How Satan Will Try and Destroy the Church

There are a few events in history that can rock a nation, rock a continent, rock the whole globe, but very few that actually rock the universe. You might remember back in 1983 the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa that on August 26 and 27 in 1983, Krakatoa blew its top. The blast had a TNT equivalent of 100 megatons of explosive. The blast was heard 2,000 miles away in Australia, it generated waves in the ocean that traveled 8,000 miles and reached as far as Hawaii and South America.

The greatest wave reached a height of 120 feet and killed 36,000 people. The assassination on June 28, 1914, of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, is seen at that point as the immediate trigger to World War II. That of itself, to many of us on this side of the continent, may not have seen like much, but it certainly was at that time.

It triggered a war that involved 70 million people and left 15 million dead. The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was another one of those major events that rocked this country like a few other events did. It led to the United States' direct entry into World War II, and it also had a profound effect on a number of nations around the world. The United States dropped the nuclear-weapon Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945, and forever changed the world.

That was followed by the detonation of Fat Boy over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. If I were to say the date, September 11, I would say that the number one event and the number two event would not even be listed on their list. They would totally overlook those particular events. They would have no real significance as far as they were concerned. The events I referenced earlier in going through this all had major impact on mankind. Krakatoa affected the Earth's atmosphere for years to come and certainly did for two or three years after the eruption.

This was probably one of the most horrific volcanic eruptions that ever took place. World War I and World War II affected millions of people, disrupted their lives, led to millions of deaths, spread horror and destruction around the world unlike anything the man had ever seen. It was something that man's mind could not wrap around.

Eventually, in this century, we've had something like 100 million people die as a direct result of warfare. The atomic bomb obviously ushered in a new age, an era where it's possible to destroy all life off the face of the Earth. 911 was a giant step in the fall and the decline of Ephraim and Manasseh, and it has had a profound effect upon us.

These types of events, not specifics, but the fact that these would grow and escalate as we approach the time of the end, is something that God prophesied and that we can read in the Scriptures. Yet there was an event in the past that has affected every single human being who's ever lived and is presently having a profound effect upon the world, on society around us here in the end time, and on the Church of God today.

Well, what am I talking about? Well, let's take a look back into eternity to see if we can discover what this event was. Eternity is not measured in time. Eternity is about existence. God has always existed. You say, how long is that? Well, eternity. He's just always been there. Time is relative to the human race. There was a time when there were only two beings who coexisted in eternity, the two beings in the family of God, the kingdom of God. John 1 describes this, describes their relationship. John 1, 1.

John 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So in the very beginning, there was a being known as the Word, the spokesman, and then there was God. But both of them were God, as it says, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without Him, nothing was made that was made. So all things the Word made. The two of them designed it, thought it out, planned it. The one we know as the Father had the overall authority.

And the Word carried it out. Now, within that creation, we find the book of Ephesians talks about, in Philippians, how God, the one who became Christ, created all things, visible and invisible.

Invisible would include the angelic host, would also include the laws that you and I don't see. Back in the book of Job, chapter 38, beginning in verse 4, we get a hint at the timing of when some of these events took place.

God finally speaks face to face to Job. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know.

Or who stretched the line upon it? To whom were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone? Then verse 7 says, when God did all of this, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.

The appearance is that the physical creation came after the spiritual creation of the angelic host. You have morning stars, stars as symbol of an angel, sons of God, obviously referring to the angelic host, shouting for joy.

They sang when God brought the physical creation into being. All things were created by the one who became the son of God.

Now, something happened back at this time to upset the harmony, the unity, and the work that was going on.

That's described for us back in 2 Peter, chapter 2 and verse 4.

2 Peter, chapter 2 and verse 4.

It says, for if God did not spare the angels who sinned, so angels sinned.

But he cast them down to hell, or to Tartarus, or Tartaroo, and delivered them in the chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. And there is coming a day of judgment. And so you'll find the angels sinned. Now, the question is, if you sin, we know that if we sin, we know what sin is.

The Bible says sin is a transgression to God's law. When we sin, we sin against God. You might remember Psalm 51 and verse 4. David and his repentance after Uriah was killed, Bathsheba, he had committed adultery with her. I want you to know that he said against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight. Sin hurts others. Sin has repercussions. But when we sin, it's against God. Why?

Sin is against God. It's against his nature. It's against his values. It's against everything that he stands for. God is a God of love. God is a God of grace, outgoing concern. God of service. He's a God who lives a certain way. And when people sin, they're going against the way of life that God ordained. They're going against his very nature. They're going against who he is. And so you'll find the angels sin. Did they break laws? And the answer is yes. They did break laws. Did they go against God?

Yes, they did. Now, not all of the angels sinned. Some of the angels sinned. What was their sin? Do you know? What did they do wrong? What was Satan sin? The Bible gives us a little clue to this. You'll turn back just a few pages to 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. We have here listed the qualifications if a man is to be ordained as a bishop, an overseer. As verse 1 says, this is a faithful saying. If a man desires a position of a bishop, he desires good work. Verse 6, one of the things that those who are to ordain are to look out for, not to ordain a novice.

Now, a novice is one who's newly come to the faith, as the margin shows. Why? Lest being puffed up with pride. There is a real potential that pride could enter. He fall into the same condemnation as the devil. What was Satan's problem? He had a problem of pride. Pride is the same condemnation that the devil fell into. Now, you can ask, how does that affect the church today? What does that have to do with me individually? What does that have to do with us collectively? Well, we will see as we progress through the sermon.

In Ezekiel 28, verse 12, we find a couple of chapters in the Old Testament that are types. When I say type, you have the king of Tyre described here. He blends up as a type of someone else, obviously. Because we read in the middle part of verse 12, Ezekiel 28, Son of man, take up a lamentation on the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God, You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty.

Now, I'm not going to pick on anyone here, but what if I were to come up to you after services? And look you right in the eye and say, You're the seal of perfection. You are full of wisdom, and you're perfect in beauty. You'd probably laugh at my face.

Or you would say, Well, that doesn't apply to me. And I don't think that's a description of any human being. This is describing someone else. And verse 13 says, You were in Eden, the Garden of God. So here is a being who is described as perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty, who was at one time back in Eden. Now, the last sentence says, Here the workmanship of your temples and pipes was prepared for you on the day that you were created.

Now, you and I are not spoken of, well, what is your birth creation? Now, what's your birthday? What day were you born? Creation is something that God did with the angels. Each one was a separate individual creation by God. And then verse 14 tells us, You were the anointed carob who covers.

Now, I want you to notice how that's phrased. Number one, you are the anointed carob. The word anointed may not carry any significance, but then again it may. You find anointing is used in the Bible when somebody is set aside for a job, sometime a responsibility, such as the kings of Israel and Judah being set aside. They break a curse or a horn of oil over their head, set them aside, lay hands on them.

So, he was an anointed carob who covers. Covers what? Well, there are two angels, pictured, hovering over the throne of God, two carobs who cover the very throne of God. This particular angel, a carob, a created being, apparently at one time was given the responsibility of covering God's throne. And in verse 15, you were perfect in your ways. From the day that you were created until something happened, until iniquity was found in you. So, there was iniquity or sin found in this individual. So, again, we find a being that was perfect in his ways up to a certain point, and then it ended.

And then going on in verse 16, by the abundance of your trading, or slander or gossip, some translations say, you became filled with violence within. So, his nature changed from a peace-loving being to one filled with violence. This was violence within him. He became a violent, angry, hateful, despiteful being.

And you sinned. Therefore, I cast you as profane, thaying out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy you, or I will banish you, O covering carob from the midst of the fiery stones. And what was his problem? Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. He looked at himself, his beauty, how he'd been created, and he became vain, puffed up over it. And you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor, and God says he was going to cast him to the ground. So, here was a beautiful, angelic being, a carob, given a key position right at the very throne of God, to be there to see the two God beings in operation, right at the very heart and core of the universe, to see how decisions were made, to be able to see millions of angels coming and going, administering the government of God, and we find this happened to him. Back in Isaiah 14, Isaiah 14, 12, it says, How are you falling from heaven, O Lucifer, the son of the morning? So, we find his name mentioned here. He's called Lucifer, or the day star, the light bringer. How are you cut down to the ground who weaken the nations? So, you find that what he's been up to is to weaken the nations, not to strengthen, build them up. He's influenced the nations throughout history. For you have said in your heart, Now, notice the five I's that are mentioned here. I will ascend into heaven. What does that indicate? That at this point, he was not in heaven. Now, could this, if we want to call it rebellion, have begun here on earth? Because he says, look, I'm not satisfied with where I am. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne. So, he had a throne, he had position, power, responsibility. Above the stars of God, angels. Stars are a symbol of angelic beings. I will sit on the mount of the congregation on the furthest sides of the north. So, I'm not satisfied with where I am right now. I'm going to go up and sit where those other two beings are. And I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. And I will be like the Most High. I'm going to be just like God. And yet, you're going to come down to Sheol, he says. Notice his problem originated in his heart, in his mind, his opinion of himself, and how he felt about himself.

Looking and preparing for this sermon, I found a book written by J.P. Dufffield and N.M. Van Cleve that had a short quote that I thought was something significant. It says, All indeed is the power of the human imagination to picture the crisis in the universe at the moment when the first repudiation of God took place in heaven.

There was a moment, and I won't call it time, there was a moment in past eternity, when the first thought, first idea sprang into Lucifer's mind against God. And it changed the course, as we know, of history. What caused such an unthought of happening? Pride and selfish ambition. That's what happened. And have we seen any human beings on the face of the earth, who are driven by ambition and selfishness and greed? And they've got to have it all. They don't care who they step on. At one time, there was perfect harmony in the universe. God and the angels working together, coexisting together in unity, cooperation in harmony. I'm sure that this was also a period of time of supreme construction, creation. God was getting the earth ready for mankind. And then we have Lucifer and his rebellion. Notice he was not satisfied with his position. Let me ask you something, and maybe you thought about this. But had God shifted his job, his duty, his position, he had been a covering cara. He'd been right there at the heartbeat of the universe. Now he'd been sent to the earth. And actually, he was given one of the greatest jobs that an angelic being could have. And that is to help us, the human race, achieve salvation. And yet, he wasn't satisfied with that.

Could he have become envious of Michael and Gabriel, and thought that they were getting ahead of him? Well, they're still up there. They're right there at the throne. I'm down here. I'm cut off. I don't know what's going on. What's happening? And so, you know, he was cut off. Maybe he was afraid they might have a higher position to get ahead of him. He did not allow God to exalt him. It is through humility that God exalts people. He looked at his IQ. He looked at his brilliance. He looked at his skill. He looked at his beauty. He looked at his wisdom. He had it all. And he came to a point where he did not want to play second fiddle. He wanted to be president. He wanted to be God. I'll be like the Most High, as the Bible says. So he wanted to become like the Most High. What does pride do to us? Pride opens the door to many other things. Once a person is influenced by pride, it is the crack. It is the door opening to other sins and other problems. And this is exactly what happened to Lucifer. Pride is basically a sin of attitude of the heart and the spirit. In fact, in the Psalms you read over and over again, it is about pride and a haughty spirit, or haughty eyes, the pride of life. As with so many sins of attitude, pride cannot be internalized. You cannot have pride and it not get out, not escape. It will get out. It can affect one's speech. It can affect your look and attitude towards other people. It can affect your actions. It can affect everything that you do. Pride will break out. It does not stay contained. It will come out. Did Lucifer keep his thoughts to himself? Did he talk to others about his thoughts? What did he do? I think we know the obvious answer from what the results have been. The Bible clearly stated that Lucifer sinned, the angels sinned. Did they all wake up one morning? I'm using a figure of speech. There was no morning back then. Angels don't sleep, but figuratively, did they wake up at some point? Did they all have a bad thought? If so, where did it come from? It didn't come from God. So where did it come from? Did the wrong thought originate with one being? I think it did. I think it originated with Lucifer. He became proud over his brilliance, what he had accomplished, what he was able to do. Did he begin to think that God did not appreciate him enough, and praise him enough before all the angels? After all, he had helped cover God's throne. Why was he reassigned over here? He saw how God handled things. He saw God's power, brilliance, majesty. And he began to think, I'm just as good as God. I would have made those same decisions. I don't see why he's in charge.

So therefore, he had to, in what we would call the course of time, he had to bring an accusation against God. Now, what do you accuse God of? What was he going to accuse God of? Now, he could say, look, I'm just as good as he is. I'm just as brilliant as he is. I have the same type of wisdom, same makeup, powerful, and all of this. But if he's going to replace God, he had to bring up an accusation against God.

He had to point out a fault of God, a mistake that God made. Now, that's a problem. God doesn't make mistakes. God isn't at fault. God doesn't sin. He doesn't have those type of weaknesses. So what was he going to point out? How do you point something out against someone who is perfect? Well, he would have to point something out and how he would have handled it differently, how he would have done it better, and why he should be in charge.

Let's notice in Luke 18 and verse 10. Luke 18.10. We see what the spirit of pride leads one to. Luke 18.10. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus within himself, I thank you. I am not like other men. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. Well, I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And we know that the tax collector, standing afar off, could not so much as raise his eyes to heaven but beat on his breast and said, Have mercy on me, a sinner. Then Christ said, I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humble, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Now, compare what he did. He compared himself to the public. Pride will always lead an individual to make comparisons. You look at somebody else. You look at what they've done. You look at what they've accomplished. And you begin to compare yourself. You begin to feel better. Now, sometimes there are some people who lack confidence. They compare themselves to others, and they feel worse. But normally, most human beings are going to do the other.

What does the Bible say about comparing yourself among yourself? It's not wise if you do that. Why? Because it's part of pride. So who exalted himself, anciently? Lucifer did. And is he capable of humbling himself? And the answer is no. He will not humble himself so that God could exalt him. He will not do that. There is an eternal principle running through the Scriptures. If you exalt yourself, you will be humble. If you humble yourself, you will be exalted. So the only way that being exalted and having that last and being permanent is if God exalts you.

That's based on humility. Whenever we try to exalt ourselves, it never works. It flat out will fall on its face. It will not work. So what did they find wrong with God? But did Lucifer come up with? What was his fault? One thing that we know almost from the horse's mouth is that they accuse God of being unfair. You might remember that I've cited the example before of one of the ministers in the church who was casting a demon out and talked to the demon. The demon said, well, God was unfair in how he was dealing with us. He was not correct.

So if you can convince others that God is unfair, if he were fairer or equitable, notice how the reasoning might have gone. If God were fair and equitable, it's obvious that Lucifer would be up in heaven. And that he would have a throne up there, and that he would actually be sitting right next to those two beings up there. He would have a higher position. He would be right up there with God. The very fact that he's not up there with God means that God is unfair.

You can see how people can begin to reason. And so therefore, he began to go off of the deep end. He could have reasoned that God was exalting other angels other than Lucifer, and he thought that they were inferior, that they didn't measure up. Why should they be given some of these positions? Look at me! Look at who I am!

Look at my brilliance! And so he began to resent God. Pride opens the door. But to what? It opens the door to an accusing attitude, to a self-justifying attitude. It creates an audience and leads to attacking and criticizing those who you feel do not measure up, or whatever you might have against that particular person. Pride, by its very nature, cannot be contained. You don't just have pride in the bubble, and it never gets out. It will demonstrate itself and manifest itself to others in action, in attitude, and by exalting the self.

Proverbs 6, beginning in verse 16, we find here six things that God hates, and yes, seven are an abomination to Him. The word abomination is something that God totally detests and loaves. You might ask yourself, why does God feel so strongly about this? Verse 16, these six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among the brethren.

Now, I want you to notice how these seven qualities, if you want to call them that, tie in with Lucifer and his rebellion. Let's go back over these points again. A proud look, what did Lucifer say? I will exalt my throne above the other stars. So you find sin was found in him. He thought he should be equal with God. Now, anyone who comes up with that thought is crazy.

He is a little cracked. His thinking has gone totally off. A lying tongue, he had to lie to the angels to convince them that he was right and that God was wrong. See, he talked to them about God. You all know him over here. But let me tell you about a better way, and he began to convince them of a better way. Did some of the angels come and want to listen to Lucifer so they could hear his side and decide, you know, well, is God right or is Lucifer right?

You know, which one is right? You see, sometimes it's just strictly a wrong side. You listen to God's side, period. When it comes to the Bible and somebody comes up and tries to teach me something that is contrary to this word of God, forget it. This is what we go by. This is the standard that God has given to us and not somebody else's opinion. But I want you to notice they had a lying tongue. He exalted himself. He had to prove that God was wrong.

Do Satan and his demons believe they're right today? I think they absolutely do. Because, see, they came up with a counter way. They came up with a different system. God's way is a way of love, a way of give, a way of service, a way of helping, forgiving. Satan's way is what? The way of take, the way of get, the way of pride. We'll see some of that as we go forward.

Then it talks about hands that shed innocent blood. Well, we read about Lucifer, how he weakened the nations, who's been behind the warfare down through the centuries and the millenniums that have racked this earth. He's tried to destroy mankind, get man to destroy himself. Then heart that devises wicked plans. Satan said in his heart, I will ascend above the heavens. His heart was lifted up. So he had a heart problem. His heart changed. And feet were swift to evil. Well, he led a third of the angels in rebellion against God. And a false witness, he bore a false witness against God. It's interesting that that commandment deals with what you say about others. A false witness against God. He blasphemed God's name, nature, attributes. He probably said, well, let me tell you the truth. God isn't telling you everything. I'll give you the skinny on what is really going on. And so discard. We did so discard. The word discard means conflict and disharmony among the angels. Excuse me. Notice the sequence of a buildup of activity brought on by Proverbs 6. Activities don't always go this way, but it's interesting. Many times they do. First comes pride. A person has pride. Pride will always lead you to believing. You're better. Or you're right. Somebody else is wrong. You've been mistreated. You haven't been understood. You haven't been treated fair. You can always come up with something. Lying lips. If you feel this way, then you convince others of the equity of your actions. Why you feel this way? The wrong that has been perpetrated on you. And you put your slant on the situation. Then you'll come up with a plan on how to deal with this perceived problem. How to deal with those who are not doing as you feel they should be doing. Then you put the plan into action and let others know about the situation so they can help. You try to bring as many people as possible into the inner circle. And then there's false witness. In other words, what is spread many times is a false witness. And this cause, it always will cause discord and division. And people will divide into groups. It's just guaranteed to happen. This has been Satan's plan from the very beginning. And he has worked it to a tee, song and verse. Verse 1 through 500,000. He's written the song. The rebellion of Satan and the angels has affected the whole universe and mankind from the very beginning of creation. Go back to the garden, Adam and Eve. They were driven out of the garden. Why? Because the serpent got in there, influenced them, they took of the wrong tree. And so now all mankind, for the last 6,000 years, has been sitting under the tree of good and evil. What if they'd taken to the tree of life? What if it had been 6,000 years of mankind sitting under the tree of life? It would have been a completely different world. They had children. First one comes along. Cain kills Abel, his brother. In Genesis 6 and verse 5, we read a summary verse of what life was like before the flood. It's only 1,600 years plus until the flood came along. I want you to notice here that the Lord God or the Lord Saul, that the wickedness of man was great, and the earth, that every intent of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. And then verses 11 and 12, you find that the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. The earth was a personification of Lucifer and his nature and his way. You find that God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt, and all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. So for 6,000 years, man has been influenced and deceived by the devil. The whole earth has been. Let's go back to Ephesians 6.

Ephesians 6 and verse 12. We're told very plainly here by the Apostle Paul that our real enemies are not other human beings. You've heard Mr. Luker state that two or three times recently in sermons that he is given. That we're not enemies one of another. Who is our enemy? Or verse 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places. We wrestle against the rulers or the powers of darkness, Satan and his demons. So what does all of this have to do with the church today? Well, if you were Satan the devil and you were out there and you wanted to conquer the church, how would you do it? How would you go about doing it? What ploy has he used from the very beginning and that he is still employing? I think we all know. It's called divide and conquer. Divide and conquer. Satan took some of the angels. He couldn't get all of the angels to go with him in his rebellion, but he took a third of them. Imagine God, a perfect being, creating angels, and one third of them leaving, go off, because they believed this other being instead of believing God. Somehow the message got mixed up in their mind. Somehow they became convinced. He had to isolate those angels, influence them, and stir them to action. How does this happen? Isolate, influence, stir to action. It goes in that sequence. What you find that he introduced into the universe was a wrong spirit, an accusative spirit, a condemning spirit, a hostile spirit, an attacking spirit. It was not peaceful or harmonious, but it was out to get for the self. So you find that taking place. I have people ask me all the time, how can I tell some type of information that I read, see on the Internet here, because believe me, it's out there by the tons. He is of God or he is of the devil.

How do you differentiate between the two? Well, the Bible is very clear. It says it in one sentence. By their fruits you shall know them. That's how. You look at a person's fruits. What are the fruits of God's spirit?

Galatians 5, 22, love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. So wherever God's spirit is, there will be kindness, long suffering, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, love, joy, peace, self-control, all of those will be exhibited to one degree or another. What are the fruits of Satan's spirit? There is what the Bible refers to as the spirit of this world. What are the fruits of that spirit? When you put a list together, almost a mile long, just a few of them. Pride, vanity, accusations, condemning, hostile, angry, attacking, hatred, contentions, jealousy, selfish ambition, dissension, envy, lust, violence. You can go on and on and on. You find these approaches. So when you read through something, ask yourself, what is the tone of this article? What is the tone of what I'm listening to or reading? What is the spirit behind it? What is the approach? Does it build up? Does it edify? Does it enlighten? Does it encourage? Does it strengthen you? Does it give you hope for the future? Or does it belittle? Does it put down? Does it destroy? Does it condemn? Where is it coming from? Today I've found that we have a lot of people in the Church who, as we know, we almost all have access to the Internet, and the Internet is a wonderful thing. I can go out there, and if I want to look up a fact, or I'm researching a sermon, I can probably find a ton of material on a given thing. But it also is an instrument for sharing a lot of false information. There are people who believe it's on the Internet, and so they look at it from that point of view. But we have a lot of social networks out there. Many of them claim that they're sharing information and ideas. And in many cases, a lot of the information is nothing more than rumor, slander, and destruction of reputation. As I said, always ask yourself, what are the fruits? What's being born here? Does it build up, or does it tear down?

Our former parent church in the 90s divided and fractured. Do you know why? Well, I think the power of darkness was to a great extent behind that. And if doctrine were the only issue that the devil tried to undermine, then why did we end up in hundreds of groups if doctrine were the only issue?

As doctrine was being changed and eliminated, something else was going on in our midst that was much more clever, much more subtle, and very few people actually began to pick up on until later. And depending on your background, your conversion, and where you were from, it affected every one of us a little differently. Now, what am I talking about? Well, it's obvious that doctrine was being undermined. So with doctrine being undermined, you would think that those who agreed and still believed with what the church taught would have come out and looked around. There'd be two or three groups. We'd all assembled together, and we'd just keep going. Last count, there were somewhere between three and four hundred different groups out there. Now, the question is, why? The trust and authority of the ministry was being weakened and undermined at that point and being challenged.

You find that there were people who walked away from the parent church and said, I will never join another group that is organized. So for them, organized religion was a thing of the past. They'd been burnt, and they weren't going to be burnt again. There were others who said, I will never trust a man again.

Now, they didn't say, I will never trust these men who are teaching these false ideas. Those who are following them who are teaching the false ideas. They lumped everybody into that category. They didn't trust ministers anymore. So members broke up into little groups. Some had been hurt. Some had been mistreated. Some had not been looked after. Some had been hurt. Some had been broken up into little groups. Some had been taken to get tapes and articles from everywhere. Some decided, we will decide what's right and what's wrong.

All at once, everybody became a scholar. Some said, they were the ultimate authority to understand doctrine and truth. And so what occurred was a number of these groups continued to split and resplit. And when the dust settled, Satan had divided and conquered. He had weakened the power of the church to really do a work. Prior to that, we had 140,000, and we were receiving anywhere between $150 to $200 million a year. All of that went. And so it really weakened the ability of the church to do a work. The United Church of God today is the largest church group out there.

And God has opened before us a wonderful door to preach the gospel to the world by going on WGN. I think that that is only the first door that God will open. That if we do what we should be doing, get our act together, that God will bring forward many other things. The power of darkness does not want to see that happen. He will do anything in his power to prevent us from doing that.

However, he forgets one thing. You and I have God on our side. There is a living God, and he's in charge of his church. And he will do his work. He may not do it through us, but he will accomplish it. And hopefully, he will do it through us. Notice Revelation 12 and verse 9. Revelation 12, talking about a time in the future. Yet ahead of us, a prophecy. We always wonder when this prophecy is going to be fulfilled. It talks about a time when Satan will once again rise up to heaven, be cast back down to the earth.

And his angels will be cast down with him. In verse 10, I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. Now this is reflecting back to what Satan is doing now, before he is cast down. He has access to heaven, and you find that he is presently the accuser of the brethren. He accuses you and you and you. He accuses me.

He accuses all of us. He tells God that we're not qualified. We don't even come up to our shoestrings, being ready for the kingdom of God. And we know that on our own, that's true.

That it's through Christ's sacrifice and forgiveness that we can be forgiven and stand before God. But he wants to divide and conquer, and he will try to divide and conquer the church today. How will he do that? Well, it could start in a local church area. I believe you've been mistreated, you've been hurt, have hurt feelings, not recognized, underappreciated. You begin to feel bitter toward someone. It could be someone of authority, just another member. You will feel decisions, maybe you're wrong on a local level, and I'd not do it that way.

And then this begins to fester. Pride begins to enter in. And eventually, the door is open, and you will talk to somebody. Those type of things don't stay bottled up. They come out. And how you feel, what happened to you, and you'll try to convince people that you're right and whoever else is wrong. And it can lead to resentment, it can lead to accusations, to bitterness, and eventually will lead to a person walking right out of the church.

But it's a funny thing today, and you can't leave the church. I've had people tell me that. You can't put me out of the church. I can't leave the church. I can leave this part, but I'll go over here to another part of the body. And so they body hop. They look for an arm here and a head there and a foot over there, wherever.

And so they just go from place to place. Brethren, I've been in the church for almost 50 years, and I've never seen a spirit, and I'll call it a spirit, and the type of spirit that is running rampant in the world today and affecting the church that is running rampant on the Internet. It's a type of spirit that accuses, points the finger. I find that every word and action of the Council and the Administration is judged or criticized, accused, attacked.

I've even heard the claims that most of the Council members are not converted. I've known most of these men, some of them for 40 years or more. And people are making claims who don't even know them and saying those types of things. It is a fault-finding spirit. It is a hateful, bitter type of spirit. And it eventually leads to discord and division. I'd ask ourselves the question, who gave us permission to become a debating society and the church? We find that people want to debate. People have the right to debate. They can decide what's right, what's wrong, and to debate.

I just ask the question, who gave us that right to become a debating society? Eventually, members get discouraged, turn off, and eventually leave. We need to be aware of whom we're fighting, what we're fighting, and not allow Satan to triumph and to succeed. He will try, but you and I have to endure to the end. Remember Ephesians 6 again, just to go back there quickly, in verse 10. Ephesians 6 and 10 says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Satan is very wily. He could deceive a third of the angels, right from obeying God and going his way. We need to realize that there is a powerful foe out there. So we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of darkness of this age. Verse 13, Therefore, take on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand.

What is Satan attempting to do with each one of us individually? He's trying to get us to go back on our covenant. Remember the covenant you entered into when you were baptized? For some, it hasn't been that many years ago. When you married, you exchanged vows, did you not? We entered what we call a marriage covenant. When I got married and married Norma, I don't remember all of the exact words, but it went something like this. Do you, Roy Holiday, faithfully promise in the presence of these witnesses, in covenant with God, to take Norma Violet Callan to be your lawful wedded wife, to love her, to honor her, and to cherish her, for as long as the two of you shall live?

And I said, yes, and that's a vow. For as long as you will live. And she repeated the same thing back to me. Now, when you were baptized, you enter into a covenant. It's called a new covenant. We become engaged to Jesus Christ. It's sort of like a marriage agreement. We enter into an agreement. Let me give you basically what you said you would do. Do you, just put your name in here, do you faithfully promise before God that you have repented of your sins?

You're supposed to say yes, and that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, and you say yes.

And so you say, as a result of your repentance, of your sins, which are the transgression of God's holy and His righteous law, and as a result of your acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your Lord and your Master and your soon-coming King, I now baptize you. And I'm going to go a little off at this point, because you're baptized into the very family of God. You are saying that you, as a result of this, that you have made a commitment to go God's way forever. That's what you said you would do at baptism. Not just for this life, but forever. And that there would be no turning back. I will not turn back. I will not compromise. I have counted the costs. I have put you first. And from this day forward, I am totally committed to you, with every fiber there is within me. That's what you agreed to do when you were baptized. That's the covenant that Satan wants you to break. He wants you to go against that vow. He doesn't want you to follow through on that commitment.

You see, there's another moment in history, or in eternity, that I have not mentioned, which is actually the most important. Number one, on the list of events that have taken place, that have influenced every man and woman and child who has ever lived. And that is Jesus Christ coming to this earth. Jesus Christ came to this earth. He died for our sins. He was resurrected. He ascended to heaven. And He lives in us today. We are His body. He's the head. And we live. He lives in us. There's going to be yet another future event that mankind will talk about for the ages. And that will be a day when the plan of salvation came to its final culmination. Finally came together. Everything that God had planned way back here, created the angels, created the physical, allowed man 6,000 years on the earth, offered salvation to everyone. That there will come a day when those who've been called by God will be resurrected, made immortal, given a glorified body and changed, and join God on His level in His family to live forever. The resurrection will take place. God will then give the opportunity to salvation for everyone, everyone will have that opportunity, and the devil and his miserable cohorts will be cast into outer darkness, where they will foam out their shame, their hatred and animosity, their violence, their accusations against one another forever and ever. And the family of God will live in eternal bliss. In God's protection. And we will live on that level forever. Rather than this is our calling. This is our destiny. Don't give it up.