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Do NOT give place to the devil; stay close to God in prayer
Fred R. Coulter—February 11, 2023
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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services!
Last week we had no Internet in Hollister so we couldn't have live streaming services. But it shows that when they want to shut it down everything goes.
What's going to happen when they shut down all Christian websites? They're going to do it! You wait! They already have that in mind. What you need to do is like some have been doing. You need to get books that we have published so you have them. They can't erase the book if you have it printed. But you can erase it if it's on a computer or smart phone that is hooked up to the Internet.
All digital communication and everything can be wiped out with e-bomb—EMP—so think about what that could be. We're sitting right at the precipice of those things that can take place. We're also sitting at the precipice where Satan is coming out of the closet.
What do I mean by that? We know from 1-Peter 3 that there are wicked spirits in prison. Likewise in 2-Peter in Tartarus, which means a place of restraint. Then we also see in Rev. 8 that there are demons let out of the abyss. So, there are demons who have yet to be released.
We're entering a time that's very important to understand, and we need to stay strong in the Lord, because they're going to be openly worshipping Satan the devil.
I was sent two video clips called The Secret of Satan! It didn't say who it was put out by, but what they did was to bring out the typical Jewish belief that there's no such thing as the devil. Rather it is an angel of God to test people. If you keep the commandments of God then you'll pass the test. In other words, there is no devil!
How many hundreds of times have we read Rev. 12:9? None of these other Scriptures were quoted. The only Scripture quoted was Isa. 14:10.
Revelation 12:9: "And the great dragon was cast out…"
- Where was our first encounter with Satan the devil?
- What did he appear as? A serpent in the Garden of Eden!
"…the ancient serpent… [Satan is always working] …who is called the Devil and Satan…" (v 9). Look at what it says here:
- dragon
- ancient serpent
- devil
- Satan
"…who is deceiving the whole world…" (v 9).
We're living in a time now that we have more and more cases and problems of people being deceived totally by Satan the devil.
"…he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him" (v 9).
When he's cast down he's going to be angry and come after anyone who has anything to do with the Word of God.
Revelation 13:2: "And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and his feet like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne and great authority."
We know when we looked a the temptation of Christ by Satan the devil that the major things that Satan uses to tempt people is:
- food—their very existence!
So, after Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, the devil said, 'command that these stones become bread.' Jesus could have done that, that would have been no problem. But in doing that who would Jesus have obeyed? Satan instead of God!
- tempting God by doing dangerous and stupid things
Satan had taken Jesus to the top pinnacle of the temple and said, 'Cast yourself down, the angels of God will lift you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.' You don't do stupid things to tempt God!
- offering Jesus His Messiahship right then
If Jesus would bow down and worship him as 'God.' That's what Satan has always wanted
We're going to see quite a few things here about Satan and how he works. Let's see how he's working today. He's got plenty of power and controls all the governments, all entertainment, nearly all the Internet, the education, the medicine—virtually everything! Here's how he does it. He's got a lot of demons, plus he has all of the digital power in his hand to use. This is a statement and a prophecy:
Ephesians 2:1: "Now, you were dead in trespasses and sins."
That's tied up with what Paul says in Rom. 3, 'all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' Everyone is living in sin to one degree or another. They may be accepted as decent, good citizens in the world, but:
- Are they breaking the Sabbath?
- Are they breaking the Holy Days?
- Do they keep the holidays of this world?
- Do they do the things dictated by Satan the devil?
Of course!
Verse 2: "In which you walked in times past according to the course of this world…"
What is said in Rev. 18 of the people of God concerning Babylon the Great? Come out of her My people that you do not be partaker of her sins and plagues! So, those whom God calls, we come out of the world because we're living God's way!
But the people in the world don't know! They think they're doing right. Look at tomorrow, the whole world… They say that there will be 3-billion people watching the Super Bowl. You wait and see, the entertainment at halftime will be nothing but satanism! It's what it will be and that's what it was last year.
Remember at the Grammy Awards, it was openly presented in simulated sex in dances, the very acts of Sodom and Gomorrah for which God destroyed those cities! Go online and look up destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. That area has no life. There are no plants, but filled with sulfur and brimstone. When God sent the fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah, He wiped it clean off the face of the earth! The only thing that is visible is where some of the buildings used to be. The one who was conducting this video presentation took a piece of sulfur and set it down and struck a match and lit it. It caught fire immediately and it started melting.
So thorough was that destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities with it, that there was not even one bone of a human being left! That ought to tell all of us that God means what He says.
"…according to the prince of the power of the air…" (v2).
In John 14 he's called the ruler of this world! We will see what he does, and how he does it.
"…the spirit that is now working within the children of disobedience" (v 2).
Doesn't mean you're possessed, but a lot of people are. Just take all the people who are homeless and living on the streets in various cities in America. That's even going to be compounded more with all the illegal aliens. So, we need to really be on guard. "…the spirit that is now working within the children of disobedience"
That doesn't mean he's in them, that means because of the power and projection of things that he owns the people that he controls. They are transmitting these things and that's what people have in their mind. How easy it is to do it? Well, next time you get a song 'jingle jangling' around in your head that was from some advertisement, and you can't get rid of it for a couple of days, that tells you how easy it is for Satan to be working within the children of disobedience.
Verse 3: "Among whom also we all once had our conduct in the lusts of our flesh…"
Look at all of the movies. As I've mentioned, between Hulu, Netflix and Disney, there are nearly 100,000 movies and presentations. If a person started out wanting to go along and find out something watching these movies one after the other, what is it all centered around? Virtually, all of it is centered around sin, evil, sex, war and destruction!
"…doing the things willed by the flesh and by the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest of the world" (v 3).
Then it talks about how God calls us. Luke 8 is a shorter version of the Sower of the Seed in Matt. 13. This is important for us to understand, and important for us to realize how Satan has great power and why we need to use the Spirit of God all the time. This also tells us why we need to study and pray every single day! If you know something, and you don't further re-enforce that, you can lose it.
What happened to so many people in Worldwide Church of God when it came apart! Poof! They just disappeared into the world.
Luke 8:10: "And He said, 'To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God…'"
That's quite a thing! Think about what God has entrusted us with. God has entrusted us with the knowledge of His plan, which is, as we know, hidden in the Bible very cleverly by God. But for those who love God and keep His commandments, and keep His Feasts, they know! That's why we have the book God's Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days! It's a big thick book, granted, but that will help you! You also need to write for and get The Christian Passover because we're just weeks away from the Passover.
Remember that the Passover is the #1 target of Satan the devil always. Why is that? Because that's the renewal of the covenant every year, and also the memorial of Jesus' sacrifice! So, if Satan can get people to move away from that, then that's one step away from God. We also find this, which is a problem continuously:
The Jews who practice Judaism, which includes Jonathan Cahn—whom a lot of people are infatuated with—who keeps a 15th Passover with all the traditions of the Jews and covers his head when he prays with the Jews. The 15th is not the Passover, and God says a man shall not cover his head when he's praying.
Then he goes Sunday morning to the Protestants and preaches to them! He never tells them they need to keep the Sabbath. All of those things are avenues into which Satan can move and operate.
We know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, "…but to the rest it is given in parables so that in seeing they may not see, and in hearing they may not understand.… [we will see how that happens and who is behind that] …Now this is the parable: The Seed is the Word of God; and those that fell by the road are the ones who hear, but the devil comes and takes away the Word from their heart…: (vs 10-12).
Interesting, prince of the power of the air! What can he do? He can put thoughts in your head to get rid of the Truth of God! Try that with Sunday-keepers. If you just come right out and say, 'What day do you keep?' Well, I keep Sunday! 'What day do you think the Bible says to keep?' Every single one of the Protestant ministers and the Catholic priests know that it's the seventh-day Saturday today! They all know it, but they don't keep it!
The first step to understanding God's way is to believe God. So, if you hear the Word of God and you don't believe it, Satan is right there to take it away and replace it with another thought.
"…lest they should believe and be saved" (v 12).
The reason that that is there is because God doesn't want shallow conversion. God wants:
- deep conversion
- conviction of mind
- conviction of speech
- conviction of worshipping God
always exalting Him and not exalting ourselves!
Verse 13: "And those that fell upon the rock are the ones who, when they hear, receive the Word with joy; but these do not have any root…"
This is something each one of us needs to answer:
- How deep do our roots go?
- Are they settled completely in the Word of God so we can answer Satan the devil as Jesus said?
When Satan said for Him to turn these stones into bread, and Jesus answered Satan, 'It is written—the Word of God—man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God!'
That's shows the roots that go down! But because they didn't have any root:
"…who believe only for a while, and in time of trial fall away" (v 13).
What's the greatest temptation that's going to come upon the whole world? A lot of people think it's going to be the Tribulation, but it's not! It's going to be the mark of the beast!
I'm going to bring some information on that next week and it's going to be shocking, because we have arrived at the last step in buying and selling before the implementation of the mark of the beast. We're getting close!
Verse 14: "And those that fell into the thorns are the ones who have heard, but are choked while pursuing the cares and riches and pleasures of life…"
- cares—worried about things:
- What am I going to do?
- Where am I going to go?
- What am I going to eat?
- How can I live?
- Where do I earn enough money?
- riches and pleasures of life
All wrapped up in sports. Look at all of the sports, every one of them. If you're going to watch the Super Bowl you're going to see people absolutely infatuated with their teams. They have the hats, shirts, attend every game. When I was watching one game for a little while there was snow coming down and the people filled up the whole arena, 60,000 people, to watch this game. They had on their hats, their shirts and coats all about the team!
What if you're a tennis fanatic? Golf fanatic? Baseball fanatic? Hockey fanatic? All of those are pleasures of the world.
"…and do not bring any fruit to maturity. And those that fell on the good ground are the ones who, in a right and good heart, hear the Word and keep it, and bring forth fruit with endurance" (vs 14-15).
Remember what it says, the one who endures to the end the same shall be saved.
Let's see how Satan administers all these things that we have discussed here, and see what happens. We can see this with Protestant ministers, and the deeply involved Protestant attendees. They believe the lie of Sunday and the pagan holidays. They believe it firmly. Why do they believe it that way and yet, pick up the Bible say that they're Christians and then say this and that is done away and we don't need to do this, that or the other thing.
It goes against what Jesus said how we should live. He didn't say that 'man shall live by whatever words of the Bible he agrees with.' No, He said 'by every word of God!'
Now, this is for anyone who teaches and preaches, any minister, anyone who is representing God:
2-Corinthians 2:17: "For we are not like the many… [interesting statement in Paul's day] …who for their own profit are corrupting the Word of God; but we speak with sincerity, as from God, and before God, and in Christ."
Let's see how that happens, Paul defines it here. 1-Cor. 3 tells us that when the Book of Moses is read, there's a veil over their Israel's eyes. You will see that. Talk to any Protestant and there's a veil over their eyes. They only see what they want to see, and believe what they want to believe, instead of believing what God says!
Listen to what Paul says, and these are words for every one of us who are ministers and elders:
2-Corinthians 4:1: "Therefore, having this ministry, according as we have received mercy, we are not fainthearted." We need to always be:
- strong in God
- strong in His Word
- strong in the Truth
- relying on God
As Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State, wrote a book called Never Give an Inch. That's a good title! That applies to us, as well. Never give and inch, because what is the old saying, 'If you give an inch they take a mile!'
Verse 2: "For we have personally renounced the hidden things of dishonest gain, not walking in cunning craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully…"
You can't handle the Word of God deceitfully and represent the God of Truth. That's a moryoxon. I don't call it an oxymoron because that needs to be flipped around; 'mory means idiot.
They take the Bible and open to Rom. 10 and they start reading 'if you confess you're saved.' That's only the first step. If that's all that was necessary then God would have sent a four-page Bible. But He didn't!
"…but by manifestation of the Truth, we are commending ourselves to every man's conscience before God. But if our Gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing" (vs 2-3).
- How is it hidden?
- Why are they perishing?
- Didn't we read in Eph. 2 the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life?
Verse 4: "In whom the god of this age…"
That's quite a statement and can translated world or age! God—the Greek word for the real God is 'Theos.' It's used here of Satan who wants to be 'God.'
"…has blinded the minds of those who do not believe…" (v 4).
How does he do that? Very simply! You get them to:
- not keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days
- not believe the words of God the way that God wants you to believe them
The automatically blind themselves! Think about this when it come to Satan coming out and being openly worshipped.
As mentioned in part one, the Satanic Temple is already recognized by the IRS as a legitimate religion. They're going to be out trying to subvert all Christianity everywhere!
Sidebar: In the UK the Church of England is setting up a commission on how they need to describe God and eliminate the masculinity of the Father and the Son.
Is the spirit of Satan working in the Church of England now? And other churches? Yes!
"…lest the Light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (v 4).
Now, v 5 is the key for every one of us if we're talking about the Bible of God and the Word of God; for every minister and preacher:
Verse 5: "For we do not preach our own selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake."
That's what needs to be. Every day we all need to believe what we say: Your will be done!
I don't think we really have a deep understanding of the difficulties they were going through when the apostles were out preachings. The only way I can figure it is that there were thousands and thousands of Jews saw Jesus when He was preaching. But:
- How many became converts?
- How man decided to use the name of Jesus, which they were even using in Jesus' day?
James and John came to Jesus[transcriber's correction] and said, 'We saw a man casting out demons in Your name.' We forbade him. Jesus said not to forbade him, 'those who are on our part are not against us.' But it doesn't say that they were converted. That's the key, conversion! How did all of this transpire? We will see in just a bit!
2-Peter 2:1: "But there were also false prophets among the people, as indeed there will be false teachers among you… [we always have to be on guard so that no one is going to bring in false doctrine] …who will stealthily introduce destructive heresies, personally denying the Lord who bought them… [in other words, they were baptized] …and bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many people will follow as authoritative their destructive ways; and because of them, the way of the Truth will be blasphemed" (vs 1-2).
How do you blaspheme the Truth? The #1 way they do it today is that 'the Law is done away'! Then after that, 'Jesus didn't mean that' when it's very clear and everything is right there that He did mean it! There were those 'teachers' going around that:
- we saw Christ
- we saw Him heal
- we heard Him pray
- we were with Him
- we believed Him
- this Paul that you hear, he was really never there when all of this was going on
- we're really the ones who know, not Paul
You can look at the arguments that will come along with it. Here's what Paul writes:
2-Corinthians 11:2[transcriber's correction]: "For I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God because I have espoused you to one husband, so that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent… [Where did we read that? Rev. 12:9!] … deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (vs 2-3).
What is the simplest simplicity of Christ? Obey My voice! It's all written down so we can't say 'What did the Lord say?'
Verse 4: "For indeed, if someone comes preaching another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different gospel…"
It changes everything; look at the full maturity of it with Protestantism and Catholicism with the true teaching of the Bible and the Churches of God; quite a difference! We have the Bible. It's not good enough that they have the Bible, they have to have their translating committees so they can change it the way that they want, because they don't like it.
Verse 13: "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers who are transforming themselves into apostles of Christ."
I have this in mind whenever I watch Day Star or TBN. They go along and quote a Scripture, which is true, and all of a sudden:
- we're going to heaven
- there's the trinity
- there's Sunday-keeping
That's how they do it, deceitful workers! False apostles!
Verse 13: "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers who are transforming themselves into apostles of Christ."
Saying that they're the true ministers of God when they're not!
Verse 14: "And it is no marvel… [who is behind it? Satan the devil!] …for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his servants…" (vs 14-15)—of Satan! But:
- they're so nice
- they're so good
- look at the wonderful smile on Joel Osteen
How could he possibly have a deceitful thought in his heart?
"…also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness—whose end shall be according to their works" (v 15).
(break@40:30)
Let's understand something really important. Sometimes we don't have this in mind, that's why it's good that we have the Scriptures so we can be reminded of it.
2-Peter 2:5: "And if God did not spare the ancient world…"
Think about that; He caused a worldwide flood because of sin, because of the thoughts—not just the actions—of everyone was evil all the time! We're getting close to that again because Jesus said, 'As it was in the days of Noah before the Flood, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.
"…but saved Noah, the eighth, a preacher of righteousness, when Hebrought the Flood… [Greek: 'kataklusmos'] …upon the world of the ungodly; and having reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, condemned them with a catastrophic destruction, making them an example for those who would be ungodly in the future" (vs 5-6).
That's quite something! Go online and look up about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Verse 7: "And if He personally rescued righteous Lot… [How did He do that? Sent two angels to take care of him!] …who was oppressed by the lawless ones living in licentious conduct."
That's what we have today, the way of doing it. Who knows how far it's going to go?
Verse 8: "(For that righteous man, dwelling among them, through seeing and hearing their lawless activities, was tormented day-by-day in his righteous soul)." Why didn't Lot move sooner?
Verse 9: "The Lord knows how to rescue the Godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unrighteous to the day of judgment to be punished; but particularly those who walk after the flesh in corrupting lust, and hold in utter contempt the lordship of God. They are audacious and self-willed. They are not afraid to blaspheme the Divine powers" (vs 9-10).
That's the way they are acting today. What is the offspring of their religion? Global climate change! That's a religion to them.
We were talking about NewsMax being cutoff, and they will stop all this instant communication to anyone they want to stop. ATT is the largest corporation in the world controlling communication.
The next one is Disney World. They cutoff NewsMax, which is the fourth largest news broadcaster online. Just cut them off because they wanted to cut them off; they didn't like NewsMax's politics or what they were preaching and teaching. They didn't like being exposed by little underlings such as those working for NewMax, who asked for a protest against ATT, but nothing has happened.
So, let's all take that as a great, great warning to not to depend on the Internet. If you want to download anything from our website and put it on that computer so you can have it, you do it.
The time is going to come when you're not going to be able to get truthofGod.org
Matt. 6 has to do with prayer, daily prayer. That's important and you won't realize how important it is until you are praying every day—day and night—and studying along the way as you're going. Jesus said:
Matthew 6:9: "Therefore, you are to pray after this manner: 'Our Father, Who is in heaven…'"
All of those who are wrapped up in sacred names listen up! The sacred name in the New Testament is in Greek, not Hebrew, and the One Who is the Highest in the Old Testament is called The Father! That's His sacred name!
Jesus said in John 17, 'I have revealed Your name to them.' What name did Jesus reveal? The Father! No other name. Search high and low in the New Testament and you won't find any other name. The Father!
The ultimate of grace is, not just having your sins forgiven, that's the start. Not just having a relationship available to you with God and praying to God, but that you, through the grace of God, and every one else who has the Holy Spirit of God can pray directly to the Father.
That's what Jesus said, 'You pray to the Father in My name. You pray to Him because the Father loves you.' That's important with this prayer.
"…hallowed… [Holy] …be Your name; Your Kingdom come…" (vs 9-10).
What does it say that we are to seek first?
Verse 33: "But as for you, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." That shows how our daily lives need to be!
Verse 10: "…Your will be done…" Think about that!
Not our individual will, not the will of someone else, but the will of God! Why do we need to pray that every day? If we don't, what are we going to do, sooner or later we will be slipping in our way. Other people will come along and slip in the their way; then you're taking away from God.
"…on earth, as it is in heaven" (v 10)
Do you think that there's anyone around the Throne of God that isn't worshipping God? No! Read Rev. 5.
Verse 11: "Give us this day our daily bread."
Think about what God is doing for all the world in providing food for all mankind. Not having to do with conversion, but just food for everyone. Sooner or later when the second resurrection comes, they'll be part of the Plan of God. Think about what God does to provide food. Think about that the next time you go into the supermarket and they still have their shelves full and you look at everything that is there.
When you get home think about if you had to have your own garden, raise your own food, your own chickens, goats, sheep and cattle. Then think what it would take. If you raise your own cattle it's not going to be like going to the store and buying and steak. You're not going to take the cattle and say, 'come over here and I'm going to cut off this rib with the meat.'
You have to kill the whole thing, and what are you going to do with everything? Think about all of that! Think about having to produce your own food all the time! God provides it for us.
Verse 12: "And forgive us our debts…"
What is our debt? It's not what we owe someone else. It's being indebted to God because of our sins and for having our sins forgiven.
In Col. 2, what is nailed to the cross is the note of debt of our sins, not the commandments of God. See how they twist it, turn it and say that the commandments of God were nailed to the cross. Well, the only thing nailed to the cross was Jesus, the One Who said that He was King of the Jews.
"…as we also forgive our debtors" (v 12).
God wants us to forgive those who sin against us. Why? Because if we hold it in we get bitter and angry! Who set the example on forgiveness? Jesus did! That's the first thing He said when He was nailed to the cross. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do! Think about that.
- those who hated Him and plotted and schemed to get Him
- those who were wanting to kill Him for all the time of His ministry
- finally, through Satan the devil and Judas Iscariot to fulfill prophecy, He was betrayed, arrested and falsely tried and convicted
The mob wanted to crucify Him!
Verse 13: "And lead us not into temptation … [or trail] …but rescue us from the evil one…. [that becomes very important] …For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."
Let's see something about being rescued. That's pretty important! Isn't it quite a thing that we can be rescued from Satan the devil, kept from being swept into His clutches. That's why we need to pray every day: rescue us, not just keep us from it, but rescued, because a trap can be set!
Colossians 1:9: "For this cause we also, from the day that we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you…"
That's another thing, pray for all the saints. Even pray for those whom you don't know. Pray for those wherever they may be in the world, because God is doing a bigger work than what we may ever know. We'll find out sooner or later when we are resurrected.
"…and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" (v 9).
Look at that statement. When we say 'may Your will be done' we've got the whole Bible. If we're filled with it, what are we going to do? We're going to act upon that! That's what we're going to do.
Verse 10: "That you may walk worthily of the Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, unto all endurance and long-suffering with joy" (vs 10-11).
That summarizes what kind of life we are to be living in our relationship with God.
Notice the next two verses because look at all that preceded that. If we're doing all that preceded this, then the next two verses become very important.
Verse 12: "Giving thanks to the Father… [that's how we started out the prayer] …Who has made us qualified for the share of the inheritance of the saints in the Light."
God qualifies us! We don't qualify ourselves! God does! How is that? By constantly seeking His will and His knowledge!
Verse 13: "Who has personally rescued us from the power of darkness…"—Satan's world!
Think of it this way: What if you were in a situation that you were entrapped so badly that you needed to have the fire department and medicals come and get you out of a hole that you fell in. there's no way you can get out of that hole except that they help you.
That's the way it is with God with us! God rescues us from Satan the devil, because he's got lot of schemes going, a lot of things that he's doing. We need to be aware of it, and that's why we need to stay close to God. He personally rescues us!
"…from the power of darkness and has transferred us unto the Kingdom of the Son of His love" (v 13)—under the authority of Jesus Christ, not under authority of Satan the devil!
That's quite a thing how God rescues us and brings all of these things to us.
Eph. 4—this is a constant thing that we're doing, and that's called growing in grace and knowledge!
Ephesians 4:22: "That concerning your former conduct, you put off the old man…"
Don't go out and be the way you were before you were converted.
Verse 24: "And that you put on the new man, which according to God is [being] created…"
What God is doing in our heart and mind is creating His Law, character, love, attributes—everything that we need! We can be thankful of one thing: the establishment cannot cutoff our prayers! Cannot! We have direct access to God every time we get on our knees.
"…[being] created in righteousness and Holiness of the Truth" (v 24).
Have you ever thought about Truth being Holy? There it is because it comes from God!
Verse 25: "Therefore, let each one put away lies and speak the truth with his neighbor, because we are members of one another. When you become angry, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger…" (vs 25-26).
That's quite a thing! If you have something where you get angry, you can get angry, but you can't let it come past sundown. Why?
- don't pollute the new day that begins at sundown with wrath and anger that you're holding toward someone
- if you put all your anger aside before you go to bed, then you're going to sleep better
If you don't, look at what it says:
Verse 27: "Neither give place to the devil."
How do you give place to the devil? By not staying close to God!
We're going to look at the seven Churches and we're going to see that in all of the Churches Satan is mentioned with the exception of Sardis and Laodicea. We can see what happens and how these things come about. Let's see how Christ in involved with the seven Churches, meaning he's also involved with us individually.
Revelation 2:1: "To the angel of the Ephesian Church, write: 'These things says He Who holds the seven stars in His right hand, Who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.'"
Christ is in the midst of His Church, and that's why it's important that Christ be in each one of us, so when we come together as a group that it is the brethren of God assembled to worship God.
Verse 2: "I know your works…"
Through all of the Church what does He say? I know your works! He doesn't say, I know your faith! Very interesting.
Protestants say that faith, grace and no works. Christ says, the good works that Christ has ordained that you walk in!
"…and your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot bear those who are evil; and that you did test those who proclaim themselves to be apostles, but are not, and did find them liars" (v 2).
Who sent the false apostles? Satan! (2-Cor. 11). Such are false apostles; you have to test them!
Verse 3: "And that you have borne much and have endured, and for My name's sake have labored and have not grown weary; nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love" (vs 3-4).
- How does that happen?
- How do people lose their first love of God?
They get involved in doing other things! It may be in helping other people. It may be worthy, but WHEN it takes up all your time and you forget God, forget your love for God, THEN that comes in as a substitute to take you away from God!
Verse 5: "Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works; for if you do not, I will come to you quickly; and I will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent."
God wants us to repent every day! That's why it says in the daily prayer, forgive us our debts or sins every single day! This shows that they became so familiar with it that they took it for granted in what they needed to do.
Verse 6: "But this you have: that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."
Verse 8: "And to the angel of the Church of the Smyrneans write…"—they had to suffer martyrdom!
Suffering martyrdom and yielding to God, when that comes that's worth a lot of knowing doctrine. Why? Because you have shown your determination to love God even though you die!
Verse 9: 'I know your works and tribulation and poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who declare themselves to be Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.'" We will see that a little later on!
The synagogue of Satan still exists today! That's the whole world system. Now it's coming together in a one-world government. It's having a hard time doing it, but sooner or later it will happen. Also it has to do with a lot of the business people. Rev. 18 says, 'the merchants of the earth waxed rich through the delicacy of Babylon the Great.
- look at all the rich people
- look at the billionaires that went to Davos
All of them set on the satanic agenda to capture and enslave the whole world to their will! Here with the Church at Smyrna, they suffered martyrdom! Christ said not to worry about that, 'I'll give you eternal life!
Verse 11: "The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. The one who overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.'
We need to hear what Christ has to say to all the Churches. We can rest assured that just as the seven Churches were there at the time that this was written, that in the world today there are what God would look at would be the seven Churches today.
Verse 12: "And to the angel of the Church in Pergamos, write: 'These things says He Who has the sharp two-edged sword'"—which is the Word of God!
What does this tell us? That they slacked off on following the Word of God! Let's see how that happened, and it looked so convenient.
Verse 13: "I know your works and where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is… [they had a big altar to Satan in Pergamos] …but you are holding fast My name, and did not deny My faith, even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful witness… [or martyr] …who was killed among you, where Satan dwells."
Where does Satan dwell today? Probably in different places from time to time! Sometimes he's in Rome, sometimes he's in Washington, D.C., sometimes in New York City, sometimes somewhere else. Notice what happens when you get close to the world, and Satan is the god of this world, you start bringing in some of the things of Satan because they look good.
- How did that happen?
- How does it happen?
Here's a principle to remember: what is the tree that the world feeds on? The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil! When there's some good in the world, and it looks good—but it's of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which means it comes from Satan the devil—and you bring it and start doing, you're grafting in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to the Word of God in what you must be doing.
How could that be? It could start out with this whole group that is feeding the poor in the city and you get all devoted in it, and then you start fraternizing with those of different religions! They're nice and good people and they have good ideas, but they're Sunday-keepers and Christmas-keepers and as such, though they don't know it, Satan worshippers!
Verse 14: "But I have a few things against you because you have there those who hold the teaching of Balaam…"
Holding onto grasping for money using religion for money sake. Also, to go against the Word of God. What happens when you get things watered down and you bring in the good from the world here and there.
"…who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication" (v 14).
- What do you suppose that means spiritually?
- What do those today who call themselves Christians, take today that is sacrificed to demons? The Eucharist, the Sacrifice of the Mass!
Christ was sacrificed once! They can take it every day, or many times a day, because they have twisted the Scripture in 1-Cor.11 that 'as often as you eat this bread or drink this cup…' On the surface, that looks like as often as you want to.
Could you take it every hour if you want to?
Would that make you more righteous?
NO! They don't tell you that there's one word in the Greek, which is not translated and it's the Greek word 'an'—pronounced on—which means there are circumstances and qualifications to the statement 'often as.' That's explained in The Christian Passover book.
- What are the qualifications? In the night that Jesus took the bread!
- When did Jesus take that? The night of the 14th!
- When is the Passover? 14th day of the 1st month according to the Calculated Hebrew Calendar!
- How often do they take the Eucharist? Every day in the Catholic Church, many times on Sunday morning!
They don't call it the Passover, they call it the Lord's Supper! Paul said, 'Don't call it the Lord's Supper'; it's not that! That's what it means here 'eating things sacrificed to idols.'
Verse 15: "Moreover, you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate."
The Nicolaitans is the hierarchical government from the top down where the ministers are the enforcers of the Word of God. Jesus tells them to repent, and if they don't repent they're going to be out of luck.
Thyatira was the Church that was perhaps the most corrupt of all. They ere confronted with the synagogue of Satan and the practices of Jezebel and she was the daughter of the high priest of Baal, as we find in the Old Testament.
Who considerers herself the 'mother church' in the world today? The Catholic Church!
Verse 18: "And to the angel of the Church in Thyatira write: 'These things says the Son of God, He Who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass. I know your works, and love, and service, and faith, and your endurance, and your works; and the last are more than the first. But I have a few things against you, because you allow the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants into committing fornication and eating things sacrificed to idols" (vs 18-20).
The fornication is not the physical sexual lewdness, but changing from Sabbath to Sunday and from Holy Days to holidays. Hasn't the whole world followed that? Yes, indeed! What happens when people get wound up in all of that?
So, the whole point of what I'm getting at here is this: Satan is always looking for an opportunity to come after the people of God: individually and collectively!
When Satan comes out into the open to be worshipped, as they're now doing as we covered in part one, it's going to be something! We will be hated! He told them unless they repented they would be going into Great Tribulation.
Verse 23: "And I will kill her children with death… [the second death, because if someone is killed they're already dead] …and all the churches shall know… [this is the message to all of us everywhere] …that I am He Who searches the reins and hearts; and I will give to each of you according to your works."
Then he says, to those who have not known the depths of Satan. So, how far have some of the Churches of God gone? Look at how far some of them have gone in Protestantism and Catholicism.
Then we have the Church of Sardis, who has a name but is dead. Then the Church of Philadelphia that is commended for keeping the Word of God faithfully. Let's remember that! And that He will keep us from the temptation that is coming upon the whole world. That temptation is not the Tribulation.
Then we come to the Laodiceans, and it's interesting that being lukewarm they take things for granted. We've covered enough of this to know that some of them are not converted, because Jesus said, 'I knock at the door—the door of their mind—and I will come in and sup with you and you with Me.'
That means they weren't converted. How many are attending? Some people remember that down in Pasadena when Herbert Armstrong said,
I doubt if half of you out there are even converted! I also doubt about some of these ministers if they are converted!
That was prophetic. What does this tell us? That Church was Laodicean from the beginning! All of that is involved.
We need to realize that Satan is going to come out in the open and present himself as the great savior of the world, which is going to lead to the greatest catastrophes the world has never seen before.
So, Satan is going to come out of the closet and is going to be there, and everybody is going to be excited and be worshipping him, not knowing the disasters that are coming.
Scriptural References:
- Revelation 12:9
- Revelation 13:2
- Ephesians 2:1-3
- Luke 8:10-15
- 2 Corinthians 2:17
- 2 Corinthians 4:1-5
- 2 Peter 2:1-2
- 2 Corinthians 11:2-4, 13-15
- 2 Peter 2:5-10
- Matthew 6:9-10, 33, 10-13
- Colossians 1:9-13
- Ephesians 4:22. 24-27
- Revelation 2:1-6, 8-9, 11-15, 18-20, 23
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- 1 Peter 3
- Revelation 8
- Isaiah 14:10
- Romans 3
- Revelation 18
- John 14
- Matthew 13
- 2 Corinthians 3
- Romans 10
- Ephesians 2
- John 17
- Revelation 5
- Colossians 2
Also referenced:
Books by Fred R. Coulter {truthofGod.org}:
- God's Plan For Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days
- The Christian Passover
Book: Never Give an Inch by Mike Pompeo
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 2/17/23
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