Doctrines of Devils | Bible Questions & Answers

[Music] good evening everyone welcome to the columbus bible church live stream question and answer session we appreciate you joining with us tonight as a reminder we'll be back on thursday 7 30 p.m eastern time and then we'll be back sunday morning 11 a.m eastern time i wanted to share something with you um so the uh last uh last sun sunday was father's day and so we received something from the official batman hider of the program and so uh here was the the card i don't know if you can read that it's happy bat dad day love you and then there's the the bat on the front um so i i believe i am bat dad and it quoted here second corinthians 4 17 for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory so i wanted to share with you my bat day card and you know just for kicks so let me open us in a word of prayer and we will get started father god thank you for this time we rejoice in your goodness we rejoice in your grace we thank you for everything that the lord jesus christ accomplished and it is in his holy name that we pray amen the question that i want to take up tonight really the topic is the topic of doctrines of devils and so what we're going to do tonight is this presentation is largely going to be a powerpoint based presentation so what we'll do is we're going to show you a lot of slides on the screen this may be our best program ever because there's going to be very little of visually of me it's mostly going to be of of the tv so should be a lot easier on the eyes so we're hoping you'll like this but the topic is doctrines of devils so let's jump right in there are doctrines of devils first timothy 4 verse 1 says now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils people sometimes think that what devils do is they haunt houses they make the car not work they possess people during the dispensation of grace what paul tells us is that there are doctrines of devils devils have false teachings that they perpetuate satan has set the course for this world and it is full of deception second corinthians chapter four verse four in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of christ who is the image of god should shine unto them what second corinthians 4 verse 4 proves is it doesn't prove that the earth belongs to satan or that satan owns the earth he doesn't first corinthians 10 is clear for the earth is the lords and the fullness thereof satan doesn't own the earth but he's the god of this world in the sense that he is the god that the vast majority of the world has chosen to worship and therefore he's the god of this world ephesians 2 2 wherein in time past he walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air it talks about the course of this world bodies of water have a course in other words if you think of a river like the ohio river it has a certain course that it follows it's carved out a path over time and it always follows that course it never flows in the opposite direction there is a natural course that a body of water has and that's the way that the water flows well according to ephesians chapter 2 verse 2 there's a course to this world this world moves in a certain direction and it's according to whom the prince of the power of the air well that's a reference to satan satan influences the direction the course of this world it then just says here the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience so satan's spirit works in people that are lost john 8 44 year of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speak of his own for he is a liar and the father of it so satan has no truth he's a liar he's the father of lies so now we're going to go through a logical statement if satan is the god of this world we just saw that he is he influences the course of this world he does there is no truth in him we saw that he is a liar and the father of it it follows then that the world system must be fundamentally and thoroughly deceitful so let me pause here to make sure i land this point if satan is the god of this world if he's the prince of the power of the air if he has that degree of influence over the world which he does and he influences the course of the world there's no truth in him he's a liar he's the father of it then what you have to expect about the world system is that it will be full of deception it will be full of dishonesty it will be full of lies not a little lie here not a little fib there but there will be big whopper lies that the world believes like big double whopper extra cheese sized lies okay that's what the world system is going to be like because satan is the god of this world and he influences the course of this world not a few lies here and there but fundamental deception that pervades all human affairs and is rarely perceived now let me make this point since they're lies since they are deception they will be believed by the vast majority of the people and the people won't realize they're deceived that's the reality of what the world system is like so what are we going to study tonight what we're going to do is we're going to try to uncover some of the devilish deception that is so subtle it's so sneaky that it has deceived nearly all of humanity both lost and saved so we're going to look at some of these big whoppers and we're going to try to understand them from the scriptures so there are four topics i want to cover tonight the first is holy cow the second is leviathan the third is santa claus and the fourth is the mystery of iniquity we will start with holy cow satan was created as a cherub not an angel they are not similar what you have been told at some point or another is that satan is a fallen angel and it's just not so it is just not so ezekiel 28 verse 12 son of man take up a lamentation upon the king of tyrus and say unto him thus saith the lord god thou sealest up the sun full of wisdom and perfect in beauty now this is a description of the king of tyrus but let's figure out if this is the human king of tyrus or maybe if it's someone else verse 13 thou hast been in eden the garden of god well that sort of narrows down the potential candidates doesn't it tire the city didn't even exist then so who is this king of tyrus well pretty obviously it has to be satan because there weren't that many different people in the garden of god it's this isn't a reference to adam it's not a reference to eve what's it a reference to it's a reference to the serpent every precious stone was thy covering the sardius topaz and the diamond the barrel the onks and the jasper the sapphire the emerald and the carbuncle and gold the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created now notice this the workmanship of thy tabriz and of thy pipes a tabret is a drum it's a percussion instrument a pipe is a wind instrument these were prepared in thee in the day that thou was created satan wasn't an angel he was a cherub and he had this built-in musical capability where he had both percussion instruments and wind instruments ezekiel 28 14 thou art the anointed cherub that covereth well what could be more clear satan was a cherub he's was not created as an angel now this is a depiction here from clarence larkin's works clarence larkin was a an early 20th century dispensationalist he was known for making some incredibly intricate and beautiful dispensational charts this is his depiction of cherubs you'll notice there are four cherubs here i'll just call this out it may be hard to see these cherubs you can see they each have multiple wings okay i don't know if you can see this here but each of the cherubs has four different faces there's one that faces forward then there's a face on the right and the left and there's a face in the back and you can see there's this wheel thing next to the cherub these cherubs have wheels that that are that coexist with them this is what cherubs look like now this is larkin's depiction but if you read ezekiel and you read the description of cherubs they look something like this this is a reasonable approximation so we saw from the previous slide satan was the anointed cherub that covereth so he wasn't an angel he was a cherub and he would have looked something like this but we also know that he had tabrets in pipes so he was a very special cherub what i now want to show you is let's look at the four faces of a cherub and these are found in ezekiel 1. now in ezekiel 1 verse 3 this is a vision that ezekiel receives by the river chiba and that's going to matter in just a moment ezekiel 1 verse 10 as for the likeness of their faces they forehead the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side and they forehead the face of an ox on the left side they four also had the face of an eagle so we're told here the four different faces and we're told how they are in relation to one another this is in ezekiel chapter 1. we're going to fast forward to ezekiel chapter 10 because ezekiel chapter 10 is going to give us another description of the cherubs and everyone had this is ezekiel 10 14 and every one had four faces the first face was the face of a cherub and the second face was the face of a man and the third the face of a lion and the fourth the face of an eagle the listing of faces here is a little bit different it's very similar but it's not identical now you might think well ezekiel 1 and ezekiel 10 are talking about different creatures but look at verse 15 and the cherubs were lifted up this is the living creature that i saw by the river of chiba remember how when we were on the previous slide and i told you the river chibar was going to be important ezekiel 1 and ezekiel 10 are talking about the same creature but it gives a different listing of the faces so we're going to compare these two lists this column is ezekiel ones four faces of the cherub this is ezekiel tens so let's start with man ezekiel 10 also has the cherub having a face of a man lion ezekiel 10 lists lion as well ezekiel 10 also lists eagle but with ox what's the fourth face in ezekiel 10. it's a cherub so in other words notice this three of these are identical and we know that it's the same creature so the face of an ox has to match up with what's left what's left the face of a cherub so the face of an ox is equivalent to the face of a cherub and what i'm going to suggest to you is this as you think about this cherub creature which is a truly spectacular creature four different faces has multiple wings has a wheel it can do all these things right the cherub is in many ways most similar to an ox because the word cherub and ox are used interchangeably now i want you to think about that just for a minute the cherub is most like an ox gen let's now ask ourselves a question why was the serpent cursed above all cattle the serpent of course we know is the devil genesis 3 14 and the lord god said unto the serpent because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle well why'd he curse from above all cattle why didn't he curse from above all cherubs why didn't he curse him above all angels or above all alligators or so on why would it say cattle well because a cherub can be described as an ox or cattle so when the lord chose the word cattle in genesis 3 14 he did it with the full and complete knowledge that satan was a cherub and a cherub is most like an ox that's why it says cattle what did aaron make when moses was up on the mount do you remember he made a molten calf exodus 32 verse 4 and he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf now why did aaron make a molten calf why didn't he make a molten iguana why didn't he make a molten kangaroo i mean there's all sorts of molten things he could have made why did he make a calf well let's ponder that for a minute jeroboam made molten calves for israel's gods now let me just set the context for first kings 12. you recall that what happens is the first king of israel is saul he's followed by david who's followed by solomon and what god decides to do is he's going to split the nation of israel into two separate kingdoms the the ten northern tribes will break away from the two southern tribes the ten northern tribes will be collectively called israel the southern two tribes will be called judah that's all in first kings you can refresh your recollection if that doesn't ring a bell what happens is this jeroboam who has the 10 northern tribes he doesn't want his people going south to jerusalem to worship at the temple and the reason he doesn't want that is if they go south to the temple all the time they will have a natural allegiance to the southern kingdom to judah so what jeroboam does he says we've got to have our own gods first kings 12 28 whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold again why didn't he pick iguanas and said unto them it is too much for you to go up to jerusalem it's too far let me create something in your neighborhood behold thy gods o israel which brought thee up out of the land of egypt now that's obviously a blatant lie but my point is you can see what jeroboam is doing he's doing the same thing aaron is doing he's making molten calves he's making false gods and they are calves they're not some other animal what did samaria worship samaria worshiped the calf of samaria hosea 8 5 thy calf o samaria hath cast thee off mine anger is kindled against them hosea 8 6 for from israel was it also the workmen made it therefore it is not god but the calf of samaria shall be broken in pieces now what's going on here what's going on here obviously is this the calf worship that you see when aaron and when jeroboam and samaria are worshiping molten calves they are worshiping the false god it's obviously homage to the anointed cherub that covereth who was likened unto an ox what's going on is it's a worship of a false god namely satan now let me pose this question just as a thought experiment in what country are cows considered sacred and when i raise that question there may be an answer that pops into your mind but i want to show you something and i'm going to show you something here from wikipedia if you ask the question in what country are calves considered sacred the real answer is almost everywhere now why do i say that now this is from wikipedia you can decide whether or not you like wikipedia as a source i believe that the statement is true that's why i'm comfortable using it because i think other sources would substantiate this but let's just look at this together cattle are considered sacred in world religions such as hinduism jainism buddhism zoroastrianism and others some of the various very largest religions in the world have calf worship at the center of it cat cattle being considered sacred cattle played other major roles in many religions including those of ancient egypt ancient greece ancient israel we just saw that a few slides ago ancient rome and ancient germany so what does that tell you calf worship is common on the earth why is it common on the earth well it's obvious what calf worship is a reference to what it seems to be the case is that satan as the god of this world has tricked the vast majority of humanity over time into worshiping him that's pretty common around the grove that's around the globe that's not just an isolated occurrence let's go to the second point leviathan now what is the leviathan some say that the leviathan in scripture is a crocodile or a whale or a dinosaur but we want to look and see what the verses say job 41 verse 1 canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook or his tongue with a cord which thou let us down and when you read job chapter 41 you're going to see it's going to give you a very lengthy description of the leviathan and i'm not for the sake of time we're not going to look at all the verses i'm going to skip ahead to verse 33 upon earth there is not his like who is made without fear so there's many things we're told about the leviathan the one thing i want you to just notice at the moment is that the leviathan is made without fear now ponder this just for a minute i'm going to go back to the earlier slide some say that the leviathan is a crocodile or whale or dinosaur how do these verses inform how do they affect the theory that the crocodile whale dinosaur is what the leviathan is what do these verses tell you about that theory well the leviathan cannot be part of animal creation why do i say that upon earth there is not his like who was made without fear the leviathan had no fear but if you recall what god did in genesis chapter 9 and the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every fowl of the air upon all that moveth upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the sea into your hand are they delivered on the authority of genesis 9 what do all animals have in common they fear man that's how they naturally are now some animals over time have been domesticated but all animals in genesis 9 were naturally given a fear of mankind job 41 says that the leviathan was made without fear so is the leviathan a crocodile is it a whale is it a dinosaur it can't be any of those things because the leviathan cannot be part of animal creation so what is the leviathan spoiler alert here it comes the leviathan is obviously an incarnation of the devil isaiah 27 verse 1 in that day the lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan now notice what it says the piercing serpent even leviathan that crooked serpent and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea so whoever this leviathan is the leviathan is also called the piercing serpent it's also called the crooked serpent it's also called the dragon that is in the sea does anyone have any idea who that is revelation 12 9 and the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and satan it's fairly obvious that when you simply study the cross references the leviathan is a reference to a particular form that satan takes and it's really not that hard to figure this out because you can look up the verses that have leviathan you can look up the word dragon and it's it's not really hard to figure out who the great dragon is it's satan now let's pause for a moment and just consider this the bible specifically says that the leviathan is satan in other words if you look up the leviathan verses it's going to tell you it's the piercing serpent the crooked serpent the dragon it tells you as about as clear as can be that it's satan and yet study bibles can't figure out who the leviathan is god has this sneaky thing he does where he hides things in plain sight he tells you the leviathan is a serpent he tells you the leviathan is a dragon how many other beings in scripture are both referred to as a serpent and a dragon uh peter uh isaiah uh the 24 elders i mean there's only one person it can be what this tells you is this satan has been effective in deceiving christendom about his person god specifically tells you the leviathan is the devil and christendom can't figure it out that tells you how effective the doctrines of devils have been so let's turn next and let's consider some attributes of the leviathan the first thing we're going to look at is the leviathan is a king over all the children of pride job 41 15 his scales are his pride so this leviathan this dragon that's in the sea he has scales verse 34 he beholdeth all high things he is a king over all the children of pride so he's specifically just described as a king and he's a king over what all the children of pride so it's a particular group of people when you look at first timothy 3 6 it's sort of fascinating in first timothy 3 the lord gives the qualifications of a bishop and one of those qualifications in verse 6 is that it cannot be a novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil the essence of satan's sin was that of pride and so it's no surprise that he is a king over all the children of pride the leviathan is fierce and extremely strong job 41 verse 10 none is so fierce that dare stir him up who then is able to stand before me so this leviathan is particularly fierce more fierce than any part of the animal creation job 41 verse 27 he esteemeth iron as straw and brass as rotten wood well that's some creature that esteems iron as straw right this is a strength beyond that which normal animals have now i want you to keep track of this because i'm going to ask you a quiz question in a minute we'll give you the jeopardy music and you're going to have to be ready to think so the leviathan is a king over all the children of pride he's fierce he's extremely strong he breathes fire job 41 verse 19 out of his mouth go burning lamps and sparks of fire leap out what he needs he needs mouthwash right i mean if you're at the point where you're breathing fire i mean brush your teeth go to the dentist gargle do something right it's not natural job 41 21 his breath can lift coals and a flame goeth out of his mouth well the leviathan very literally is a dragon it's a fire breathing dragon so let's notice this here and we'll go through the list and then we'll give you the jeopardy music the leviathan has the following characteristics he lives in the sea he's fierce he's incredibly strong he has scales he breathes fire and he is a king so here is the question i want you to think about and maybe you'll come up with the answer what creature in modern culture resembles the leviathan and what i'm saying there is this there's a creature in modern culture when i tell you the answer you'll recognize who it is but i want to give you a chance to think about it what creature in modern culture resembles the leviathan [Music] 13. [Music] all right we gave you a little chance to think about that does anyone know if you know raise your virtual hand and i will call on you i'm not seeing anyone so okay it's not it's not from lord of the rings well at least here's the one i came up with are you ready here we go here's the big reveal can you see that is that too dark it's too dark we're going to go with another visual clue ready who is it it's godzilla and so you can see some of the scales there you can see he has really bad breath he's obviously strong and fierce now this is just fascinating this is a godzilla uh videotape and what is he called he's the king of the monsters we saw that godzilla was that the leviathan was described as a king this again is from wikipedia it's quoting something about godzilla so i sort of figure there's low risk if it's wrong within the context of the japanese film godzilla's exact origins vary but it is generally depicted as an enormous that's what leviathan is like violent yes because he was fierce prehistoric sea monster well isn't that exactly what the leviathan is like godzilla's signature weapon is its atomic breath basically breathes fire so the leviathan if you wanted to think of a of a modern culture picture or metaphor for the leviathan godzilla is just like that now i want to show you here a couple other images these are some other well-known dragons this right here this is puff the magic dragon and you can see the little boy is playing with him and he apparently is a smiley happy dragon this right here is pete's dragon and i guess pete and the dragon get along well i haven't really seen the movie i don't know um here's dragon tails and look how these dragons are they're nice and and friendly i guess and you know it's a children's cartoon so let me ask you this this question if satan is real which he is and the leviathan is real which he is right whose interest would it serve if humanity were convinced that dragons are just make-believe and harmless or even good see let's go back here just for a minute so someone can can mock and they can say well you believe satan's godzilla you know you've watched too many movies what your problem is you've read too many fiction books and you just believe all sorts of crazy things well here's the order godzilla wasn't first job 41 was first job was the first book of the bible that was written it was written 2 000 years before christ and it described this leviathan and what you're seeing here is you're seeing things that are they're they're different from the biblical image the leviathan in scripture is not a friendly creature he's not a creature you would want children to play with he's not a creature that you know should be around children really at all but what this is i would suggest to you is its deception to make people think well dragons they're not really a thing it's just something that you know people with over active imaginations made up but the bible clearly teaches that they exist and so what you're seeing here is you're seeing satanic deception about the leviathan which is a form that satan will take during the 70th week let's go to our third point our third point is about santa claus now i should just i'm going to pause here i know that some of our listeners may be younger you know in their early 70s and maybe your parents never told you about this so if you don't know sort of the truth about this person now would be a good time for you to switch off and maybe have conversation with folks because i there will be spoilers that follow so i'm giving you fair opportunity uh if you if you believe in santa now would be a real good time to to switch programs okay so we press on who or what is santa claus and i'll give you the short answer but there's part that i want you to think about so here's the short answer santa claus is obviously a counterfeit of the lord jesus christ that that is obvious and we'll prove that but he is a counterfeit of a very specific aspect of the lord what aspect is it so i'm going to give you some verses here i'm going to demonstrate to you that santa claus is a counterfeit of the lord jesus christ the question i'm then going to ask you is he's designed to be a counterfeit of a very specific thing about the lord jesus christ what is it so be thinking about that so let's start with some comparisons santa claus we'll put on the left side will put the lord jesus christ here on the right side santa visits every house in the world on the same night you understand that's what santa does he has one job it's to do that well the lord is omnipresent right i mean if you're going to visit every house in the world on the same night how do you do that you basically have to be omnipresent well the lord is omnipresent psalm 139 7 whither shall i go from thy spirit or whither shall i flee from thy presence you can't you can't flee from god because no matter where you go there he is well well santa claus has to be pretty close to omnipresent if he visits every single house in the same night santa sees you when you're sleeping he knows when you're awake he knows if you've been bad or good well that means santa is pretty much omniscient he sees you when you're sleeping he sees you when you're awake he sees you all the time and he's kind of a weirdo that way i guess but he knows if you've been bad or good well that means he has to have something approaching all knowledge and of course we know that the lord is omniscient and he knows who has been bad or good proverbs 15 3 the eyes of the lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good so does the lord know all things yes now which came first proverbs 15 3 or santa claus well santa claus is a lot later in time than proverbs 15 3. so santa claus is copying what is true of the lord jesus christ santa of course gives gifts we know that matthew 7 verse 11 if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him god the father is a gift giver and obviously a better one santa has little children come unto him right one of the things that that happens is what people do in in the winter is they take their children to the mall and they let the little children run under santa right well something like that happened with the lord jesus christ matthew 19 verse 14 but jesus said suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me for if such is the kingdom of heaven the little children would run to the lord because they wanted to be with him santa is a jolly what old elf he's old why do you think he's old well god is the ancient of days daniel 7 verse 9 i beheld till the thrones were cast down and the ancient of days did sit whose garment was white as snow in the hair of his head like the pure wool his throne was like the fiery flame in his wheels as burning fire you recall that in john 8 58 the lord said verily verily i say unto you before abraham was i am now think about that the lord in the first century says before abraham was i am i'm before abraham i'm only 30 years old but i'm before abraham what am i he's got to be the ancient of days he's got to be god and of course he says i am alluding to exodus 3 where god says i am that i am who i am now think about this question with me what is santa's profession is he a butler um is he a lawyer is he a doctor what is he well if you think about his profession he's a toy maker right he makes toys at the north pole but what kind of toys does he make does he make video games what does he make santa makes wooden toys in his toy shop doesn't he and let me give you some visual proof here there's santa and what is his workshop what do you see everywhere wood santa has a workshop where he works with wood you can see there this is a different picture of him he has he's making wooden toys there there's some trucks and trains and things now think about this with me santa makes wooden toys what was the lord jesus christ profession he was a carpenter mark 6 3 is not this the carpenter the son of mary now let me pause here do you think that's a coincidence why didn't they make santa a gardener or it could i mean it could have made all kinds of things but santa has a workshop where he works with wood because he is a counterfeit of the carpenter of history where does santa live santa lives at the north pole where does god reside isaiah 14 12 how art thou fallen from heaven o lucifer's son of the morning how out there cut down to the ground which did sweak in the nations for thou has said in thine heart this is what lucifer said when he rebelled i will ascend into heaven i will exalt my throne above the stars of god i will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north think for a minute with me about east and west if you're on the earth you know what you can do you can always go farther east if you go all the way east to the atlantic you can keep going east and then you bump into you know africa or europe or something and you can keep going and you bump into asia and you can keep going keep going and eventually you bump into the west coast of the united states you can go east and west forever but you can't go north and south forever right if you go to the northernmost point on earth you get to a point and there's nowhere farther north to go you're sort of in the sides of the north now why is santa there you say because it's cold well why can't he be in alaska why can't he be in the south pole well he's at the north pole because god the father sits in the sides of the north if you go to the northernmost point in the universe you know who you will find there you'll find god the father because that's where he sits upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north now this is a fascinating one what's santa's favorite expression santa says ho ho what does that mean is he talking about gardening where if i get out the ho and i ho ho ho i can grow food i mean why would he say ho ho ho it's just weird well look at zechariah chapter 2 verse 5 for i saith the lord so the lord is actually speaking verse 6 ho ho come forth and flee from the land of the north saith the lord the lord himself in scripture says ho ho and what happens is santa being a counterfeit has to try to one-up the lord and so he says ho ho ho now you're gonna tell me that's coincidence you tell me it's a coincidence that santa's omniscient and omnipresent and old and just happens to be a carpenter and just happens to live at the sides of the north at the north pole and just happens to say something that the lord himself says see that's not a coincidence you you just can't believe that it is there's obviously a design to this deception what's santa known as father christmas that's one of his names christ is the everlasting father isaiah 9 verse 6 for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given that's a reference to jesus christ and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor the mighty god the everlasting father jesus christ was called the everlasting father and santa is presumptuous to be known as father christmas now in addition to the father christmas name santa is also known as kris kringle where does the word chris from come from well chris is short for christopher meaning bearing christ inside in other words the name christopher or chris is a derivative of christ well we obviously know the lord jesus is the true christ first john 2 22 who is a liar but he that denieth that jesus is the christ so what we see with kris kringle father christmas is we see a false christ so now let's go back to this question who or what is santa claus get the music ready santa claus is obviously a counterfeit of the lord jesus christ we've seen that time after time after time but i suggest to you he is a counterfeit of a very specific aspect of the lord which aspect is it [Music] thank you to our lovely studio audience we appreciate the help and the music it beats me humming the jeopardy tune now the lord santa is a counterfeit of a very specific aspect of the lord what aspect is it are you ready i gotta go one more santa claus is a counterfeit of jesus christ specifically with regard to the second coming now can i prove that or did i just make that up what is santa best known for he's best known for his coming santa clauses coming to town really well what is the very focus of history itself the timeline of history waits for the return of the lord jesus christ period the dispensation of grace will end when the lord jesus christ returns to catch away the body of christ when that happens the next big event will be the earth itself will await the second coming of jesus christ to the earth the next big events in history are real simple they're real obvious they are the coming of the lord jesus christ revelation 22 verse 12 and behold i come quickly so santa is known for his coming as is the lord jesus christ well is there more santa is always pictured with white hair and a white beard isn't he we saw some pictures earlier but you know this santa always has this really abnormally white hair and he has a bushy white beard well notice what was true of jesus christ he had a beard isaiah 50 verse 6 i gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair now when you normally see jesus christ portrayed in pictures or in movies does he have a big beard he normally doesn't and that's not an accurate that's not an accurate depiction of him because his cheeks had hair he had a beard notice that christ's hair and beard at the second coming is white like wool revelation 1 14 his head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire huh santa is pictured with white hair and a white beard just like the lord jesus christ at the second coming sin addresses in red and white you know what the lord jesus christ wears at the second coming revelation 19 13 and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood the lord returns in red and white but that red is the blood of his enemies you know what santa does he comes suddenly surreptitiously and unannounced in the middle of the night right you don't know the exact time he comes he sneaks in do you know of anyone who's going to return like a thief in the night first thessalonians 5 2 for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so cometh as a thief in the night by the way you know what santa does he breaks in and eats your cookies i'm not sure that's not thievery revelation chapter 3 verse 3 remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent if therefore thou shalt not watch i will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour i will come upon thee revelation 16 15 behold i come as a thief see what santa does when he comes he comes very much as a thief like the lord jesus christ will the second coming santa makes a list you know the lord keeps both the book of life and the other books revelation 20 verse 2 and i saw the dead small and great stand before god and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works see the lord knows who's been bad or good doesn't he see what does santa do with his list making a list checking it twice well the lord knows who is saved and who is lost but if you read what happens at the great white throne judgment he reviews the book of life to be doubly sure what happens at the great white throne judgment is that after the lost are judged they are going to be thrown in the lake of fire forever and what god what god does is to be doubly sure and to make no mistake he consults the book of life and confirms that their name is not in it before they are cast into the lake of fire essentially he is checking it twice there's the santa check in his list so what this tells you is that santa claus is obviously a counterfeit of the lord jesus christ and specifically a counterfeit of christ at the second coming now consider this question with me if you would is santa designed to be a counterfeit of the lord jesus christ at the second coming so that just as it is childish and foolish to believe in santa it's childish and foolish to believe in the second coming see here's what happens what happens with santa is your we tell little people this lie and then they they grow up and they learn hey that's just a story it's made up it's it's a deception it's false well who does santa look exactly like he looks exactly like jesus christ in the numerous particulars we just looked at well is this deception designed so that just as you should outgrow your foolish childish belief in santa you should also outgrow your foolish childless childish belief in the second coming of the lord jesus christ that's just a story folks it's not real that's just a fairy tale well listen the lord jesus christ is absolutely going to return and that's no joke while the world eagerly looks forward to the to the coming of a false christ named santa toys when the true christ returns the world will shudder in terror that won't be a happy day revelation 6 15 and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who shall be able to stand see here's what happens with the second coming when the lord returns there are these cosmic signs in heaven that are unmistakable the sun is turned into darkness the moon into blood the stars fall from heaven everyone on the earth whether you watch the news or not know that the universal the order of the universe is being changed and and the sign of the son of man appears in heaven and it's clear he's going to come well what happens the kings of the earth the great men the rich men they call out to the mountains and say mountain fall on me crush me i want to be crushed by a rock because that would be better than the wrath of the lamb he's coming we know it and he's not happy and we are fearful of it that's what revelation 6 is about that's what the second coming is like santa is a deception that minimizes the the terror and the reality of the second coming of jesus christ the mystery of iniquity we have one more section here the mystery of iniquity doth already work second thessalonians 2 verse 7 for the mystery of iniquity doth already work now during the dispensation of grace the mystery of iniquity is already underway only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way now let me just pause here for a minute here's what happened when god put the prophetic program on hold with with the institution with the revelation of the dispensation of grace what god did is he moved the prophetic clock farther into the future he moved the 70th week farther away what that meant is satan had more time to prepare for the 70th week and what satan did is he responded to the true christ by creating false christs you can read about that in acts 5. satan responded to the mystery of godliness that you can read about in first timothy 3 what god does during the dispensation of grace is he has the mystery of godliness he creates the body of christ satan responded to that by creating the mystery of iniquity in other words god reveals the dispensation of grace god reveals the body of christ he reveals the mystery satan says well i'm going to come up with my own so god has the mystery of godliness satan has the mystery of iniquity obviously his isn't going to be righteous or holy or just or pure it's going to be wickedness now think about this with me if you would satan's establishment of the giants in the promised land during israel's 400 years in egypt is similar to satan's mystery of iniquity operating during the 2000 plus years of the dispensation of grace here's what happened god tells abram i'm going to give your seed the promised land right god brings israel out of egypt and they wander in the wilderness for years before they go into the promised land what happened was this satan knew ever since god told abram that israel was going to be brought in the promised land but what happens is at the end of genesis israel goes into captivity in egypt for 400 years so what does satan do does satan say well you know i'll just chill over here and i'll wait until god is ready to bring israel to the promised land or does satan use that time to prepare and he puts those giants in the land because he knows god is ultimately going to bring israel into the land so i'm going to use the time i have to prepare to resist well what happens during the 2000 plus years of the dispensation of grace is this mystery of iniquity is already working so that satan is fully prepared to move forward after the rapture of the body of christ and the prophetic calendar resumes so i'm going to show you what follows are examples of how the mystery of iniquity may already be working you can decide for yourself whether or not these are examples of the mystery of iniquity but i think they're worthy of consideration the first example is what i'm going to call charismatic gullibility and here's what we're going to walk through we'll look at some claimed charismatic manifestations in other words some things that people say are occurring today as signs and wonders we'll then show what they view as proof and then i'll show you that the the manifestation it's not really real so let's just start with the first one to see this the gift of healing do some claim that there is a gift of healing today they do and what they view as proof is they'll have stories about that they'll be able to tell you about someone they know often those stories are overseas they may tell you at being at a meeting and someone was in a wheelchair and they stood up and they walked so they have stories they have anecdotes but scripture would call those fables the proof that this is not real is hospitals right in other words if people really have the gift of healing if they really have it wouldn't a worldwide pandemic be a good time to display it even if there wasn't a pandemic if you have if someone really had the gift of healing why don't they go to children's hospitals and go around and heal little children doesn't jesus christ say that the faith of a child is sufficient why don't people that claim to have the gift of healing do this well the answer is they don't really have it let me give you another example tongues people claim today to be able to speak in tongues and what is accepted as proof is is noises people make that are sometimes described as private prayer languages but to prove that that is not really happening is there's missionary language training so what happens is even missionaries who are charismatic what do they have to do if they want to go to a culture that speaks a different language they have to get trained they can't just go there and speak in tongues you realize in acts chapter 2 when peter and the 11 stood up to speak it says that every man heard them in the language in the tongue in which they were born well that's that's not going on today a third example god speaks to people he gives them individual messages and people have these subjective impressions about god told me to do this god told me to do that but the proof that that's not real is really simple god never tells anyone to rightly divide now think about this if god was literally talking to people in their ears and he was telling them things wouldn't god tell them things that are important like wouldn't he say for example read the king james bible believe that paul is your apostle rightly divide the word of truth in other words when you read the scriptures there's some very clear instructions that are given to us today but when god supposedly speaks to people today he never really tells them anything that's important which tells you that he's not really doing it now i've called this chart charismatic gullibility because here's what's going on people take these things as proof that the charismatic gifts are operating but they're really not what is accepted as proof is flimsy it's not adequate right these things aren't really happening people only believe that because they're believing really inadequate evidence christendom's current gullibility in accepting obvious fakes will be completely overwhelmed when the wicked shows up with great when the wicked one shows up with great lying signs and wonders second thessalonians tells us what's going to happen and then shall that wicked be revealed even him whose coming is after the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders see when the when the beast shows up is he going to have some very persuasive and compelling proofs they'll be false they'll be evil but they will be convincing how convincing matthew 24 24 for there shall arise false christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect those proofs are going to be so convincing that they would almost deceive the very elect well what's going to happen if right now you're believing all these flimsy proofs when someone shows up with the lying signs and wonders that are satanically empowered people are going to fall for that so what's happening with the false gifts today is they're preparing people to swallow the the more convincing lying signs and wonders that happen after the rapture example number two of the mystery of iniquity operating today is attacks on the word of god if people are to avoid satanic deception during the 70th week it will be based upon knowledge from the word of god but as people reject the bible's authority they reject the one thing that would save them from satanic deception let me give you an example the man of sin should be easy to identify now you may say well is that that true well scripture has multiple clues as to the identity of the man of sin one obvious one is the signing of the covenant so look at daniel 9 27 and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease so think about this there's going to be someone that confirms a covenant with israel for seven years and then in the midst of the seven years he's going to cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease he's literally going going to go into the temple and say stop the sacrificial worship if you didn't have any other verse if all you had is daniel 9 27 don't you sort of know who it's going to be in other words when someone signs an agreement with israel for seven years it doesn't matter if he's nice or if he's pleasant or he's charming or he's really articulate you should be wary and when he goes into the temple and says stop the sacrifice you know who it is because daniel 9 27 tells you who it is but here's the problem based on the scriptural clues it ought to be straightforward and obvious to identify the man of sin but few will do so because they will not pay attention to the word of god it's the disregard of the word of god that will be problematic for people in the 70th week example 3 of the mystery of iniquity is dispensational date setters christendom as a whole is in the process of abandoning dispensationalism in other words they're leaving rightly dividing they are rejecting dispensationalism and they're doing that when they do that they are abandoning literalism and understanding the dispensational interpretation of the scriptures is based upon the literal reading of the word of god so what is happening as the church as a whole rejects dispensationalism well when they reject dispensationalism what are they rejecting they're rejecting a literal understanding of the word of god as soon as you reject the literal understanding you're confining yourself you're condemning yourself to confusion is what you're doing because you're not believing the words on the page what's happening is dispensational date setters are making a bad situation worse what do i mean by that scripture doesn't give anything close to a date certain is when the catching up happens scripture doesn't say the rapture is going to be on this day or that day it doesn't say it's going to be on this year or that year but despite that lack of specificity what dispensational date setters keep doing is they point to specific days when the rapture will happen 1988 2000 2015 2016. there have been multiple times where people will say the rapture is happening this year sometimes people point to a specific day and they say the rapture will happen on this day well what happens they make this statement they make this bold proclamation it turns out they're completely wrong and the people that oppose dispensationalism chuckle and they say i told you so i told you it was a man-made system i told you it wasn't real and they keep doing it they did this in 1988 a bunch of people did the dispensationalists did it in 2000 they did it here they did it here so people already predisposed against dispensationalism naturally view these wrong predictions as confirmation that dispensationalism is wrong what i wish is the dispensational date setters would knock it off since scripture doesn't give you the exact date don't pretend like you have it but people keep setting dates they keep being wrong and dispensational truth is further and further rejected why is that a problem it is basic dispensational understanding that the false christ the man of sin shows up before the true christ the lord jesus christ in other words when you look at the prophecy program after the rapture the antichrist the beast the false christ will show up before jesus christ that's the most basic dispensational understanding well if you understand that that would help you a great deal in avoiding the man of sins deception because the first guy that comes is the wrong guy he's the deceiver but as people reject dispensationalism they will have no doctrinal understanding to enable them to resist the man of sins deceptions in other words when you reject the basic dispensational framework and the false christ comes along and he looks like a good guy and he provides physical deliverance to israel for a time being a bunch of people are going to say i can see what he is he's a nice guy i get it meanwhile scripture will be absolutely clear that he's not a nice guy no matter what he looks like but people are rejecting dispensationalism and they will fall for the beast's deceptions example number four the pop culture fear of invaders from outer space now just think about this with me for a minute as you think about modern culture there's a general fear of invaders from other planets of aliens right the the radio broadcast war of the worlds that's about aliens invading if you think about film invasion of the body snatchers men in black alien nation there's all kinds of movies about invaders from outer space tv used to have a a show called v that was about visitors from other planets basic video games space invaders the common theme of all of those those different media is simple there are bad guys from outer space that are going to invade and so when that happens we need to be prepared because we're going to have to fight them because they're going to cry to they're going to try to come conquer us and do us harm so we need to be ready to do battle the common thing common theme is earthlings need to unite to defeat the evil alien invaders but here's the problem during the 70th week you know what happens the earth comes under the dominion of the wicked one and needs the true christ from outer space to deliver it see what happens during the 70th week is satan and his minions are cast from heaven down to the earth and then satan and the beast and the false prophet influenced the whole world and what happens is the world is in a really bad spot and it needs deliverance from satan and the beast and the false prophet mankind is being preconditioned to fight against the righteous king of kings and lord of lords who will return from heaven now the mystery of iniquity doth already work the mystery of iniquity is satan's plan to deceive and damn multitudes during the 70th week and the groundwork to do so is already being established during the dispensation of grace the charismatic gullibility will make people more more vulnerable to the lying signs and wonders teaching them to reject the word of god teaches them to reject the one thing that could save them from error abandoning dispensationalism is the abandonment of the basic chronological framework that will help you avoid the false christ and believe the true christ and what you're seeing with all of the the media that we talked about is people are going to resist the true king that returns from outer space the only defense against the mystery of iniquity is god's word rightly divided so let me wrap this up satan's warfare is based on doctrinal deception it's not based on haunting houses it's not based on possessing people it's doctrinal deception by definition people who are deceived do not realize it when you're in the process of being deceived when you believe something that's false you don't know it or you'd quit believing it well if satan is the god of this world and the father of lies you know what that means about the world the vast majority of the world is deceived therefore it is necessary spiritual self-defense to labor in the word and doctrine the only way you can avoid this deception is you're going to have to study god's word always have the humility to ask how have i been deceived where is my thinking contrary to the word of god because i need to change my thinking so that it matches the thinking of the word of god search the scriptures daily so hopefully you've enjoyed this study hopefully you can see that there are doctrines of devils that are active during the dispensation of grace and what do we need to do to defend against them we need simply to study the word of god we need to do that on a daily basis and let it teach us what is true well thank you for joining with us let's close in a word of prayer father god thank you for your word we thank you that it is it is safe and true and reliable we thank you that you have given us the answers of life you've made them very clear in the bible we thank you you've preserved it for us we pray lord that the body of christ would be busy reading the word of god would be busy preaching the gospel and we just give you all the glory it's in the name of the lord jesus christ we pray [Music] amen [Music] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Columbus Bible Church

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Length: 74min 58sec (4498 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 30 2020