How Satan Counterfeits

Monroe in 1.

Notice that the Secret Service was started because of counterfeiting. I think most of us have a different view of that. It was started to protect the president. But notice, counterfeiting of money is one of the oldest crimes in history. It was a serious problem during the 19th century when banks issued their own currencies. At the time of the Civil War, it was estimated that one-third of all the currency in circulation was counterfeit. At that time, there were approximately 1,600 state banks designing and printing their own notes. So everybody had their own money, every bank. Each note carried a different design, making it difficult to distinguish the 4,000 varieties of counterfeits from the 7,000 varieties of genuine notes.

It was anticipated that the adoption of a national currency in 1863 would solve the counterfeiting problem. However, the national currency was soon counterfeited so extensively that it became necessary for the government to take enforcement measures. On July the 5th, 1865, the United States Secret Service was established to suppress counterfeiting. So that's why it was first brought into service. Now, the U.S. government goes to some extreme measures to ensure that its money cannot be copied.

Quoting from an article, U.S. Currency Security Features, says, to stay ahead of counterfeiters, currency is periodically redesigned to include advanced security features. These features are difficult to duplicate and make it easier for cash handlers and consumers to make sure it's genuine. The 5, 10, 20, and 50 notes were redesigned and entered into circulation in March 2008, March 2006, October 2003, and September 2004.

Some of the advanced security features are watermarks. That is, part of the paper itself and visible from both sides when the note is held up to a light. On the 10, 20, and 50 notes, it's a faint image of a larger portrait. On the $5 notes, there are two watermarks. Security thread is embedded in the paper and thus runs vertically in a unique position within each denomination and glows when it's exposed to ultraviolet light in a dark environment. Some examples, the $5 note located at the left of the portrait and glows blue. The word US 5 and a flag are printed on the thread.

The 10 note is located at the right of the portrait and glows orange. The word US A 10 and a flag are printed on the thread. Now, it's hard when you're trying to counterfeit it to get all of that in there. Color shifting ink. If you take out a note, I took out a 20 this morning, one of the first 20s I've had in a long time, but generally they're 1s and 5s, but if you take out a bill and you will find that it's copper color, you rotate it a little bit and it turns green.

Different ones turn different colors, and so therefore they're made that way. There's also raised printing gives the surface of a note a slightly raised feeling, while the reverse feels slightly indented. This is typical used on the portraits, numerals, and engraving. Microprinting. It's very small text that is hard to duplicate due to its size. For example, the $5 note microprints on the face of the note in three areas. The word $5 can be found repeated inside the left and right border, and there are other things that are there.

And then there's fine line printing that is done. All of this is done, and it doesn't matter how good you have copiers today, they still cannot duplicate all of this. Their hope is that people will pass it, not really take a look at it. And therefore they, you know, how many of you get every time you pull a bill out of your billfold, look at it, hold it up, see if there are numbers in there, and try to determine is this a fake one or not.

I've gone into a lot of stores, 7-Elevens, and these places, and you get them the bill, first thing they do is hold it over their head and take a look at it. So the government has tried to do everything they possibly can to cut down on counterfeiting.

Now the greatest counterfeiter of all is not even known. The greatest counterfeiter of all times is Satan the Devil, and most people have no idea that he counterfeits. Today, we want to take a look at the counterfeits and what he has counterfeited, see how he is able to deceive people, how he is able to mislead people, and how he misleads the masses of people. And also, we want to see as Christians, and this is where our main focus wants to be, we need to be especially aware of his ploys and of his tactics. How does he deceive a Christian? How can he mislead one who has been undeceived? How can he mislead us? In Revelation 12 verse 9, classic scripture, Revelation chapter 12 and verse 9, says, So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world. So notice he is so powerful that he is able to deceive the whole world, all mankind. Now, the word deceive here in the Greek means to cause to stray, to lead astray, to lead aside from the right way. So there's a right way, and Satan leads you into a wrong way, to go astray, to wander, to roam about, to lead away from the truth, to lead into error, to deceive. Now, Webster defines the word deceive thusly, to make a person believe what is not true. He calls a person to believe something that's not true, to delude them, to mislead them. Deceive implies deliberately misrepresentation of facts by words, actions, and generally to further ones in. Now, it mentions here the word mislead. Mislead means to cause to follow the wrong course, or to err in conduct or action, although not always by deliberate deception. Beguile implies the use of wiles and enticing prospects in deceiving or misleading. To delude is to fool someone so completely that what is false is accepted as being true, and betray implies a breaking of faith while appearing to be loyal. So, when you begin to look at the word deceive, it covers a whole host, a large spectrum of things. Webster defines counterfeit in this way, to make an imitation of something genuine so as to deceive or to defraud. An imitation to make, to deceive, forgery, something so closely resembling something else that it misleads, to make an imitation, to deceive, or to defraud. You know, all of those are part of the definition. Now, one of the reasons I wanted to read that to you is because it begins to give us a clue as to how Satan the devil operates. Remember, at one time, there were two beings in the God family. They began to create millions of angels. Each one of these angels was a separate creation. God made some of the angels, apparently, more powerful, more abilities, more talents, skills than others. Lucifer was one of those angels, and somehow, Lucifer was able, through subtlety, through deceit, and by beguiling, to mislead a third of the angels. Now, how did he do that? Well, you will find that the Bible gives us some very good clues on that, and we're going to see that today. That's going to be one of the main focuses of this sermon today. He had to convince the angels, did he come right out and say God's a liar? I don't think so. I don't think the angels would have followed him if he just said, well, God's a liar. What did he tell them? Did he imply, perhaps, that God was unfair? Did he imply that God didn't tell them everything? You might remember, I told you this story years ago in Pasadena, in the ministerial visiting headquarters. One of our ministers, an evangelist at that time, was confronted by a man with a demon. He cast the demon out, but before he did, he asked the demon some questions. He asked the demon, why did you rebel against God?

What happened? The demon said God was unfair. God did not tell us everything.

Now, did God create the angels and not tell them everything about His plan, His purpose? Do you know everything yourself at this point about what the future holds? You know enough to understand that God has called you to salvation to be a part of His family and His kingdom. Did Satan, the devil, or Lucifer, as he was back at this time, somehow he had to convince the angels that God wasn't fair with them. He wasn't treating them properly. And yet, at the bottom of it, the Bible very clearly shows that he was lifted up with pride. He was lifted up with pride and vanity and ego. So he may have told the angels one thing, but the bottom line was he wanted to be in charge. He wanted to replace God. And so we read in the scriptures that the angels sin. What is sin? Well, sin is transgressing God's law, going against God, His way, His plan. And so they went against God and they rebelled. And as a result, they were cast down to this earth. Did God put Lucifer, a third of the angels, on the earth? And he was going to use them to help us as a human race to enter into God's kingdom. We know that the angels are there to assist us, protect us, look after us, help us. But did he rebel against that? Well, you find that he was lifted up with pride, and he had to say something to get them to follow him. Matthew 4, beginning in verse 1, we get a fairly clear picture of how he operates. We know what he did to begin with, with the angels. He took a third of them, and somehow he convinced them that God was wrong, and they rebelled. Now we have God in the flesh, Jesus Christ on this earth. And we find in verse 1, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterwards he was a hunger. Now when the tempter came to him, he said, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread. Now here Christ is, 40 days, 40 nights, he hasn't eaten. He's hungry. What's wrong with him turning stones into bread, and satisfying his hunger? He later on fed 5,000, some bread, fishes. So this would be something that would be easy. There's one problem with all of this. You never do anything the devil tells you or asks you. It doesn't matter if it is right. You never do it, because that puts him in charge, and you're following him. So he also made this conditional, If you are the Son of God.

And of course, If would imply you're not, but if you are, show me you are. Well, Christ didn't have to prove anything to the devil. And he answered, and he said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Then the devil took him up to the holy city, set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said, If again, you're the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He shall give His angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Now, did Satan misquote this scripture?

Let me explain what I mean by misquote. Did he get some words wrong? Did he quote it from the Old Testament? Well, sure he did. But did he misapply it? And the answer is yes. Now, how did he misapply it? You see, you can look at this. This is a scripture that would certainly apply to Christ.

But the problem was simply this, that he was asking Jesus Christ to deliberately put himself in a place of danger, to tempt God, and by tempting God and deliberately putting himself in that place of danger, asking God to protect him. Now, if something were to happen, an accident, God would be there, would protect him, but he was asking him to do this. And Jesus said, it is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. So Satan was misapplying the scripture, but he quoted it correctly, as far as the exact wording. Then the devil took him up and seemingly high him out and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, now we get down to the real gist of what he wants. I'll give you all of this if you'll fall down and worship me. What he was saying is, look, you don't have to wait 2,000 years and go through all the pain and suffering that God has in store for you, this crucifixion and beating and scourging. You fall down and worship me, and I'll give it to you now. You can have it now.

And how often do we as human beings want things now? We've got to have it immediately.

And Jesus said, away with you Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. So notice again, angels, now here's God in the flesh, and how is Satan trying to deal with him? He takes principles and twists them. He takes information and misapplies it. He takes things and misuses it. Let's notice the classic scripture over here in 1 Timothy chapter 2, beginning in verse 13. 1 Timothy 2.13. Then we have another example of how the devil has influenced and deceived mankind. And this goes back to the very beginning. Verse 13, For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into the transgression. Nevertheless, she will be saved and childbearing. They continue in faith, love, holiness, but self-control.

The woman was deceived in the garden of Eden. Satan talked to the woman and reasoned with her.

And the man apparently did not have this encounter. It doesn't say that he did, but he followed his wife. Now, stop and analyze what happened here.

Along comes Satan. And let's just turn back there to Genesis 3.

And he tells the woman, ask her a simple question. Another thing, you don't reason with the devil. Sometimes people want to, when I say reason with the devil, the devil doesn't come along and talk to you normally personally. But people want to reason. They want to get as close to the cliff as possible. They want to reason, you know, is this right or this wrong? Instead of what does God say? And therefore, that's what I'm going to do. So in Genesis 3, notice, says, The serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, As God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Well, you see, he knew what God had said, but he's asking her. Now, she should have said, Get out of here. You know, God said that, and I'm going to do it. Get out of here. The woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. She's defending God, telling the snake what God said. Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. Who said you're going to die? You won't die. For God knows, in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open. You will be like God, knowing good and evil. And so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, notice the word saw. She saw it was good for food, that it was pleasant, to the eyes. You see, Satan deceives mankind in how or in what way. He deceives mankind when we rely upon our five senses to make judgments and decisions. What we see, what we hear, what we taste, what we smell, what we feel. So here she is. She saw. Sight is involved. Tree's good for food. Who told her it was good for food? She didn't know it was good for food.

That it was pleasant to the eyes, so the sight is involved. Tree desired to make one wise, okay, now appealing to vanity and pride. She took of the fruit and ate, so now she's got taste involved here. She gave also to her husband, and he ate. And the eyes of them both were open, and they knew that they were naked. See, she ate of the fruit, and she didn't drop dead. So the man said, well, God said, the day we eat it will die. We're not dead, so he eats it, and he didn't drop dead. Well, God, in essence, you can look at this two different ways, said, when you eat it, you will die. The day that you eat it, you will die. Day can be compared to a thousand years, and they did die within that first day or epoch of man's existence, but the very time they took it, they were as good as dead. What did they fail to do here? And this is what all human beings down through the ages have failed to do. They had to trust God.

They had to rely upon God's Word, on what He said. He said, don't do it. It's not good for you.

You take it, you will die. Instead, the devil placed a doubt in their mind. He said, you won't die.

Okay, God says, you will die. The serpent says, you won't die. It hadn't occurred to them. We won't die. God said, we will die, and that's all they knew. And so, therefore, they listen and they place their trust in the devil. And mankind has been doing the same since that time. God said one thing. Satan said the opposite. So, I want you to notice, though, the major deceptions that were introduced in the Garden of Eden by Satan the devil.

And he's been misleading mankind ever since. But the pattern was set here. Number one, man has an immortal soul. You won't die. So, man believes he has an immortal soul. Their eyes were open, but open to what? To know something good and evil like God does.

Now, God is good, and he's never participated in evil. He knows evil. He knows the result of evil. But God doesn't have to participate in evil to know that it's wrong. And how many times do you hear people today in society just say, well, how can you tell me smoking pot is wrong? Or, you know, taking some drug is wrong? You've never tried it. You don't have to try it. It's wrong.

And there are certain things that are evil that are wrong. You just don't have to do them. If God says they're wrong, they're wrong. If God says don't do it, you don't do it.

And so, you know, that's the principle. So man has experienced all the woes of evil of going the wrong way, and his eyes were open. Remember, the word to deceive means to call, to go astray, to lead astray, to lead aside from the right way, to make a person believe what is not true. So notice what happened from the very beginning. The major concepts were introduced. These were major deceptions. Satan counterfeited the plan of God.

You don't need God to live forever is basically what he was saying. You don't need God to reveal to you how to live forever. You're immortal. He deceived mankind about his ultimate destiny. He distorted the truth about God. God's not the supreme authority. God is not the source of all truth. You can rely upon your own judgment, your own senses, to decide what is right and wrong. You can decide for yourself what is right and wrong. So what is mankind done from the very beginning? They've decided for themselves right and wrong. He introduced a false concept of how man could solve his own problems. So the human race can figure it out. Man's been trying to solve his own problems ever since. Yet, Proverbs 14, 12 says, there's a way that seems right to a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. Man was cut off from God from the tree of life and has come under Satan's influence ever since. Second Corinthians 4, 4 says, he is the God of this world. Remember, a counterfeit is to make an imitation of something genuine so as to deceive and to defraud. One of the major counterfeits of Satan, the major way that he has deceived mankind, is through false religions. James 2, 19. Let's go over to James 2, 19. People today don't believe that God exists. They're atheists, they're agnostics, they're just those who don't know one way or the other. But notice James 2, 19. You believe that there is one God, you do well even the demons believe and tremble. So the demons tremble. Brethren, we need to realize that Satan and his demons know that there is a God.

They've seen him. He created them. They've come in contact with him. He is the one who has cast them back down to the earth. They know God exists. They know he is all-powerful. They know because he's dealt with them. Now, a false God has been portrayed to the world. So you have the religion of Islam, you have the religion of Hinduism, Confuciusism, you have all of these various religions, and they have their own gods, their own approaches to God. You have Christianity, and yet God is portrayed in Christianity. The Father is a harsh, mean monster. Christ is this loving individual. And as Mr. Armstrong used to say, the world has swallowed hook, line, and sinker. The idea is about a false God or a false Christ. You have the idea of the Trinity being taught.

Satan has worked to become a part of the family of God, and he has palmed himself off as the Holy Spirit, and he wants to be included in that family. So Satan the devil is out to deceive mankind, and he's been very busy. As 2 Corinthians 11, 12 through 15 tells us, Satan appears as an angel of light. So he appears as someone who is right, and yet he's wrong.

Look at the counterfeit ideas that Satan has palmed off on mankind. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 3 and 4 says that he has blinded people's minds. 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4. People's minds have been blinded. Look at the false teachings that he has. He puts a twist on everything. It seems right, but it's counterfeit, and it leads to death. It's like a counterfeit dollar bill. It's not worth the paper it's printed on. It looks genuine, but when you hold it up and you scrutinize it, it is not. Look at the churches today. Are there not thousands of different denominations? There are over 300 major denominations in the United States. There are thousands of splits and divisions. They teach different doctrines, different ideas, different approaches, yet people are told not to judge one another. They're all right. They're all going to the same place. They think they're either going to go to heaven, Olympus infontium, Olympus potrum, purgatory, or hell. They're going to end up in one of these places at some point.

Satan is deceived mankind. He set up a system of religion called Babylon the Great.

Babylon the Great perpetuates the way of Cain and the teachings of Nimrod and Semiramis, the way of ancient Babylon. The spirit in man is counterfeited by the immortal soul.

The law is done away and grace is misapplied. It's law or grace instead of law and grace.

Salvation. People don't believe they can become a part of the family of God. Death is not really death. You're either reincarnated, you come back, people die and go to heaven. You can worship God in any old way you want to. These are false counterfeit ideas. We all know this. You and I are sitting here today because at one time, most of us, unless you grew up in the church, most of us were deceived. You can remember a time when you did not understand the truth.

Over the years we've used that term, the truth that we understand God's law, his way of life, the truth. And God has undeceived us. He's removed the blinders.

Our eyes have been opened. Now our eyes are open, not to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but to the tree of life. Now we see the truth. We understand God's law. God calls us and opens us. Well, He opens our mind. And yet, how many people remained faithful back in 1995?

How many left at that time? Did they believe in counterfeit doctrines and teachings?

And I think we know that many of them swallowed hook, line, and sinker. Many of the false doctrines. I had two brothers who stayed with worldwide, continued to be pastors worldwide, and stayed with them. I had a first cousin who became the pastor of the Atlanta Church down here worldwide after 1995. I had aunts, nieces, and nephews who stayed worldwide at that time. So, I've seen all of this back then. As I mentioned to you earlier, I've seen it today. They believed a lie or lies. How can Satan split, scatter, divide people? What are his tactics? How does he go about doing that?

How can he do that to us? You'll find that there are three basic things that he does. He creates confusion. He creates doubt, and he capitalizes on suspicion. Suspicion, doubt, and confusion.

You'll find that there are different words for doubt, but one of the main words for doubt in the New Testament is distasso, and it means two ways or twice. Twice are two ways. Now, you say, well, what does that mean? It means to doubt or to waver, to hesitate, to be uncertain.

And you find it in Matthew 14.31 and in Matthew 28.17. It is a figurative word taken from either a person standing where two ways meet, not knowing which to choose. You ever been on a long trip and you come to a fork in the road and you stop? Which one of these should I go on? And you've got to get your map out and you look. Which way do I go? Well, someone who doubts is someone who stands in the middle and he doesn't know which way to go. Inclining sometimes to one, sometimes to the other, or from the quivering motion of a balance where the weights on the either side are approximately equal. You put weights on both sides and it's sort of equal in the balances, but one's just a little heavier and it'll go this way, maybe then it'll swing back that way, and it goes back and forth. This is what doubting means. How does Satan mislead people today? Well, by undermining their faith, causing confusion in their minds, and through doubt and uncertainty. I can cite you an example. One of our young workers in the media department here recently at the home office mentioned that he had been reading some of this information on Facebook and online, and he'd become confused.

And he said, after a while, he said enough of that. He stopped reading that and started reading his Bible. And he said the confusion all cleared up. The Bible was very clear as to what he should do and how he should act. And so what people do is they begin to flood their mind. As I told you originally, you cannot reason with the devil. You cannot reason with false information.

You've got to be very careful. And you find that once he stuck his nose in the Bible, he then became quite sure what he needed to do. You and I must always be on guard. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 11 tells us this, "'Lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.'" We're not ignorant of how he works. His objectives. Satan's objectives have been very clear from the very beginning. He divided the angels. One-third here, two-thirds there. He separated them from God. They followed him. Adam and Eve. He separated them from God to go their own way. And so therefore, you know, he set the pattern for the human race. Jesus Christ was on the earth. And what did he try to do? He tried to influence Jesus Christ to go in a different way. And Christ did not succumb to that. I want you to notice—let's go back and just look at a couple of scriptures, and we'll finish here and wrap this up. In Matthew chapter 9 and verse 9, I want you to notice that when Jesus Christ was on the earth, he was criticized and judged for everything he did.

Everything. By whom? Well, by the religious leaders of his day. Let's notice the example here.

Matthew 9. We'll begin here in verse 9. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, Follow me. So he rose, and he followed him.

And now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. Have you recently eaten with a sinner?

Well, if you eat with yourself, we all sin. And of course, I know here they're using the term sinner, people who are not going God's way. But do we not rub shoulders every day? You go to a store, you know, anywhere you go, you're going to come in contact with people who are not converted, family members, doesn't matter who it might be. Well, they could not have anything to do with sinners. And in verse 11, the Pharisees saw it and they said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

Why is he eating with tax collectors and sinners? The worst thing you could do is eat with a tax collector. That's like eating with somebody from the IRS today, a hobnobbing with the enemy. But they didn't have a very high opinion. And so they questioned Christ. Many times they would tell the people gathered around. Well, you know, he's sinning. Let's notice another example in this chapter, verse 32. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a man mute and demon-possessed. When the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. The multitude marveling said it was never seen like this in Israel. And the Pharisees said, He cast out demons by the rulers of the demons.

So the only reason this man is able to do that, they say, is because of Beelzebub.

And you can go over to chapter 12. Chapter 12 is very interesting in Matthew because it's one Sabbath in the life of Christ. And you'll notice here all of the problems that he gets into.

His beginning in verse 1 and 2, he and his disciples are walking through the grain field and they reach down and they pluck the grain off, pop it in their mouths.

Well, the Pharisees said, Look, your disciples are doing what's not lawful on the Sabbath. And so they had their own rigid code of what was right and wrong on the Sabbath. And so Christ had to straighten them out with that. In verse 9, he goes into the synagogue and they ask, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?

And in other words, can you heal? And Christ said, Well, if you've got an animal that falls into a pit, you'll pull it out. And verse 12, he says, How much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore, it's lawful to do good on the Sabbath. He reaches out and heals this man. Now, I want you to notice the contrast. Here's Christ. He says, It's right to do good on the Sabbath. He heals a man who has a withered hand. Notice the Pharisees. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him. Notice any hypocrisy here? They're going to kill him! And yet, they get on him and accuse him of doing wrong. Why? Well, because he healed somebody on the Sabbath. So, you see their approach. In verse 22 of this chapter, you find again that they accuse him of casting out demons by Beelzebub. And it says, one was brought to him, verse 22, who was demon-possessed, blind and mute, and he healed him so that the blind and the mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitude were amazed and said, Could this be the son of David? Then the Pharisees heard it. They said, This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. And then Christ goes on to explain that they're all base. They accuse Jesus Christ of being demon-possessed on one occasion. They accuse him here of doing this because of the power of Satan the devil. On one occasion they said, Well, look, do any of us follow him? In other words, none of us are following him. And so they'd be raided him. And in essence, they were saying that he was a deceiver. In John 7 and verse 32, you find again, I think this is the example here, the Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning him. And the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. Now they're going to take him, lock him up, put him in jail. So they were going to take him. And let's notice here in verse 45. Then the officers came to the chief priests and the Pharisees who said to him, Why have you not brought him? We told you to bring him. Why didn't you? The officers answered and said, No man ever spoke like this man. Then the Pharisees answered them, Are you also deceived?

So they thought that Christ was a deceiver. Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed in him?

But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. So none of us are following him. We're the leaders. We know the law. It's only these people out here don't know the law who are following him. And so therefore they accused him of being a deceiver. And then you go on and you'll read here to the end of the chapter. Nicodemus said, Does our law judge a man before we hear him?

And they answered him and said, Are you also following him? Are you also from Galilee? Search and look for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee. And so because they misunderstood where he was from, they said he couldn't be the Messiah. Brethren, you'll find throughout the whole Bible, we could go through a number of other scriptures, which we don't have time here. I need to wrap this up. That shows every time the religious leaders like the Pharisees became upset, they were upset. Why? Because Christ was getting a following and they were afraid they were looking on him as a competitor. Remember when he was brought before Pilate? What Pilate said? He knew that they had delivered him up for envy sake, that they were envious of Christ. They knew that he was gathering a large gathering. And when you have five thousand out there on one occasion listening to you, and the Pharisees, Sadducees were only a few thousand as far as the sect were concerned, they saw their livelihood, they saw their people disintegrating right before their eyes. We need to realize that Satan hates God's church. Satan despises every one of you, every one of us.

Why? Because we are a potential son of God. Potentially, we are going to be in the family of God, and we will be over him. So what has he always tried to do? You read the New Testament, Satan the devil tries to divide and split and conquer. And all through the New Testament, you have the constant struggle to maintain the purity of doctrine, the purity of teaching, the right way, and you had Gnostics coming in, you had false Jewish teachers showing up, you had the Nicolae Iatans, you had all of these various sects appearing on the scene, trying to mislead, guide people off after them. Satan will do anything to scatter and weaken us. Why? Because he does not want to see the Gospel preached to the world. He does not want to see us go to the world and another person, a new person, to walk through the door and say, yes, I believe and I want to be baptized. Because that person one day will rule over him. He hates that. He doesn't want to see us ruling in the future. So, brother, when you look back at how Satan has operated, what he's done from the very beginning with the angels, Adam and Eve, how he tried to influence Christ, and the whole history of the early New Testament Church, you see a being who has tried in every way possible to divide and conquer. Those are his tactics. He knows that we understand the truth, so very little he can do along that line, although he has influenced a great number of people. But those who've held firm, who've said, I will not give up the truth, he tries to confuse us. He puts doubt in our mind. He wants us to be suspicious and doubt one another. So, as we read back in 2 Corinthians 2.11, let us not be ignorant of his devices.