Part
One
Lest
Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
II.
Corinthians 2:11
In
previous newsletters we sounded an alarm regarding the fact that some of those
who are ministering to The Remnant have come under the influence of the
Dragon, and as a result, have developed an aversion to God's iron. We
warned that this aversion makes them emphasize the love of God to the exclusion
of all else, and this in turn has produced in them an unbalanced view of what
the "image" of Jesus really looks like.
Our
point was not to condemn these brethren. Nor were we saying (or implying) that
they are "false" teachers. We wrote what we did in order to show that
this whole thing is a tactic (or device) of Satan. The enemy has deceived them
in this one particular area. Our battle is not with them—it's with the one who
deceived them. Our only desire is to help God's people stay out of deception by
exposing some of the tactics the enemy is currently using to ensnare some
of us.
This
month we want to expose another device (or tactic) of the enemy. This one is
the one that produces in us an attitude towards Satan, which is both
unscriptural and dangerous. It's the idea that we shouldn't pay too much
attention to him. It's the attitude that since Jesus defeated him at
Calvary—and we are in Jesus—we don't have to worry about him because he has no
more power over us. It's the idea that we can overcome Satan without
dealing with him directly or battling him.
The
Lord's apostles certainly didn't have this kind of attitude regarding the power
of the enemy. Paul said Satan has devices that he uses to get an advantage over
us. Speaking to the believers of his day, he said: "...we are not
ignorant of his devices". Since Paul said the believers of his day
were not ignorant of Satan's devices, we must assume they were not ignorant of
them.
This is
not the case today. Contemporary believers are very ignorant of his
devices. This is why so many of them are embracing every kind of false teaching
and all kinds of counterfeit religious experiences. They are ignorant of his devices and as a result, they are
being overcome.
Put on
the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians
6:11‑12
Paul
also said our adversary has "wiles". The term wiles means tricks or
strategies. He told us to put on the whole armor of God so we can stand
against these strategies. Please notice that he didn't say if we put that
armor on we wouldn't have to even fight. He said we can expect to be attacked
by the enemy; and if we don't have that armor on, or if we are not willing to
stand against his attacks, then we will be defeated.
Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the
faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that
are in the world.
I.
Peter 5:8‑9
The
apostle Peter said Satan is our adversary—that is, he is our personal
enemy. As he walks about seeking whom he may devour, he has his eye on you.
He's not seeking to devour the unsaved—they have already been devoured
by him. He is seeking to devour God's people. He's seeking to devour me. He's
seeking to devour you. Because this is the situation, Peter tells us to
be sober and vigilant when it comes to Satan.
Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you.
James
4:7
The
apostle James told us to "resist" Satan and he will flee from us. He
didn't say that if we ignore him he will flee. What's the point of all
these warnings if Satan can't really hurt us? Why are we told to resist him,
stand against his wiles, and wrestle against his power, if we really don't have
to? Why would Peter tell us to be "sober" and "vigilant"
when it comes to the enemy if he has no power to hurt us?
Brethren,
we need to realize that this is not some kind of religious game we are playing.
We are in a real war with a real enemy who is both powerful and
invisible. He hates us with a fierce hatred and he is determined to destroy us
any way he can. He never sleeps; he never takes a break; he never stops
watching us. His wiles are deceptive and his devices are dangerous. They have
already been used to devour multitudes of God's people.
This
know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
II.
Timothy 3:1
Paul
said that in the last days "perilous times" would come. The Greek
term which is translated perilous in the King James is chalepos
(khal-ep-os'). It's meaning is more akin to the idea of something being
"fierce". We see this same Greek term used in the following passage:
And when
he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him
two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so
that no man might pass by that way.
Matthew
8:28
In other
words, the last days are going to be fierce days because the opposition
against us will greatly increase. God is going to give Satan great power and
authority at the close of this age. The result will be that his attacks against
us will become more and more severe, and his deceptions will become harder and
harder to discern.
Because
of rebellion, the host [of the saints] and the daily sacrifice were given
over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the
ground.
Daniel
8:12 NIV
And
there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him
that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one
another: and there was given unto him a great sword...And I looked, and behold
a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with
him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to
kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the
earth.
Revelation
6:4 & 8
And
there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given
power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Revelation
9:3
And there
was given unto him [the beast from the sea] a mouth speaking great things
and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two
months...And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,
and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds,
and tongues, and nations.
Revelation
13:4 & 7
God is
sovereign in all this. He is the one who is granting all this power to Satan
and He is doing it for a specific purpose. However, just because God is in
control of what's happening, that doesn't mean we will automatically be
protected from that power. We still have to do the things the apostles told us
to do—be sober, be vigilant, stand, resist, and wrestle.
Satan's
power has already been increased a hundred-fold. It doesn't take a college
degree to figure out that when the power of your enemy dramatically increases,
your power to resist him better increase as well, or you will be defeated. Most
of God's people are so busy with their own lives they have no idea what's
happening This is why we see churches which in the past have been solid,
Bible-based fellowships, suddenly going into apostasy. We are not automatically
protected from the deceiving power of the enemy just because we are God's
children.
Now the
Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
I.
Timothy 4:1‑2
If we
have ears to hear, this will be a frightening warning because Paul is not
talking in this passage about fake Christians or cultural Christians. He's
talking about real believers. He's talking about people who once
belonged to God. He's talking about people who were given the Holy Spirit and
once had a relationship with Jesus. Not only do these once-saved people fall
completely away from the faith, they end up with a "seared"
conscience. Paul refers to this same horrible reality in another place, using
slightly different language:
Let no
man deceive you by any means: for that day [the Day of the Lord] shall not
come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
II.
Thessalonians 2:3‑4
Here
again is a frightful warning for those who have ears to hear. It's scary
because Paul is not talking about a man sitting in a building over in
Jerusalem. He is talking about an invisible spirit taking its seat in
the lives of God's people. He is warning that this spirit will be able to counterfeit
the work, power, and presence of the Holy Spirit. He's telling us that it will
gain a foot hold in the lives of many believers and will "show himself
that he is god". He will demonstrate that he is the Holy Spirit.
And then
shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even
him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish; be-cause they received not the love of the truth, that they might
be saved.
II
Thessalonians 2:8‑10
Speaking
of the same thing later in the same chapter, Paul says "that
Wicked"—which is the Antichrist—will come with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish. The only thing that can come
"in" a person is an invisible spirit. Thus, Paul is letting us know
that Antichrist is a spirit that will come forth in people. The
result of this is that they will be spiritually destroyed. The prophet Daniel
and the apostle John both saw in vision the very thing Paul warns us about.
And it
[the little horn] waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down
some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
Daniel
8:10
And
there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon,
having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his
tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:
and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to
devour her child as soon as it was born...
Revelation
12:3‑4
Stars
represent God's people in Scripture. They represent believers who are dwelling
in heaven—that is, those who are walking in heavenly places with Jesus. Yet
both John and Daniel saw many of these stars brought down by the power of the
enemy. John saw the Dragon pull many of them down with his tail.
Daniel
saw the little horn do the same thing. But in addition, he also watched the
little horn stomp on them after they had been brought down. This is a perfect
picture of the intense hatred Satan has for you and I. He isn't
satisfied with just causing our fall. He wants to mercilessly grind our faces
into the dust. And just in case we didn't get the message, Daniel goes on to
make it crystal clear that some of God's people who live in the last days will
be overcome. That means that some of us will be overcome.
And of
the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before
whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very
great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with
the saints, and prevailed against them...
And he
[the little horn] shall speak great words against the most High, and shall
wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws:
and they [some of the saints] shall be given into his hand until
a time and times and the dividing of time.
Daniel
7:20-21 & 25
Again,
for those who have ears to hear, these are sobering words. God has been
faithful to warn us about the danger we face in these days. The question is:
how many of us are really listening to these warning? How many are really
taking them seriously?
Notice
that the source of all this destruction is invisible spirits. In First
Timothy, Paul says it will be the doctrines of demons and seducing
spirits that will draw believers away from the truth, cause them to fall,
and in the end sear their conscience. In Second Thessalonians, he warns about a
spirit coming forth in people.
Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of
God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
I
John 4:1
The
apostle John told us not to believe every "spirit", but that we
should "try the spirits" to see whether or not they be of God. Now
why do you suppose John told us to try the spirits? Why didn't he tell
us to compare what the false prophets are saying with what the Scripture says?
Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit
of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already
is it in the world.
I
John 4:2-3
When
talking about the Antichrist, John said every spirit that confesseth not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that
spirit of Antichrist. Again, why did John even bother talking about the
"spirit" of Antichrist? Why didn't he just warn us to reject the
men who were denying that Jesus had come in the flesh?
For if
he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye
receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel,
which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
II.
Corinthians 11:4
Notice that when Paul warned the Corinthians about false
apostles, he mentioned the fact that they were imparting "another
spirit" to God's people as a result of preaching a false gospel. There is
a reason the apostles mentioned spirits in their warnings. It's because behind
every false prophet or false teacher, behind every false doctrine or
revelation, behind all the self delusion people are prone to walk in, there is
an invisible demon spirit.
When you
deal with a person who is walking in deception regarding his or her own
spiritual condition, or a person who is preaching or teaching false doctrine,
you are not dealing with that person alone. You are also dealing with
the spirit that has seduced them.
The
apostles walked in a reality that few Christians walk in today. They knew by
experience that demon spirits are the source of most of what goes on in
the realm of deception. They knew by experience that false doctrines are not
just the doctrines of men. They are actually the doctrines of demons.
They knew by experience that those who were preaching and teaching error had
been seduced by invisible religious spirits.
This
whole realm of understanding does not come simply by knowing the Scripture. The
apostles didn't even have the New Testament. What they had was an incredible
level of spiritual discernment—and apparently they assumed this was the
norm for all the believers of that day. That's why they talked about
"spirits" so much.
And it
came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit
of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants
of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did
she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I
command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out
the same hour.
Acts
16:16‑18
There is
no verse of Scripture in either the Old or the New Testament that could have
revealed to Paul that it was a spirit talking through that woman. What
she said was absolutely true. Only the discernment of the Holy Spirit could
have revealed the truth of that situation to him.
Since
the majority of today's Christians have no spiritual discernment at all, they
would have been completely fooled by that woman. Even those who pride
themselves on their knowledge of the Written Word would have been fooled
because there is nothing in the Word that could have revealed the truth
of that situation to them.
What
verse of Scripture could they have used to judge the source of that
woman's words? What teaching of Jesus could they have used to judge it? Once
again, she was speaking the absolute truth.
If we know the Written Word, it's really not that hard to
spot a false teacher or a false teaching. When a person starts mis-quoting the
Scripture, or quoting it out of context, or putting some kind of spin on it
that changes its intended meaning, the one who has a thorough knowledge of
God's Word will detect it fairly quickly.
But when
someone who is walking under a wrong spirit starts speaking or teaching the
truth, when everything they are saying is Scriptural and doctrinally sound,
how many of us would be able to recognize—as Paul did—that the source of
those words or teachings are not God?
Update On The Virtual
Fellowship Hall
The
Virtual Fellowship Hall is going well. We are having a lot of good fellowship.
The sessions have been around 3 hours long so far.
There
are two things I forgot to mention in my last newsletter: (1) Paltalk is a
Windows only program. It will not work on Mac machines or other operating
systems. (2) The password is case sensitive. You must use a capital
"P" when typing it in or it won't let you enter the room.
