Revelation 2:18-26 “And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: In verse 24 is the phrase the depths of Satan.” The Gnostics had a doctrine called the depths of God and only dealt with what they considered deep things. Jesus uses that phrase and reverses it. When you dig a well you dig deeper and deeper. When you talk about the depths of the ocean, you are talking about how far down or deep it is - same with a well. Jesus is saying that they have allowed something without realizing how low it will take them spiritually. They had allowed this woman Jezebel to teach something without even seeing or realizing how it was taking them deeper and deeper into a pit.
There are measures of God's knowledge or depths of God. There is the milk of the word and the meat of the Word. But there are also depths of Satan when people move in demonic power and it becomes a strong bondage. Lots of kids go around with demonic T-shirts showing terrible pictures of rock groups, but if they really tapped into the demonic, it would scare the daylights out of many of them. If they actually saw those demons manifest before their eyes and know the power of these demons they would run. So for many in starts as a fad, they get one to wear because others do it, they copy what is a fad or popular, then it moves to fantasy and then into bondage. So there are depths of Satan.
As you move into a new dimension with God you will come against a new kind of devil. New levels of ministry bring new devils because there are different levels in Satan's kingdom principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and wicked spirits in heavenly places. The principality is a spirit ruling over a city or province or nation. Powers come from a Greek word meaning spirits of authority. Then there are the rulers of the darkness of this world and wicked spirits in heavenly places. In God's kingdom there are also four levels of angels – the cherubim, seraphim, Zo? or living creatures and archangels. So each kingdom has four levels of spirits, or angels and fallen angels. Things can happen on the surface that don't look very damaging people give their opinions because they are opinionated or become critical and it doesn't look like it's doing a lot of damage, but it takes them into the depths of Satan.
Some scriptures are prophetic in nature and speak of a future event, but of which there are still applications for God's people and us today. Scripture can have dual application, as prophetic and practical. An example is Isaiah 10:27. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. That is a general statement that is true, for the anointing will break yoke. But in the context of the paragraph in Isaiah 10 it is dealing with the Assyrian and how God would break the yoke of their bondage over the nation of Israel. So there is a literal application and a practical application called a dual reference.
In Revelation 12 Satan is cast out of heaven by Michael the archangel and all the fallen angels with him also are thrown down to the earth. Yet there is an application for us today. Revelation 12:7-8 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. Their place speaks of a locality in the heavens where they rule. Ephesians 2:2 tells us Satan is the prince of the powers of the air. There is a place or locality where they rule. (V.9-11) And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. They are the brethren that are part of the assembly of believers, the church. The blood is first because you can't have a testimony for Christ until you've been washed in the blood of the lamb. (V.12) Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. This leads us into the kingdoms of darkness and Satan. This picture in Revelation gives us four names for Satan. These are not different individuals but one fallen angel with these four different titles that are used throughout the Bible.
Revelation is a serious of visions that are a compilation of what all the Old Testament prophets saw. It brings all the old visions and prophecies of the end times into one book and one writing of what will happen in the end times. Those four names are the dragon, the devil, Satan and that old serpent referring to how he came to Eve in the garden. Satan comes from a word in the Old Testament, which means the adversary. Devil in the Greek is Diablo, which speaks of one who is a slanderer, one who keeps attacking and throwing things at you throwing accusations to weaken you. Then there is Dragon used 12 times in Revelation, which is like a 7-headed serpent. In some excavation done in Iraq they found a motif carving that was a snake with 7 heads. This carving was thousands of years old and here Satan is called a 7-headed dragon. John was at least using imagery that they were familiar with at that time.
Though they could be further broken down, like the ministering spirit, there are still 4 basis chief types of angels and 4 types of demon spirits identified. Also in Psalm 91 you find four names for God. You have the words El, El Elyon, El Shaddai, Yahweh in Hebrew. Psalm 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Most High is El Elyon, Almighty is El Shaddai. (V.2) I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Lord is El a name for God meaning strong one, and God is Yahweh. Jesus also has different titles, Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, the Christ.
In the Beginning God did not create a devil. God created a host of angels. Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. The Hebrew word Hosts speaks of a group being prepared for war. In the English the word hosts can also refer to the sun, moon and stars, but it can also allude to the heavenly hosts, which are the angels of the lord in heaven. One of the names of God, Lord of hosts is translated Lord of armies. The armies being Michael and his angels, Gabriel and his angels. In the beginning God created an anointed Cherub according to Ezekiel 27 & 28. We find that Satan fell from heaven in Luke 10 and took a third of the angels with him (Revelation 12) and the Bible says that he was created perfect until iniquity was found in him. Isaiah says his heart was lifted up because of pride.
So in the beginning Satan was not the devil, but something happened and he fell and started a kingdom of his own to counter God since he could not overthrow the thrown of God. He said he would be like the most high and he set up a counter kingdom to counter everything God would try to do. Satan's first domain was in the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12. He was cast out of heaven to the earth and he is roaming the earth in Job 2:2. He is the prince of the world that has to be cast out (Ephesians 2:2). Then in Revelation 12:9 we see he is cast out of the air back to the earth and when Jesus returns in Revelation chapters 21-23, Satan is cast into a bottomless pit and then he is released and then in the end cast into the lake of fire. Satan has moved from one domain to another and in the end there will have been 7 domains belonging to him, the last being the lake of fire. Satan attempts to rule where the strongest spiritual activity is taking place.
He was in the Garden of Eden where the Tree of Life was, in the center of things tempting Eve. He moves on Cain and Cain moves East of Eden. Cities were built at that time on the East side of Eden. Nimrod built the Tower of Babel; he was a descendant of Cain. In the New Testament Satan was at Pergamos at the center of the churches of Asia, called Satan's seat in Revelation 1:13. In the last days we know Israel becomes the center of controversy for the entire world, an Islamic Jewish conflict that is only beginning now but will build up until Michael shows up to deal with Satan as he attempts to destroy the Hebrew people. Satan is always in the center of activity. So when we speak of him in reference to our lives, most Christians will never personally and directly encounter him but we will encounter people who are motivated by the flesh or the depths of Satan and we will encounter evil spirits that possess people. So we must understand that there is a spiritual warfare and conflict that is taking place.
If you look from the Garden in Genesis to Revelation and look at every attack of a spirit or Satan working through someone or Satan himself, there is a theme that begins to develop on Satan's warfare or strategy. Satan's first attack and main attack is always against truth. So simple but so profound! If Satan can take the Word of God and pervert or twist it to someone who is interpreting it or into believing a false doctrine, then the truth becomes ineffective for that person. Lets say we have the doctrine of the new covenant and salvation and you are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ and someone comes along and says, no, your not saved through the blood of Jesus Christ, your saved by being baptized in water. Through their unbelief and doctrine they nullify the effect of the blood and that element of truth is not affective in their life and they will not be saved. If someone says, well I know Acts says that you can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit but we don't do that today. That nullifies that truth in the life of those people who believe that doctrine. They say, well, we don't believe that miracles or divine healing are for today, but something that happened in the New Testament church under the apostles but died with them and doesn't happen today. That truth written in God's word is nullified by their unbelief and doctrine because they will not accept the truth that is revealed in the scriptures.
There are a lot of so-called believers that don't really believe the truths of scripture. I call them unbelieving believers. They are guilty of picking and choosing what they want to believe, or selective believing. They pick what promises they want to receive or verses to believe and anything that doesn't agree with their theology or personal opinion, they want to reject and write off as not for us today. That truth that could impact their life is of no power and cannot affect them because you have to believe the truth for it to work in your life. Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) Revelation 12:11a And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; What is the Word of your testimony? It's what the Word of God has to say about you that you confess. So you literally confess the Word of God having to do with your situation. Its like Romans 10:10 concerning salvation. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
If you don't confess the Word then it shows that you don't have the Word in you and if you don't have the Word in you, then what do you have to stand on or what are you standing on? You will just go from one defeat to the next until you start knowing and believing and standing upon the Word of God and what it says. So Satan attempts to attack truth. You either believe truth or you reject truth or you distort truth or you pervert truth. Every type of false doctrine in any cult or false church that has a doctrine contrary to the New Testament has either been distorted, or perverted. No it is not done intentionally or purposely, even in a religious Christian cult, which is a contradiction of terms, but they claim to be Christians but have all the marks of a cult, especially following one man with a unique doctrine of his own.
I don't think it started with intentionally making up false doctrine, but they do because instead of comparing scripture with scripture or comparing their lives to the Word of God, they try to make the scriptures fit into their lives and what they want to believe. It happens because of pride and because they have something in their life that is not right and they don't want to deal with it, so they find a way to justify it with scripture. They will pull verses out of context and try to self interpret scripture instead of line upon line and precept upon precept considering the whole of scripture. So Satan’s number one attack in the church today is against the truth. Even the scripture tells us that in the last days there would be a great falling away, from what, from the truth (2Thessalonians 2:2-3). That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
Another thing is that the enemy attacks based on what you are confessing to others. One day the Lord may quicken scripture to you and it is a Rhema word that comes alive in your spirit and you begin telling others what the Lord has showed you and done in your life and boom, the attack comes. A good example is that the Lord shows you divine healing and you are healed or make a covenant with the Lord concerning your healing, that you will trust Him only as your great Physician and only doctor and that you will not go to doctors and take medicine and you tell others what the Lord has done in your life, and you then find yourself attacked with sickness, sometimes very sick. And even if it isn't something that God has done for you, as divine healing that you testify about and then are attacked with greater sickness. It could be that you see a truth in scripture and begin telling or teaching others about it, like depression. And then a great depression comes against you till you despair even of your life. Or you begin to teach on marriage and the marriage covenant and then your own marriage falls apart. These things have happened and they have all happened to me.
The reason is that Satan tries to mock your testimony or make a mockery of it. What you preach and tell others becomes your testimony. If you believe and teach faith, there will be attacks against your faith. If you believe and teach Biblical salvation, there will be attacks against that or you will go for along time and no one will accept the Lord or be saved. Whatever is your testimony at the time is where you will be attacked. People will get saved and go back to work and testify or tell their family about being saved and you find a few months later they have backslidden and gone back to doing what they were doing before and you wonder, what happened to them? What happened is they began to give a testimony to unsaved people and the enemy brought pressure on them to cause them to fall and make void their testimony to make it look empty so the unbelievers would mock them. Unfortunately, when that happens, some will become offended for the words sake and then back away from their testimony that they are confessing. It is nothing more than an attack of the enemy against truth so that others will not believe the truth you tell them. Most attacks against you are an attack against the truth. All the attacks in your mind are against the truth and so that is why the scripture tells us to Cast down imaginations (images of the mind), and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5).
So Satan does attack the truth and he also tries to bring a final assignment against people to hinder them toward the end of their life.
All the attacks from the forces of the enemy are to pull you away from the truth of God's Word, to cause you to be offended for the Word's sake so you back away. Satan does this because he realizes the power of the word and that if you are rooted and grounded in truth, then the lies, assaults and innuendoes that he brings against you won’t work and won't destroy your faith. You will learn to discern the difference between the voice of the spirit and the voice of your flesh, and then it's up to you to make the right decision and not fall prey to temptation and assault. The Word in you is what becomes you barrier or wall against the attack of the enemy and the sword in your hand to help you overcome the enemy. Many times people will serve God for years and as they get older, something happens that devastates their life or home or ministry. Many ministers in America came against these strongly and when they were in their mid-life or 50's in one way or another they destroyed them and their ministry.
Look at David. He is out there killing the bear and lion as a teenager and then kills Goliath and delivers Israel from the Philistines and destroys their armies, then in his mid-life comes the affair with Bathsheba and killing of her husband. That is the exception in David's life according to 1Kings 15:5. It was the only mark against David from his having followed and obeyed the Lord all his life. This was the attack of Satan to stop what God intended through David and turn him from serving the Lord and destroy his testimony. 2 Samuel 12:14 tells us this happened and because of David's sin, the Lord's name was blasphemed by the enemies of the Lord.
Noah built and ark. He has three sons, spends 100 years building an ark, he stays in the ark for 150 days and after he comes out of the ark and builds a vineyard, he gets drunk and is lying in his tent naked and Canaan goes in and mocks his father and comes under a curse. Why did Noah do that? What caused that now? After all that he did for the Lord and his faith, now he does something that is an embarrassment to himself and his family.
Moses was called the meekest of men by God, yet he gets mad and smites the rock a second time and doesn't honor the Lord and looses his blessing of entering into the promised land with the people he has led for 40 years in the wilderness. This was because the Rock he smote represented Christ and Christ would only be smitten for our sins once. At the end of his life even, Jude tells us that Satan tried to take or steal the body of Moses. Why? When Moses died, it was in the plains of Jordan, on the Jordanian side of the Jordan River and from there to Jericho is where Israel was headed. Two and a half tribes settled on the other side of the Jordan River and nine and ½ tribes went over the Jordan River to possess the literal Promised Land. If Satan could have allowed the Hebrew people to discover the body of Moses then he could have gotten them to build a monument to him, some kind of memorial and also might have tempted more not to cross over Jordan and go into the land God wanted them to possess.
Gideon was raised up and he says to the angel, if God is with us, where are all the miracles. The angel tells him that he is about to find out and they go out to battle and the Lord reduces an army of over 30 thousand men to 300 men. He is to attack a nation with thousands of soldiers with only 300 men. But he obeys God and is given a supernatural victory. Then the people come along and give him an offering of gold coins and what does he do? He doesn't retire and build a house, but builds a gold ephod and makes an idol out of it. A man that the angel of the Lord called a mighty man of valor now makes an idol after such a great miracle of deliverance. This is an example of what happens to people. Sometimes after the greatest victory of your ministry you will come under the greatest assault of the enemy. This doesn't make sense until you understand his purpose of what he is trying to do, which is to steal that victory from you and mock God and your testimony.
The Apostle Paul is converted on the road to Damascus. Before that he was persecuting the saints and caused some to blaspheme, he consented to Stephen’s martyrdom in Jerusalem and was the big bad wolf of the Jews. The Christians knew that Saul of Tarsus was a persecutor of the church. When he was first converted there were people in the church that did not believe he was saved. They thought he was just infiltrating the church so he could do more damage. On the Road to Damascus Jesus appears to Saul and tells Ananias to go pray for him. Ananias didn't accept even the word from God at first until he was told again to just go do it.
Paul had tremendous miracles in his ministry and goes to Jerusalem and convinces them that God has accepted the Gentiles and gets to the end of his ministry and he says, all Asia hath forsaken me. He has lost all his relationships and friends that he build over the years and none stood with him as a leader of the church. History teaches that toward the end of his life in Rome Italy, Nero wanted to tear down Rome and rebuild it and the senate voted against it. Nero set Rome afire and when it was over there was suspicion against him and so he blamed the Christians and the Apostle Paul was there at that time and so he was blamed. This rumor and lie spreads throughout the early church that Paul led an insurrection in Rome and burned down the city and it is causing great persecution against the Christians. Nero did persecute Christians in the most severe manner, burning them on crosses and feeding them to the lions in the arena. But instead of blaming Satan, many were blaming Paul and the church believed a lie against him. You know how rumors start and spread and as they spread it gets worse and worse as it is repeated with new things being added to it. So here the Apostle Paul, so faithful to the Lord, being beaten and mistreated so greatly that he said, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. He was beaten for Christ and then this happens.
The same thing happened to Jesus. In His ministry, Satan constantly attacked his ministry by trying to make it look like He was lying and that His ministry was a lie. Satan lied about His birth. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, but people said, is this not the son of Joseph. He wasn't the son of Joseph, but the Son of God born through the Virgin Mary. The enemy tried to stop that truth. Then some said he was born of fornication. When Jesus began to preach, they said, he casts out devils by the power of Beelzebub, or the Devil. The Pharisees were attempting to frighten the people so they wouldn't listen to Jesus preaching and no one wants to be around someone they know is doing the work of the devil. So Satan attempts to discourage the purposes of Christ's ministry by saying He was of the devil. Yet some who should have known the truth repeated it and others believed it. Then Satan lied about His message. They will say you preached what you didn't or change what you preached by adding or subtracting from it. I know that one too. They will accuse you of preaching heresy and being part of a cult. I've been there too.
Jesus once said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you. That caused many to leave off from following him because they thought he was a cannibal. He was talking about having fellowship with Him, not literally eating his flesh and blood. At the last supper it became clear to the 12 what He was talking about earlier. When Jesus said, destroy this temple and in three days I will build it back, they hung him on that by saying that he had said he would destroy the physical temple in Jerusalem and rebuild it in three days and that he was speaking against the house of God, but he was talking about his own death, burial and resurrection. He never said he was talking about Herod's temple.
Many times in His ministry, Jesus would speak something that someone didn't understand and they would go out and lie about it. Satan lied about Jesus birth, His message, His ministry and about His resurrection. When Jesus was raised from the dead there were guards there guarding the tomb? Because it was rumored that he would come back from the dead, they put a 1 ½ to 2 ton stone in front of it, they put a Roman Seal on it, for which the penalty for breaking was death, and they had a host of Roman soldiers standing guard. Jesus is raised from the dead; the angel(s) move the stone away not so he can get out but so others can go in and see the empty tomb. The Roman soldiers then left and said, “while we slept, the disciples stole the body. How ridiculous can this be? You have a group of soldiers in front of a tomb. For failure of duty or going to sleep on duty, the penalty was death, they claim that his disciples came through them during the night, rolled away the stone without making enough noise to wake them and took the body without waking them. Also, they would have had to unwrap the dead body to leave the grave cloth inside the tomb and carry the body or corpse out through those soldiers. So they said the disciples then hid the body to make it look like he was raised from the dead and everyone just saw someone who looked like him. What a concoction! Truth is, the priests paid off the soldiers with a great sum of money to tell the lie that they had gone to sleep and the body was stolen with the promise to protect them from the punishment of death for their failure in keeping the Roman seal safe and secure.
Satan has been making lies from the beginning and there are even professing Christians who mock the second return of Christ and saying there will not be a second coming and rapture of the Church. Satan is using the lie and innuendos to attack the people of God and ministries. There are even some that do what is termed expos?s on ministers and involved are innuendos and false information. If the media we have today was active in Jesus day they would have had a field day, always showing all the failures without showing the whole story or the truth. They would expose with hidden cameras things like Judas betraying and committing suicide, Peter denying Jesus with a curse, the failure of the disciples to cast the devil out of the epileptic boy, but not cover Jesus casting out the devil they couldn't, showing that they were racist and full of hatred wanting to call fire down out of heaven, arguing among themselves who is the greatest and never showing the love, mercy and grace of Jesus or how he took the nobody's and the outcasts of society and changed them into useful vessels who because a blessing to others.
Can you image today's liberal media and spin-doctors if they were working in that day? Look at what they do today. How they show one-sided stories, half-truths and make every effort to discredit Christians and malign the Word of God. They cover only failures and problems within and build them out of proportion with nick picking and innuendo and never tell the good, the benefits, the changed lives, the love of God in people and truth in any respect. They are only there to criticize and find fault as the Pharisees did in Jesus day. They would take what Jesus said and but a spin on it to tell the people that He didn't mean what he said, but something else and twist the words of Christ. But God didn't hold back the failures of His people, whether Judah, or David, or Solomon or any other. We are shown the bad, but also the grace, mercy, forgiveness and restoration of many to show us God's love and mercy. Today they would be saying after one of these failures, I don't believe any of these men of God are for real; I have no confidence in any so-called Christian or the ministry of Jesus. Just look at the failures of his disciples. They use any sign or failure or imperfection, even if it is only in their mind or a perceived failure to malign and denounce God's people and the truth as hypocrisy and fraud, as if to be a man or woman of God you had to be flawless, sinless and perfect. Jesus was all those things and so they made up accusations against Him. The real issue is that they don't want to have to admit their own sin and imperfections or face the fact that they are not right before God or righteous or holy and they want to make excuse and a covering for themselves by accusing those who are of God. This is one of Satan's great tools. Using the wicked to accuse the innocent of what they are guilty of, and of what is in their own wicked hearts and thereby keep others from looking at them. Put the focus on others so no one looks at their sins and failures. I have had this happen so many times and seen it so many times it is unreal. Blame others for what you are guilty of. Oh, how the deceitful politicians do this one all the time and all the other lies and tricks of deceit of the enemy.
What is left out in their speaking of God's people and would be by all Pharisees and wicked men trying to justify their rejection of faith in God, is the mercy of God and power of forgiveness and that we are in a spiritual battle in which we are fighting forces greater than we are and that no man can stand against them outside the grace of God.
Now think, why should the disciples turn away from their faith in Christ and go back to what they were, as fishing, after seeing the marvelous works and miracles of Christ to even the raising of the dead and casting out of devils and hearing His teaching, which was like no other. How could they turn their back because one of their own failed when they knew what the Lord had done for them? So many professing Christians today put their eyes on a man and put their trust in a man rather than in Christ, and then they fail and you find out they are human and frail and not an angel or Jesus Christ the second. To those I would say, get your eyes off of man, for all men are subject to failure and get your eyes on Jesus and the Cross and look at who He is and what He has done for you. Do you not remember the pit He brought you out of? Do you not remember the times He answered your prayer and the times the anointing of God came and the joy of the Lord filled your spirit? Remember what the Lord has done for you and don't turn your back on Him. Why should you be disappointed in Him? Why should you loose confidence in Him because some of His followers don't always follow through and live a perfect life because of the frailty and failure of humanity? Why give up on Him because men are imperfect? You are no better and no more perfect or holy than anyone else. You have nothing to boast of in yourself.
Remember, it is the job of the enemy to discourage and dishearten you and pull you away from the truth. The devil's job is to be the devil and he does a good job of it. No one will ever be able to accuse him of failure or lack of effort in doing his work of evil. But, when you know the truth, that truth is able to set you free from all the works of the devil and all his lies and deceptions. It will not be because he didn't try to keep you in blindness and deception, but because the light of Christ is greater than the darkness of Satan and when you put your faith and trust in Christ and obey His Word, then you find that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
Part 2: The Message
Many times there are sections of scripture that are prophetic concerning some future even, yet in some instances there are truths within that prophecy that can have a practical application for us today. Some want to make practical applications out of every scripture, and though that is true about most scripture, sometimes it won't work.
Revelation 12 reveals how Satan will attack the Jewish remnant on the earth to try and destroy them, the seed of the woman. Yet it also reveals the four stages of Satan's assault against every believer. Satan comes along and he hears the progression of the battle. Here is a woman travailing to give birth. We give birth to things in the spiritual realm just like a woman gives birth in the natural realm. The seed is dropped in us, the seed is cultivated and begins to grow and suddenly that seed begins to bring forth and we birth that for which we have believed. We plant the seed of God's Word within our spirit and water that seed in the light of God's Word and through prayer and intercession and it grows and builds within us. Then finally we begin to see a visible manifestation of that thing we have been praying for, whether a loved one to be saved, or a new ministry. Satan stands ready to devoir the seed as soon as it is born.
Mark 4 tells us about the sower sowing the Word and then Satan immediately comes to steal the Word that was sown into their lives. This can happen through a variety of circumstances. You may see a loved one get saved, but then they don't seem to be growing in the Lord. The enemy steps in to devoir the seed. When you receive a blessing that God births through you and that blessing is manifested, Satan will try to come and steal and devoir through circumstances that which God has given you. If you can get victory over that attack, then there is a second level of attack.
Revelation 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. In the midst of all this, God is going to protect you in a wilderness experience. (V.6) And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” The next level you go into if Satan cannot rob you of that blessing and steal that seed, then you will go into a wilderness experience. In a wilderness there is no water and no food, a dry place in which you are totally dependant upon God. One of the Hebrew words translated wilderness is (midbar: mid-bawr') meaning to speak to, but also it is where the sheep lie down. It is a place where God has a chance to speak to you, but a place without rain, no outpouring of the holy spirit, no fresh water coming from heaven, no refreshing coming into your spirit, no food. Have you gone through a time where you didn't feel like praying, reading the Bible or anything else spiritual. That is a wilderness experience. God will preserve you in that experience if you will be faithful to Him.
Once you have come through those wilderness experiences, you will discover Revelation 12:13 and that Satan will then attempt to persecute you. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.” This is found in Mark 4, being persecuted for the word's sake, and some are thereby offended. What is this persecution? What does it mean? People at work will call you a religious fanatic or crazy. Family members and friends that you love will talk about you and put pressure on you to make you back away from and back down from that which you believe God is giving you and calling you to.
Revelation 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” God will take you out of the area of persecution and lift you above it. God can lift you above your enemies and sit you in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus to where what is happening around you has no affect or impact upon you. You have to stand in the persecution, which is meant to make you back away from what God is doing in your life and that which He wants to do in and through you. If you can stand and survive the persecution then you will eventually come to Revelation 12:16. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. In this chapter that talks about Satan being cast out of heaven to the earth, it mentions the dragon throwing water out of his mouth (V.15). “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” Normally a dragon is thought to breath fire out of his mouth. If this verse read that the dragon was spewing out fire against the woman and her seed it is obviously a trail of your faith, a fiery trial that is much more precious than gold tried in the fire. But it doesn't say that, but that the dragon spews water out of his mouth.
Revelation 12:10b The accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” Satan is an adversary but the word Diablo means a slanderer. He slanders you by accusing you. What is an accusation? It is like a policeman stopping you and saying I'm giving you a ticket for speeding, and you know that you weren't speeding. It's happened to me, twice in my lifetime. In fact before they left they both admitted that I wasn't speeding, but I still got the ticket. You have been accused, not slandered. Jesus is called our advocate. If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Advocate is a word for lawyer, someone who takes your case before the throne of God. That is an advocate. An accuser is a prosecutor, someone who stands against you and says you're guilty of a crime. The Advocate is saying, no, he is not guilty. Satan stands and accuses you of sin, but Jesus is there to make intercession for you and I before the Father. That is the ministry of Jesus for us today, as advocate and high priest. When we have sinned Satan says, I have caught so and so in a sin and you go before the Lord, confess your sin and apply the blood, then Satan has no right to accuse you. The case he presents before the throne will not stand because you have a heavenly advocate that says the charge is not valid.
Jesus is not in heaven building mansions. If you read the King James bible and see that verse, even it says, in my Father house are, not will be, not I'm going to go build, but are and the Greek Word for mansions literally means dwelling places. But they are already there. We look for a city with foundations whose builder and maker is God. The New Jerusalem already exists and did before we were ever born. It has existed since the beginning of time. The place Christ prepared for us is access to the Father in heaven, not mansions. Jesus isn't spending His time building on new rooms for somebody else that got saved. Jesus is sitting on the throne at the right hand of the Father making intercession for you and I.
Satan's role is to accuse you and I, day and night, as he accused Job before God, then accuses God to Job, playing both ends to try and make Job look bad in the eyes of God and God look bad in the eyes of Job. Satan arose to provoke David to number Israel, he is working to accuse you and cause you to fall.
How can the dragon which is supposed to have fire, produce water? When water is typically a symbol of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament? In James 5 it speaks of the early and latter rain, alluding to the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah it speaks of God pouring water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon dry ground, pouring his spirit out upon your seed and blessing upon your offspring. Acts 2 speaks of the Holy Spirit, John 7 says “out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water. This spake He of the Holy Spirit, that they that believe on him should receive. When you read the prophecies of water and rivers flowing and the New Testament you see allusions to the Holy Spirit. So what is the dragon doing spewing water out of his mouth?
The church has learned that Satan is a liar, so that when the national media writes an article against a ministry or pastor, we know they're biased and bigoted and have a motive of attacking the church because they have done it so many times. So the church knows not to believe everything the secular media says. So Satan has wised up and knows that he can't use the secular media as affective as before. If an atheist attacks the church or believers we pull together. So he knows an outside source to attack the church is not so affective. So now he has started bring the attack from the inside.
Judas was the treasurer and in prophecy he was called mine own familiar friend. Psalm 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. Judas betrayed Christ and was among his circle of 12 who cast out devils and healed the sick. Today, Satan has Christians who are spirit filled saying things about other Christians because it adds credibility to the lie. I also know that first hand. If the world were to tell a lie on me, I could document and give you the facts and you would reject what the world has said because we understand their bias against God and his people. However, when someone who calls themselves a Christian who has known that person for a long time starts saying things about another Christian, then others will believe it and accept it without considering that there is a personal slant to what is being said. They don't consider the motive of the person speaking evil about you and there are always two sides to every story. Satan is spewing a flood of words out of his mouth at the woman, representing Christians who are spirit filled spewing dirty water out of their mouth against other Christians. This is the final assault of Satan. To move upon people in the local church that will have credibility to come against the men of God in the churches to hurt the local congregation.
Now, normally most of the intercessors in a church are the women. Men are the warriors, the workers and women the prayer warriors. Men of God pray but they don't understand travail and birth in the way women do. But how many times have supposed intercessors in the church become super spiritual and instead of doing what they are supposed to do, which is to pray for the people and for God to move in their lives and circumstances and leaving the work up to the Lord, they decide to take matters into their own hands and expose people in the church. These immature believers decide to fix or correct a problem they see exists and then start going to weaker women or young believers and start gossiping. They will sometimes even say, now I want to tell you something, but it's confidential between you and me, but I believe - and the gossip begins with an air of suspicion and allusions that are not purely factual and it becomes accusations without basis. Others don't even bother with the air of keeping something confidential but just begin a campaign of accusation and attack to hurt someone for whatever reason they have that they think makes them justified to spew vomit out of their mouths against other brethren and especially leadership in the church. Some claim the gift of discernment when telling their tales, but its nothing more than the gift of suspicion in which they read into things that which is not there. The gift of discernment allows a person the ability to discern the presence of angels or demons or the ability to discern human spirits, what they are going through. So when a true intercessor discerns a problem, what they are supposed to do is go before the Lord in intercessory prayer and not announcing what they see or believe is a problem in another believers life to everybody around them who will listen.
Ecclesiastes 10:20 Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter. Now we know this is not a real bird, but we know that when the sower sows the word, the birds of the air, demons, come to devoir the seed which has been planted. We also know that angels can have wings. This scripture is telling us to be careful what we say for it can become known. In 2nd Kings the Assyrian army was invading Israel and the general would in his private chambers give the plans and then when they would go to attack Israel, Israel would not be there. He thought someone within was a traitor giving Israel their military secrets. Then they found out that Elijah was hearing in his prayer chamber in the spirit what the king of Assyria was saying in his private chambers. So that is an example of that which has wings telling the matter to another.
If there is something about to happen or someone is about to fall or has fallen, you are to pray, not go around gossiping. You don't need to expose sin; God Himself will do that when He chooses. There are things we have to leave in the hand of God for when we take them into our own hands we create more trouble and problems and will in the end reap of what we have sown. Even God says the wheat and tares grow together in the church until harvest time and then the angels are sent to separate the wheat and tares. This is because if you go into a field with both wheat and tares and take your hand and try to pull up the tares, you will pull up the wheat also because the roots of the tares have interwoven with the root of the wheat. So why do you want to damage good people who love God who are trying to live right by trying to remove a tare? The problem is that men try to deal with spiritual matters themselves and they do so in the flesh and just make things worse for everyone. The only way that problems can be dealt with is by prayer and allowing the Lord to deal with the problem His way because your ways are not His ways. Prayer will expose the attack of the enemy and sin in people's lives. If you see a problem or think you see a problem in another's life you are to go to them individually, privately, one on one and talk to them. You follow the scriptural pattern of Matthew 18:15-17. Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. But always, if it is one believer and another it must be done through and under the authority of the elders of the church. The thing to do as a member of the body is to first pray and not go running your mouth. What if you are wrong? What if you suspect something about another and it turns how to not be true, but false? There was nothing to it but your suspicions and not truth. Too many in the church today go around telling others, the Lord told me this and the Lord showed me that, especially in the Charismatic Churches. They use these words loosely and freely and it just isn't so. Jeremiah 23:21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. And they are nothing but fleshly individuals and even false accusers and slanderers. Just because you think something or feel something don't go around speaking it as truth and fact or say, the Lord showed me.
Satan can't hurt the credibility of God's Word for it is true at all times under all circumstances. His Word is eternally settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. 1 Kings 8:56, 2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” Since Satan can't affect the written Word, he tries to attack your integrity. He will attack your integrity by getting others within the body of Christ to say things about you, or getting you to say things that are not true and you are found to be untrue. But most comes by gossip and slander and innuendo. Normally, if a person leaves a church or a ministry, you don't want to listen to anything they have to say because they will have a biased opinion and have a wrong motive are just trying to damage someone's reputation and hurt them. If you were to check out their story with those whom they are talking about you would find the truth to be something entirely different. Opinions are like noses, everyone has one. And opinions are like armpits, they usually stink. You cannot determine the truth based on the biased words of a person with an agenda and motive who goes around speaking evil of others. Remember, Satan is the accuser of the brethren.
Satan is now getting people within a church to get upset, leave that ministry and then work to devastate them by what they speak to others in the body of Christ. Then others consider them credible because they were within the ministry. Somebody who gets mad and leaves a ministry has nothing good to say or anything you should even listen too. It will be opinion and half-truths and even outright falsehoods. We need to head the admonitions of scripture. Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Yet Satan is using people who are or have been on the inside of a ministry who are supposed to know what is happening, to expose weaknesses or problems they know about or to just outright slander them. When we are dealing with someone who has fallen the scripture tells us about dealing with it. Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
I remember some years ago what was called the tele-evangelists war. Evangelist JB had just confessed to a sexual sin and indiscretion some years ago, that he had repented of. Evangelist JS having just come back from an overseas crusade heard some things the media said about how another evangelist (JF) was trying to take down and take over Evangelist JB's and he got on the air and spoke something rashly he should not have and said that Evangelist JB was a cancer that had to be eradicated from the body of Christ. That spelled the end of his own ministry. He attacked a fellow brother and minister publicly that was wounded and hurting and that is something God will not accept from a believer. Evangelist JS also attacked another minister publicly for a sexual sin. A year later Evangelist JS was confessing to even worse sins. Psalms tells us what happens when you send an arrow out against others. Psalm 64:1-3 Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: He is comparing the words of men to arrows. (V.4) That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. These people have no fear of God and speak these words in secret behind another's back. (V.5-6) They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep. Remember the scripture in Revelation about the depths of Satan? These secret counsels who are cutting down men of God who are serving Him, trying to do what is right, criticizing. The thoughts of their heart are deep. (V.7-8) But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away. The day will come that those who verbally attack a brother, especially in the ministry, one who is having problems or even who has fallen, who is a man of God that loves the Lord, the scripture says the time will come that God will shoot at you and make you fall. Remember Shimei?
That is what happened when Evangelist JS came against Evangelist JB in 1988. He then fell. He said that he prayed and prayed for two years and couldn't get relief, couldn't get deliverance because those arrows sent out against the brother that came back and tore down his own hedge of protection. We just cannot speak about another, especially in the ministry and get by with it. We must pray for them and allow God to deal with them, for they are His servants, not ours and they are His responsibility, not ours. If you speak against another, in that area of your life, God will allow you to be tempted and fall. I know about this first hand and have so experienced and suffered loss. Ecclesiastes 10:8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.” Remember when Satan was talking to God about Job. He couldn't touch him because of the hedge. As long as the hedge was up, Job was supernaturally protected, but as soon as the hedge came down, he was able to attack him. Psalm 34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Round about speaks of a hedge.
Whatever you sow you will reap. I have seen this again and again. Just like when you preach something, the Lord will allow you to be tested in that which you preach, when you mock another who has fallen, the Lord will allow you to face that same thing so you will know what it is they went through and learn empathy and forgiveness and not be so critical and easy to condemn. The merciful receive mercy, not the judgmental. Example. A young girl in church gets pregnant. The mother is hurting and grieving. Another mother in the church condemns that mother for not raising her daughter right and criticizing her. The next thing she finds out that her own daughter got involved with someone and is pregnant. The world says, what goes around, comes around. God said it better, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. I wish I could say that has never happened to me or that I have never done such and reaped for it. When you criticize another believer who is wounded and hurting you are sinning against Christ and He will permit your hedge to come down in that same area and you can learn what they were going through and felt like so you can learn to be compassionate and not critical. I know the reality of this. This has happened to many ministers. Every minister who has criticized another - has faced the same thing. The Lord is merciful and gracious to have forgiven us our sins and He requires that we be forgiving of others. Part of the punishment if we are not forgiving is that we are turned over to the tormenters and we will be tried in that same area. We have to keep our spirit pure and when we hear someone gossiping, we need to stop it and not listen. Many of God's people are so immature they will listen to and believe gossip given with a motive and agenda and accept rumors as truth. This is sad. It is a most affective means of doing damage to the body of Christ, and that is why Satan is using it. Satan knows that the integrity of a minister is all he has. Every man should have the right to give an account and answer an accusation. What about 1 Timothy 5:19? “Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. 2 Corinthians 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. Deuteronomy 19:15-20 confirms this originated in the Law.
The end-time attack of Satan is not coming from the world against the church but from within. If the world attacks the church it will make the church stronger. The attack is from within. We all need to guard our minds and our mouths and not repeat what we hear about others, especially elders in the church. Why should you listen to some devil making accusation against a saint of God? Satan is the father of lies.
Another example. A demon possessed drunkard who is a relative of a minister went into his church one day and said out loud in the service, these people don't know you like I know you, that you drink secretly and it was a total lie. Yet some members started repeating this, saying that it was rumored by a relative that the pastor drinks secretly. The credibility came from the fact that it was a relative even though it was a man not even saved. And I know what it is to be falsely accused by family members and friends who believed something told to them by another. They take the reproach of the one speaking evil against you and then they hold these things against you personally and act as if you wronged them. They took the reproach of the one who gossiped and slandered and they took that bitter spirit that was passed on from the hatred of the one who started it. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. That is his purpose, his main plan and project. He is not just accusing us before God, but before other brethren and it is working because many listen and repeat a rumor or accusation without proof or going to the one whom it is about, taking a evil report and then themselves holding something against a brother as if you had sinned against them and they have no mercy, no compassion, or desire to check it out or that you should be restored and forgiven if you have fallen. The church is the only army or group of people where we step on our wounded and try to kill them instead of heal them. We don't heal the wounded and bind the wounds and restore, we try to destroy and kill the fallen and wounded. This is not the spirit of God or the work of God, but of Lucifer. Our position and the desire of God for the body of Christ is according to Isaiah 61:1. <
>The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. God will Himself do according to Ezekiel 34:16. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. We have to guard out hearts. Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
If you hear a vicious rumor repeated, you need to let them know that you are going to tell the person what they are saying about them and who said it. You should take a stand and stop it. We need to stand with one another and protect one another not try to destroy one another. We need to stand with our brothers face-to-face, back-to-back and shoulder-to-shoulder. Face-to face is how we know each other in church. Shoulder-to-shoulder is how we work together in church, lifting up one another and bearing one another's burdens. Back-to-back is how we protect one another in time of spiritual battle.
Even if someone comes and says, I heard so and so about this person. What if it's true? Well, what if it is? So what? Don't you think God is in control and has the power to deal with people, especially His own servants? Do you not believe God has the power to change things and people? And if a person who has fallen, repents of a sin, who are you to stand up and try to accuse them when God has forgiven them? You are then standing with Satan and becoming his emissary. If any person repents of sin, we accept them as a brother and love them, as we have been forgiven and accepted by God. Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Luke 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.
Would you like for someone to bring out all the skeletons in your closet that have been forgiven of and keep pointing an accusing finger at you for something you once did, but repented of? If we want God to show us mercy then we must be merciful. With the same measure we mete out judgment and condemnation against a brother, it shall be meted out to us by God. You cannot get around or past this fact because God will do it. We must protect and guard one another in the body of Christ and if we see that a brother has fallen we should go to them and help them, to try and restore them. Why? God doesn't want them to perish but be restored, otherwise he would not have given us the story of the prodigal son. We need the heart of God in having mercy and forgiveness as a way of life. We must walk in these graces and live by them and have this attitude toward others. It is the end time attack of the enemy to spew dirty water and filth out of the mouth of professing Christians against their brethren to destroy and to hurt not only that person but also the church. Such things hurt more than the one individual we speak evil against. May God help us to understand that we are all members of one body and Jesus is the head of the Church and He is in control and it is up to Him to discipline and correct in the church by the working of the Holy Spirit and not give place to the devil! There are many more verses on this subject but this should be adequate to help us understand the wiles of the enemy and how he is working against the people of God in the greatest way. By attacking and destroying ministers, Satan hurts many more. He knows that when the shepherd is smitten, the sheep will be scattered and it is the way to do the most damage to the body of Christ and hinder the work of God. This very kind of attack has nearly destroyed my life and ministry. I know the end of many of these things personally and have suffered them. I will close with Matthew 12:37. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Remember, those who gossip and speak evil of others have a bad spirit and are not full of the Holy Spirit. They have bitterness, unforgiveness
