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A Choice of Culture
“…lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
The first thing we have to know about the author of evil is that he is real and he is the exact opposite of the Author of Good. So many times, we blame the Author of Good for what the author of evil has brought us - disease, murder, pornography, abortion and death, to name a few.
Why would the Author of Good allow this? In the beginning, everything was perfect in the Garden of Eden. When God allowed evil to enter perfection, man disobeyed God and death entered the world. God had warned Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or they would die. God never lies. While Adam made the wrong choice, we can thank God that the result of that choice is only temporal for those who inherit His kingdom. God prevented eternal death from becoming part of His eternal kingdom! Thank you Jesus! God graciously allows each of us to decide who we will believe and who we will follow. But entry into His House comes at a price. When we begin to glimpse the amazing treasure inside (i.e. relationship with him), we must give up everything we have to get it! On the other hand, when you decide to follow the author of evil, you get snared in his trap and become a slave to all he stands for, including death. While God made a way for eternal life (relationship with God) Satan promotes separation from God. This separation is eternal! It is impossible to fully comprehend such death. No wonder Jesus compared it to eternal flames. Yet, many will come to such an end if they don’t repent when God’s grace is extended and choose the right path. The author of evil intruded in what was perfect, and spoiled it. Let’s face it. God is not the problem here. The author of evil is.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
(1 Pet. 5:8, NKJV)
When it comes to the Author of Evil, it is important to be aware of his objective, his tactics and what authority he really has. To help in this endeavor, let’s consider Paul’s response to a “son of the devil” in Acts 13:6-10.
“Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?”
We see from these scripture passages that the author of evil is:
Our adversary
He is full of deceit and fraud
He is the enemy of righteousness
He seeks to pervert the straight ways of the Lord
We also know that he is:
The accuser of the brethren (Rev. 9:11)
A murderer (John 8:44)
The father of lies (John 8:44)
The prince of this world (John 12:31)
A tempter (Matt. 4:3)
His objective is to oppose the Author of Good and to take His place as the King of all creation. His strategy is to pervert the straight ways of the Lord.
Satan employs many tactics to try and ensnare us. And he is quite subtle in how he employs them. (Gen. 3:1) To be subtle means to be crafty and cunning. The devil is both. It is so easy to get snared by his temptations. If we do, they will keep us from bearing the fruit of love.
Here are some of his snares:
He attempts to keep us disconnected from God
He attacks children by seeking to destroy the family unit
Undermining God’s Authority
He will tempt us to stay in the bondage of unforgiveness when we have been offended by others
He always presents himself as an angel of light (i.e. that his perspective is the true and correct one)
He wants all people to take his mark – to have their thoughts and deeds reflect his influence
If you are connected to God, you will bear good fruit (John 15:4). Therefore, Satan doesn’t want you to be connected to God. In the first Gulf War one aspect of our strategy in going into the fight, was to cut the communication lines between the Iraqi Generals and their troops on the front line. If those troops could not get direction, encouragement, strategy, etc., during the battle, they would not know how the conflict was developing. As a result, they would not be able to counter any strategy that we were employing against them. In addition, we probably fed them information, that we wanted them to hear in order to influence them to surrender. The author of evil works in the same way. He tries to cut off our communication with the Author of Good. If he succeeds, he will then attempt to plant his deceitful and evil ways into our minds. If we receive them, we will be connected to him. That is when we get tangled up in our selfishness and get caught up in the cares of this life.
”But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly; For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
(Luke 21:34-35, NKJV)
What are the cares of this life? (Matt. 6:25, Mark 4:19)
What we eat
What we wear
What we drink
Deceitfulness of riches
The desire for other things
While there is nothing wrong with food, drink, possessions, etc., we can so elevate them in importance that we relegate God to a secondary role in our lives. Then, the more we accumulate, the more we find it difficult to keep the greatest commandment, which is to wholly love Him. Possessions become idols when they turn us from God; He must be our highest priority.
Lately, the author of evil has used the cultural doorways of arts and entertainment and media to turn us increasingly away from God. We have gotten just too busy with our TV shows, video games, Facebook and cell phone apps to spend time with Him. Our enemy influences us to lower our godly standards, which then affects our activities. His influence then is reflected in what we do - how we spend our time.
”I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
(Rev. 3:15-16, NKJV)
When we get separated from the Author of Good, it is because the author of evil has moved in and begun to influence us with his ways. His strategy is to keep us ignorant of God and His ways. In fact, Satan will substitute God’s truth with his own twisted version and will try to get us to think we can reason on our own apart from God. The author of evil will even tell us that there is no ultimate truth, and that we can therefore decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. If we evolved, we were not created and if we evolved, there can be no Supreme Being who designed the creation. This means that we are on our own, and that is exactly what the author of evil wants us to believe. If he can convince us that we are on our own, then we will not consult the Creator. In fact, he has done just that with many people. He is now free to influence and get them to do what he wants. How devious is that? Many in our culture are being influenced by dark powers and don’t even know it. The author of evil puts on his camouflage and presents his ways as being good. If we buy his lie, our standards begin to change just a little. Over time, our passion for God becomes just a little less hot until before we know it, our hearts and our deeds have become lukewarm. At that point, many believers don’t even realize that their standards have changed. The key ingredient of the author of evils’ repertoire of chaos is deception. The cultural chaos emerging in this country is evident and our moral decline is obvious. Nationally, we have become disconnected from our power source and the diminishing of our spiritual light has caused an increase in cultural and moral darkness.
The author of evil knows that in order to capture children for his schemes, he would have to go after the family. Those who mold children, change the next generation. Those who mold the next generation, change the nation. Today, our children are under the worst attack ever. The influence from evil spiritual forces has never been worse. The author of evil has attacked the family unit in America at a time when temporal prosperity has never been greater. Here is how he has done it.
As we were tempted to pursue bigger homes, more cars, TV’s, swimming pools, cell phones, etc., fathers and mothers chose to spend more time working for these possessions. In the past, mom usually stayed home while dad went to work. Mom played a critical role in child rearing by being home with their children so they could participate full time in their education. Moms also played a critical role in keeping the home in order allowing dads to focus on training their children when they came home from work. Today, a much different dynamic is in play. Most homes now require two working parents in order to maintain the standard of living to which we have become accustomed. Children spend their days in day care centers, at the babysitters, or at the mall to “hang out” with their friends. Parents have exchanged precious time raising their children in order to pursue material goods ultimately precious to no one, leaving strangers to teach them about the Author of Good and the author of evil. As a result, many parents lack the energy to participate fully with their kids. TV or video games become the evening babysitter while dad and mom recover from a hard day at work. We are now witnessing a substantial drop in the overall participation of parents in their kids’ lives. This is not an indictment against all families with two working parents or in homes where there is a single parent who has to work to support the family. In many of these situations, Godly parents make tremendous sacrifices to keep the right priorities and do a great job of raising their children in a Godly manner. However, in my view, this is not the norm today.
The primary purpose of parents is to teach their children about the Author of Good and to raise them up in His good ways. Unfortunately, our primary task has taken a back seat to our desire to maintain our physical standard of living. Sadly, our desire to maintain our spiritual standard of living has taken a back seat as well. We have emphasized how to survive in this world instead of how to thrive in God’s presence. In other words, we were enticed by material goods to move the economic thread to the forefront. We have been deceived by the mass media and those who are greedy for money and power to sacrifice our children for the sake of cool clothes, nice homes, video games, soccer practice and earthly retirement. Not that any of these things are bad in and of themselves, but when they take precedence over our primary responsibility, we are communicating to our kids that things are more important to us than our relationship with God and with them. While preparing ourselves and our kids for retirement from work in this world, we have failed to properly prepare them for eternity. Once again, this is not meant to be an accusation but an observation. Most parents in these scenarios have gotten caught up in the deception of evil or have simply not been trained themselves. God’s heart is not condemnation but compassion and restoration.
The Author of Good created the heavens, the earth and all that is in them. Therefore, He has absolute authority over His creation and has established lines of authority to keep things in order and maintain peace in our relationships. The author of evil desires chaos, so he will challenge godly authority everywhere he can. One of his strategies to accomplish this is attacking God’s wisdom in how love is to be expressed in these relational lines of authority.
The first line of authority is God’s relationship to man. God has absolute authority over man. The author of evil has sought to dismiss God as if he does not exist. The next line of authority under attack is seen in the marriage relationship. A husband is supposed to be the head of his wife. This does not mean that he lords it over his wife as if she is a slave. In a good marriage, the husband and wife submit to each other. A wise husband loves his wife, seeks her input and partners with her in all aspects of family life. As their roles are identified, the freedom to make decisions over the specific responsibilities divided between them is established. However, when a disagreement between the two comes up, clearly the Author of Good has established “headship”. The author of evil understood this principle when he tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit. Adam clearly abdicated his responsibility of headship by deferring to his wife. The husband is clearly accountable to the Author of Good for the proper application of the moral and economic threads concerning his household. Of the two, the moral ones are the most important.
In addition, the Author of Good has established lines of authority in both the workplace and civic government. The author of evil uses disrespect in both of these places to create chaos, which is the opposite of God’s order. Whenever God’s authority is disrespected, chaos ensues. The Author of evil’s strategy is to so promote disrespect of authority, that anarchy is the end result. For example, we see the effects of his strategy on our immigration system. As our laws go unenforced chaos has ensued. We have allowed many people to break the law by being here illegally and by so doing have allowed an increase in crime and an inability to properly plan for the health and well-being of those we have allowed in. There are many more examples of how Satan has promoted disrespect of authority especially in families and schools. In many cases, children are telling parents and others in authority what to do and we are allowing it.
One part of the enemy’s plan to implement disorder in the earth has been to hijack our country through the influence of an evil spirit known as the spirit of Jezebel.[28] This demonic spirit seeks to undermine authority. It seeks to interfere with the proper line of authority and establish its own influence. Let’s consider God’s established line of authority in both the home and as it relates to civic government.
But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
(1 Cor. 11:3, NKJV)
Here Paul lays out God’s order of authority in a family.
The authority of God in relation to Christ
The authority of Christ in relation to the husband
The authority of the husband in relation to the wife
Then Paul reveals God’s authority concerning civic government.
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
(Rom. 13:1, NKJV)
The authority that God gives to those in government
The authority that these individuals then wield toward the citizenry
Notice the order. It is important because it starts with the Author of Good! God has an order in his delegation of authority. But when that authority gets out of line, bad things happen; chaos ensues. This evil spirit is at work to place the authority of man above the authority of God. In other words, it wants what seems right to us to take precedence over what the Author of Good says is right. This approach reveals one part of the Author of Evil’s plan to establish his government above God’s.
In these days, we must guard out hearts from taking offense and then holding on to it. When we do, we are tempted to betray and even hate those who offended us. Such relational breakdowns will occur especially in the last days.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. ”Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
(Matt. 24:7-13, NKJV)
When anyone says or does something to offend or even persecutes us, we always have a choice as to how to respond. Jesus taught us that offenses would come, but that we are to forgive offenders seventy times seven. If we don’t open our hearts to an attitude of forgiveness, unforgiveness then becomes a personal prison for our souls. Ironically, the one who gets hurt the most by our decision is not the person who needs forgiving, but we who refuse to forgive (Matt. 18: 21-35). In fact, we end up being tormented internally.
The author of evil is a counterfeit; he presents himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).
Though he dwells in darkness, in order to deceive us, he comes to us as though he is the Author of Good. In other words, Satan wears “spiritual camouflage”. He doesn’t want to be recognized or exposed for what he is, for then he would have to flee. The author of evil understands that most people are ignorant about the Author of Good and don’t really know Him intimately. So he comes to them and pretends to be Him. Consistently, he will appeal to their senses in order to deceive them.
While God is one, we see God expressed in three ways: the Father, the Word (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit (1 John 5-7). Similarly, we see Satan expressed in three ways: 1) Satan (revealed in the book of Revelation as a serpent and a dragon), 2) human leadership (not under God’s authority) in both the political state and the counterfeit church (In Revelation, such leadership is spoken of as the beast and false prophet) and the 3) the “prince of the power of the air”. [29]
To sum up what I have been saying:
God is the Author of Good and Satan who is the author of Evil is the counterfeit.
Jesus is the Word of God. On earth, He expressed God’s authority and today He governs His people as Lord and King. As the High Priest He intercedes for His church, and as the Great Shepherd, He oversees it. The counterfeit is the majority of mankind that refuses to come under Christ’s authority. They oversee both the ungodly governments of this world and its false religions (Jesus said that many false prophets will rise up in the last days–Matt. 24). These false religions offer a vain imitation of the righteousness of God and they claim to speak for Him. But the morality or righteousness they proclaim is based on their reason and their opinions concerning good and evil. It is not authorized by God. As a result, we can know them by their fruit. For example, they support gay marriage, even allowing gay men and women to have leadership roles in certain “Christian” sects. They also support abortion rights. Such overseers are immoral, seeking the accolades of this world over the treasures of Heaven.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ and the “prince of the power of the air” is a spirit operating under the influence of Satan himself.
See the comparison chart (next page):
| Authentic | Counterfeit |
|---|---|
| 1. God the Father is the Author of Good (Luke 18:19) | 1. Satan is the Father of lies and is evil in nature. (John 8:44) (Dragon) |
|
2. Jesus (whose role is): • High Priest • King of Kings and bears on His shoulder the Government of God. (Isa. 9:6) |
2. Unredeemed Man (revealed in John’s Revelation as the Beast and False Prophet) attempts to replace Jesus in two of His roles: • As the Beast he seeks to head up civil governments without submitting to God so as to replace God • As the False Prophet he heads up false religion and supports the Beast |
|
3. The Holy Spirit: The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10): • Proclaims and confirms Jesus’ existence and his message • Has great power to influence • Promotes righteousness • The Spirit’s work is to be confirmed by the word of God |
3. An evil spirit. Eph. 2:2 The prince of the power of the air: The testimony of man is the only prophecy we need: • Is carnal in nature (Matt. 7:20) • Because it is evil, this spirit will proclaim that God does not exist • Has great power to control (i.e. political correctness) • Promotes lawlessness • This spirit’s work is confirmed by the opinions of unredeemed man |
What is the mark of the beast?
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
In this scripture, “He” (the beast) is man governing himself without God. He sits in the place of Jesus in two ways: 1) As head of earthly governments and 2) as head of all counterfeit religions. In neither of these roles does man have real authority because he excludes God. Unredeemed man attempts to put his “mark” on everyone. He will succeed at doing so except for those whose names have been written in the Book of Life. Revelation 13:8-9(NKJV) To understand Revelation 13:16-18 we must first define some terms.
A mark: a scratch or etching, that is, stamp (as a badge of servitude), or sculptured figure (statue): - graven, mark.
Right hand: Denotes action or behavior. It is also used when describing an assistant using the phrase right hand man. Right hand man means someone who has the responsibility, knowledge, understanding, authority and ability to implement a plan articulated by the person who is in the primary position of power.
Forehead: Your mind or what you believe. What you believe prompts action.
Buy or Sell: In the world’s economy, this means exchanging goods and services for a price. In a spiritual economy, it is receiving and giving, as in a loving or selfish relationship.
666: The Bible says that six is the number of man. Words associated with six include: flesh, carnal, idol and form. The fact that it is repeated three times to make a single number, means conformity, to copy or imitate.
From the above definitions we conclude that Revelation 13:8-9 is a description of what the world will look like without the authority of God in our lives. All who dwell on the earth, except the elect, are being conformed to the image of the dragon. The dragon (Satan) is being aided by the earthly government and counterfeit religions overseen by unredeemed man. The following verses describe unredeemed mankind who has taken the mark of the beast.
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.
(2 Tim. 3:2-5, NKJV)
The purpose of God is that Christ, God’s manifold wisdom, would be expressed both to the world and to principalities and powers in heavenly places through the local and collective church (an assembly of believers). As believers, we are under God’s government, and are being conformed to the image of Christ (bearing the mark of Christ in how we think and what we do – character). We are being transformed through the renewing of our mind. To renew means to make new again or to restore to former freshness, completeness or perfection.[30] Satan’s objective is exactly the same. He wants us to look like him. When we come under his government, we reflect his image. We become joined to him in the spirit and thus take on his character. The number 666 is a way of saying that there will be people who have become mature or complete in this transformation. They will be the exact opposite of mature Christians. They will be transformed by their belief that they can determine how to create morality and govern from that false foundation. This way of thinking is what leads to moral decay and is not unlike tooth decay. It leads to significant suffering and eventual removal.
The Author of Good tells us that when we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7). Fellowship in the spiritual realm is like buying and selling in the natural realm. Love freely receives what others offer (similar to buying) and freely gives to others according to their need (similar to selling). This is the nature of a spiritual transaction in God’s economy. It is also the nature of spiritual activity in the economy of the author of evil. Those people operating and promoting a governmental system that rejects God, will only have a relationship with those who think (John’s Revelation would indicate that they have a mark on their foreheads) and act (i.e., mark on their hands) like them. Light cannot fellowship with darkness.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
In these days, can you see the increasing hatred the world has for Christians? Can you see why Sarah Palin (a professed Christian) is so hated? In the days ahead, such rejection will intensify.
It is important to understand Jesus’ attitude concerning fellowship between light and darkness.
Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
We must stand strong in these days of spiritual warfare. It becomes personal when our families are affected. That is why it is important to put on the full armor of God to stand against the enemy and expose his strategy and tactics (Eph. 6:10-18).
It is important to know that Satan can affect our circumstances by his evil ways but only according to what God allows. The book of Job reveals this truth. The author of evil certainly affected Job’s life, but he could not force Job’s responses. The same is true with us. The Author of Good allows the author of evil to make various times in our lives uncomfortable for us in order to test our responses and to train us to overcome. What the enemy uses for evil, God uses for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). While it may be difficult to do so, we are to count our trials as joy because the testing of our faith produces patience which then makes us perfect (mature) and complete (James 1:2-4).
The good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom is that the author of evil has no power over us other than what we give him; he has been defeated. When we submit ourselves to God (come under His authority), resist the devil, he flees from us. Satan cannot take advantage of us if we understand his devices!
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