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Series Code: ETM
Program Code: ETM220003S
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00:17 Thank you for joining us for series titled Eternal Truths
00:24 Matter. In the first two presentations we pointed out 00:27 that the Bible is the very foundation of our faith. But the 00:31 question that atheists cannot answer is why is the Bible so 00:35 accurate in its predictions if it's an uninspired book? And we 00:39 traced down through the prophecies of the Bible to point 00:44 out that the Bible is accurate and that we can trust it. That 00:47 it's the very foundation of our faith. In the second 00:50 presentation we talked about Jesus as the Divine Son of God. 00:54 Both of those presentations prepare us now for launching in 00:59 to the rest of our series on end time events. We're going to look 01:05 in this presentation to unravel Satan's greatest deception just 01:12 before Jesus comes. But we need the Bible as our anchor and 01:15 Christ as our guide. So let's pray. 01:17 Father in heaven, thank you for the opportunity of sharing your 01:23 word. I pray that as we get into some very heavy topics, some 01:29 very deep prophetic water that you'd give us eyes to see and 01:32 ears to hear and hearts to understand your message to us 01:37 just now. In Christ's name, Amen 01:39 Spiritualism and witchcraft and demon possession are very much a 01:45 part of African culture. One of the places that I enjoyed 01:51 preaching more than anything else because you see the power 01:53 of God come down and the miraculous deliverances from 01:57 demon possession and witchcraft and the occult. You see that 02:02 very vividly in Africa. In 2018 my wife and I were holding 02:08 evangelistic meetings via satellite across the continent 02:13 of Africa and we were broadcasting from Mwanza, 02:16 Tanzania. Some Christian friends brought a lady to our meetings 02:20 and as they brought this particular woman, she had been 02:26 involved in some witchcraft. She had been involved in some 02:31 demonic activities like offering sacrifices to the gods, wearing 02:37 devil charms. But she came with this terrible pain in her leg. 02:41 And the story that she told us was this: That there was a witch 02:46 doctor in her city and this witch doctor took a devil charm 02:52 and put it on a pathway and that devil charm had a curse in it 02:59 and that anybody who stepped on that devil charm would get 03:02 paralysis in their legs terrible pain and burning sensation. So 03:08 this woman walking down the pathway stepped on the devil 03:10 charm believing in the power of Satan, believing in the power of 03:16 the evil one and for over eight years had this terrible terrible 03:21 pain in her legs. They brought her to every witch doctor in the 03:26 area. Ones that were more powerful than the one that 03:28 supposedly put the devil charm on the pathway. They brought her 03:32 to Christian churches and apparently there was no 03:37 possibility of healing this woman. They heard about our 03:41 meetings and they brought her. Filled with pain, body wracked 03:45 with suffering and we gathered our prayer group around and 03:50 began to pray earnestly for the power of the living God to 03:53 deliver this woman, to give her peace. Miraculously she was 03:56 healed. The pain subsided. The demons left her. Eventually 04:04 she became a committed Christian following the teachings of the 04:08 Bible. The Bible is very, very clear on witchcraft, wizards, 04:14 because you see spiritualism and witchcraft is not limited to 04:19 African society. It's the subject of multimillion dollar 04:24 Hollywood productions in our society. Spiritualism is rampant 04:29 today in the media. Blockbuster movies, best-selling books have 04:37 all focused on this theme of wizards and witches. If you look 04:44 at the book of Deuteronomy we have clear instruction because 04:49 in the last days of earth's history spiritualism will be 04:53 prevalent, it'll be rampant again. Deuteronomy chapter 18 04:57 verse 10-12 God tells his people not to mix the occult arts with 05:08 the worship of the true God. Deuteronomy chapter 18 05:12 verse 10 and onward. 05:44 Now let's look at that text 05:45 and try to get down what it's saying. It says 05:50 let no one be found among you anyone that makes his son or 05:51 daughter pass through the fire. This was an occult art. They 05:57 believed that the demonic spirits could guide that person 06:00 through the fire and they wouldn't be burned. Then it says 06:05 that uses divination. What's divination? It's fortune telling 06:08 the fortune tellers. God blessed the minds of the prophets. 06:15 Wisdom came from above, not from the fortune tellers. Or the 06:18 observer of times. What's the observer of times. That's an 06:21 astrologer. Not an astronomer. Astronomy and astrology are two 06:24 different things. Astronomers study the stars. Astrologers try 06:28 to guide your life through the stars. Think of those people 06:32 today that open up the newspaper every morning and look at the 06:36 astrology column. There are more than 2000 astrology columns in 06:39 newspapers across America and some people make their decisions 06:42 based on those astrology columns And then it says or an enchanter 06:47 or a witch. An enchanter is a psychic or a witch or a charmer 06:54 or a consulter with familiar spirits or a wizard. Notice the 07:00 emphasis here on witches and wizards or a necromancer. What's 07:04 a necromancer? It's one who tries to communicate with the 07:07 dead. It says all these things are an abomination to the Lord. 07:11 You say do we have these things in our society today? A casual 07:14 look at Hollywood or reading some of the best seller books 07:16 would indicate that. But let me give you one example. It's the 07:21 example of the Harry Potter film series and books. In 2018 sales 07:27 of Harry Potter's books. that was just five years ago, went to 07:35 500 million, went beyond that. In the United States Harry 07:38 Potter's The Goblet of Fire sold three million copies the first 07:44 weekend. Harry and the Half blood Prince sold 6.9 million copies 07:51 in 24 hours. It's amazing! The Deathly Hollows, the fastest 07:57 selling fiction book in history sold 8.3 million copies in the 08:02 first 24 hours. That's 96 books a second. The films have grossed 08:07 well over eight billion dollars. The vast majority of young people 08:15 reading Harry Potter series. Now many teachers praised the series 08:19 because of the fact that they say it's getting kids to read. 08:23 And I will acknowledge that this series is written to engage 08:29 one's attention. It's written in a very fascinating way by J.K. 08:33 Rowling who wrote the series. But are there some problems with 08:38 it? Now even some Christians see very little wrong with the Harry 08:42 Potter series. They look at it and they say well it has some 08:45 good moral values because it teaches you unselfishness and 08:48 love. That's their view point. But I think you've got three 08:51 major problems with that series. At least three. Problem number 08:57 one: The Bible openly condemns witches and wizards. You know 09:03 the story. Harry Potter goes to the Hogwarts School, and he 09:07 learns wizardry and witchcraft. And the whole series is about 09:12 witches and wizards. When children get fascinated with 09:17 the witches and wizards the second problem is it unfits them 09:22 to read the Bible and it opens their mind to the supernatural 09:27 world to be deceived by the evil one. So problem number one is 09:33 that witches and wizards are an abomination to the Lord, 09:36 condemned by the Bible. Problem number two: Reading fanciful 09:41 literature like this unfits one to read the Bible. The Bible 09:46 then becomes more of a boring book because one's mind has been 09:51 captured by another source. But there's another problem, too, and 09:55 it's quite significant and the problem is this. When you read 10:00 the Harry Potter novels where a young person reads those you do 10:03 not read about the higher power of God. You do not read about 10:05 the blood of Christ. You do not read about the sacrifice of 10:08 Christ. So at best, at best it's a humanistic view point of so 10:16 called love and unselfishness and white magic. That's at best. 10:19 But there's something much worse than that That's the captivation 10:24 of the mind by evil forces. The Bible says we wrestle not 10:30 against flesh and blood, but against evil forces in the 10:34 heavenly realms. And that's truly what's taking place today. 10:38 The Bible predicts that in the last days of earth's history the 10:46 minds of men and women will be captured by spiritualistic 10:50 forces. I wonder. Could it be? Might it be, is it possible that 10:58 Satan is conditioning the minds of young people today. Could it 11:03 be possible that he's conditioning the minds of 11:06 adults through movies that feature spiritualistic themes. 11:11 They may feature wizards witches Some of them may feature 11:15 communication with the dead. Ghost Busters, for example, the 11:21 movie. Could it be that the devil is conditioning the mind 11:27 to accept supernatural deceptions that will lead the world to 11:36 ultimately the mark of the beast in the last days of earth's 11:38 history and Armageddon. Revelation, we're going to go 11:41 deeply into the book of Revelation. Take your Bible and 11:44 turn to Revelation chapter 16. Revelation chapter 16. Satan's 11:49 greatest deception is to capture us through the 11:53 supernatural and to deceive men and women regarding what is 11:58 coming upon the world. Because the devil is going to palm off 12:02 the greatest supernatural so called miracles of deception. 12:08 Revelation 16, we're looking there at verse 14. And notice 12:16 how the book of Revelation puts it. It's talking about the 12:20 Battle of Armageddon. Verse 14 puts it this way. 12:42 Now this text says 12:49 they are the spirits of who? The spirits of who, everybody. The 12:53 spirits of devils. And what do these spirits of devils do? They 12:57 go forth to the kings of the earth and the whole world to 13:02 gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. And 13:05 what does Jesus say? He says behold, I'm coming quickly, I'm 13:08 coming as a thief. Watch. Keep your garment. Don't be deceived. 13:11 In other words, at a time of crisis, of famine, fire, flood. 13:17 At a time of natural disasters a time of war and conflict, at a 13:22 time of rising crime and violence. When this world is 13:27 falling apart, the devil works false miracles with the 13:36 supernatural powers that he has he works signs and wonders to a 13:40 generation whose mind has been conditioned to accept the 13:44 supernatural and wizards and witches and false miracles. To 13:50 a generation that's been conditioned to understand about 13:53 the communication with the dead. To that generation, Satan palms 13:58 off amazing false miracles. Apparently, the sick 14:05 are healed. It's false healing of course. Apparently when those 14:11 signs and wonders take place, in the sky, throughout society 14:12 And the devil says look if only we could unite. If only we could 14:21 be together as one. The conflict in this world would cease. Now 14:28 notice. Revelation chapter 18. We're studying the book of 14:32 Revelation, Satan's greatest deception at end time Revelation 14:36 chapter 18: Verses one to four. The scripture puts it this way. 15:17 So here you have a triple triumvirate of error. You have 15:26 Babylon which represents false religion. Babylon also 15:31 represents apostasy, drifting away from God. Then you have the 15:34 kings of the earth, that's the political leaders. So Babylon 15:37 the religious leaders, all false religion. You have the political 15:44 leaders, that's the governmental leaders. Then you have the 15:48 merchants of the earth. So did you notice the merchants of the 15:51 earth joined them. So you have the religious powers, the 15:55 political powers and the financial powers. They unite but 15:57 why do they unite? Because they've seen these supernatural 16:03 miracles, they've seen these signs and wonders, minds have 16:07 been conditioned over generations, but particularly in 16:11 this final generation and particularly these last few 16:14 years. Minds have been conditioned to accept the 16:18 supernatural and demonic worship and devil worship and so forth. 16:23 And so when the devil masquerades as Christ, as the 16:26 fallen angel of light. As he does that he has power to 16:32 deceive. But there's something about verse 4, that I wanted you 16:38 saying Come out of her, my people Come out of who, come out of who 16:41 Come out of Babylon, Come out of all false religion. But how do 16:51 According to the Bible do you remember what 16:55 sin is? According to scripture how do we define sin? Remember 16:59 it says in 1 John 3:4 that sin is what Sin is the transgression 17:07 of God's law. So the scripture says Babylon is fallen, Come out 17:12 of her my people. Many of God's people are still in churches and 17:18 religious organizations that are breaking God's law. Come out of 17:22 her, my people, lest you partake of her what? Sins. What is sin 17:29 1 John 3:4, it's the transgression of God's law. So 17:32 God is calling us from every law-breaking church. The devil 17:35 will unite with spiritualistic phenomena, religious leaders, 17:41 political leaders and financial leaders through signs and 17:45 wonders to establish a counterfeit day of worship and 17:51 lead men and women contrary to the law of God. Just as in 17:57 Daniel chapter 3, there was a counterfeit image all of gold 18:01 that counterfeited of the genuine image in 18:03 Daniel chapter 2 with the head of gold, 18:06 the breast and arms of silver, the thighs of 18:09 brass, the legs of iron, feet of iron and clay. Remember the head 18:11 of gold represented Babylon, another empire would follow, 18:14 Medo-Persia, another empire would follow, Greece, and 18:18 another Rome. Nebuchadnezzar would not accept God's 18:22 interpretation that his kingdom would be followed by another 18:26 kingdom, so he made an image all of gold. Every citizen in the 18:32 kingdom was commanded to worship that golden image. The test 18:36 question was the second commandment, Thou shall not make 18:40 unto thee any graven image and the first commandment, Thou 18:42 shall not have any other false gods before me. So in the last 18:45 days of earth's history through Satanic delusions the devil is 18:50 going to try to get men and women to violate God's law at 18:56 a time of crisis by establishing a substitute image or a 19:00 substitute Sabbath. Now will 19:02 the law of God play a part in the last days of Earth's history 19:05 Take your Bible and turn, please to Isaiah chapter 8, Isaiah 8 19:10 verses 19 and 20. Notice the relationship between 19:16 spiritualism and the Law of God In these two verses. Isaiah 8 19:20 We're looking there at verse 19 and 20 and looking particularly 19:24 at spiritualism and the law of God. And you find it here in the 19:30 The book of Isaiah, Isaiah is speaking of the last days 19:34 of earth's history. Verse 19 19:55 Now notice that we read about wizards, that we read 20:01 about witches, that we read about spiritualism that God 20:06 condemned that in Deuteronomy. He did. But did we read about 20:08 This spiritualistic phenomenon in Revelation 16 and Revelation 18. 20:12 Yes. And did we hear the call to come out of these law-breaking 20:17 churches who are not keeping God's commandments. We did but 20:20 notice here in Isaiah chapter 8 it says that these 20:27 spiritualistic phenomena they're going to try to lead you into 20:30 this confederacy. Unto the law and to the testimony if they 20:31 don't speak according to this word it's because there's what? 20:34 No light in them. Now notice what it does not say. It does 20:38 not say there's no power in them because the devil has power. 20:42 It says there's no truth in them because the devil mingles truth 20:46 and error. That makes it more deceptive. It doesn't say 20:49 there's no love in them because the devil can create a false 20:55 sense of sentimentality and love. What does it say. It says 20:58 there's no light in them. That's very important. Why does it say 21:01 to the law and to the testimony that is to the word of God, the 21:06 testimony of scripture. To the law of God. It says if you do 21:10 not follow that there's no light. Why does it say no light? 21:16 Because light's what you follow. Light illuminates the darkness. 21:20 So a church may have power, it may have a sense of love, but if 21:30 it does not follow the word of God there's no light in that 21:33 organization for you to follow and God says come out of her my 21:37 people. Don't be deceived because in the last days there 21:40 will be spiritualistic phenomena that will be working miracles, 21:43 that'll sweep you off your very feet. The first lie that the 21:47 devil gave in Genesis was about this lie of spiritualism, this 21:52 lie about death. Genesis chapter 3; we're looking here, Genesis 21:57 the third chapter, verses 1-4. This is the lie the devil gave. 22:03 Genesis 3 verse 1-4: 22:28 What indeed was Satan's deception to Eve. Satan 22:35 masqueraded as a serpent. This was a spiritualistic deception. 22:41 And as he did he said you can partake and eat of this fruit 22:45 And you are not going to surely die. He said you're naturally 22:50 immortal. He said if you eat this fruit you'll have 22:54 immortality. Now the Bible is very clear. It says when God 22:57 created man, he formed him, Genesis 2 verse 7. He formed him 23:02 out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils 23:07 the breath of life and man became a living soul. The Bible 23:17 says that God breathed his breath, the life-giving power of 23:20 of God and man became this living being. When a person dies, what 23:25 happens. The life goes back to God. The body goes to the earth. 23:30 It's the spirit that goes back to God. But Bible never says the 23:34 soul goes back to God. The Bible used the word soul 1600 times 23:37 but never once uses the term immortal soul. What is the 23:40 spirit that goes back to God? It's the life God gave it. It's 23:44 not something that thinks or feels. In fact, the Bible uses 23:48 the term sleep 53 times for death. In the book of 23:51 Ecclesiastes it says: The living know that they shall die: but 23:53 the dead know not what? They do not know anything. 23:59 So anything is not something. And something is not anything. 24:03 When you die, it's just a perfect rest until the resurrection. Can 24:08 a person ever returns to their house when they die? Take the 24:14 book of Job. Job chapter 7 verse 9 and 10. Job 7:9 and 10. Can a 24:23 person ever go back to their house when they die? See the 24:26 devil's going to have all kinds of delusions, signs, wonders, 24:30 wizards, witches, the dead purportedly. they're really evil 24:35 spirits masquerading. The dead purportedly appearing to loved 24:43 ones. This scripture says, it points out very clearly that the 24:47 dead can never return to their house. It says: 25:05 Scripture is very, very plain. When a person dies they rest. 25:11 The devil's deception, and let me make it very plain so we 25:18 don't miss it. Here's the devil's greatest deception. In 25:20 the last days of earth's history, the devil will use 25:27 spiritualistic phenomena to try to bring the world together at a 25:31 time of crisis to deceive mankind, to get them to violate 25:38 God's word and God's commandments so that they will 25:42 accept the false Christ rather than the real Christ. But the 25:47 real Christ is coming. He will descend down the corridor of 25:49 the sky. He invites you, and he invites me to respond to his 25:56 love, to accept the truths of scripture. Remember what the 26:01 Apostle Paul said. He said in 1 Thessalonians 26:06 chapter 4, verse 16 and 17: 26:38 Satan wants to establish his kingdom 26:41 on earth. Satan wants to establish an earthly kingdom and 26:46 he's going to attempt to do that by uniting religious leaders, 26:49 political leaders, economic leaders at a time of crisis. He 26:54 will say there is a common day of worship and rest that we all 26:59 can worship to unite the entire world. That day of course 27:04 will be the day of the sun, the day the Constantine tried to 27:09 unite his empire on. But at that time there'll be a mighty 27:14 movement. The earth will be lightened with the glory of God 27:16 and as the earth is lightened with the glory of God, the 27:19 knowledge of truth will go from every human being around the 27:24 earth who is honest-hearted and open-hearted will have a chance 27:27 to accept God's truth. Many in Babylon in false religions will 27:33 take their step to follow Christ They will become part of his 27:36 commandment-keeping people. That's why Jesus is appealing to 27:40 you right now. You may have been in a church that's very confused 27:45 about things like the law of God things like the Sabbath, things 27:49 like death. God is appealing to you at this moment to make an 27:54 eternal decision to follow him. Now and forever more. 28:00 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2025-05-06