The Devices of Satan

Well, good afternoon, everyone, on the Day of Atonement. It's good to see bright-eyed faces on this day. Hope they stay that way with the sermon. Very sad about those two announcements. I do know Bardet Lucas, and you probably can't find a more friendly and wonderful person. Remember, working with him, but I still live in Pasadena, California. I certainly pray that it is not the worst that one could imagine. I certainly pray for the entire Holmes-Lucas family they have had. Certainly, a number of trials over the past years, more than their share. Also, I want to welcome any visitors here. In particular, it was so wonderful to see Mr. Mrs. Gerald Steyer here. I just wanted to say a few things about them. When I was a minister in Minneapolis, still back in the early years of the ministry, I used to go out and visit them in Wisconsin from Minneapolis. Mr. Steyer used to work in a bakery, so he slept during the daytime. We couldn't come and visit him until after 4 o'clock in the afternoon. He'd be pretty groggy. That time, we used to visit people a lot, a lot more than we do now. I just remember Mr. Steyer always being very groggy in the afternoon.

He had some little children around the family. His son, Tony, would you raise your hand, please? He was here with his wife as well. She raised her hand as soon as the one woman next to him.

He was one of the little kids that were just running around, and they were told to always be very quiet when Dad slept. Well, then I remember that the Steyers moved someplace to Tennessee, and now here we see them again, 30-some years later, although he did stop by when I was pastor in Paducah, Kentucky, to visit. But the way I kind of got back to the Steyers is their daughter, Sharon Fusche. She had her daughters collect white shirts for our brethren's children in Latin America. I had no idea who this Sharon Fusche was. I just noticed she was a very nice lady, and her children collected these shirts. After several correspondences in this last six months or so, she said, oh, you might remember my dad, Mom, the Steyers. I thought, do I ever remember them? I went to the whole thing about her dad having to sleep during the daytime and everything. That's kind of a big thing. But they're on their way to the feast in Bend, Oregon, and they're going to Chicago and catch the train that goes all the way out to Seattle, and it'll go down to the feast in Bend. But it's so wonderful. Just wonderful to talk to them, and just amazing how time flies. That was 30-some years ago, and it's hard to believe that I've been in the ministry now for 38 years. We're getting ready to go with her as a family to Estonia for the feast. I'm sure that you're very, very excited about wherever you are going for the Feast of Tabernacles. Some people have already left, but Michael and Alex, our son, daughter-in-law, and the grandchildren, two this time, and Bev and I will be leaving on Monday to go to Estonia. And half the feast is in a medieval old city. Amy Zahora knows very well, called Tartu. And then the other half will be on the largest island in the Baltic, called Sarama. And there we stay at a spa-type of a hotel.

And this year we have about 45 people who will be there for the feast. And we usually sometimes have a little hard time marketing Estonia. People think of it as being a country that's all black and white, you know, it's a Soviet republic, you know, and everything is, you know, just not all that great.

And we've been thinking about possibly holding the feast in Sweden, which is right close by Estonia, twice as expensive and everything, but I'm sure if we say Sweden, which I've already said to a few people, oh, can we go to Sweden for the feast? It'd be so wonderful. Well, it's the same thing, probably less than Estonia, but it's got a more exciting sound to it. But anyway, I just wanted to just tell you a few of the challenges we have. The other challenge is that we have so many different languages represented there. However, this year we are down to just one language that is a troublesome language, as far as just a bridge language where, you know, somebody doesn't understand. Most people will understand English to one degree or another, but there will be a few Estonian-Russian-only, in fact only about three or four, and so instead of having translation for them, we're having a sheet with all the scriptures in Russian. So they can just follow along with the main thoughts and the scriptures in Russian, and then maybe I can go through a synopsis of the sermon with them in Russian afterwards. But that's always at a feast, a challenge, because sometimes you don't know whether you should, for the sake of a few people, you know, slow things down and have translation, or, you know, just exactly what you should do. I think we've got it down pretty well this year. Just an interesting side note, a minister from Latin America was telling me about American ministers who would come down to Central America to give sermons, you know, and they give them in English, and then of course the translators have to keep up with their stories and so forth. And frankly, the best kind of sermons when you have translation are sermons with lots of scriptures, because the scripture will carry the movement of the whole sermon. A sermon with stories or with you know, tall tales or worse yet, jokes, you know, doesn't go very well at all. And I recall this minister telling me how hard it was for him to translate when these American ministers came down, and he told all these American stories, baseball, you know, just all this kind of stuff, jokes and so forth. He had no way of translating it. Sometimes it was a play on words. It didn't work in the Spanish language. So he said that one minister was just going on with his... he thought he was so hilarious just with this funny story. And the translator would just say in the microphone, please laugh. Please laugh. And he said the entire Spanish brethren would just be roaring in the aisles of laughter because this whole thing was so funny. They weren't laughing at the minister. They weren't laughing because they were told to laugh, because there's no way he could possibly translate what he had to say. But he said the worst thing about that was the translator said, that would just encourage the minister to go on with this whole story, you know, when they had lost them from the very, very beginning. So I thought that was very, very interesting.

Well, this is the first time I've been back, actually, for a Day of Atonement back in Indiana. Most of the time we are gone by now to places that we have gone to in the past.

And I was taking a look at the subject material for the last several times I've spoken of the Day of Atonement, and I see that I have not given the devil his due time. I've been speaking about reconciliation. I've been speaking about forgiveness. I've been speaking about the world coming at one with God, which is all part of the meaning of this day. But it's been over 10 years since I've given the devil any credit for this day. And actually, it was very good that the sermonette did cover also a focus about the devil. In Revelation 20, verse 1, we have part of the fulfillment of this Day of Atonement, where Satan is bound.

Satan is removed. Satan is all tied up and no longer has the effect that he has upon the world. Because at this time, Satan is God of this world. Now, just as we have Jesus Christ, who is the head of this church, who lives in our lives through his Spirit, who guides us and moves us and motivates us, we also have the devil right by his side.

He's right here. He's right here. He'll be with us after we leave. He will always be glad to take us in. And if we should slip back from Christ, he will be more than happy to have us back. But the devil and his influence and his being God of this world will be changed. Then I saw an angel, this is Revelation 20, in verse 1, coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

This angel, he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up and set a seal upon him, so he should not deceive the nations no more until a thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while. So what this day of Atonement pictures is the enactment, and this is the enactment of this prophecy, that this is when Satan, the devil, will be bound, so he will no longer be doing the job of deceiving the nations, fooling them, tricking them, spinning, telling half-truths, lying to them, and confusing them.

This is what Satan has done. Now, in my sermon on the Feast of Trumpets, I spoke about watching. And actually, what my sermon about today is watching some more, except watching with respect to issues relating to Satan, who is very close by and is listening intently to this sermon. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 1. In your Bible, you have this label that's the day of the Lord, the time when God begins to intervene in the affairs of this world.

But we as Christians—this is taking off now from what I had spoken of on the Feast of Trumpets—concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. You should already understand a lot about the times in which we live and about the progression of events. It's just like me on the Day of Atonement not having to go through the entire 23rd chapter of Leviticus or talking to you about Azazel or having to go through all these things.

Yes, we go from time to time, but we don't have to go through them again. For you yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night, that when Christ is going to start intervening in the affairs of this world, for the most part, the world will not be ready for Him. The world will not be welcoming Him.

The world will not have banners saying, Christ, we're so glad that you're coming back. We will understand, but the world basically doesn't care, doesn't want to, and as we see, the whole world will be fighting against Christ when He comes back. For when they say, and this is one of the hallmarks and one of the telltale signs of when Christ will return, when they say, peace and safety, and I'm not sure what form that will take.

Either the whole world will sign some kind of a document, the whole world will, you know, agree to some type of peace, some great religious merge will take place, something that will be a hallmark where people can say, peace and safety, we're okay now, we've solved our problems.

Then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.

So when things get too good in this world, it's not something to lull us to sleep, but something to alert us that it's just about going to break loose. And they shall not escape. Verse 4, But you brethren are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day.

We are not sons, we are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort, encourage, stir up one another, and edify, build up one another, just as you also are doing. We as Christians would need to be continually watching, alert, and stirring one another up as that day approaches, and that day is getting closer and closer. So there is an admonition to watch, and particularly to watch, not only with the material that I gave on the Feast of Trumpets, but to watch as far as the meaning of the symbols of the Day of Atonement is concerned. In 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8, and I don't know if I read this scripture or not, I had it in my notes, but I don't think I read it.

1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8, be sober, be vigilant, or another translation has it as, stay alert, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Part of the watching process is not just the things I had mentioned 10 days ago, but also watching out for the predator, the great predator, Satan the devil, who's seeking whom he may devour. He is continually stalking us.

He's continually trying to figure out what our weak spots are, and finding ways to append us and to destroy us. I also gave a sermon last Sabbath about a number of the parables of Jesus Christ. And one of the parables, actually one of the most profound of all, which is actually one of the simpler ones, is the sower and the seed. Because the parable of the sower and the seed begins with a sower who wants to plant his field. He wants to see the seed find a place on the ground to sprout and to grow up and become fruitful. But the first classification of the seed that was cast into the field, the birds of heaven came and picked them off before they even had a chance to sprout.

And then Christ, in his explanation, said, this is the devil who snatches away the word, even it is being sown. Now we have a work. We use the media, whether it be paper, electronic, internet, whatever. And as we are sowing the seed, there's another work going on at the same time, exactly at the same time, which is very, very robust and very calculated. And that work is to snatch the word of God from the people who are about to receive it, so that they don't have a chance. And actually, a large portion of the people to whom we direct the words of life, they never have a chance. Not in this lifetime, because that word has been snatched away from Satan the devil.

The second classification is seed that had sprouted, but because of pressure put on the individual, they wilted. And a third classification is a seed that sprouted, began to bear fruit, but became unfruitful, because of the cares of this life, because of all its distractions. In all three cases, we see the workings of Satan the devil, in trying to either stop the word of God, to discourage the receivers of that word, and to get them to dry up. Or thirdly, encumber them with distractions, cares of this world, drunkenness, carousing that is spoken of in Matthew 25, 24.

Our job, as Peter says, is to watch out, stay alert, because your adversary the devil walks around whom he may devour. Another illuminating scripture to that point is in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11. It's interesting that Paul writes these things 2,000 years ago, and they're just as relevant here in Indianapolis, in central Indianapolis, just as they were back to the church here in the Mediterranean. It has to do with a human spirit. It has to do with a God of this world. It has to do with the same type of instruction and vigilance. This is a wonderful aspect about the Bible. These words don't go out of style. They are still as relevant and still as powerful today as they were when Paul first wrote them down.

2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11. Lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. We're not ignorant of his schemes, as another translation has it. It also has it that we should not be exploited by Satan the devil. So we see here that we should be alert, awake, because Satan the devil is seeking about whom he may destroy.

He is also lurking about whom he can exploit and find their weak spots in, and whom he can exploit or take advantage of. So part of the job of staying awake and staying alert is to be knowledgeable about what he is doing, and not to be ignorant of his devices, but to understand them. And this is a day of atonement, which is a day that commemorates the putting away of Satan for the world.

But say the devil is still alive and well, very much right now. And how aware are we of his devices? Actually, I have a number of devices to speak about. They all begin with the letter D, so they literally are D devices. The first one, as was mentioned already in Revelation 20, was deception. Deception. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4.

Satan, who is the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe.

Most of the world does not believe. I just read an article, too, about people who are church-going people. And there's an article about relevance of the church in a person's individual life.

And 10 years ago, the figure was something like those who attend church, 45 percent said that the church had relevancy in their life. In other words, they really listened to and they just really paid attention to and they thought that they should really pay attention to what the church said.

Now it's less than 27 percent of those who go to church. There might be all kinds of people going to church, but they go for different reasons. Some go for the music, some go for the fellowship, some go for the food court, some go for, you know, the drama, some go for the entertainment. But how many, really, are taking it to heart and using it as something to change their life day in and day out? We stayed two weeks ago. My wife and I did with Britt Taylor, a minister, the pastor of Fort Worth, Texas. And he, from time to time, goes to, I think it's called the Jesus Seminar, or it's a seminar where a lot of theologians and a lot of scholars who study the Bible and who really know the Bible very, very well, who can recite entire chapters by memory, who know the Greek, who know the Hebrew, and are just extremely knowledgeable in everything the Bible says. And he said that sometimes he feels like he's really kind of out of place with these people because they are so smart. They know so much about the Bible. But the one strange thing was, is that hardly anybody thinks of it as the inspired Word of God. To look upon it is a very unique and very, very outstanding piece of literature. And Britt said that he had asked one of the theologians is there anybody here who, you know, kind of takes the Bible literally as the spoken, inspired Word of God?

One of the theologians said, yeah, I think we found, I think we, I know a guy.

Here's a seminar with 2,000 people in attendance. Yeah, I think I know somebody. You may want to talk to him because I think he's the kind of guy that you're kind of looking for. This is astounding that so many people with theologians, smart people, I mean, they're not dumb. They've gone through college. They've gone through divinity school. They've studied the languages. They're probably fluent in the Greek, not the current Greek, but the Greek of 2,000 years ago.

And yet the Bible does not have relevance. The seed is not sown in their heart. They look upon this as the writings of man, as something that's very interesting and something that's withstood a lot of history and ages, but not something that is relevant. Britt Taylor would just tell me how astounded he would be. He says lots of good things that are brought up as far as the structure of the Bible and some of the history behind it and some of the environment in which the Bible was written.

But as far as it being the powerful, shaking, motivating, stirring waters of life, spirit of God on paper, not at all. Satan, who is the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the good news of the Gospel. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. And believe me, Satan has done an amazing number on people in this world regarding religion. I'm not talking just about Christianity versus pagan religions, but just within the Christian realm. There are so many permutations, there are so many understandings, there are so many ways in which theology is seen from literal to metaphoric to poetic to Christ having been created, Christ having been born, Christ having pre-existed, Christ being on a pod coming down from God the Father, going back. I mean, you name it, there is everything available, every possible explanation. And I was astounded that as far as even the book of Galatians, Satan said, I think I've got it, I think I've got it, I think I really understand it. Well, you know, there are over 450 different interpretations for the book of Galatians. 450, which one is right? Which one you pick? To me, that is an amazing number that a greater mind than us, a satanic mind is done, to confuse, to doubt, to you know, distance oneself from the divinity of the Word of God, and yet study it, and almost creating an impression that they are faithful, and that they are very, very knowledgeable, thereby, when you know it, you'll believe it. Uh-uh. You can know it to its deepest and most finite and infinitesimal detail, but not believe it. That is the way so many in this world are.

There are so many, many people who are in this broad way that leads to destruction.

There are so few people, hopefully we're among them, who tremble at the Word of God, who bow down to it, who say, this is God talking to me. These are breathed by God, and as Peter said, my words, they are spirit and they are life. The Word of God, even though you see paper and ink in front of you, that is the Spirit of God put on paper. And these are words that motivate, these are words that change, these are words that, as the book of Hebrews writes, are a sword that comes in and discovers every motive for what we do, and slicing apart to the inner thoughts and workings of the heart. Talking to Mr. Brockla here before services, he says that every year when he studies about the book of Atonement, the Day of Atonement, there's something always new that comes out. That's just an amazing phenomenon about the Bible, is that you can read it and never get tired of it. I find that every year I come to more profoundly understanding the Word of God and its impact, particularly at feast times, particularly before the Passover, and particularly before the Feast of Tabernacles. Perhaps it's because we have our mind and our messages and we want to say something that is, you know, useful and more creative than we've said before. Satan is a Master Con artist who thrives on lies and have truths. In the book of John, chapter 8, and verse 44, John chapter 8, verse 44, the devil was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth because there is no truth in him. He's a hollow shell. He cannot tell the truth.

He is so perverse that he's a lying machine. He's a spinning machine. He knows the truth, but he can't project and communicate the truth. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature because he is a liar and the father of lies. Very, very powerful words. And obviously, these lies will influence people. Propaganda ministers in countries know that what they're saying is a lie. Hitler, with his staff and Gebbels, who was his propaganda minister, I'm not sure if it was either Hitler or he who said it, that the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.

And people are gullible. People are vulnerable.

Now, we all are like our children. My son and I were talking about the little girls, you know, our granddaughters. But they look to us for what is truth. Now, we could lie to them, we could tell them about, you know, what things are made of and just lie to them and they'll believe us. Well, humanity the same way is like little children. And when you have the God of this world who wants to confuse them with deliberate lies, he is successful. And just we as parents or grandparents could confuse our children with lies. We could do the same. In fact, most people do, in some degree, they pass on a lot of untruths to their children. Untruths about people, untruths about issues of race, issues of culture, issues of diversity, issues of, you know, all types of things and pass along hatred and other characteristics as well. But one thing we certainly can't pass on lies, which we should not. The devil was a murderer and a liar from the very beginning. And of course, the first instance of it is found back in Genesis chapter 3, in verse 1, where we saw that the devil was interested only one thing, killing this creation that God had made. He created man in his own likeness and image, which says, which is stated in the first book of Genesis. And boy, he didn't like that. He chafed at that and he wanted to destroy that creation of God. Now the serpent, Genesis chapter 3, in verse 1, was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the Lord had made. He was cunning, he was smart. And sometimes people say, boy, that guy's smart, I envy that. People envy people who are smart or who are very glib on television or who have a way with words, who sound so good. But you know, sounding so good and making things very believable can be a curse.

We've seen people that can put spin on anything and make it sound right. Who can put spin on arguments and make the opposite of what you have to say? No. Defense lawyers in creating reasonable doubt. That is their business, is to spin information, to create doubt, reasonable doubt in a jury. Serpent was the shrewdest of all. He said to the woman, and he approaches her and says, did God really say? You might just note, just there's a certain, you know, it almost comes through the words. Did God really say, well, of course God said that. He knows that. Did God really say, you shall not eat of any tree of the garden?

In just the way that's worded. The woman starts, you know, saying, well, I just wonder if I heard it right. You know, maybe I misheard it. Maybe I was, my mind was drifting when God said, you know, you shall surely die. I don't know now. But the way that the serpent presented that to Eve, does God really say that? Is it possible that you misunderstood, or misheard, or don't remember exactly what he said? The woman replied to the serpent, and here we see a very childlike attitude. I mean, we don't see a woman who is hardened, brazen, or spinning. We see a very innocent woman, and she just says, well, God says we may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. It's only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, you shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die. Okay, so Satan said, okay, so she's coming back one on one now with me on this point. Okay, let's move it a step further. Serpent said to the woman, you are not going to die. So he comes on with her a full court press. You are not going to die.

Basically see if she will buckle to that. At first, he wanted to get her to question, but she, being so innocent, really repeated what God said. So he said, okay, you're not going to die.

But God knows, now he's beginning to accuse God, that as soon as you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad. So now he appeals to perhaps her importance, vanity, and the fact that maybe she got gypped, that God wasn't telling all, when he said, don't eat of this tree, that you will die from it. Why? Why? Didn't you ask God why?

And you know why he didn't tell you? Because if you eat of that fruit, you will have all the powers that God has. I said, well, maybe that's reasonable. If you really understand just the way that this serpent, when he makes his entrance into the community of man, just how deceitful he was, and how well he knew what God said, and how he was spinning it. When the woman saw the tree was good for eating, and a delight to the eyes, and she looks at this forbidden fruit, whatever it was, it was shiny, it was ripe, it looked good. I mean, it didn't have barnacles on it, you know, it didn't have big worm eating through it, you know, it was a delight to the eyes. It really looked nice.

And that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom. She took of its fruit and ate. She fell. She was ensnared. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. It doesn't explain whether they had that conversation that Satan did. She basically said, you know, I went shopping, here's what I got, and the husband said, okay, I like it. And he ate. But he also had the same instruction from God. The two of them failed. The two of them were deceived. That's exactly where the serpent wanted them to be.

This is the force that's going to be removed from this world, the force that's been spinning truths, spinning lies, that has been deceiving people from day one, and getting them to question the very simple teachings of God. It's the same God who is blinding the eyes of these theologians that gather together every year for this conference to discuss the Bible. We don't believe a word of it, as far as being the word of God. This is the God that will be removed. Hallelujah! Praise God that this is the one who will be removed.

And in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3, when Paul is writing to Corinth, which is actually a very, very upscale congregation. It's a port city. There were a lot of professionals there, a lot of smart people, a lot of wealthy people.

And Paul said that, but I'm afraid, he's writing to them about some of the issues for which he was correcting them, that were potentially disastrous for the church, that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Some of your reasoning, some of your spinning of information, and some of your rationale for doing things is not really smart. You might think it is, just like people who are uncocaine. They just think they're smart. They're really not very smart at all. They're very dull. That's the way they appear to others. But you think you're smart. You're kind of entranced by your own ability to sort and process information.

In Galatians chapter 1 and verse 6, the Apostle Paul talks about another doctrinal matter that had come up, and it was amazing that as Paul went to Galatia, which if you understand where Galatia is, it's in Asia Minor in western Turkey. He went up there, actually, well, it's in Turkey, and he went up there and did a work, established churches, things got off to a real bang-up start. But then, just like when we sow the seed, there's also somebody coming by to snatch it, twist it, and destroy the fruitfulness of it. I'm astonished, Galatians chapter 1 and verse 6, that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ.

Here are people who accepted the truths, who accepted Jesus Christ, and now they're being talked out of it, just in the same manner that Eve was on day one, and are following a different gospel. You already got another interpretation, which is wrong. Not that there really is another gospel. He says, I see you follow another gospel doesn't mean that it's either me or them, you know, like the two are equal. No, no, no, no. You're following either the true gospel or some other spin that is a direction to oblivion. Not that there really is another gospel, but there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ. And the Galatians were being deceived doctrinally. So, deception. And as I also read in Revelation 20, Satan who has deceived the whole world, he is going to be put away. So, the first device is deception. The second device is division. This is part of the tactics that Satan uses, division.

One thing about churches, it seems to be almost like inevitable. They split. From the very beginning, the church split, split, split.

In our time, from what we consider to be a monolith of belief, split in over 200 different directions.

And yet, Christ said when he prayed in John 17, I pray that there might be one, Father, even as we are one. But that didn't happen. And people in churches split.

One of the jobs of a minister is to retard or to slow down or to prevent that from happening.

You know, there's always reasons why people get upset. Perhaps even valid reasons why they get upset. They get upset at things. They get upset at the minister. They get upset at the deacons.

They get upset at other brethren. They get upset at unfairness, whether it's for real or not.

You know, there are, you know, a lot of times when people get upset about things, it's not that they got upset for no reason. They got upset for some really good, you know, some valid reason, things that would make anybody upset. But, unfortunately, the next step that unless a person is able to get a grip of just where this is going, a person will want to distance and divide and split or cause split or to cause parties, a party spirit, to take place, as it did in the Corinthian church. So he says, I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollo, some of this. And then disputes took place in the church. The church was ripe for splitting.

In Acts 20 and verse 28, Acts 20 and verse 28, ministerial instruction.

So guard yourselves and God's people. Feed and shepherd God's flock, his church, purchased with his own blood, over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders.

Now, pastors kind of know what he's getting into. You know, the church, you are purchased by Christ's blood. You are very special to him. We don't own you. We have the job of talking to you. We have the job of encouraging you. But we don't own you. You can't do a thing about what I say.

As far as let me giving some kind of order, like, come over tonight or whatever. I say, I can't. Okay, well, I can't. You know what I mean? We don't own the people, but we are shepherds. We are those who are to keep the flock together, and we are also to be aware of those who would want to destroy the flock. I know that false teachers, verse 29, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I have, I leave, not sparing the flock.

Paul said that, you know, I know that when I'm gone, it's going to be like the hyenas, the wolves that will just follow. They're just waiting, because there's no leadership, or there's a vacuum of leadership, like vicious wolves, predators.

Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.

There's always that phenomenon that takes place of people that become a law to themselves, a doctrinal, somehow super enlightened person that understands more than others.

And then, you know, they want to have people follow them from that group.

Members are drawn away from the body of believers because of exploitation, of weaknesses, and securities. Now, one way in which congregations split is that when people are unhappy about something, and then you can basically use that unhappiness, kind of have it as a, you know, kind of a ripened state of a person, to get them to do other things because they're mad. You know, they're upset at minister or the church in general, or whatever, and because they've been in this state and they're somewhat stirred against it, then you can exploit that unrest and unhappiness for your purposes. The greatest master of all that was Adolf Hitler. Germany had suffered substantial defeat in World War I. It wasn't supposed to. It was a very powerful nation. Shouldn't have suffered that defeat. And then, in the peace treaty, Germany got stripped of all its colonies, had to pay high reparations. The nation's economy went to pot. The German mark inflated. A nation that was a proud, prosperous nation was now a nation that couldn't heat itself in the winter and couldn't feed itself. And people were upset.

People were very, very upset at the state of things.

And Adolf Hitler then was able to use this unhappiness and turn it against the Jews, against Catholics, against gypsies, and stirred up the hatred of this nation, which is so unthinkable. Germans are such rational people. Germans are logical people.

Germans are civilized people. How in the world did we see the barbarism in World War II rise to the level that it did in causing the greatest loss of life ever? You know, you could maybe understand that about the Russians, but certainly not about Germans. They're supposed to be civilized. I know what Russians are like. They're awful.

Nobody wants Russians around. And a Russian peacekeeping force is a total, you know, doesn't make any sense at all. But Germans, you know, why would they ever be that way? But Hitler was able to do that. He was a mastermind of exploiting the weakness of the moment.

And he went into beer halls, he went into public places, and vented his demonic wrath, and led and whipped the people up to the frenzy that led them to another disastrous war, far more disastrous than World War I. Because it was a total defeat and a total occupation that has only just recently been pretty much let go.

We need to be very careful about allowing a spirit to come into a church, doctrinally, attitude-wise, as far as stirring feelings one towards another, prima donnas rising up as know-it-alls, because this disturbs the unity of the congregation. Acts 20 and verse 31, the instruction to elders continues, Therefore, be alert, remembering that the night and day for three years I did not stop warning, each one of you was tears. Now, one thing that happened with us in the crash of 95 is that I think there was a certain alertness that was already diminished for some time.

I think that we were too fat and sassy. We were a $220 million-a-year organization, still ten times bigger than we are now. We were the only game in town. If it wasn't here, it wasn't anywhere. That may have been our biggest weakness, and boy, it was exploited.

I don't think it was exploited by any one person. It was exploited by a spirit, the devil, that brought about the heartache that we have seen is a fallout that has destroyed churches, families, relationships, lives.

So what I'm saying is that let's be alert. Let's never get to be so complacent that we just let things happen again. One thing about learning from complacency is that we should stop being complacent. You know, we got that way before 9-11. Nothing is going to hurt us until we were exploited right in a weak spot of having airplanes being commandeered as used as bombs.

It still hasn't changed the world since that time. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 33, God is not the author of confusion or division.

And the implication is that Satan is the author of confusion and division.

Satan is the one who began confusion even before Adam and Eve.

That was not the first recorded sin of division. The first recorded sins are in Isaiah 14 and in Ezekiel 28. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 2, how the earth became void and without form. Division ought to be noted. Division ought to be prevented. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10, I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ to live in harmony with one another. This is a positive injunction. Then he says, let there be no divisions in the church. Rather be of one mind united in thought and purpose. You know, and this is an injunction for us today more than ever. You know, as we talk about atonement being at one with God, it's also being at one with one another. So we have two, the first D's. We have deception, we have division. Number three, we have distraction, another device of the devil.

Luke chapter 21 and verse 34, which I did read last week, were taught to be watchful, vigilant, and not allow the times to distract us. Because we can fall into a trap.

Eve fell into one really quickly. But there's some traps that take a while for us to enter and to get into, and then we find ourselves not being able to get out of them. Luke, I still think I'll read Luke chapter 21 and verse 34. Take heed to yourselves, which I did read, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that they come upon you unexpectedly, as it will upon the whole world. But these are instructions to Christians. Don't let the weeds crowd out the growth. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. The function of a snare of a trap is this. A trap lures you.

A trap doesn't go out after you like a predator. A trap, a snare, is something which has got some bait, okay? And it lures you to come to it, draws you in, and then it snaps on you. It'll come as a snare on all those who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. So let's be careful about getting distracted and sucked into something that we don't know better about, but we enjoy it and we get closer and closer to it. Whether it's a nursing of hatred, or whether it's some habits, or whatever it is that gets us deeper and deeper from where we ought to be going. That can happen to any Christian. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 24.

2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 24. With all these beepers and things, somebody calling you, is the bread ready? You know, I wonder what... That's okay, Mrs. Marley, I know, I like your machine. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 24. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel the job of ministers to be a person who is easier going as far as not one that causes people to get at each other's throats, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, be patient with difficult people. 3 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 24. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap. Now, one of our jobs in the ministry is to teach, and to instruct, to exhort, encourage to people to, you know, stop doing this.

Change your habits, repent, you know, so forth. So that you can escape from the trap, so that you can, you know, get out of the trap here before it snaps on you. Now, how many of us are into something that is just a matter of time for us to be trapped? Let's come to our senses and escape from the devil's trap and not be distracted. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants by the devil. And I like this passage in the New King James, 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 35. Paul mentions the need to serve the Lord without distraction. 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 35.

And this I say for your own prophet, that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.

Now, one of the jobs of Say the Devil, he is the God of Media. He is the prince of the power of the air of everything that's out there, all the messages that come to you. On your drive to church today, you saw over 2,000 images, billboards, signs, whether you had the radio on. 2,000 images came to you in a period of approximately half an hour to one hour that you drove to church services.

Because if you don't want to listen to the radio, you've got things to see outside, and they're all sending you messages, all sending you messages.

And they are great distractions. You'd be amazed as to what media people talk about when they talk about advertising and brand building. They talk about how to get into your mind in a split second. They're talking about repeating that over and over again.

They know that that ad is dumb. The ad about the, you know, so easy that a caveman can do it. You know, I mean, I enjoy it every time I see it, you know, but it's the same thing over and over again, you know, kind of mind-numbing and so forth. My wife gets mad at me, not mad, but just, you know, how can we keep laughing at that thing all the time? It's the same thing over and over again. But, you know, we're so distracted in life. But what if we got distracted about something evil that comes into our lives? Satan is the prince of the power of media.

And I'm finding, too, that we in the church with media are finding it hard to compete, very, very hard to compete, with what is so attractive and what people really want.

Serve the Lord without distraction.

The fourth D, device, are the darts that come from the devil. And believe me, he is continually throwing darts at us.

I can tell you about this dart. In Ephesians chapter 6, you know, I don't think that, you know, I didn't realize what kind of a dart this was. I thought of something that's in a British pub, you know, that you've got to throw on a dartboard. Well, it's not this kind of dart, really at all, though it could be included. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 16, about putting on the whole armor of God.

Above all, he says, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Sometimes we've taken that metaphorically. Fiery darts, you know, it's a stinging pain, so that's kind of fiery. No, what's being talked about here is one of the weapons of that time. And one of the weapons of that time was this fiery dart. It was like a spear that had a big clump of pitch on the front, and it was lit. And as an opposing army came, these were thrown into that army to create confusion, to create this fiery inferno.

The Romans did develop a deterrent to this fiery dart, which was, again, the very first thing that a battle usually started with. It started with a lot of fire. They had these rolling things with fire, and then they had these fiery darts that disoriented the soldiers and basically kept them from staying in ranks and attacking. The Romans developed a shield, not those little round shields, but a big wooden shield that was covered with leather, and then it was soaked in water.

And so, as the Roman soldiers marched in close proximity to one another, as the darts came, they hit this wet leather and lost their effect. They were put out. And so that's what Paul talks about here in verse 16. Taking the shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench, put out. In other words, put out the fiery darts of the wicked one. So that's what's being talked about here. So here we have Satan the Devil that is throwing fiery darts at us to disorient us.

Fiery darts at us to disorient us. Fiery trial, let's start with that. A fiery crisis.

A fiery disorientation. Something that has gone wrong. Bad news. Doubt. What could this be?

If I get this magazine, you know, and it's got all these stories about other churches of God, and they do this, and they've got this belief about the calendar, and they've got this. You know, and we don't really have people who've really done this research. Or they use the name Yeshua to refer to God. And then you start, you know, looking at them. Well, they got a point, you know, about that. Why we don't, and why we're so slack about the way we do things. Or you name it, you know, there's all kinds of interpretations for various beliefs. And then you start doubting.

And then you get overcome by the fire of this fiery darts. Well, our instructions are, you know, not to be upset about that, because the fiery darts are going to come. Divisions will come. Deception will come. Distractions will come. It's what we do about it. Knowing Satan's devices.

We have a shield of faith. We have this thing that when this big fireball comes at it, it hits this wet leather and becomes impotent. Not powerful at all. It just falls down. Normal soldiers then were able to then continue on with those shields and then go over and overcome those who were, those casting those fiery darts. Shield of faith. The shield of faith. What kind of faith do you have?

You know, one thing, and Britt Taylor and his talking about these theologians, one thing that really struck me in his description for these people, is that there's virtually zero faith. It's all about themselves. It's all about their smarts.

It's all about their D.D.V.s and, you know, they're all their doctors of divinity and whatever they are, D.V.D.s, whatever, you know, all the great acronyms that they have. It's not a faith in Christ. It's not this trembling faith in the Word of God. It's not in a real living God who is able to do things for you. And one of the ways in which God does things for us is that we rely upon Him to help us. We rely upon Him to save us. We rely upon Him to get us through our trials. You know, one thing about Satan, we will never overcome Him. He's far too smart. He's far too clever.

And He lives... He's immortal. We aren't. He's a lot more powerful, a lot more smart and immortal. So what do you have that's going to win the battle? Just knowing that, you know, it's not going to do anything. But we trust in God to deliver us. You know why we should be praying every day? Deliver us from the evil one. That's part of life in this and in today's world. Deliver us from the evil one who seeks our destruction, because He is seeking about whom He can devour. I'm going to share something with you. We were going to have at one of the general Conference of Elders a discussion about demons. You know, I'm on the Council of Elders, and I really have misgivings about having this kind of a scare talk, you know, how do they work, you know, we're going to discuss seances or you know what, and who really knows about that. And we've seen different types of manifestations, you know, and people get scared and it looks like Halloween stories.

Now, we don't want that, because Satan works in so many different ways that are not in the scary haunting evidence type thing, you know, or in the, you know, Halloween type manner. He works through attitudes. He works through division. He works through doubt. He works through distraction. He works through media. He does work in different ways to do everything possible to weaken our faith in Christ. And the big battle that is fought is not between you and Satan.

The battle is between Christ and Satan. And it's our faith in Christ to deliver us from the evil one. For thine is a kingdom and a power and a glory. That's the way we should be. So I've not talked about Satan, the devices, and so forth in a long time, but I felt that it's time for me to give this particular type of sermon, because we do live in a very, very destructive world that is led by a destructive being who is ever more destructive than ever before, knowing that his time is short. He is about to stir up the world into the great cataclysm, but part of the deception is that he will make it believe that it's peace and safety. I could just see something happening with the Pope and maybe the leader of the Islamic world getting together. I have no idea. I really don't have any idea. Believe me, don't even write that down. Don't get me into trouble. But something's going to be peace and safety, and people will applaud the work of a body of people that have brought this together and applaud the work of religious and political leaders. But that's a snare. That's walking into a trap, because suddenly it'll be destruction and very quickly. So let's not be unaware of what Satan does. Let's rejoice in this day, this day of atonement, which does focus on a number of things that will come to pass. And it pictures a number of attitudes that need to be here, reconciliation, forgiveness. But also it's a day that this evil force in being and his demons will be removed, be bound with chains. And when we can begin a new world, a new society, without deception, without distraction, without division, we can move this world very quickly into a millennial period of belief, of love towards God, and following his ways.

We will have a world of comparison as we look in the year, whatever it'll be.

2525, if a song said maybe, and look back to 1803 or 1945 or 1936, and we will have a world of comparison as we look in the year, and see why the world was the way it was, and rejoice in the world as it is today. That's why this day is very special, has a very special spot, and has a very special catalyst, the day of fasting, to think about it. Let's rejoice, then, with this knowledge on the day of atonement.