"CHAPTER THREE

Next Part The Accuser of the Brethren

This is not God’s world. By now it is clear that Satan is real, alive and the god of this world, deceiving the nations he has captured. Mankind has been left to try his own governments, religions, educational systems, philosophies, values, morals, ethics and humanly-devised solutions to his problems. These ideas and solutions do not now and will never work. They will all fail. (Read our booklet Why Man Cannot Solve His Problems to learn why.) But what, then, does the one who wishes to obey God do? What does the Bible say?

I Peter 5:8-9 warns, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith.” James 4:6-8 adds, “God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

Paul said, “Neither give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:27). All who would humble themselves before God, to draw “near unto Him,” must be willing to do this. When you give the devil “place” in your life, you give him room to manoeuvre and greater access to your mind. When Christ resisted Satan, in Matthew 4:1-25 and Luke 4:1-44, He told him to depart—and the devil obeyed! Once begotten of God’s Holy Spirit, you can do the same! (Read our booklet What Is True Conversion?)

Jesus said He would build His Church (Matt. 16:18), promising it could not be destroyed by anyone or anything. But the devil has also built his churches.

Satan Has Ministers

Hundreds of millions profess to be Christian. They come in every “shape, flavour, size and texture” of belief and practice. Over 2,000 separate denominations and groups exist in the United States alone, with a new one started every three days. Confusion, division, competition and strife mark the world of “churchianity.”

Where did all of these churches get their beliefs? Why can’t they agree on what the Bible says? Many like to say, “But they can’t ALL be wrong!” However, since they all disagree, they cannot ALL be right! Many leaders and preachers in these churches think they are serving God and think they are teaching the truths of the Bible, but are not!

These man-made variations of pseudo-Christianity are all products of a world held captive by the arch-deceiver who has injected false Christianity into an unsuspecting world. The world believes it walks in freedom from God’s Law, thinking Christ kept it for them, when they are really “free” from contact with God. Their captor has made them comfortable with his easy, convenient, false “Christianity.”

Christ strongly warned of what would happen after He was gone, that deception and conditions on earth would become far worse in the period referred to as “the end of the world” (Matt. 24:3-5). The Greek word aion means “age” (not “world,” which is cosmos). The world is not going to come to an end—only this age under the devil’s rule. In Mt 24:5, Christ said, “For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” The mass confusion in this world’s churches proves this statement true!

Now notice II Corinthians 11:13-15! False ministers were challenging Paul’s authority. They were bringing other doctrines and beliefs into Corinth. Paul identified them for exactly what they were and who they represented. Read his words carefully, in light of all that you have read: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

Deception, confusion and disagreement are inseparable from the world and its supposed Christian churches. However, most do not recognize false ministers because they appear to be true ministers of light—just as the “god of this world” appears to be the true God. The devil is an effective COUNTERFEITER! He counterfeits true ministers with false ministers, true doctrines with false doctrines and the true God with the false god—himself!

True Christians Come Out of This World!

Jesus said, “I will BUILD My Church” (Matt. 16:18). It is the Church—that Church—which will marry Jesus Christ at His Second Coming (Rev. 19:7-9). His Church is also called “Jerusalem which is above,” which is “the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26). Like any good mother, this Church nurtures and feeds her children. She has been doing her part for 2,000 years.

Ephesians 2:20-22 refers to the Church of God as a “BUILDING fitly framed together” that has been “BUILT upon a foundation of the apostles, prophets and Jesus Christ Himself.” Eph 2:22 adds, “You also are BUILDED together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Christians are being built together into the Church that Christ is constructing.

This broken world is a building in desperate need of repair. But it is not God’s purpose to rebuild—repair—this world. It cannot be rebuilt, but rather must be replaced entirely. By contrast, Christ is building His Church now!

God’s purpose in this age is to call a very few out of captivity and Satan’s world to train them for future rulership as teachers (Rev. 2:26-27; 3:21; 5:10) in the kingdom of God. Revelation 20:11-12shows that all will one day have access to the Tree of Life at the time of the general resurrection of the dead. A few are being called now—set free from Satan—and prepared for rulership to begin at Christ’s Return. Paul says that all called now, and over the last 2,000 years, have come “out from among them, [to] be…separate” (II Cor. 6:17).

In Revelation 17:1-18, John wrote to all who would serve God. He described the final world-ruling system soon to come, called “Babylon the Great” (vs. 5). God instructs Christians, “Come out of her, My people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (Rev. 18:4).

John also recorded Christ’s words on the night before His crucifixion, when He was praying about His disciples and all true Christians who would come after them: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth” (Jn 17:16-17). The words of the Bible are true. They are “the truth.” The word “sanctify” means to “set apart for a holy use.”

True servants of God are set apart for God’s use. The churches of this world do not know the truth. They have been taken captive and taught a false brand of Christianity, not of the Bible.

What will you do? All those who are determined to obey God must come out of this world! They must give up its ways and choose the ways of God! They must determine to break free of their captor through the help of God and the ransom payment of Christ’s sacrifice.

In I John 5:19, John was inspired to state bluntly, “The whole world lies in wickedness.” This is not surprising, since the whole world is deceived by its captor “god.” Paul, in Galatians 1:4, also bluntly referred to “this present evil world.” Peter spoke of “the pollutions of the world” (II Peter 2:20). No wonder John further warns Christians to “love not the world” (I John 2:15). Likewise, James says to remain “unspotted from the world” (James 1:27) and, using even stronger language, cautions “whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).

These are very powerful warnings to Christians throughout all ages!

Jesus also summarized the state of the world when He said of the Father, “the world has not known You” (John 17:25), and John 15:19, that His true servants “are not OF the world, but I have chosen you OUT OF the world.” Now examine I Thessalonians 5:5: “You [Christians] are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we [Christians] are not of the night, nor of darkness.”

Recall Ephesians 6:12 and how Satan and his demons are the “rulers of darkness.” The children of God walk in the light of day, obeying Him through the power of His Spirit, while the children of the god of this world walk in darkness and disobedience, under the influence of his spirit.

The implications of these passages are profound!

Next Part The Accuser of the Brethren

Back to A World in Captivity

Back to By David C. Pack