!” which is patently untrue. He hates the law of God yet will make a show of keeping it where it suits him. While Satan provokes people to indulge in the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, he abhors the Tree of Life. Why? Because the only way to the Tree of Life is by the cross, and such does not serve his purpose of preserving his kingdom.
God said, after man ate of the Tree of Knowledge, “…lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever…” and then commanded that there be placed…”a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life.” God did not guard the Tree of Knowledge from that day forward. That tree remains accessible without peril of flaming sword. In fact, they are both accessible, but only by death is the Tree of Life so.
The Tree of Knowledge does not include the law of God but the Tree of Life does. When one partakes of the Tree of Life, the law then becomes an essential part of him. That partaker is then the essence or substance of the law of God in his new nature which is not after the first, natural Adam but after the last spiritual Adam. He is now in Heaven, having come up the only way acceptable to God, by the Door which Jesus, the crucified and resurrected Son of God and only He, is.
When one partakes of the Tree of Knowledge, he dies, thinking he lives. Why does he think he lives? Because suddenly his eyes are opened and he knows good and evil. But he has partaken of “anti-law,” for God said, “Of that tree you shall not eat.” Such is the birth of the sons of iniquity, the empty wells of water, the tares. Satan’s disciples are “born again,” make no mistake. They lay claim to an experience and there is no use denying they have had one. They surely have, yet they have been born again not from above but from beneath. Satan has “saved” them from sin, from the law, from the world, from death even as the Lord Jesus saves from those very things. Who can hear these things? Only those to whom it is given.
Satan’s thing is works. He loves works and religious workers.
Obedience, reflecting the law of God, which is pure and holy, Paul says, is anathema to Satan. The law of God is expressed not through works but through faith. The expression of obedience is the manifestation of the son of God. Works are not obedience; sacrifice is not obedience; “Christian religion” is not obedience. Obedience by faith to the cross is the manifestation of the son of God.
True obedience costs one his life. When Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him righteousness, expressed by works costing his life in that he offered up Isaac, his beloved son, the son of promise. He became then and there the father of all the sons of God from thereon in that would be manifest to creation.
But Satan’s thing is works. He loves works and religious workers, but his children are workers of iniquity whose works shall be burned. Only the works by the cross through faith can withstand the fire; works of the flesh cannot, although the works of faith often appear to perish while the works of the flesh often appear to last forever. Take the prominent nominal Christian churches as perfect examples of the latter. But make no mistake…they will go, and in “one hour.”
Satan prays. With his lips he may say just what one may think should be said, but in his heart the prayer is, “My will, not Thine be done.” Satan asks, he demands, begs, pleads, flatters, cajoles, praises and thanks but all for his own gain.
Satan is inspired by fear. His children hate the light and are afraid of losing their “place in the sun,” their comfort zone, territory, relationships and securities. Reality in righteousness, faith in God at one’s own personal cost is terrifying. I recall testifying to a preacher of having been baptized in the Holy Spirit. His face immediately went ashen. Why? He wasn’t even pastor there, only visiting. But he was preaching. What is a man, afraid of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, doing preaching about Christ? Satan’s children are afraid of the light even as some children are afraid of the dark but they call light darkness and darkness light.
There are those who will go for reality but the negative reality and not the positive, the self-serving kind which “tells it like it is” but for a profit and at no cost. Storms are preached up against sin and particular sins yet the preachers secretly partake of those sins. The finger will ever be pointed toward the shortcomings, sins and faults of others and never toward self. After all, Satan is the accuser, not only of, but particularly of, the brethren.
Satan’s children are intent on glorification and rulership.
Satan’s children love their pet verses, handed down from generation to generation but are most often grossly ignorant of the Scriptures and certainly always of the power thereof. They think to have wisdom and understanding but these are carnal and they cannot understand. Seeing they don’t see and hearing they don’t hear but the sin is that they say they see and hear and thus come to oppose the Lord and His servants, His brethren, His children.
They have love in their own righteousness, “making their own sparks,” testifying, witnessing and preaching but touch that righteousness on some minor point and one soon discovers the truth. Satan’s children are super-sensitive. In terms of truth, one in the Lord cannot so much as make a suggestion, much less give a strong criticism or instruction. Suddenly, one is accused of trying to control, to lord it over, to manipulate, dictate. They are resentful of rebuke, accusing the rebuker of being critical. They take things personally and won’t take truth for truth’s sake.
Satan’s children, as he, are intent on glorification and rulership. Being of this world, they must have the pre-eminence and that is that. Submission is a dirty word. Authority is a dirty word. Democratic relationships wherein everyone has equal say is the least they will settle for but not for long. Their word and view must ultimately be more equal than that of others. Among themselves, they practise deceit and quietly, subtily jockey for positions of pre-eminence. Pride compasses them about, permeating the atmosphere, yet it comes in the outward form of humility, meekness, openness, cooperation, “Christian” love.
The Lord makes a difference between flesh and spirit. The Scriptures declare that the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder soul (flesh) and spirit. The Lord exposes the difference between what is of Him and what is not, to teach, guide and save.
Satan also makes a difference between flesh and spirit, between the things of this world and those of the next. But his division is different. He says that the things of this world don’t matter, that God isn’t interested in the carnal, doesn’t address the carnal, that He, being Spirit, is interested in and deals only in the spiritual. “It’s what is within that counts,” his disciples say. I tell you, it all counts to the Lord because He created all. He is known as the Creator of all things and why wouldn’t He be interested in any part of it?
Tell me, was Adam carnal or spiritual? If carnal (being of the earth, the natural man, the first Adam), was God disinterested? I don’t think so. What about earthly Israel? Is it carnal or spiritual? If carnal, is it a small thing that it should be raised up a nation once again after nearly 2000 years? Is God disinterested in it though it be the carnal Israel? Is it not written that though they are enemies concerning the gospel, yet they are the beloved for the fathers’ sakes? Is God no longer interested in the fathers to whom He made many irrevocable and great promises? Is your body carnal or spiritual? Then how is it that Paul should pray that our spirit, soul AND body be preserved blameless? How is it that we should flee fornication, that sin being one against our BODY which is the temple of the Holy Ghost?
Satan’s children are lovers of pleasure.
While it is true that believers should use common sense and not expect the Lord to address every little thing for which He has given us the power to understand and to deal with ourselves, yet there are many things we do not understand though we think we do. For example, in diet, is m.s.g. harmless or not? Is cholesterol an issue or not? Many warnings have come from the medical and other communities and utterly believed by the world, only to be proven groundless. Are amalgams harmful, and if so, to all or some, and to what extent? Opinions vary widely, and unless I am God, I will not know unless He tells me.
This being a physical matter, Satan would have us to believe the Lord does not address these things. I tell you otherwise. The difference is not in whether it is physical or spiritual, but whether we are able to know and do for ourselves or not. Where we can’t, He is there to help the “fatherless and the widow,” which we all are at one time or another and always in much.
Satan’s children are lovers of pleasure. No matter what form it may take, they must have pleasure. Doing without, they are famished and will even perish with boredom. The church services must have entertainment or that church will lose its congregation to a church that will entertain. They will have musical entertainers in the name of praising and worshipping God. They will have bazaars, pot-luck suppers, barbecues, bingo, games nights, sports, “Christian” films, trips, conferences, guest speakers, “Holy Land” tours, retreats, crusades (in the name of revival or soul-winning), hikes, summer camps and more. Many of these things are not evil in themselves but are done in the Name of the Lord, as a Christ-church event to “edify” themselves and to win souls.
My, my but we see such a gap between the multitudes professing Christ today and those persecuted saints of which there are so few at any time throughout the ages, hated of all, even to going to the stake or dungeon. Being free and alive to serve the Lord was enough for them, how much more to have a church picnic!
Satan’s love is man’s love, phileo, one of emotion, affection, passion, enjoyment, reciprocation, pleasure, infatuation, attraction. It is soulish. It is never unselfish, sacrificial, yielded to a higher power and least of all to the Highest. The world loves its own but the son of God is called to love other than his own, other than those who only love him. He is called to a sacrificial love on behalf of those whom the Lord ordains or commands to be loved. This love is a matter of the will, often if not always having to go against the feelings.
Satan’s children are a law unto themselves. Anything goes to serve their purposes. It is all about appearances and self-image, an image that they want others to worship and serve. There is no yea nor nay but gray, always gray, open to debate and opinion. They are non-committal.
The Kingdom of Heaven is within, and so is the kingdom of Satan.
Damn the soul that stands and says, “Thus says the Lord” or, “There are such things as absolutes.” Such a person is anti-social, a sower of discord among brethren, tyrannical, one to be “marked,” “controlling,” “playing the part of the Holy Spirit in convicting people,” thereby “putting them under condemnation.” Full of contradiction, those of the synagogue of Satan speak one way and mean another, say right but don’t do. Preaching against works, they slave to be right and love to use the letter of the law, for which they themselves have no respect or love in the least.
The Kingdom of Heaven is within, and so is the kingdom of Satan. As light and darkness dwell together yet separately on the earth, so do the spiritual and the natural man. In the true believer, the man born of God and the man of sin both dwell. And as the voice of the Christ within can be heard, so too the voice of the man of sin. HE SPEAKS AS GOD.
The man of sin is that fallen nature of Adam, the first Adam, serving the law of sin, serving Satan. The spiritual man is the new nature, born of God, serving the law of God and God Himself. The man of sin considers it his divine right to rule, to be as God wherever he goes and in whatever he does for, in fact, he was created in the image of God. Though fallen to the power of the serpent and howbeit corrupted, he still has the characteristics and powers of God, having been created in His image.
Does he not come with ALL POWER and signs and lying wonders? Can he not make fire to come down from Heaven and to do miracles? So the Scriptures declare and so it is. So it is. And all is within. The “first Christian” is the imposter, the usurper, and must be put out of power and glory. He must make way for the last Adam, the redeemer, and the two must be made one. They must come to harmony. The wolf must lay down with the lamb. There must be eternal peace in all of God’s holy mountain which we are and which is within.
The synagogue of Satan are fornicators, as dogs running around, spreading their seed without discretion, anywhere and everywhere there might be a willing or apparently needy partner. They are as Onan who spilled his seed to the ground, unwilling to raise up seed to his brother, going about speaking, distributing literature, “ministering” where they presume God to send them but He is not sending them. They are sending themselves, hearing the voice not of God but of the Man of Sin who reigns in their hearts. They are uncircumcised and the seed of the uncircumcised heart bears fruit even as does that of the circumcised. “Wild oats” everywhere.
And now here are some passages describing the synagogue of Satan and some of the words contained therein as defined in Strong’s Concordance and common dictionaries:
John 10:1, 8, 10, 12, 13; Acts 20:29, 30; I Cor. 11:19; II Cor. 11:13-15; Philippians 3:17-19; I Tim. 1:5-11; II Tim. 3:1-9; 4:3, 4; Titus 1:9-16; II Peter 2: all; I John 1:6; 2:4, 9-11, 22, 23; 3:4, 8-18; 4:1-8, 20; II John 7; Jude 3-19 particularly the word “lasciviousness”…lustful, wanton…meaning malicious, headstrong, willful, without regard for what is right, just, humane, careless, reckless, sportive or frolicsome as children, free play, to squander, especially in pleasure, undisciplined, ill-reared, heedless, inconsiderate; “licentious”…unrestrained by law or morality, lawless, going beyond customary or proper bounds or limits, disregarding rules.
These definitions can be summed up as lawlessness. But I must add that that lawlessness may quite appear to be the opposite, that is, very law-abiding. The Pharisees were as lawless as they could be yet appearing as lawful as one could be, not just pretending but actually doing, as the Lord said, “You pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin..; See also Rev. 2:9,10, 13-15, 20-24; 3:9; 12:3-17; 18: all.
Why do I write and for whom? To be seen and heard of men? Who will believe or receive? And do they believe by my writing? I don’t think so. So then why do I write? To feel useful, important, to be doing something, having been set aside by the Lord, excluded from the activities of all my companions, including my wife? Do I disseminate knowledge as I criticize others of doing? It seems so. Lord, judge. The will of God be done.
Victor Hafichuk