The Devil claims it’s his territory because of human decisions to follow his lead and that God is the intruder. Christ claims kingship over the earth by right as Creator and Redeemer.
Now let’s look into the conflict and why Christ has waited with taking full control.
The first thing we must understand in regards to power is that it is all about who gets to decide the ideology, moral and laws of the land. When you have riots against a government, for instance, it’s because they disagree with rules and regulations made by the state. If there is a war between two groups of people it’s always tied to ideology and way of life. Whether religious or atheistic. One group wants to decide the moral compass, the regulations, and rules that the society should live by, and the only way to get that is to be in a ruling position. So people fight for power so they can control the laws of the land.
In the battle between Satan and his allies and Christ and his allies, it’s the same battle.
God wants those who are obedient to Him to have resources or right to them.
The Devil wants those who are obedient to him to have them.
Those who have the resources have the power, and those who have the power are the ones who make the laws. The ones who make the laws are the one who gets to determine right from wrong and judge. The one who judges is the ruler. The short-short version: The one who makes the law is the Ruler. It’s that simple.
Gods law and Him being the Creator are the two things that make Him a King. That is why God dwelled over His Ark of the Covenant in His temple. The Ark containing His law, a law claiming He was the creator. Everyone owns the right to their creation. However, he gave man dominion over the earth. (Gen.1,26)
However He created humans with a free will, but He did not create them immortal. Eternal life was a gift that could be bestowed upon them reminding them they were created and God was the Creator.
When Satan got Adam and Eve to use their free will to go against God’s authority in the Garden of Eden, and their descendants followed in that direction, he claimed as they now followed his lead that he should be rightfully king on earth on principle of election rather the principle of origin.
God had entrusted the planet to man and denied the right to eternal life. The Devils claim was that because they didn’t keep God’s law, and there was no pardon for breaking it – they were outlaws like him. And he was the king of the outlaws as long as they continued following his lead.
And that God had to let them use their free will to follow him if they so desired. God could not uphold His principles by forcing into submission and run their lives without their consent or wish.
The earth slowly started to go by the Devil’s principle in their way of life as they listen to his suggestions more than they did the Spirit of God who was teaching them God’s ways. When presented with God’s way and the devil’s way, choosing the devils way made them his subordinates. And because God had given them a free will God allowed it to a certain extent.
The devil became a ruler of this world. Jesus called him the prince: «Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.» (Joh 14:30)
When we see all the misery on this planet have been tempted to blame God, but the truth is that the «prince of this worlds» poor philosophy is the cause of it all. God has all the time presented an alternative route but keeps going by the Devils system and they get the misery that follows it. Jesus said: «Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do» (Joh_8:44)
The only one mankind should blame for the terrible ordeals is their elected Prince and themselves for following his lead.
Just like in any ruling position, those who break the laws of the ruler are outlawed and punished. It was the same way with the devil. Those who wanted to be loyal to God and His law was considered rebellious in the Devil’s governmental system. Up through the ages, God’s faithful have been tortured, imprisoned, outcasts, runaways and innocently murdered. They were called a threat to society or just ridiculed. They were not innocent in the devil’s eyes, in his eyes they were allies to his enemy and competition, and he felt it right to fight and conquer them. Through his representative, the Bible says he would “wear out the saints of the ” (Dan.7,25) The devil presents himself as some kind of good guy and that God is the bad guy. He presents himself as a freedom fighter and God the oppressor. In this way, he legitimizes killing and harming God’s followers.
But how should God really have dealt with the Devils rebellion? Should God really just give up His throne for a lesser being that could not even restore and keep the worlds safe? The Devil had none of the powers that God had and that every world needs. The power to create from nothing, to restore something completely. God is the only one who has life in Himself. He is irreplaceable. Removing Him would only lead to death. And if the Devils rules were to be regarded higher then God’s then God would be the puppet of his subordinate.
God knew something the Devil didn’t, the consequence of the ideas the devil was promoting. God knew the domino effect of the Devil’s ideas, explained in Gen 3,22: “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil». God claimed He knew what evil was. To the Devil, many of his own ideas and rebellious thoughts seemed right and would implement needed improvement, but God knew they were really the start point of a road to self-destruction. The devil had a self-deceptive motive that he was thinking of the welfare of the other beings, but the real motive of his heart was selfishness and self-elevation. Isaiah 14:13 tells us his real agenda was to be adored and worshipped as God. He was jealous and it was jealousy that was the driving force behind his faulty perception and following accusations towards God.
time passed before he was willing to lie and kill to get there. He wasn’t against rules, he just wanted to be the one to make them. He wasn’t against a ruler, he just wanted to be that ruler.
The treatment he felt was so wrong that God had given him after his rebellion, he didn’t have a problem to give to God’s followers here on earth showing his great double standard. He had been exiled, something he believed was unfair, but didn’t have a problem in placing exile or even destroy those who wouldn’t follow his lead on earth.
The devil was angry because God humiliated him and that he lost his high position and influence over others in the heavenly world where he had hoped to turn everyone on his side. God had been forced to expel him because of his lies, manipulation, and deceit towards God. He was, therefore, cast out of heaven with his allies. Soon everyone could slowly see the devil’s true colors, intention, and his double standard here on earth. As it unfolded and the Devil was setting into motions his own standards, thousands upon thousands of angels in heaven could see his character more clearly and the result of his actions (1Co_4:9, Dan_7:9
God had not allowed sin to go on for to long in heaven as the majority of the beings trusted God and chose his lead. God could then expel the Devil without protests, but here on earth where the majority chose to follow Satan sin would come to develop in all its stages. This is why Paul wrote: “for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.”
The treatment God’s people here on earth received from ruling powers the Devil controlled had no class, empathy or fairness. They perfectly demonstrated the Devils wrath against God. The Devil was at war and unable to harm God Himself so he went for God’s little ones here on earth. (Rev 12:12-17)
Revelation 12 says that after he was cast to the very planet that had chosen to follow his lead, he started persecuting God’s people “which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”. The Devil was at war against heaven here on earth, making God’s faithful the target of his warfare. He would first try and win them over to his side by presenting his case and if that didn’t work he would lie about God and God’s motive and character presenting him as the bad guy, if that would not work he would try to bribe them. And if that did not work the Devil went to war ready to sadistically torture and kill the inhabitants of God’s kingdom here on earth. He wanted to see the rebel of his rule in pain. He wanted them to curse God whom they followed (Job 1:11; Job_2:9 ). The Devils first intention was not to kill as his power of influence lied in getting as many as possible to raise their voices against God. The closer someone had been to God the greater value, as their testimony would harm God’s reputation even further. Anyone who instead of accusing God would praise God, even in their despair, would be a witness against everything the Devil wanted to achieve: An army of complaints and opponents against God. If there was not one single person left on the planet to embrace God surely God would have to let the Devil have the planet? And the heavenly world would have to face that not one person on earth thought God was righteous in His dealings with man? But as long as voices from our planet cried out to God, begging Him to interfere, as long as humans invited God into their lives, the Devil would lose ground. Wherever mankind prayed in repentance, angels from God would be sent. The Devil had to watch angels from heaven interfering and hindering plots he made. Prayers are therefore regarded by Satan as a weapon in the warfare against him and he wants to hinder it.
Not only does God send angels to hinder the Devils plans, but angels he knew from when he had a leading role in heaven. Angels that had rejected him and chosen to remain loyal to God. The angels that had joined Satan and the angels sent from heaven had once been part of the same kingdom and known each other. Now they were on two sides of a war. I think few comprehend the great tension that exists between the angels and between Satan and Gods angels. Satan and the angels that followed him had lost the battle with Christ and His angels in heaven (Rev.13,7-9). Now mankind was in the middle of this invisible war and anger (Rev.12,12). The Devil was constantly reminded that he was ruling on this planet on borrowed time and that he would soon be judged. He knew he was going to lose, all he could do now was to create as many problems as possible and hinder salvation for as many people as possible. The annoyance with all these people calling for God to interfere was, therefore, an ugly stench in his nose and he wanted to stop them. The less of them, the more power he would have here on earth. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them” (Rev.13,7) God let both Satan and his angels show their true colors. The saints that died, God knew they were safe and would be resurrected again. In many ways, the sleep was a blessing from the constant attack from the devil. He even says about the most worst time of tribulation for God’s people: “Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” (Rev.14,13) God would revenge blood in His time: “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled” (Rev 6:9 -11) .
The more people that prayed and called for God the more God would bring His presence to help those who wanted God has their ruler. Every prayer was a hindrance to Satans plan.
The new Adam
Had Adam, made to have dominion on earth, brought his earthly kingdom under the Devils rule by defying God and subjecting to the enemy? A new man with rights to the planet would turn the tables.
When Jesus came to earth reincarnated as a man and a descendant of Adam, the Devil tried to tempt him. The Devil presented himself to Christ as the owner of planet earth, and he to give Him everything on one condition.
If only Christ would worship him (Mat.4:9). The Devil was willing to give up on his claim on everything only for an acknowledgment from Christ. In that way, the Devil was ready to leave his claim to the kingdom if he could be glorified by his maker as an equal to God in return. Would not Jesus think it worth it?
Had He not left heaven and His divine nature to come and save mankind? Jesus was going to win back his lost children, but not by betraying His father and God’s law. He would never agree to break God’s law. And He would not give a single excuse for the existence of sin. Sin is never right no matter what can be gained by it. Often sin can appear justified or needed in certain situations, but this is a deception. Jesus said: “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” (Joh.8,46) If there one single excuse to sin it means God’s law is flawed. God claims it’s not. “The law of the LORD is perfect” (Psalm.19,7)
The devil had no right on any of his accusations. And the state of the earth that he had been playing ruler over was a witness against his ideas of how to govern.
Had Jesus accepted the Devils proposal Christ would have broken God’s law and become a lawbreaker or a sinner (1Jn.3:4) He would have to rule over the earth as a rebellion with His enemy. Naturally, Christ declined. He had His own plan to win back man, and He would not sin to get there.
Christianity’s influence after Christ death and resurrection was powerful. No matter how many were slain the movement still grew. Mankind was feeling love for God in heaven who had made such a great sacrifice to win them back and save them. The One who had been one in nature and spirit with God was now in nature become one with and only one with God spiritually. A bigger sacrifice was made then most are aware. But could understand part of the sacrifice.
God had not abandoned them. And He wasn’t that unfair, selfish ruler the Devil had made Him out to be. He was a loving Father wanting to save His disobedient children on earth out of love for each and every one of them. The Devil had offered mankind alternative religions to satisfy their needs and to fill that void created after leaving their Creator and pushing out His spirit. But was no longer satisfied with these empty religions. Here was something greater. Instead of power hungry selfish and unfair gods, they saw God’s beauty that the devil had worked so hard to hide from man with all his lies. The light could not easily be distinguished. The Devil was forced to change tactics in order to remain his position as a ruler among man. He took the truth and twisted it to his advantage. If they wanted Christ dying on the cross for them, they would get that. Only different Christ. The devil would give them Christ the opponent to God’s law, a Christ that had come to destroy God’s law admitting it wasn’t good for man. A Christ that would die to save them from having to be obedient to God’s law. It was the devil who wanted to free man and angels from God’s laws, the new Christ was really just himself and his agenda in a new name. In his mind he was the one who had sacrificed for his rebellion, he was the scapegoat. If anyone should be worshiped it was him. The alternative Christ was none under the devil and his agenda disguised. The persecution against Christian halted and a new Christianity emerged from “the sea” (Rev.13,4). The devil had used Rome to attack God’s people only to see them grow in number. The dragon now gave his power to a new beastly system, Christianity and state together. If he could not do away with Christianity he was then going to be its leader and lawmaker.
He told people they could believe in Christ, He couldn’t prevent that, but that the law of God was done away with at the cross. That the church that the devil was now controlling were the ones to make the new laws for God’s people. He explained that God had done away with His law for people on earth and that they would now be saved even if they were broken. If you broke the church regulation however, God would punish you. The church now represented God’s authority and not God’s law. By using force and state power while persecuting and chasing away anyone who objected he soon became the leading Christian power on earth. And man accepted the lies. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him» (Rev.13,8)
The lie resembled the one he once told Eve that started sin on earth. He told her she could defy God’s authority and still live. If Eve thought she was really going to die when eating that fruit she would never have eaten it. The power of the serpent’s deception was making her believe she was safe while violating God’s authority. Satan made her believe she would be elevated like God and not die as God had said.
The same lie has been told through the name of Christianity today. The devil offers mankind salvation through the blood of Christ, that they will not die but live, even though they continue to break God’s law.
If the devil could persuade to continue to reject God’s law, only now in Christ name, he would remain their ruler. He would remain “prince of this world”. As mentioned at the beginning of this article “The first thing we must understand in regards to power is that it is all about who gets to decide the ideology, moral and laws of a land”. If you need to put the name “Jesus” to Satans ideology in order to follow him, he accepts that. Jesus repeatedly told about the future that there would be preachers preaching in His name while advocating freedom from God’s laws and that they were deceivers (Matt.7,21-23) He said there would be deceivers using His name: “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.» (Mar 13:6) Even people using His name to persecute Christ real disciples “But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me» (Joh_15:21 ). We were warned that the devil and his allies would pretend to be Christ workers: «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.» (2Co 11:13-14)
So people claiming to represent Christ, and even claiming to be Christ, how then could anyone know who the real Christ is and who His real followers are. The clue to distinguish was simple. Christ said that we would know them by their fruits, and He ends His warning that if they work for iniquity a word that comes from the Greek to be «free from the law» it is the sign that it’s the false workers and the false gospel. (Mat 7:15-23) John, the apostle Christ loved, said the same thing having learned this important fact from Christ Himself (1Jn 2:3).
The real Jesus is obedient to God’s law (John.15,10) and so is His followers, or else they are not following His lead. The false Christ’s is the one promoting lawlessness from God’s law.
If God’s law is done away with, then God is no longer a ruler on earth. He cannot judge, He has no principles to judge by. If God’s law is absent, the Devil’s law can take its place. The Devils law is clear, “do what you want”, as long as you don’t follow God’s authority as ruler and as long as you don’t interfere with his plans.
Unable to beat the Christian movement, the Devil went as far up to it as he possibly could be by presenting a similar law and faith. There was no other way to deceive but to lie as close to the truth as possible. Only his alterations would serve his interests. He only replaced and removed the laws that interfered with his purpose and agenda. He knew all he needed was to defy God where God Himself asks for loyalty as a sign of man’s submission to Him as the lawmaker. God does this in the fourth commandment of the ten commandment law which is why the Devil has through his church agencies changed this commandment, or done away with it. The sign of loyalty to the Creator is the very command the Devil attack more than the others. That is why the Sabbath has been such a heated subject for the past 6000 years. The breaking of it was partly what lead to Israel’s captivity (Neh 13:17-18; Isa_58:13; Jer 17:21-25 & 27; Eze_20:13 ; Eze_20:16 ; Eze_20:21 ; Eze_22:26; Eze_23:38).
Even the Pharisees and Scribes distorted the command by changing the requirements to fit their own laws, then later the church changing the day to another day. Disposing Gods sabbath commandment for Sunday. Many protestants reject the Sabbath altogether. The Devil through his “workers of righteousness”, through his appearance as “an angel of light”, through claiming to be “Christ” or been sent in “Christ name” has changed the one command that was to illustrate loyalty to the Creator of the Universe and the acceptance of Him as the rightful king on earth.
But the kingdom of Satan is an illusion. He claimed the descendants of Adam had given him the right to rule by election, by choosing him when they followed his lead. Not one man hadn’t sinned and so all men were his subjects. God would destroy also this argument of ownership.
When Christ was born in human flesh He became part of the human race. And His followers, by choosing an alliance with God through Christ obedience, became part of God’s family. That is why the Antichrist denies Christ came in flesh, that He genetically became human. The devil refuses that man have chosen a new ruler through Christ, he calls Jesus a cheater or that He didn’t really become human like us. This because it destroys his original argument and claim (1Jn_2:22, 1Jn 4:3) Christ became the second Adam, the new human father turning the scepter back to God who in return gives it back to Jesus. (1Co 15:21-22; 1Co_15:45)
If Jesus, born genetically as a human denies sin in the flesh, there is a human that has rejected Satan’s rule. And when he refused to worship the
devil in the wilderness He also became the first man on earth since the fall to reject the devil and his rules completely. When God gave Christ the kingship, Christ pronounced that His followers were to inherit the earth (Mat 5:5, Rev 22:14) Paradise would be restored to man through Christ merrits.
God had never accepted the devils claim on earth. He had created the planet, He was still rightfully owner of it. And He felt responsible for what happened to it. God could have let the earth, separated from the rest of the universe and planets, follow its course of evil alone until it self destructs. As long as the rest of the beings on other planets and in the heavens were faithful and a border made sure no one from earth came to them, they would still enjoy paradise. He could let the earth continue with its master the devil alone till no one was left until nature perished and humans became instinct. But God would not abandon as long as there was hope. He loved every human being and wanted to save and offer life to as many as possible. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life» (Joh 3:16).
God could destroy the devil and all the angels that followed him instantly or at any time. But sin wasn’t just in them but in mankind. In many instances, humans were even eviler than some of the angels following Satan. God didn’t want a kingdom of force, forced praise, forced obedience, forced alliance to Him. Even though He could have done it that way, He didn’t. He has no pleasure in false worship (Jer.7:9, Isa 1:13, Luk.6:46)
He created humans with a free will for a reason, He wanted them to give their hearts and alliance to Him out of love and respect. There is no other way to worship in God’s eyes. The heart has to be willing, the mind in agreement, for it to be true worship. God’s kingdom is built on love, not suppression. This is the reason God chose the method He chose. Rather taking over the planet from Satan immediately, He first wanted to reach people’s heart and speak to them and persuade them through His spirit to come “home” to Him. Those who wanted to leave the devils lawlessness society from God’s theocracy and go back to God, would by the blood and righteousness of Christ be pardoned, and in the end, they would inherit the earth.
God would restore the earth into its original beautiful state as it were before sin had taken its toll on animal and plant life (Rev. ch.21). The planet would again be under God’s jurisdiction with inhabitants that loved God and willingly placed their thrones before His feed in rejoice and praise.
God’s plan was never to abandon the planet or leave it in the hands of it’s elected master. He would not give up on man without offering them another chance or a hope (Gen.3,15). Jesus said about the devil, that he was a liar and had lied since the beginning. That he was a murder. “Ye are 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 speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it» (Joh.8,44) No matter how sincere the devil presents his case to the human heart, most of what he claims and says is a lie about his own role, his own character and about God. He is a murderer that did not fear to kill even the Lord that had created him when he pushed his human followers to crucify Christ. Christ was according to John 1,3: «All things were made by him without him was not any thing made that was made.» That makes his hands the same hands to brought Satan to life. Now weak come in flesh to save the human race the devil had them pierce those very hands and nail them to a cross. The disrespect, the pure hatred was visible to everyone. He knew he would not win, he killed for the sake of his hatred alone. He had the Roman soldiers mock Christ as ruler.
Proving to be the worst murderer there is, the created being killing his own maker. But the Father would resurrect Him and restore Him. The devil would loose. The ruler he had mocked will one day come in a crown, not made of thorns, but in majesty (Rev 14:14, Mat.24:27). And the Devil would have to take his punishment (Rev 20:2-3)
The battle is so intense that Christ coming is hidden from everyone so that God can have the full advantage when He comes to judge. “And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye, therefore, ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luk 12:39-40).
Jesus will bind Satan and confine him even more. For a thousand years he will have time to think of not only his actions but also the hurt and suffering caused by his love for self and power. Yet God predicts, he will not learn from his confinement. After the 1000 years of his prison sentence, he decides to go to physical war against Christ once again, just like he did in heaven. (Rev 20:7-10; Rev.12,7-8) God’s long-suffering and patience with sinners have been indisputable. It reveals itself to the very point that the final execution of the Devil and his followers happens as they attack God’s city in open warfare (Rev 20:8-9). Even the execution of God’s last judgment is made in self-defense. Either God has to give Satan the power or He has to eliminate him. The devil has left him with no other choice. He has proven he and those that believe him, will never stop, never change, even when knowing the truth of their own actions and the consequences of them. And they will never live in peace but always attack God’s people as they do again in this final battle.
Why would an all-powerful God not just take over the earth at once, why all this drama? It’s tied to God’s moral compass as a ruler. He would not rule on earth over unwilling participants. Unlike many earthly rulers, God has no pleasure and sees no future in forcing to submission in order to glorify Himself or win an argument. God’s worlds are not constructed that way. There is no paradise where there are pain and unhappy inhabitants, there is no freedom where people are forced to act against their conscience for the sake of not losing their lives. God’s paradise cannot exist with forced submission. (Rev 21:4) In God’s kingdom the “wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them” (Isa.11,6) Before sin the Lord Himself walked on earth and was friends with man (Gen 3:8-9). He was not invisible to them nor will He be in the future. This is why God, in order to re-establish His kingdom on earth, has to choose another method then just forcing all humans and angels into submission.
Although had at first chosen to listen to Satan they had because they were deceived and had been lead astray about the Creator and His character. The Devil had described God with his own attributes and motives, his own faulty rule. The misery here on earth caused by the Devils rule was pinned upon God and the Devil made everyone thing He was the one to be blamed for it and that it was the result of God’s govern.
In addition; The Devil also made sure to create what is later popularly called “false flags“. In order to get to rebel against God and join him in his attacks against he is not a stranger to the method of destroying and causing additional misery just to point the finger towards God as the one to blame. Making religious people attack others in Gods-name is a common way of achieving anger towards God. Making catastrophes and disasters and then blaming God. “False flags” has been used by many governments in order to win the public over on their side in attacking their chosen enemy. The Devil also uses these tactics.
God was trying to win people over by giving them knowledge, the truth, and not by force. Jesus said the “truth will set you free” (Joh.8:32) But God also said that it was up to man to love the truth when they heard it as it would not be forced upon them. If they loved not the truth they would willingly or unknowingly choose to be deceived because they had more pleasure in the deception. “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them, that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved» (2Th_2:10). They were not forced to believe the lie, but when presented with both the truth and the lie they themselves chose to believe the lie.
So even being deceived was a matter of choice. God would never let the world be without knowledge of the truth or at least a path that to the truth. Jesus would be the light in the darkness to lead them. He said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Joh.14,6). If they wanted to know who God really was they had to behold Him “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (Joh.14,9) “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (Joh.8,12)
The fake gospel of lawlessness or that man now could make their own religious laws, was made to serve the Devils agenda to continue to rule on this planet. It’s false gospel the Devil created by transferring himself into “an angel of light” and his angels into “workers of righteousness”. It’s Satan that makes religious laws from the throne in the Vatican. The Pope claims to rule in Christ name, but his fruit is defiance to God’s original laws and presenting a changed law that step on God’s authority. The Pope even denies what God states in the fourth commandment, the fact that He created the world in six days. The papal system has agreed with the theory of evolution. The papal power is the first Beast mentioned in Revelation 13. This church-deception worked for a long time during the middle ages as Satan used them to rid himself of the real Christians who remained loyal to God’s law. His success was tied to people not having access to the source of the real gospel as found in the Scripture. This so-called Christian power claimed it was for the best that people were not allowed to have their own copies of the Bible, and owning one or even pages of one was severally punished. Many had to risk their own lives by smuggling Bibles in order to share the truth with others.
The Catholic Church was behind his conviction claim the Bible should only be in hands of it’s priests.
The Devil first tried to hinder people from having the Bible. In Christ name, the Devil systematically fought those who translated and spread the Bible. People like Wycliffe, Tyndale, Hus, Zwingli, Luther and many others translated the Bible to local languages while the Church did everything to stop them. Cursing them, condemning them and even killing some of them. He did it through the Catholic church. But as Christians started reading the Bible and ridding themselves of their loyalty to false religious teachers, the devil was forced to use the Bible to legitimize his lies.
Twisting the words of Paul so it seemed like he preached the law was done away with at the cross (2Pe 3:15-16). Paul, however, did never fight against God’s law or claim it made void (Rom_3:31, Rom_7:12, 1Ti_1:8)
His teaching was of a different nature. He did explain that the ritual services involving sacrifices were replaced with Christ sacrifice (Book of Hebrews). He also explained that keeping the law could not do away with our past transgressions or undo having first broken it (Gal_2:21). If man could obtain righteousness, have their sins blotted out, by either keeping the law or sacrificing an animal in the temple then Christ suffered in vain. Paul explains there was no other way to deliver us from our sins than through Christ sacrifice. That it was a false religion that indicated that good deeds can blot away bad ones. The record against our sins would remain even if we turned and lived a life in righteousness. The law required the perpetrator’s death and it could not be undone. And only by Christ dying in our place could these transgressions be blotted out.
His writings were important, even more in his time, as the understanding of Christ dying on the cross for our sins was new then. Up until then, people had tried to undo bad deeds by doing good deeds. Even the Jewish nation did. Even the worst rules wanted to redeem themselves by doing good deeds in front of the people. A yin yang mentality, that there was always something good in the bad and something bad in the good. But God would not accept that, He would not excuse sin because of good deeds. Would you really care if the man who stole your child helped old people in the local nursing home? Would you acquit him? What courtroom with respect for itself and the victims would ask to see a list of the criminal’s good records to evaluate if he should be punished for his recent crime? Neither does God.
This mentality had to change. No one could believe the lie that they could be saved even if they rejected Christ, just by being good. Would they not accept Christ taking their penalty upon Himself they would themselves one day have to take it. Paul however never suggested that although pardon could only be given through Christ blood and faith in Him, that we were through the same blood was permitted to lawfully break God’s law.
That was never his claim. The law and the need for man to turn to God was still as important as before. “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?» (Rom 6:2) Jesus said if we continue in sin we are its servant. «Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin» (Joh 8:34) Jesus was clear after forgiving His trespassers to not continue in sin: «And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more» (Joh_8:11), «Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee» (Joh_5:14).
But the law was nothing without the atoning sacrifice of Christ as it could not save anyone in itself. We would just be converted people waiting for a death sentence.
Paul also discussed how keeping the law out of obligation and fear would just lead to sin and that keeping it by love and with our hearts was the only way the law could be kept (Heb.8,10) It was this mistake the Jewish nation had done and distorted God’s law and character in the law (Rom 9:31-32). They had proclaimed to be keepers of the law and its true representatives, but when the law was made flesh they did not know Him (Joh.1). When the living law in flesh was in front of them, they hated it. How could they love God’s law and reject and even hate the manifestation of it through Christ? Because they never kept it the way it was supposed to. Bible says the leaders “How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?” (Jer.8,8).
Paul discussed many things connected to the law and the principles of it, how to keep it. And he always addressed the important issue that once we had been freed by Christ we should not go back to our sins and continue in them. This is just another way of saying we still have to respect the law even though we have been acquitted from past transgressions.
The enemy of God used people in the name of Christ to twist Christ mission and the writings of Paul to create a false gospel. A gospel that was to ensure people were still in rebellion against God’s law after converting and therefore still in conflict with Him.
This deception will reach it’s climax when Christians all over the world will come together and get the state to make a law that makes God’s fourth commandment of none effect and that replaces it with the commandments of men. It’s no coincidence that the devil picked the very one commandment that states that God is the Creator and therefore has the right to make laws on earth. The very commandment that provokes the devils claim. If he can get even those who claim to follow Christ to step on the one commandment that God wrote was to show man subjected to Him as their supreme authority, he will have succeeded in stealing God’s authority over His people. This way the devil will continue to make the claim that because man rather listens to him than God he is their rightful leader.
But the Bible is clear. God’s true people will remain loyal to Him and to His command. The only ones who will not follow these laws are described as those who “have the commandment of God and the faith of Jesus”. (Rev.14,12) The same people that God said will one day inherit the earth, and rebellion will finally be over when Christ comes in the clouds to claim His people and punish the devil and his followers.
Don’t believe the devils “Christian-named” lie. God’s law isn’t, never was, and according to Jesus never will be “done away with”. Only by respecting God’s law will you be listed as an allay in the heavenly books. And even if you are priest, pastor, Christian and you preach the law is no longer binding, you will perish with the pagan, the idolatry, the rich and the poor. “And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. … because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.» (Isa 24:2&5)
Pray to today that if the devil has made you believe this lie, that you can break God’s law in the name of Christ, pray for healing and for Him to“anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.» (Rev.3,18) Ask the Lord Jesus to remove the fake gospel from your heart and replace it with the real one.
Turn therefore from your rebellion, and return to God’s govern. And He will save you and pardon your past transgressions through the blood of Christ.
“Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts» (Heb.4,7).