Sermon: Strategies for Escaping Babylon (Part Two)
Resisting Satanic Propaganda
#1713
David F. Maas
Given 10-Jun-23; 71 minutes
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transcript:
Please turn over to Matthew 24, beginning with verse 4, a passage we all recognize as the Olivet prophecy identifying pertinent warning signs of the time at the end of the age before our Savior’s return to this earth.
Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.”
This is the very first and probably the most significant caution referring not only to the antinomian religious deception from mainstream Christianity, but also political deception from the media, awash in lies generated by satanically inspired agenda-driven propaganda, currently vigorously promoting June as LGBT Pride Month (just in case some of you have not noticed).
Because my natal anniversary occurred two days ago, at which time I entered my 80th year, I bitterly resent the voluminous, seemingly never-ending woke propaganda sullying the otherwise glorious month when summer begins, displaying dazzling floral abundance, turning it instead into a designated time period to celebrate sexual perversion and the defiling of Almighty God’s holy and spiritual laws.
According to Reuters, the current occupant of the Oval Office had planned to host the largest White House Pride Month in history, with several thousand people in attendance, an event which he desired to decry the so-called “cruel” state laws banning sex change operations for minors, assuring every attendee that he would do everything in his power to overturn them. Interestingly, this event had to be postponed because of Canadian wildfires, an event he blamed on climate change. Sadly, on the same day, TV evangelist Pat Robertson, one of the boldest critics of the satanic woke agenda embraced by both American and Canadian governments, died.
Despite the apparent partially successful public backlash against Bud Light, which currently is hemorrhaging its share of the financial market to Coors and Miller, over 50 major corporations have gone insanely woke, eagerly catering to the demands of the LGBT community, enthusiastically supporting the LGBT pride month propaganda blitz, waving their pretty little rainbow flags everywhere and praising all manner of sick sex perversions. Some of the brands are: Adidas, Adobe, Apple, Bank of America, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Campbells Soup Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Comcast, Converse, Cracker Barrel Restaurant, Disney, Getty Images, IBM, Jack Daniels, LEGO children’s toys, Levi’s , Oracle, Pay Pal, Pet Smart, Pfizer, Starbucks, Target, 1-800-Flowers, the United States Navy, and the United States Air Force, and I have barely scratched the surface.
Sadly today, as I am delivering this message, a classical radio station to which I became a lifetime sustaining contributor 13 years ago, thinking it would be a welcome oasis from the crazy network news cycle, is celebrating contributions of LGBT composers and performers. Also, not surprisingly, the United States Embassy to the Vatican is proudly and arrogantly flying the LGBT pride flag for the entire world to see (blatantly advertising America’s moral perversion and its hatred for God’s laws) to which, hardly surprising, Pope Francis and the College of Cardinals have no problem accepting and welcoming this hideous abomination to the Holy See.
We are hearing continuous alarmist propaganda from America’s military, using the threat of weapons of mass destruction, promoting the necessity of a world war to facilitate a so-called globalist reset, allegedly protecting the planet from Russian aggression, in addition to protecting the planet from dangerous climate change.
Over the past three years, we have all endured dispiriting propaganda from the so-called “health agencies” such as the WHO (whose largest non-government contributor is none other than the vaccine mogul, persona non grata in South Africa, as well the foremost sterilization and abortion advocate, Bill Gates), and the politically driven CDC and NIH, all influenced and corrupted by Big Pharma, motivated far more by profits and raw power than any hypocritical concern for public health.
At this time, I must express my debt of gratitude to many of my spiritual siblings who have been continuously keeping me posted on possible topics of discussion for this message, including Terri Mosby, and Sal and Carmen Perez, who have sent me valuable links to several of Dr. Joseph Mercola’s helpful articles, including “Why Do We Keep Feeding the Merchants of Death?”, exposing the ill-advised proxy war currently taking place in eastern Europe, and “Reverse Engineering the Propaganda Machine,” a book review of Michelle Stiles’ insightful landmark book One Idea to Rule Them All: Reverse Engineering American Propaganda, meticulously documenting how public relations firms have been commandeered by the government and major corporations over the decades to persuade an unwary or gullible populace (possibly even us, brothers and sisters) to do things harmful to them, like smoking cigarettes, adopting questionable diet practices such as the USDA food pyramid, accepting otherwise unpopular wars, accepting poisonous and deadly vaccines, knuckling under to mask mandates and travel restrictions, yielding to otherwise contested election results, accepting higher and higher debt ceilings, willingness to accept digital currency, accepting gender as a social construct rather than a creation of Almighty God—just to scratch the surface.
Dr. Joseph Mercola, quoting Michelle Styles, states that “two-thirds to 80% of the content broadcast and published by corporate media (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.) comes from public relations firms, so most of the so-called “news’ is nothing more than brainwashing propaganda. Michelle Stiles continues, “Historically, this technique was called ‘manufacturing of consent,’ ‘crystallizing public opinion,’ ‘public relations,’ or just plain old ‘propaganda.’” The author redefines propaganda as idea-bullying, or the ability to elevate favored ideas and secure their adoption by the public through hidden and nefarious means (which we are witnessing this month as LGBT pride month). Noam Chomsky has suggested that propaganda is to democracy what a bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.
George Orwell warned us that “in the age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” Dr. Mercola adds “That’s really our battle today, as we fight against a truly unprecedented disinformation campaign, where the most blatant liars are claiming that everyone else is giving out misinformation.” We must reflect that by being aligned with God’s truth, we are enemies of the state, marked for capital punishment (referencing John 16:2), just as precarious as the man with eyesight in a village of blind people in H.G. Wells story, “The Country of the Blind.” This man is diagnosed to have a mental disease because of the two bulging appendages near the top of his nose—namely, his eyes.
In John 14:17, Jesus tells His saints that the Spirit of truth which He sends them is not currently available to most of mankind, and consequently they cannot, and do not, yet see the truth. But the saints can see because the very mind of God (Father and Son) dwells within them. Let us return to Matthew 24, noticing how our Lord and Savior unpacks the sources of lies and prevarication from religious, governmental, military, and so-called health-related sources:
Matthew 24:5-8 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars [today promulgated by the media attempting to dispirit or perhaps to rally the gullible populace to an unpopular cause to which Jesus cautions us]. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom [prompted by merchants of death, who have been able to surreptitiously, evading scrutiny, deliver massive armaments and personnel into eastern Europe without an ounce of approval or accountability to the American people or from the Congress, and evidently, as we are asked to believe, without the knowledge of the current occupant of the Oval Office. President Eisenhower warned us about this danger in his farewell address.] And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places [which the multiple worshippers of Mother Gaia and proponents of the Green New Deal (hostile opponents of meat-eating and gasoline powered automobiles) attribute to climate change and fracking for oil]. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
Two weeks ago in his offertory message, Mark Schindler assured and encouraged us that even though all the weekly and annual Sabbaths focus on Jesus Christ’s work, Pentecost is perhaps the most significant, because on Pentecost Jesus empowered His chosen saints, then and now, to receive the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit, enabling them to keep God’s law both in the letter and spirit, protecting them from incessant lies emanating from Satan’s culture.
In his message concerning Christ’s mission statement (referring to Luke 4:18), Richard Ritenbaugh emphatically declared that the entire world today is currently awash in satanic lies, lies which the prince and power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) has successfully convinced the overwhelming majority of the world’s inhabitants are the truth, and anyone who disagrees with his party line is spreading misinformation. Richard also quoted my favorite philosopher, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who predicted the current confusion we are living through now back in 1809, asserting “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free,” as, sadly, most of the population of the world today mistakenly believe.
On the night of His final Passover as a human being, Our Lord and Savior promised His disciples, then and now, the mighty power of God’s Holy Spirit, the paracletes or Helper, the Spirit of truth, namely the very mind of Jesus Christ and God the Father who will live in God’s saints forever, protecting them from Satan’s propaganda as long as they draw breath as mortal humans as well as after they are resurrected as glorified spirit beings following a lengthy sanctification process (referring to John 14:16-17, I Corinthians 2:16, and II Corinthians 3:18).
In our Lord’s High Priestly prayer in John 17, He describes to our heavenly Father the precarious situation of all His called-out saints, then and now, as they complete their rigorous and often tortuous pilgrimage to God’s Kingdom.
John 17:15-16 “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They [that is God’s called-out saints] are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
In his April 16, 2022 sermon-article, “The Practical Side of Coming out of the World,” Robert Dick, UCG minister in Portland, asserted that on Christ’s last Passover as a human, from the time Judas Iscariot left the room until the disciples left for the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus used the term “the world” or “coming out of the world” 38 times—far more than in any other portion of Scripture, referring to the dangerous, misguided practice of trusting any other created entity other than the Creator Almighty God, like our original Mom and Dad, who put their trust in the father of liars, as well as the world’s first propagandist, and indeed the very first fact-checker (the prototype of Factcheck.org, PolitFact.org, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Center for Countering Digital Hate, and of course, Snopes, all dutiful hall monitors of the progressive party line, tilting dangerously and perilously to the progressive far political left).
Mark Twain once coined the maxim: “Figures don’t lie—but liars do figure.” Well, Dave Maas has concocted a corollary to that maxim: “Facts don’t lie, but fact-checkers often do.” Michelle Stiles states that fact-checker organizations were ostensibly created to control the speed of “fake news,” but in reality, they exist to discredit sources of information outside of the narratives of the government party line, known by insiders in the deep state as Operation Spider’s Web.
As the world’s first fact-checker, Satan, approaching our mother Eve, successfully quashed, discredited, and cast doubt upon God’s instructions, exposing them as misinformation. Thankfully, Jesus’ ministry, culminating in the giving of the paracletes (the helper or conduit to God’s mind) on Pentecost has commenced to set free all the miserable captives of Satan’s lies, that is, setting them free by giving them the Spirit of truth (John 8:32; 16:13).
Please scroll down to John 17:17, where Jesus Christ explains how His disciples may be protected from Satan’s incessant lies which are currently discouraging, dispiriting, and ultimately destroying mankind through government propaganda, spread through a deceitful legacy media worldwide, carrying the water for a so-called globalist reset, a mortal danger not only for God’s chosen people, but for every inhabitant of the earth.
John 17:17 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word [containing God’s holy and spiritual laws and ordinances] is truth.”
We remember earlier (referencing John 15:3) that Jesus proclaimed His disciples already clean because of the word He had spoken to them. Continuing in John 17:18, Jesus reminds our heavenly Father:
John 17:18-19 “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them [that includes us] into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by truth.”
By means of the Word as He had previously identified in verse 17, as well as back in John 6:63, when Jesus proclaimed to His disciples, then and now, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing [conveys no benefit, it is of no account]. The words I that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life [providing eternal life if we partake of them, consuming the Bread of Life on a daily basis, just as our forebears consumed the manna on the Sinai desert.].” Similarly, the Bread of Life [namely the word of Christ] comes down from heaven and gives life to the world [referencing John 6:30-35].
God’s called-out saints, from the first Pentecost until today, are promised protection from the lies of the world on the condition that they use, yes use and not allow to lay dormant, the powerful gift of His Spirit from its inception into our nervous systems as an earnest payment—the guarantee of the full payment later, when we are changed from flesh to spirit (referring to Ephesians 1:13-14 and II Corinthians 1:22). Like any other physical gift, skill, ability, or talent with which we have been endowed, God’s Spirit must be used or exercised continually, or it will be taken away or quenched—as the apostle Paul warns in I Thessalonians 1:9.
Paul felt compelled to warn and counsel his understudy Timothy, “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (II Timothy 1:6). That responsibility applies to each one of us as it did to Timothy. As Martin Collins corroborated in his Pentecost sermon, “Gifted with Power on High,” God’s saints must also continually stir and exercise the gifts God has given them (stating that we all have at least one gift) to serve their spiritual siblings, guiding them out of the naivete of spiritual babes into spiritual maturity.”
As Hunter Swanson explained to us in his message about an hour ago, combatting the ubiquitous falsehoods of satanically inspired misinformation is an obligation entrusted to every called-out saint, whether a first generation, second generation, or third generation church member. But the sword of the spirit (God’s Word) cannot be properly used without conviction, something we must all develop individually. The gravity of the spiritual battle in which all of God’s saints are engaged is described by the apostle Paul here in II Corinthians 10, beginning with verse 3.
II Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
As Charles Whitaker reminded us in his May 9, 2020 sermon, “Whoever Loves and Practices a Lie,” it is “Satan—not Prince Charles, the Rothschild family, Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, or anyone else you may care to suggest—who is the real creator and the prime mover of Babylon’s great deceit.”
Revelation 20:3 refers to the angel binding Satan in a bottomless pit “so that he should deceive the nations no more.” Verse 8 of Revelation 20 informs us that, upon his release a thousand years later, he “will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth.” Again, spreading lies mixed with a wee little bit of truth, dutifully fact-checking the veracity of God’s truth, this fallen archangel indeed lives up to his moniker “the father of liars” (referencing John 8:44). We need to review how the current leadership of the offspring of Jacob in America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the habitat of brother Judah in the state of Israel have all disastrously tumbled into degeneracy and gross immorality, reaping the bitter and poisonous fruit of the debased reprobate mind which has totally cast away the saving knowledge of God and His holy laws.
The apostle Paul explains in Romans 1, beginning with verse 18, which I will now read to you from the Amplified Classic Edition:
Romans 1:18-19 (AMPC) For God’s [holy] wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative. For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciences, because God [Himself] has shown it to them.
Even without the powerful aid of God’s Holy Spirit, those individuals, equipped only with the spirit in man, carnal man, using plain ordinary common sense (a rare commodity today in the governments of Jacob’s descendants), can find truth and common sense. Paul reinforces this spirit in man’s capability of understanding truth and lawfulness:
Romans 2:14-15 (AMPC) When Gentiles who have not the [divine] Law do instinctively what the Law requires, they are a law to themselves, since they do not have the Law. They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts and are operating there, which their consciences [sense of right and wrong] also bear witness; and their [moral] decisions [their arguments of reason, their condemning or approving thoughts] will accuse or perhaps defend and excuse [them].
Today, ironically, it appears that the governments of Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Sudan, and Malawi (interestingly, even having laws that jail men for wearing long hair trying to impersonate women) evidently have more understanding of God’s truth concerning the seventh commandment than the current elected leaders of governments ruled by Jacob’s offspring. Surprisingly, many of the governments strewn across the continent of Africa have the most stringent laws on earth against sexual immorality in the world, many eliciting lengthy prison sentences and the death penalty—just like ancient Israel).
When I taught at Wiley College 12 years ago, my friend and colleague, Dr. Solomon Waigwa, from Kenya, Chair of the Department of Religion, once declared to me, “It certainly appears that Africa needs to send missionaries to America to save it from its vile immorality,” to which I agreed wholeheartedly. Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Tonga, Lithuania, and yes, the Kremlin have a greater appreciation for and an understanding of God’s laws on sexual morality than any government on earth administered by the apostate children of Jacob, who should have known better because God had instructed them to teach the nations God’s holy law. But it appears that the progressive, sin-tolerant governments run by Jacob’s offspring have seared their consciences irreparably, at least until Jesus Christ returns to govern.
I find it amusing and ironic when I consider that God’s saints might thrive better under sharia law in most parts of the world than most of the current presidents, prime ministers, members of the United States Congress or the Canadian parliament. Isaiah 1:2-4 in the Berean Study Bible proclaims:
Isaiah 1:2-4 (BSB) Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand. Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the Lord; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.
Now, back to Romans 1.
Romans 1:20 (AMPC) For since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made [His handiworks]. So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification].
This is the reason that some people who have not yet been sealed with God’s Holy Spirit nevertheless have bravely risked their reputation and very lives for the truth (solely from the evidence of Intelligent design without divine revelation), sadly putting to shame some of God’s saints, who have been blessed mightily with the stewardship of the mysteries of God (I Corinthians 2:1-16), but are too timid to boldly exercise them, thereby handling life the way it ought to be lived.
Romans 1:21-26 (AMPC) Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginations, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations (about such things as evolution, gender as a social construct rather than designed by Almighty God, global warming, and climate change)] and their senseless minds were darkened [and continue to be darkened to this day].
Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons out of themselves]. And by them the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God were exchanged for and represented by images, representing mortal man and birds and beasts and reptiles. [(Progressive, humanist educators have exchanged the marvelous Genesis 1:26 account of humankind for a foolish myth about evolving from primordial soup involving love-sick amoeba, evolving though apes, chimpanzees, and hominids and finally into human beings where we are still allegedly evolving into something else.)]
Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin] because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen [so be it]. For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one.
On April 27, 2023, Whoopi Goldberg, on The View, suggested that the Bible would support parents having the right to subject their minor children to sex reassignment surgeries claiming she does not know which Bible critics of this procedure are reading. Well, Whoopi, let Dave Maas try to clear this up for you:
Romans 1:27-28 (AMPC) And the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another—men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution. And so they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind [(a reprobate mind)] to do things not proper or decent but loathsome.
We see the fruits of the reprobate mind on full display today in the current media blitz, designating the month of June as LBGT Pride month where the CEO’s of woke corporations can display their gay rainbow wares. Sadly, the current governments of the United States and Canada have also been paralyzed by reprobate leaders (or perhaps their puppeteers) assuring their gullible constituents that evil is good and good is evil (Isaiah 5:20) begging for massive curses throughout the lands of Jacob’s offspring (Deuteronomy 28:15-16, and Deuteronomy 30:19). Scrolling down to verse 32, we find an indictment against educators and mainstream media:
Romans 1:32 (AMPC) Though they are fully aware of God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them.
God’s called-out saints have been, through the power of His Spirit, amply equipped to battle the forces of darkness if they avail themselves of spiritual rather than physical weapons. In II Corinthians 10:4 where the apostle Paul outlines the logistics of waging a spiritual battle:
II Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
II Corinthians 11:13-15 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers [and representatives] also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
On May 24, 2023, 16 days ago, the governor of California, who on June 24, 2022, signed a bill to make California a sanctuary state for minors seeking sex-change operations, lashed out at the CEO of Target Stores for pulling LGBTQ merchandise from stores, calling it a systematic attack on gays across the country, comparing it to rampant racism and sexism.
Blogger and media analyst, James Lindsay has issued a warning that the current federal administration is attempting to provoke critics of woke policies of Bud Light and Target with a false flag to provoke conservative Christians into lashing out against pride month propaganda with the hopes of using it as a justification to crackdown on churches—which they [government and big tech censors] will label as “breeding grounds for far right extremism—and hate speech.”
I find it highly instructive that several Roman Catholic prelates such as James Altman in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Bishop Joseph Strickland, over the Tyler Diocese in Texas, a man, incidentally, with whom I had a cordial conversation in his office back on April 5, 2013, who remain loyal to significant portions of God’s law, namely the sixth commandment, steadfastly resisting infanticide or abortion, and the seventh commandment, steadfast against sodomy and surgical mutilation of minors, are literally hated more by the world (Matthew 24:9 and John 16:2) than some that play it safe—reticent shepherds and members both in the world’s churches as well as in the greater church of God.
Both James Altman and Bishop Strickland raised the ire and hatred of the Vatican in 2021 for boldly and publicly opposing the three major Covid-19 vaccines distributed at that time. According to his May 15, 2023 article (appearing 24 days ago), “In Rare Move, Vatican official chastised Texas bishop at Conference,” Jack Jenkins reported that back in November 17, 2021, speaking during the fall General Assembly Meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Joseph Strickland, referring to the current pontiff as a “diabolically disordered clown” who is undermining the Deposit of Faith, stated that though he concedes the validity his election to the papacy, but he fervently exhorted his fellow bishops, “Follow Jesus.”
Immediately following Strickland’s spirited message to the bishops, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s U. S. Ambassador, also known as the papal nuncio to the United States, who also is very comfortable, or should we say compatible with the LGBT pride flag currently flying in the US Embassy at the Vatican, or as the left-leaning fact checker Snopes, has assured its readers—the US Embassy to the Holy See is technically not on the grounds of the Vatican in Saint Peter’s Square-even though it is certainly within the boundaries of Vatican City (like Satan telling mother Eve, you will not certainly die tomorrow, next week, or next month, or next year—but are Adam and Eve with us today?). Anyway, the papal nuncio allegedly approached Strickland, wagging his finger, uttering “Bishop Strickland, we are watching you. Stop talking about the Deposit of Faith.” When Strickland was asked about the mafia-like threat from the Papal nuncio, he said, “I don’t really care. It’s the truth that sets us free. If I go down because I speak the truth, oh well.”
Personally, I greatly admire individuals like Artur Pawlowski, James Altman, Joseph Strickland, the late Rabbi Meir Kahane (and we could add the names Robert Kennedy Jr., Tucker Carlson, and Larry Elder to this list) who have demonstrated their willingness to swim courageously upstream in the face of tyrannical political correctness, willing to be persecuted and humiliated for speaking the truth, something which I often despair is still greatly lacking in some of God’s called-out saints, whom the apostle Paul must assure, as he did to his timid understudy Timothy.
II Timothy 1:7 (AMPC) For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.
When the apostle Paul describes the armor of God in Ephesians 6:13-20, I find it highly instructive that the only offensive or pushback weapon is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, an implement very useless if it is allowed to hang idly at our sides. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ skillfully wielded this marvelous weapon as He bested the ruler of the world, the father of liars (John 8:44), the world’s foremost propaganda agent and the world’s first equivocal fact-checker with God’s holy Word, repeatedly pummeling the arrogant fallen archangel with “It is written,” “It is written,” “It is written,” (Matthew 4: 4-7), providing His called-out saints a pattern of combatting propaganda, outright lies, and half-truths, the current state of the world in which we find ourselves now.
Hebrews 4:12, which I will read to you from the Berean Study Bible, declares that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints, and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” As God’s saints, we could consider the word as a scalpel, removing the malignant satanic tumors of disinformation masquerading as truth, so believable that they could deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24).
Jesus warns us that the broad way (consisting of mainstream religion, mainstream media, and mainstream cultural trends) is poisoned by lies, advising His people to “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Proverbs 14:15 teaches us that “the naïve or inexperienced person [is easily misled and] believes every word he hears, but the prudent man [is discreet and astute and considers well where he is going [Amplified Bible].
The apostle John admonishes us, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit [speaking through a self-proclaimed prophet], but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; because many false prophets [and teachers] have gone out into the world (I John 4:1). This same caution appears in I Thessalonians 5:21, in which Paul cautions “test all things [carefully so that you can recognize what is good]; hold fast to what is good.”
II Corinthians 11:13-15 warns about counterfeit apostles and teachers masquerading as apostles of Christ, adding that Satan himself is an angel of light. In his December 5, 1992, sermon, “Truth (Part 3),” John Ritenbaugh explains that light and truth are basically synonymous. The Hebrews had a way of “doubling-up” or “doubling-over” a word, a term, a phrase, so that one would emphasize the other, despite both meaning essentially the same thing. (You will recall Richard referred to a classic parallel structure where each line is divided up into two comprised of two couplets that parallel one another.)
John continues that this method hits a concept from two slightly different angles so that it becomes more emphatic. Light and truth are similar ideas, the word “truth” channeling the author’s illustration of light and what it signifies. Light illustrates, emphasizes, and expands the abstract idea of truth. Interestingly, in accordance with the belief that Urim and Thummin translates to “Light and Truth,” the Latin equivalent Lux et Veritas has been used for several university mottoes. For example, Lux et Veritas is the motto of Yale University, Indiana University, and the University of Montana.
God’s called-out saints know that Satan is not an angel of light, but instead the foremost prince of darkness and evil. In John 8:12, Jesus declares “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.” Furthermore, to those who have been called by God, receiving the gift of His Holy Spirit, Jesus proclaims in the Beatitudes,
Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Some of you may remember the TV show “The Christophers,” a Roman Catholic program commencing in 1952, with the motto: “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness—and if everyone would light one little candle—what a bright world this would be.” If each of God’s called-out saints let their lights shine, the world would be bedazzled with the light of truth exposing Satan’s media propagandist cockroaches, causing them to slink off or run for cover.
As children of the light, we are obligated to guard our minds (Proverbs 4:23) and guard the truth (Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:20) protecting our relationship with God, because by seeking and bearing true witness to the truth, we strengthen our relationship with God. Consequently, we are obligated to test the spirits or test all religious as well as secular philosophical teaching described by the apostle Paul as science falsely called (I Timothy 6:20), filtering it through the litmus test of Holy Scripture to determine if it derives from the mind of God Almighty or a poisonous lie from Satan or his servants strewn throughout education, politics, economics, or science.
Testing the spirits refers to carefully comparing what is being taught with the clear teaching of the Bible, which alone is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. We are admonished to imitate the example of the Bereans in Acts 17:10-11, because after they heard the teachings of Paul and Silas, they “examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” The apostle John’s admonition to test the Scriptures is equivalent to using the power of God’s Holy Spirit to examine the Scriptures, rightly dividing the word of truth (II Timothy 2:15). The Word of God is metaphorically compared to a lamp or a light illuminating our path (Psalm 119:105), keeping us from stumbling over obstacles immersed in the murky darkness of this world’s anti-God culture.
In his penultimate sermon, delivered February 5, 2022, “Make Sure of Your Focus,” John Ritenbaugh maintained that God’s people are currently battling the tornadic forces of chaos and confusion as the leaders of Jacob’s offspring as well as the rulers of the rest of the world are submitting to the nefarious agenda of the prince and power of the air. During the next five years, chaos, confusion, and distractions will increase exponentially, requiring us to develop a plan to stay focused on a fixed goal, namely the Kingdom of God.
II Thessalonians 2:7-12 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He [that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ] who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Jesus’ half-brother James has given us a 3-point formula for resisting Satan the Devil and his propaganda in James 4:6-17. Our first and most important defense against Satan’s schemes is to establish a right relationship with God. Here in James 4:4, we are warned that to fraternize with the world and its satanic religious and political systems makes us an enemy of God. Verse 7 asks us to submit to God, meaning to put ourselves under God’s authority in order to stop resisting God and His purpose for our lives and begin resisting the Devil and all his works. Verse 8, eliciting the law of reciprocity, assures us that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. We cannot resist Satan if we are not living in close fellowship and intimate communion with Almighty God.
The second part of the formula is to humble ourselves before God.
The third part of the formula is to take up the sword of the Spirit (God’s Holy Scriptures) allowing us to fend off the enemy’s attacks as our Lord and Savior was able to defend Himself from Satan’s temptations and propaganda (Matthew 4:4-7) by quoting from the Scriptures: “It is written.” If our Lord and Savior resisted Satan’s deception by quoting Scripture, we, as His chosen saints should follow His example. Jesus was able to masterfully use the Word because He knew it intimately, having served as its author.
If we are ignorant of the Scripture, we cannot deflect Satan’s vicious attacks. But if, powered with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, and the very mind of Christ, we continue to immerse ourselves daily in the Scriptures, we will be able to successfully wield the sword of the Spirit like a professional soldier of Christ, causing Satan to flee or at least slink away from us.
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