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Doug Batchelor: Hello, friends, welcome back to "Prophecy Odyssey." In our last episode, we learned that God created a perfect angel named Lucifer who became proud and rebellious and was eventually cast out of heaven. Today we're going to continue our eye-opening study of how Lucifer became Satan, our arch enemy, and he's working to deceive all people and twisting the truth. We'll also learn how to resist the devil's temptation and how he will soon be destroyed. Remember, for a deeper Bible study experience, check out the Prophecy Odyssey Bible lessons and our free offer. I'll say more about that at the end of this program. So, for right now, thanks for watching, and let's return to our "Prophecy Odyssey."
Question number five, what methods, we need to be aware of how the devil operates? What methods does Satan use in his work? Well, there's several things. Point number A, it's Satan who deceives the whole world. Now, deception is different from just a blatant lie. Deception is the commingling of truth with error. Never is the devil more dangerous than he'll take something that is 85% true. Do you know that all religions have elements of truth? But then the devil mixes in 15% or 5% of poison and he attracts--how do you catch a fish? You take a good piece of bait, you put a hook in it. Nothing wrong with the bait. It's the hook in it. And so, the devil, he'll take something good, but he'll mix in something evil, and that's why as a Christian, you got to know your Bible because the devil will misquote it, and so many people are deceived because they see some truth in the religion, but they don't see where the poison is, where the danger is. So, he commingles truth with error.
Answer B, He, Jesus was there in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights tempted. What else does the devil do? Tempting. Now, we're all tempted. It is not a sin to be tempted. We are all tempted probably many times a day. Some of you don't know you're tempted because you are not even trying to resist temptation. Do you know, you do not feel the current in the river if you're drifting with the current. But as soon as you try to resist the current and swim upstream, you're going to feel the pressure.
A lot of the world says, "I don't get tempted." It's because they're doing everything the devil wants them to do. Reminds me of an evangelist named Billy Sunday. A man was coming to his evangelistic meetings and Billy Sunday was preaching against sin. And finally, this man came stomping up to the evangelist and said, "Pastor Sunday, will you stop rubbing the cat's fur the wrong way?" Said, "You keep rubbing the cat's fur the wrong way." And he said, "No, I'm rubbing the cat's fur the right way. The cat needs to turn around." And if we find out that we're going in God's direction, we're going to realize that we're getting resistance from the devil. Jesus was tempted. It's not a sin to be tempted. You just don't want to give in to the temptation.
Answer, C, they are the spirits of demons performing signs. Can fallen angels perform signs and wonders and miracles? Says in Revelation that they can. Rasputin seemed to have some power. And there are wicked powers in high places that are often manipulating the leaders of the world. King Saul, before he died, he went to a witch and she conjured up an evil spirit that left him utterly discouraged. He committed suicide the next day. Armageddon, Revelation tells us evil spirits come out of the mouth of the beast, the dragon, and the false prophet to gather the kings, the leaders of the world together to that final battle. Evil spirits are going to be involved in deceiving through the devil and his angels.
Answered D, he's called the accuser. Satan is always standing around accusing. Have you read the book of Job? He's up there in heaven saying, "Well, the only reason Job follows You is because You protected him." And you read in the book Zechariah, the devil is pointing at the high priest Joshua and says, "Well, look at his dirty garments. He can't get into heaven looking like that." And when Michael comes to resurrect Moses, the devil's there, and he says, "Ah, Moses sinned before he died. You can't take him to heaven." And the devil is always accusing. The devil will tell you to sin and then he'll turn you in for doing it, did you know that? Some people think that, well, you know, the devil tempted me to do this. I thought that all of a sudden I'd get some benefits if I sold my soul to him. Oh no, he doesn't care about you.
Devil's much more powerful than any of us, but the devil is not more powerful of you and God together. You and God are always a majority, amen? You have nothing to be afraid of if you're linked up with Christ.
You know, the Bible tells us that Jesus is the Son of David. And if you read in the Bible, David never lost a battle. Sometimes his army would retreat from him. There's one story where everyone left David except one soldier named Eliezer. I could never forget his name, Eliezer, the son of Dodo. And everybody retreated, but David did not retreat, and he stood, and he fought the Philistines with Eliezer and the two of them defeated the army. If you are with Jesus the Son of David, you have nothing to fear. Because you'll pick up the sword of the Spirit and you'll win that battle. The accuser of our brethren will be cast down. He'll accuse them. By the way, people that are always gossiping and accusing other people, you're not doing the work of Jesus. They're doing the work of the devil.
Answer E, he is a what? A murderer. He was the one who inspired Cain to kill his brother Abel. He has no regard for human life. Whether you're young or whether you're old or a baby, people say, "Why does God allow all this death?" It breaks God's heart more than it does that of any human. This world has rebelled against God. The devil has claimed this world as his territory, but God so loved the world, He sent His Son into this world to save as many as will come to Him. And He will eventually, He's redeemed those who believe in Him and He'll create a new heavens and a new earth, right? But right now there's a war in this world, and he's also a liar and the father of it.
Question number 6: When is the devil the most dangerous? Answer, 2 Corinthians 11:14, "For Satan himself transforms himself into a" what? "An angel of light." You know, when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and the devil came and said, "If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread." Do you think that the devil suddenly plopped down on the ground, he had bat wings and red leotards and a goatee and a horns and a pitchfork and said, "I've got a proposition for you." Is that how he came to Jesus? No, he came as though he is a messenger from heaven. And the devil still does that.
You know, I'm just going to be very honest with you and Christianity is one of the most scoffed at religions in the world because there are so many counterfeit Christians out there. But you do not counterfeit something that is not worthwhile. Have you ever seen somebody hold up a counterfeit $1 bill? You know, you give them a $100 bill in the store, they'll hold it up to the light. They'll take a special pen and they'll look in the front, they'll look at the back. You ever see them do that with a penny? Why? Not worth anything. But God's truth, God's church is the most valuable thing in the world. And the devil has created more counterfeits. And how many have surfed through the channels and you hear different preachers from different backgrounds and different perspectives and some of them they're out there begging for money and they're promising you the world if you'll send them money. And you're wondering why it is they're flying around living like gods and they're taking the money from people living on Social Security. That's the devil.
Now, have you noticed this meeting? I'll make you a promise. We're not going to beg for your money. We're here, people have sponsored these meetings because they want to get the truth out. They believe Jesus is coming again. They want people to be saved, amen? But don't believe everybody out there that says that just because they quote a scripture or two. There's a lot of--Jesus warned us there are wolves in sheep's clothing. Paul said, "After my departure, I know that grievous wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock to draw away disciples after themselves." To buy them their Bugatti and their fancy cars and their lifestyle, all in the name of the Lord, they do it. They're wolves, amen.
Does Satan know the Bible? Yeah. Just because somebody says, "Well, I've got the Bible or pastor quotes from the Bible once or twice does not mean that they are following the Lord. We're putting the scriptures in your hands. We're saying you read it for yourself, ask any question you can. In fact, you tell me something that we're not doing in this meeting that we can do to make it clear that these are scriptural presentations. We're doing everything we know how to do to get you to read the Bible for yourself and discover what the truth is.
I'm not afraid of the truth, friends. I was up in a cave in the mountains no religious preference at all. I started reading the Bible. I said, "Lord, I want to know what is the truth." I started visiting different churches--and I also want to add there are a lot of good people in different denominations. There are good pastors in different denominations. They're not all shysters and con artists. We just know that there's some flimflam pastors out there also, right? And so, there's some good sincere people and I might respect with some of their--disrespect some of their doctrinal positions, but I said, "Lord, there's so much confusion in Christianity, but I believe the teachings of Jesus. What is the truth?" And up there in the mountains in a cave over 45 years ago, I prayed and said, "Lord, I just want to know what is the truth." And the Lord revealed to me the things we're sharing with you in these meetings, and we want you to study and find it for yourself, amen?
Does the devil know the Bible? Better than anyone here, probably got a photographic memory. He was the brightest of all the angels. When Jesus was meeting his temptations by saying, "It is written, it is written," the devil went back, he says, I got to regroup, okay, he wants to use the Bible. I'll use the Bible. And the devil came to Jesus again, he said, "If you're the Son of God, throw Yourself down from the temple. For it is written, 'He will give His angels charge of you." And he began to misquote Psalm 91. The devil knows enough. He left out the part, "He'll give His angels charge over You to keep You in all your ways." He says, "Throw yourself down. His angels will watch over you." But Jesus came back and said, "You shall not tempt the name. You shall not tempt the Lord your God," quoting from Deuteronomy.
So, you need to know your Bible so that if the devil has ministers that are misquoting or distorting or reading things out of context, you don't get deceived, friends, amen? The devil is an expert at quoting and misquoting the Bible for the purpose of deceiving people. That's why it's essential that God's people know the scriptures for themselves. Some people think it's the pastor's job to read the Bible and tell us what it means. Oh no, you get into a lot of trouble like that.
Man doesn't live by bread alone, but by what? How many of you need physical food every day? Jesus is saying you need to live by every word. You need spiritual food, and praise God, you live at a time where you can have a Bible on your shelf, you can listen to it in your car, you can read it on your phone. There's no excuse for us not to have the Bible. If you're blind, they've got it in braille. I mean, everybody has access to the Word of God so we're without excuse. If we say, "Well, Lord, I didn't know." We may be destroyed for lack of knowledge because we didn't care to know. But we can know if we want to know what the truth is, friends.
Number eight, whom on earth does the devil hate the most? Now we're back in Revelation. This is the last verse from Revelation chapter 12. "The dragon," who's the dragon? We already know that. "Was wroth" or enraged, "with the woman." Now that's a symbol. Did we talk about that yet? No. Who is the woman? The Bible says, "Husbands love your wives even as Christ loves the church." The Bible tells us God says that the daughter of Zion is like a delicate and a comely woman, speaking of his people. All through the Bible, Hosea, he says, "My people, my bride have been unfaithful to me."
So, the dragon is wroth with the woman, but which woman? There's some counterfeit churches out there. "And he makes war." This is the battle of Armageddon, "With the rest of her offspring," this is talking about her seed, her descendants. "Who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." This is the law and the prophets. The devil is especially threatened with God's people that have the law and the prophets. That's the Word of God. They are not only reading the Word, they're walking in the commandments of the Lord. They're being led by the spirit of prophecy, friends. God wants us to have His Word and be filled with the Holy Spirit, amen? That's, you know, whoever this woman is, you want to be part of that woman, why? Because the devil's mad at her. If you're making the devil happy, you're in the wrong place.
You realize, friends, I hope I'm not scaring you, but in the last days, you're going to make someone mad. You just got to decide who it is. You're going to please and satisfy someone. Do you want to please the Lord and make the devil angry, or do you want to please the devil and disappoint the Lord? You cannot have it both ways. Jesus said, "You're either with Me or against Me." I would rather be on the winning team because I've read the last chapter. I know who wins, amen? All right, "The dragon is wroth with a woman, keeps the commandments of God." Last prophecy in the Old Testament. Remember the law of Moses. Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet. The law and the prophets, God's people have the Word of God.
Question number 9, what two deadly animals does the Bible use to portray Satan? You can read here in 1 Peter 5, verse 8, "Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary," the word Satan means actually adversary, "Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour." So he's compared in one place to a lion, and a lion uses stealth. You know, a male lion will even eat its own cubs. The females must protect the cubs from the male lion. And the male lions actually don't do most of the hunting. The females do. The male lion, he'll go out upwind from where the zebra or the wildebeests are. He'll take a chest full of air. He'll step out of the grass, he'll roar. He'll make sure they all see him and then the animals run into the mouths of the females that are hiding in the other direction. The devil will try to get you looking this way. And you run that way, and that's exactly where he wanted you to run.
I'm surprised how many people think the mark of the beast is a tattoo. Doesn't say that in the Bible. Some versions even translate and he causes everyone to get a tattoo. Do you really think the devil is that dumb that in the last days he's going to tell everybody to line up and someone's going to have a big old, you know, stamp and you say come out, we're going to put you go... "666, you don't mind, do you? Forehead or the hand, just trust us, it'll be okay." That's what some people are waiting for. "I'm not getting 666 stamped on my forehead. I'll be okay.
The devil wants people to be deceived, so they're walking into the deception, walking away from the trick. He is a deceiver. Not only is he like a lion, the Bible says that he is like a serpent. "That great dragon cast out the" what? "The serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan." Why a serpent? What was the first animal that the devil used as a medium to deceive our parents? It was the serpent that spoke to Eve. Said, "Oh, I've been eating this fruit. I know God said don't eat it, but look what the fruit did for me, I can talk. And if you eat it, you'll be like God." What did the devil want? To be like God. And he implanted his own desires in our first parents. And ever since then, our DNA has been messed up with sin, but Jesus came to make us new creatures. Jesus came as the second Adam. And just like the first Adam fell, the second Adam overcame and we can be overcomers through Christ.
Little amazing fact, you know, there's an island not far from Sao Paulo, Brazil, they call it Snake Island. And on that island, they've got so many snakes because they eat the sea birds, there's one snake per square yard. Nobody's allowed to go to that island because among the snakes they've got the lancehead pit viper that 90% of the deaths in Brazil are from this one snake. It'll kill you right away. Devils are--snakes, rather, are cold blooded. The devil is cold blooded. He does not care. He's got venom. But you know the good news, friends, Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, the Son of Man must be lifted up that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life." Why did Jesus say that? The children of Israel were being killed by a plague of venomous serpents.
Shepherds used to carry staffs. I lived in the mountains in the desert, and I had a snake stick. And I didn't reach out and just kill the snake with my hands. I killed it with a stick. And then you don't pick it up because you think they're dead and they're not, they'll turn around and bite you. And you don't want to step on the skeleton of a dead snake because even the venom can still pierce your skin with the dead fangs. So, when you kill a snake, you pick it up and you carry it off out of the way of population off the trail and you bury it. And the Hebrews knew a snake up on a pole meant a defeated serpent. And Jesus, when He went up on the cross, through His blood that was spilled, He provided the anti-venom for the disease of sin. And He is offering you a blood transfusion so that you can be saved from the power of sin, and some people think I've tried, I don't know how it's possible, but through Christ, all things are possible. Now, I've not told you my story, but I was drinking and smoking and using drugs, a thief, living immorally, and Jesus came into my life, and He changed me. And He can give you victory, and He can change you. He can break the chains and set you free.
Number 10. What's the only way that we can resist Satan? The Bible says, "Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." Do you realize every night that you tune into these meetings, or you come to this seminar, you are drawing near to God. What does God promise? I will draw near to you. I hope you sense He's drawing near to you right now, friends, and He will, and but you resist the devil. The devil's going to say, "Oh, traffic's too much tonight. Please come back Tuesday night. We still got some room left. Resist the devil and he will flee from you when you're tempted. And as you resist, God's power comes into your life, friends.
Number 11, how did Jesus fight the assaults of the devil? "Jesus said to him, 'Away with you, Satan! For,'" say it with me, "it is written." Friends, there is power in the Word of God that sets us free. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 17, "The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12. "The Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." When David went out against the giant, and we all faced giants of temptation, he went out with a stone. And you know, the stone is a symbol of the Word. Jesus said, "These words that I speak to you, if you're wise man, you will build on the rock." And David killed Goliath. Well, he didn't actually kill him yet. He knocked him out with a rock, knocked him unconscious. It sank into his forehead, he fell on his face. Then David went over and he pulled out his sword and he decapitated the giant.
You know, you kill a snake, cut off its head. And when the devil comes to you with temptation, you pull out the sword of the Spirit. The Bible says, "Thy Word, I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin." And when you're tempted to be discouraged, you quote the promises, "God has not given us the spirit of fear." "Your word I've hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You." "Put on the whole armor of God, that you might be able to stand." Friends, you can stand against the wiles of the devil. Jesus wants us to resist the devil.
Number 12, here's a good part. What will be the final fate of Satan and his angels? Are we going to be tempted to eternity? Are we always going to be battling against evil? Isaiah 14:15, it says, "You will be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit." He wanted the position of God, the highest, he's going to be the lowest. And Jesus who took the lowest position, who humbled Himself, will be exalted and His name will be above every name. If you humble yourself, you'll be exalted. You exalt yourself, you'll be humbled.
The devil's principal problem was pride. Jesus is motivated by love, meekness, humility. "Take My yoke upon you," He says, "learn of Me, you will find rest unto your souls," Matthew 11. Matthew 25, verse 41, "He will say to those on the left hand," is the parable of Jesus, "'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire." Now, did God prepare that fire for you and me or who is it really prepared for? The devil and his angels, but if you follow the devil and his angels, you get the same reward. "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Now, what it means here by everlasting fire is what that fire does is permanent. The devil's not coming back. The result of that fire is forever, and those that go to that fire, no resurrection from that friends. It's called the second death in Revelation.
God is offering you life. This time, this life is your chance. This life is your probation. "It's appointed unto man once to die, after that the judgment." Don't think, "Well, I'll change my mind later in my next life when I'm reincarnated." Oh no, no. You got one life, friends, amen. Now is your time. Today is the acceptable time. Don't follow the devil into his doom. "The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the," what? "The lake of fire and brimstone" where the beast and the false prophet are. The Bible describes this punishment as the second death from which there is no resurrection. There's no parole.
Ultimately, the devil and his angels and all the wicked will be consumed in these eternal flames. It's the result of the fire is eternal. Again, you can read in Ezekiel 28:18, "I brought forth a fire from the midst of you," and it does what? "It devours you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you." In the final judgment, you can read about this in Revelation chapter 20, Satan is going to make one final attempt. We have a whole lesson on it. To rally the forces of evil against God. And the Bible says that God demonstrates to the whole universe the devil is beyond repentance. He's not going to change. Don't wait for the devil to repent.
Doug: Friends, I hope you've been blessed by today's message, but really, the reason we do this is so that people might know Christ. You know, information is not going to save us. It's a relationship with Jesus, the one who died on the cross for your sins. You must personally accept Him. And that's the most important thing and why we do these programs. If you've not asked Him into your heart before, then I'd encourage you to do it right now. His arms are open wide, just come to Him as you are and ask Him.
Doug: Hi friends, I trust you're being blessed by what you're watching. If you want to be doubly blessed, then you're going to want to get the Prophecy Odyssey study guides that go along with these presentations. There's 15 study guides, they're beautifully illustrated, and they will greatly enhance your Bible comprehension. So, if you'd like to get them, simply follow the instructions that you see on the screen. You will be glad you did.
Doug: Friends, we learned a lot in our study today, but there's still more. If you'd like to better understand where Satan came from, you're going to want to get the Amazing Facts study guide, "Did God Create a devil?" It's going to show you everything you need to know about Satan and what it means for you today. To get your copy, simply follow the instructions you see there on the screen. We'll send it to you absolutely free of charge. You'll be glad you did.
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