The Spirit of This World

For those of you who were not here last week, we had a sermon on the spirit in man. I explained in that sermon why man left to his own devices without spiritual understanding is not capable of solving his own problem. It doesn't matter what government man comes up with, doesn't matter what economic system, what approach he uses or tries, he cannot. We learn that physical solutions cannot solve spiritual problems. It takes spiritual solutions. All human relationships are based upon spiritual principles, but humankind as a rule is not aware of that. They don't understand that. So as long as mankind keeps applying physical solutions that they come up with, not based upon the word of God, the revelation of God, and spiritual matters, they won't work. None of them will. It doesn't matter what political group you belong to, whether you're a Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, you know, just simply doesn't matter what government you're under, what economic system you hold up, or religious affiliation a person belongs to, none of them can solve the world's problems. They just don't do it. 6,000 years of history have been written to drive home this point to mankind. Man should be able to take a look back through history and understand that he's never been able to solve his own problems. No attempt that man has ever done has produced peace or solved all of man's difficulties. Now let's notice in Galatians chapter 1.14, in one sense we're going to continue on but a little different direction. I want you to notice in Galatians chapter 1, and we will begin in verse 14. Excuse me, verse 4, not 14. Verse 4, Galatians 1.4, says, Who gave himself, talking about Jesus Christ, for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world. I want you to notice the description that Paul gives of the world, the society we live in. He doesn't call it this good world. He says this present evil world. Have you ever asked yourself the question, why is the world so evil today? Why does it seem to be degenerating even more? Where does that come from? Well, the Bible is explicit. It doesn't hide this. Let's turn back to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew 5, Jesus Christ here, in the Sermon on the Mount, in chapter 5, beginning in verse 37, had this to say, He said, Let your yeses be yes, and your nos know. For whatever is more than this, or these, is from the evil one. So there is a being on this earth, in this universe, that is called the evil one. Actually, that's a name. He is called the evil one, obviously, Satan the devil. Christ, in John 17, 15, after the last Passover, when He was instructing His disciples, in verse 15 to John 17, notice what He said, I do not pray that you should take them out of this world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. So there is a being who personifies evil, who is evil, and in the Lord's Prayer, what's called the Lord's Prayer, we're told to deliver us from Satan or from the evil one. Human beings do evil. We do evil things, and some human beings can be so degenerate, many times they are referred to as being evil, in their whole approach, and what they do. Human beings can be mal-violent, malignant, wicked, in many different ways, but the devil is essentially evil. That's his nature. He personifies evil. This is the way he is. This is who he is. Now, you contrast his approach and his nature. His mind is warped evil thinking. This is his whole motivation. But when you compare him to God, what does the Bible say about God? What does the Bible say God is? God is love. So we have the two exact opposites. We have a being who is totally good, totally loving, and we have a being who is totally evil and malicious and vicious in his approach.

The next logical question a person might come up with is, who influences all of this evil that we see about us in the world? How is Satan the devil able to create such chaos, such confusion, such evil, such degeneration in society? And why is there so much evil in society? Is it only because of human nature, what we might call human nature? Is there something else involved here?

Last week we discussed the spirit in man and that that spirit unites with our brain to form the mind. So there is a spiritual component in our brain or body, seems to be united with our minds, our brain to give us a mind. That gives us the ability to have self-awareness. We can know that we exist. I can know that you exist.

You can know that I exist. It gives us the ability to think, the ability to reason, the ability to design and create, and know about others. All of that comes because of that. Now I want you to notice that God Almighty can influence the spirit in man, even in a totally unconverted person. And when God gives us his Holy Spirit, then God is able to influence us, of course, in a much different way by implanting his ideas, thoughts, approaches, helping us to understand the scriptures. Let's notice in 2 Chronicles chapter 36. Going back to 2 Chronicles 36, and verse 22.

2 Chronicles 36, 22. Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. So God stirred up his spirit, his mind, and so that he made a proclamation throughout the kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia. And then he goes on, the kingdoms, in all the kingdoms of the earth, the Lord God of heaven, has given me, and he has commanded me, to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea, who is among you of all his people.

May the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up. So the implication here is that God either planted the thought, or in some way, you know, he came to this conclusion. Same thing is mentioned in chapter 1, verse 1, right across the page in the book of Ezra. But let's go back to chapter 18 in 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 18, and let's read verse 18.

2 Chronicles 18, verse 18. You might remember the king of Judah and the king of Israel aligned themselves, allied themselves together, Ahab and Jehoshaphat. And the king wanted to know exactly what the prophet of God would say. And so he called Micaiah because they wanted to go to war together, unite as allies together. And we find here that Micaiah came and said, well, you'll beat him, just go out and fight.

And the king said, I know that you always lie to me. You know, I have to ask you by God, by his name, to swear to me what you're saying is the truth. So Micaiah said, therefore hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts of heavens standing on the right hand and on the left. And the Lord said, who will persuade Ahab, king of Israel, to go up, that he may fall at Ramath? Gil adds, so one spoke in this manner, another spoke in another manner.

Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him. The Lord said to him, in what way? So he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all of the prophets. And the Lord God said, you shall persuade him and also prevail. Go out and do so. Therefore, look, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.

God allowed a lying spirit to influence these false prophets to give a wrong message, a message of, yes, you will win, go ahead and go. And somehow, he had to plant thoughts, ideas, concepts into their mind. We know that God intervenes many times in world affairs to make sure that everything that he has said will happen will happen. Daniel describes four world-ruling empires. They didn't just happen on their own. God allowed the different ones to come along. Daniel 10 even describes a great battle that took place in the spirit world.

So there are things going on in the spirit world that most people have no idea about. But brethren, all of this does, and to me is an amazing bit of information. This helps us to understand the real consequences of what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve rejected the Tree of Life, and they partook of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Now, they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, as we know, and also they were denied access to the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life at that point was cut off from mankind.

Only a handful of people down through the ages, and you happen to be a mom. At handful, we are a very privileged people, have been called by God and have access to the Tree of Life. Mankind as a whole has been cut off from the true God, the blessings of His Spirit at that time.

So what was the ultimate consequences of Adam and Eve's decision? It was this. Which spirit was going to dominate and influence the world for 6,000 years?

What if they had taken of the Tree of Life, they would have been given the Spirit of God? In God's Spirit, we would have begun to have people converted, and God would have offered His Spirit. Mankind would not have been cut off in that way. But they made a decision, being driven out of that Garden, which spirit was going to dominate and influence the first 6,000 years of man's rule on the earth. Notice again, back in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 10, 1 Corinthians 2. The scripture we read last week, but certainly ties in here, that there are three spirits mentioned here in these verses. It says, God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, talking about spiritual matters and understanding the future of what God has prepared for us. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. So as we learn that you cannot understand the things of God, spiritual matters without the Spirit of God. It takes the Spirit of God. The Spirit of man helps man to assimilate knowledge through the five senses, but all of that is physical knowledge. Spiritual knowledge comes from God through His Spirit. Verse 11, For what man knows the things of a man, except the Spirit of man, which is in him? So the Spirit of man helps a man to know. Even so, no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God. So notice there is a Spirit of this world, of this age, of this time that we are living in. That Spirit comes from the devil and his cohorts. There is a Spirit that is actively influencing the world and society around us. It actively influences every institution that we see that mankind tries to build and that he bases his society upon. Now I want you to notice the result of that influence, just to give you one snapshot we could go through any number of scriptures. We know that the flood took place approximately 1,656 years after creation, but notice in Genesis chapter 6. Genesis 6 and verse 5 says, Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man. Now notice how society had come to in a very short period of time. A little over a thousand years or so, that man had become extremely wicked in the earth. That every intent of the fault of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord God said, or the Lord, was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved. But verse 8 says, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Not too many righteous at that time. Most of mankind had become exceedingly great in their wickedness, their thoughts, their intent, their heart, their motives, their drive. And nothing has changed after the flood. In fact, it's probably gotten as bad. How is Satan capable of influencing society and all of its institutions and all human beings in this world and its approach? Well, Mr. Armstrong, when he was alive, used to compare the transmission or the influence of God's Spirit to a radio transmitter or a signal or a TV signal going out through the air. Now, I know I've read all kinds of articles explaining how that happens, but I still don't understand it. You can have radio station broadcasting. There's a tower out here, and it sends a signal out. And depending on the area, if it's New York City, there could be tens of millions of people tuning in to that signal. Sort of like energy, power, light, and so on radiating out from the sun. And it goes out in all directions. It doesn't matter where you are on this earth. You look up, sunshine, or if it's shining, you see the sun. There can be billions of people looking at the sun. You benefit from it, or the energy or the power that comes from it. So it is with these type of signals.

Now, the Spirit of God is much like that. The Spirit of God goes out. We know that the Bible talks about that God is everywhere in the universe, and that's through His power, through His Spirit, that emanates out from Him. And it goes throughout the whole universe. God can work in the lives of millions of people at the same time, and it's done through His Spirit. Now, you and I might not understand completely that, but God gives us physical things to look at, like a radio transmitter, TV transmitting, the sun, and what it does to see that. Now, we find that God's Spirit for us, when we are begotten by it. Notice John 1426, John 1426. The benefit of God's Spirit to us as human beings.

Verse 26 says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. So, the Spirit of God, working with our mind, opening our minds so we can understand spiritual truths, and as we study the Word of God, we can understand this. How many millions of people have read the Bible over the centuries? You never understood it. And yet, you and I, with the humblest of backgrounds, the lowest of education, can pick the Bible up, open it up, look at it, and God will reveal and begin to teach us His truth. And He also, then, helps us to remember so that we can apply those principles in our lives and learn from it. I would call this Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Life. John 663 says, The words that I speak, they are spirit and they are life. God's Spirit imparts life. That's the purpose of it.

The Spirit of this world is the Spirit of death. It's not the Spirit of life. There's no life coming from Satan the Devil and his influence. It is only going to lead people into the path of destruction and death. Following that Spirit leads to death. And, you know, it's just that simple. Satan also transmits. He's like a radio signal or TV signal going out. Through the Spirit of this world, he's able to influence people. Again, his Spirit and those of his cohorts are like a radio station broadcasting. Now, the question is, which station are we listening to?

You can turn on. Maybe you have certain favorite stations. And if you like listening to talk programs, you may never listen to anything but a talk program. If you like sports, you may just get the ESPN channel. If you like something else, you'll classical music. Fifties, music, forties, whatever. You may tune into that. Well, which radio station are we listening to?

Are we listening to, I would call it, radio station light? Where we see the light, hear the light, hear the truth? Are we listening to radio station darkness and evil and death?

You see, the world is not tuned in to the station that God's transmitting. They're not tuned into God. So they're not getting that message. They're not hearing the wonderful words of God or the plant of salvation. That's just going over their head somewhere. Notice Ephesians 2. Ephesians chapter 2, where we read this concept here, beginning in verse 1. Ephesians 2.1.

It says, You, he is made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. So Satan's spirit, he is the spirit who works in the sons of disobedience. Ephesians 6.12 tells us, our enemies, we're not other people, but the rulers of darkness. They are the ones who are our enemies. Revelation 12.9 tells us that Satan has deceived the whole world. So he has had a profound effect upon society. That's why it's called this present evil age. Mankind as a whole are cut off from the transmission from God, and everybody in the world is tuned in loud and clear to Satan's transmissions. They hear that. They receive that. But when it comes to God, there's a lot of static. They can't pick it up. It's a low signal.

They have a receiver that is not properly tuned. Now, your receiver and my receiver has been properly tuned. How? God has added an element that's missing. That's his spirit. That is the channel through which God is able to communicate and teach us. God uses several analogies in the Bible to explain this principle. Light and darkness. The difference between light and darkness. Tree of life versus the tree of knowledge, good and evil. Having eyesight, enlightened versus being blind. There are many examples that explain the same thing, but using a different analogy. All we have to do is to observe the fruit of this world's system.

Because, you know, Jesus Christ said, how can you tell what comes from God and what comes from Satan?

Well, by their fruits, Christ said, you shall know them. That's how. What are the fruits of this world's society? What kind of influence is on man today? Well, turn back here to Galatians 5, 19. Galatians 5, 19 says, now the works of the flesh are evident, which are. And it mentions adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambition, dissensions, heresy, envy, murder, drunkenness, reveling, and so on. And he said, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, when you look around in this world, you see the fruits of society.

Do you see the fruits of God's Spirit? As they're mentioning in Galatians 5, 22. Fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, long suffering, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Is that what you see? Or do you see nations hating other nations, going to war against others, families splitting and breaking up, adultery, homosexuality, all kinds of problems and sins, running rampant. Our economy is about to collapse. Everywhere you look, you see the exact opposite. A society that is dominated by the spirit of this world will be a society that looks like that. That's the way it looks. A society dominated by God's Spirit will be a society that is full of love, peace. It will be a society that will mirror the fruit of God's Spirit.

Now, let's take a quick overview of some of the institutions in society. I've made the statement that this world, its institutions, are influenced by Satan the Devil. Now, I could give you a sermon on each one of these points. I'm going to just barely tip and go on. But, you know, these are something you might think about in study. Take a quick overview of the institutions in society and observe who they reflect. Do the institutions today in society reflect God or Satan? Do they reflect good or evil, right or wrong, obedience or sin? Which one?

We find that Satan has influenced the whole human race. I don't know that that's an institution, but that's the biggest place to start with, the whole human race. As we referred to earlier, Revelation 12.9, Satan has deceived the whole world.

This is because all human beings cut off from the tree of life have been listening to the wrong signal, the wrong broadcast, the wrong spirit. Satan, through his spirit, is able to influence attitudes, moods, put thoughts in people's minds. Now, I want you to understand, I'm not talking about being possessed by a demon. That's not what I'm talking about. Satan and his demons do possess people and control their actions. We're not talking about that. We're talking about how he's able to just simply influence the whole world. Hitler is a good example of that. He apparently became Satan-possessed, and, you know, if Hitler had left his generals alone, not intervened, not tried to tell them how to run the war, let them run the war, they would have won. They had a good chance of winning, because many of the plans that he put forward, they didn't want. But he was a fuhrer, and so they had to go along with it.

Satan the devil cannot begot like God does. He can't beget a person. He works on mankind's desires, natures, and helps to turn them into lust or wrong desires. We all have sexual desires, desires for food, clothing, shelter, protection, and so on. But he turns these things into lust, wrong desires. He helps to corrupt the mind, plants wrong thoughts, violence, hatreds, and just he tries to rub off his influence, tries to rub off on mankind. What kind of a world would we have if his influence were totally removed from society? And he were jailed and restrained? Well, the Bible tells us. Satan is going to be locked up. We find Revelation 20. And then there will be the wonderful world tomorrow, the millennium, the future, a world of peace. And God's Spirit will dominate in influence at that time, and the world will be drastically different. Okay, let's move on. What about influencing the animals?

Even the nature of animals seems to have somewhat been influenced or changed. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived at peace with the animals. There's no indication that they were afraid of them, no fear of animals. But today, there are a lot of animals that you just don't go out and hug. There are a lot of ravenous beasts out there, poisonous snakes, and we all learn that you don't hobnob with them. But Isaiah 11 says that in the future they will become tame. A lion and a child will lie down or play together, and a child will play on the whole of poisonous snakes. It will be a completely different world. Now, the reason why I mentioned this at the end, I want you to see the contrast between the spirit of this world and his influence and the spirit of God and his influence, and what both of them would produce in society. Now, Satan has also influenced all nations. He's influenced people individually, but all nations. No nation has escaped his influence.

Why do we have so many different governments today? Why do we have governments like communism, socialism, dictatorship, republican, democratic? That's because human beings sit down, reason, and think, this government will solve my problem. Or every time there's an election, this leader will solve my problem. And none of them have ever done so. He has divided the nation by using different governments, different systems, different approaches. The more powerful the nation becomes, the more they want to impose their will on other nations. He influences nations to go to war, to take, to get. And we know that the getting, taking way is a false way. It's a way of Satan. We see selfishness, hatred, and violence. And man has never been able to solve this problem. None of man's governments work. And when you think about what happens when God's government is set up, all nations will eventually come under God's government. Let's just go back and read that as a reminder. Isaiah 2 says, now shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on top of the mountains over all the other nations, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. And many people will come and say, or will come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, for he will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths. So all nations will eventually come under God's government and be taught God's way. And so, all of the scriptures that we focus on at the Feast of Tabernacles about the millennium and the world tomorrow will come to pass. That's because God's spirit will dominate at that time.

What about the influence of religion today in society?

Why does Christianity hate it so much worldwide? Because the devil hates anything to do with the Bible and with the name of Jesus Christ. Today, in this country that was founded upon the principles and values of the Bible, of Christianity, you can't pray in public today, schools today.

The idea is you can't discuss the Bible. You can't sit down and start school off every day by reading three or four verses out of the Bible and having a prayer. I grew up, we used to do that. In fact, I belong to 4-H Club and they would come in for memorizing certain things. They would give students a Bible right in school, a New Testament. And I knew I had my prize New Testament that I took home with me because I had earned it. Well, they wouldn't allow that in school today to save your life.

Now, why? Well, because today in schools, we've got to tolerate all religions. And if we put one above another, it means that the others will feel bad. And all faiths and religions, many believe, are equal. Many have forgotten that this country, again, was founded on the values and principles of Christianity. The Muslim countries right now, the last couple of weeks, have been several articles come out about how Christians are being killed in many of the Muslim nations, in Iran and many of those nations being murdered, while the West turns a blind eye. You don't see it in the the liberal press or the major news sources. It's just not there. But it is going on.

But you can't say anything bad about Islam. You can curse God. You can do any type of thing you want to to desecrate the Bible and those type of things. But you can't say anything bad about God. Because, again, today in our society, the main values are tolerance and diversity. The devil uses religion to cause confusion among people, to cause hatred, to divide people, to start wars, for one group to try to impose its will on another group. Well, in the world tomorrow, the influence of God's Spirit will establish a one-world system.

Admenistered by God, which will only allow the worship of the true God.

In Zachariah 14.9, we read this. Zachariah 14.9, I'm going to read out of the net translation of this. Talking about that time, the Lord will then be king over all the earth. In that day, the Lord will be seen as one with a single name. No longer going to have Buddha. No longer going to have Allah. You're going to have the God of the Bible. The NIV translates this. Lord God will be king over all the earth, the whole world, or the whole earth. On that day, there will be one Lord and his name, the only name. No other names, no other religions, no other way of life is going to be tolerated. Again, you see the contrast of the influence of God's Spirit and what it produces, the influence of Satan's Spirit and what it produces. Look at our economy today. The economy is influenced by Satan. Look at all the greed and avarice we see. Look at the ideas that are trying to be fostered off in this country that are predominant in Europe of socialism, share the wealth. You got it. I want it. Give it to me and allow the government. You know, socialism thinks that they should take it away from you and give it to others. Some of the European, there were two European governments here recently that tried to impose a 75% rich tax, or tax on the rich, take 75% of their income, and it was knocked down. But basically what was going to happen is that the rich will flee. They'll leave the country and go somewhere else with their money. Capitalism is not the answer. It might be better than most systems, but that's not God's answer. You know, today, in many ways, the great blessings of the United States is experienced and have experienced strictly on capitalism and not understand the promise of greatness that God gave to Abraham, the promise that in the end time, his seed will become the greatest nation and a great company of nations. And that's the reason why we have the wealth we do. When God's spirit and influence prevails and dominates, the world will have prosperity and peace beyond their imagination. Amos 9, 13, describes the time when the plowmen will overtake the reaper, and they'll barely get the crops up, and they're coming along plowing to plant a new one. The Bible says every man will sit under his own fig tree, have his own piece of property and land, peace, family, and see them grow up. So again, quite a contrast between the two spirits. What about education? Is education in our society God's education, God's approach? Well, education can teach you a lot of physical things. You can go learn engineering, you can learn math, you know, you can learn laws of grammar, things of this nature. But what about education systems teaching the theory of evolution? What about teaching liberalism?

Almost everyone coming out of college, especially the Ivy League colleges, many of the colleges around the world have been taught liberalism, liberal philosophy, liberal approach. They no longer teach right values. At one time, three major influences on a child growing up, one of them was school, you know, religion, parents, family, all of those have been undermined today. Very little influence of religion on many people today. And the school does not have the influence on values. And the families, the way they are with people going everywhere, people living their own separate lives on their own iPods, cell phones, and so on, they're in the same house, but they're living a completely different existence. Actually, God in Isaiah 5 and verse 20 says, woe to those who call evil good. You look around and you see the evil results of what man's educational system is producing, and he calls it good. And God says, woe to those. This is the state that society has come to today. Okay, what about entertainment? You look at entertainment. Movies, TV, video games, you know, they have a profound effect upon people and their values, their standards, have tremendous effect upon styles and what clothes people wear, a type of language they have, how they try to dress, and so on. And media has a tremendous influence on society, much more today than churches do by far. Media today and technology has had more influence on the lives of people in the Western world than religion and family, and it is a major source of means whereby Satan can influence people. What about the influence on the family? The family is an institution. If you were Satan the devil, what would you do to destroy the family? How would you go about destroying the family, undermining the family? He hates family because God is a family. He hates that concept. He hates marriage between a man and a woman. He hates anything that's normal, good, proper, right. So, work on marriages. Get people to be more selfish, self-centered, ego-driven, wanting their own way, and you have more divorces. You have break-up of marriages. Change the definition of what a family is. Today can be two women or two men, or a woman or a man, or maybe a man and a woman. They come up with all of these different definitions of families. Let children have their own way.

Don't be too strict. Don't try to teach them to sit, be quiet, obey, do what you're supposed to do. Let them have their own way. The main goal in child reign today seems to be, in too many cases, we want to keep our children happy. As long as they're happy, that's their goal. So, children aren't happy, but what's the matter?

You find parents are not really being parents. They want to be pals with their children. The influence of God, the Spirit, is just the opposite. Apply all of the fruits of God's Spirit, 1 Corinthians 13, and Galatians 2.20. But apply the fruits of God's Spirit to marriage and childbearing. What kind of a society would we have today if all marriages were truly based upon the love of God? And seeking peace and commitment, following the principles of 1 Corinthians 13 that shows how to love. Well, that's why, in the world tomorrow, divorce will practically, maybe totally, not be heard of. It's just one of those things that will not take place. Because people will have the influence of God, His Spirit will dominate, and God's Spirit and the fruit of His Spirit will be in our marriages.

Isaiah, we're right here in Isaiah, Isaiah 3.13, tells us, as for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. So, the state said children would be our oppressors, would oppress the people, and go against their parents. And then marriages would be upside down. And today, if a man says, I'm in charge, he'd be laughed out of a classroom.

So, you have an up-down situation. So, having gone through some of the institutions that we see in society, let me ask you a question. Whose world are we living in? Are we living under God's influence and domination, or under the domination of Satan and his demons? Well, it is this present evil world. All of the fruits and results demonstrate that it is truly this present evil world.

We live in, and that mankind is under the influence of the spirit of this world.

Now, can anybody tell me what Satan's ultimate purpose and all of this is?

I have an idea what his purpose is, what he's trying to do with all of this, why he's putting so much effort into influencing mankind. Well, his whole purpose is to destroy mankind. He hates human beings. He wants to destroy mankind. He wants to undermine the plan of God and to wreck what God is striving to do, to just totally wreck it and destroy it.

Now, why does he hate God's plan? Because one day we will be elevated above him. If we are privileged to be in the kingdom of God, we will be in the family of God and the family of God will rule over the angelic host. We will have the opportunity in the future to judge angels, and he knows that we will be there to help meet out judgment.

Now, when I say that he hates and he's tried to destroy mankind, he started back in the garden of Eden trying to thwart the plan of God. So he got man, influenced him to take of the wrong tree. So man was driven out. Look at what happened to man before the flood as we read back in Genesis 6.5 that his wickedness had become great. What about false religions, false governments, economic systems that were developed at the Tower of Babel? You read chapter 10 and 11 in the book of Genesis, and there is a tremendous amount there because that shows the foundation of this world for the last 4,000 years. It all started at Babylon. And false religions, Imramus, Nimrod, false economic system, false way of government, religions were divided. Not religions, excuse me, languages were divided, and different national groups went off separately, and they carried the same ideas with them. They worshipped the same type of religion and God, but they called them by different names, basically following the same pattern. We find at the end time, in Revelation 17 and 18, God still refers to this world and its basic approach of government, of economic system, and religion as what? Babylon the Great, and when it comes to religion and politics, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. He influenced ancient Israel into disobedience. They were driven into captivity. His hope was that he could destroy those nations, especially Judah, and that the plan of God would be undermined. Remember Haman, reading the book of Esther, tried to have all the Jews destroyed so that the Messiah could not come because the Bible prophesied he'd come through Judah? So he wanted to do that. Without the promised Messiah, the plan of God would fail. There would be no Savior, no way of having our sins atoned for. He tried to kill Jesus Christ when he was a young baby. He tempted Jesus Christ to sin, and he has been trying to undermine mankind ever since. Down through the ages, though, he has divided the Church, introduced all kinds of pagan trappings into the Church back in the second, third. Gnosticism became a big influence first and second centuries of the Church. All of those ideas have been perpetuated and come down today under the guise of the name of Christianity, but it's not the Christianity of the Bible that God tells us that we need to keep. He raised up a great false Church. He's inspired many counterfeit religions, all kinds of pagan religions. He has counterfeit gods out there. It's sort of like a smorgasbord. What you like, you can go out and pick what you like, what ideas you like. So many, even in our country today, follow Eastern religions, and you follow that type of an approach.

Churches split and divide. None have been immune. He does and has influenced many, even within the Church of God, to go off in a different direction. The vision is not of God. That's of Satan. Does he attack the true Church and is he trying to destroy us? Notice Revelation 12. Revelation 12.13.

Revelation 12 gives a history of the whole Church.

And in verse 13, there's coming a time in the future when Satan the Devil is going to try to rise up against God again and be cast right back down to this earth. When the dragon saw that he was cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman. God protects the Church, at least some of it, and they go to a place of safety. He sends armies after them, sends floods after them, verse 15, to destroy them. God intervenes to protect them. Verse 17, And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went out to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and had the testimony of Jesus Christ. So he goes out to make war against the Church.

Now, brethren, if God did not intervene at the end time, what would happen? Revelation 24 and verse 21, notice the Bible tells us, For then there shall be a great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until that time, no nor ever shall be, and unless those days were shortened, cut short, no flesh would be saved, and be saved alive, left alive. Mankind would ultimately, under Satan's influence, lead the Cosmaside, destroy all life. But for the elect's sake, for you, for the Church, those days will be shortened. So, brethren, unless God intervenes, and He is going to intervene, Satan would carry out his plan.

So why does Satan hate the Church so much? Why does he want to destroy the Church of God?

He doesn't want us to preach the Gospel to the world. He doesn't want us to preach the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God to the world. Why? Because that message gives hope. That message points away. That message talks about his plan, his purpose, and in the future.

And so, he hates that. It also gives us hope today. And we also realize that there's no hope in man's institutions, as we've covered here today. So, brethren, I hope, after listening to this sermon, that we understand more clearly why the influence of the spirit of this world needs to be removed forever. Because his domination and his influence needs to be removed. And eventually, when the family of God is ruling this earth, and then for all eternity, there will only be God's influence, direction, and a family that's willing to follow him anywhere.