The Removal of Satan

Wayne Matthews

September 21, 2021

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon

Welcome, everybody, to this first day of the Feast of Tabernacles for 2021.

Brethren, it’s an amazing thing when you consider we have been called, and because we have been called by God, we see – and that word “see” is not just seeing as you know, it’s a spiritual thing— we see spiritually and understand the present truth. So, that’s what God has given us at this time, which is an incredible thing because the world does not see or understand the truth. They just simply don’t.

Now, we all see and understand to different degrees because of the time that we have been in the Body of Christ or because of what God has allowed us to see. Now, some people see government more deeply and understand it more than another person that’s in the Body of Christ. So, we’re all at different stages based on God’s will and purpose for us.

We should be very thankful that we actually see; that we see the truth that God has revealed to His Church. We understand there are 57 Truths, and that God has given us this ability to see, this ability to understand. It’s an incredible thing that we always underestimate. That’s just our human nature. We underestimate it; we don’t value it anywhere near the value we should place on it.

So, one of the many reasons why we’re at this Feast is for the purpose of a command, that God has given us a command to come and assemble together before Him. Because many of us will be at home because of the various issues that are going on with the Thunders at the moment, that some are staying at home. Victoria, Australia, and lots of those places, just probably very limited occasion for people to get together because of the virus and of lockdowns and different things. That’s around the world where people to different degrees are under different regulations and rules, and therefore, it’s not possible to actually get together.

But we fellowship during these eight days that God has commanded because we get together before God, which is the most important thing, and we listen to what God has got to feed us, which is an incredible thing that we understand and that we see that the world has no idea of.

Now, one of the main reasons we are here gathered together before God is that we will rejoice. There’s lots of reasons why we should rejoice. So, it’s just not about a physical thing, it’s actually spiritual for us, the reason why we really rejoice. One of the many reasons to rejoice during this Feast of Tabernacles is because we know, one of the things we do know, is that Satan will be removed from the presence of mankind for 1,100 years and that he has an end.

We understand that we are gathered for the Feast of Tabernacles, that we gather before God, that we do rejoice. Now, we rejoice over the physical blessings that God has given us, that He allows us to have. We also rejoice because of the spiritual blessings that we have, that God has allowed us to see and to understand, which is the truth. We understand and we see God’s way of life and the purpose of it. Mankind doesn’t understand the purpose of why he’s even born. He has no idea because it’s the mystery of the ages; it hasn’t been revealed to him yet, mankind I’m talking about.

Because we are in God’s true Church at this point in the time of the end-time we understand some aspects about Satan and his demons. We understand to different degrees. So, we can rejoice at this Feast for the physical blessings, the spiritual blessings, and also the knowledge that we have about Satan’s end. Because we understand God’s plan. We see 6,000 years of mankind’s self-rule under a demonic rule, which mankind rejects and doesn’t really want to understand and believes in ghosts and people in heaven and spirits looking over them, and all that thing. But it’s, as we understand, it’s a lie and it’s garbage.

The reality is that there is a spirit being called Satan, and his demons, a third of the angels that rebelled against God, are on this earth at this time, but their time of influencing mankind is just about up. Now, that’s an incredible thing that we understand. Because when Joshua the Messiah returns to this earth with 144,000 one of the things that happen is that Satan is bound. He’s unable to deceive mankind any longer. So, then we see a 1,100-year period without Satan.

Now, this is an incredible thing. This is an incredible reason why we should rejoice at this Feast, because we understand this, we see it. That is a freedom for mankind that he doesn’t understand. Mankind just doesn’t understand what they’re under, and it’s tragic in some ways, that we look at it and we see what’s going on, and it’s frustrating and it’s a tragedy—but it’s God’s plan so it’s not a tragedy—it’s God’s plan that man would be 6,000 years under this rule.

Even that knowledge and understanding is limited by what God has revealed to His Church at this time. Greater knowledge and understanding will be given by God in the future.

Now, this is a key point here: God is building the beginning of His Family. That’s the first 6,000 years where we understand 144,000 are going to come out from mankind. The 144,000 are going to be developed to enter Elohim at the return of Joshua the Messiah while Satan and his demons are on this earth during this period. So, this 6,000 year-period, we’ve seen Satan and his demons free to deceive, to influence, and to inspire, you know, influencing mankind to evil, to sin, to rebel against God. It’s an incredible thing that we see this.

Now, our human nature, our nature, we understand is selfish. We understand that it has the traits of Satan’s thinking. Now, his ability to deceive is on mankind. The 144,000 have been under that influence and they’ve had to battle self with God’s help, with the power of God’s holy spirit, that they can actually fight self, fight selfishness, which is really resisting the influence of Satan in a person’s life. It’s an incredible thing that mankind doesn’t understand.

The purpose of this sermon is to look at one spiritual reason why we should rejoice during this Feast, and to overview some of the current knowledge we have about Satan and his end. These are truths that have been given to us which are amazing things that the world knows nothing about.

The title of this sermon for the first day of the Feast is The Removal of Satan, because it is one of the keys to the return of Joshua the Messiah and the 144,000. Because once we see Satan removed, this world is going to change in ways we think we understand but we don’t.

Because when you look at it, there are 6,000 years of mankind under the sway of Satan, therefore, all the things that have been built have been influenced – many of them, not necessarily every single thing – but everything has had an influence, to a degree, about Satan or Satan and the demons have been involved. Therefore, the change that is coming is difficult for us to fully comprehend it.

For example, we’ll start with one. Education. The education system that we have is based on vanity. It’s based on the ability to memorize things or to learn things that have been taught by mankind. But mankind knows nothing about God’s way of life. There is a whole Bible that contains the thinking of God, the word of God, the logos of God. Now, that is education, the ability to be educated on a spiritual level. Mankind doesn’t have access to that.

But that day is coming, and the first thing that has to happen is the removal of Satan and his demons from the influence on mankind. Then true education can take place. There’ll still be reading and writing and mathematics, and there are other things that are going to be there, but the key to all of this is to understand the purpose for why God made man – for the purpose of entering Elohim. The mystery of the ages. Isn’t that a staggering thing that we understand at this Feast? Absolutely staggering.

So, the title of the Feast sermon here is The Removal of Satan, because it is a key to something we look forward to.

We’re going to start by looking at Leviticus 23:33, which is an overview of the Feast of Tabernacles. Leviticus 23:33—Then the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month, which is the Feast of Tabernacles, the very first day, this High Day. The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths/Booth) for seven days unto the Eternal. Now, this is an incredible time that we have to look at the physical component (which we’ll do quickly), and then also look at the spiritual component of it, how it would apply to us. Because we don’t sit in a physical booth and meditate. We are in a booth, a body, and it’s spiritual. It’s about the mind and the way we think. But there’s huge lessons in this particular Feast season of things that we should do on a spiritual level.

Verse 35—On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, which is what we’re doing. You shall do no customary work on it. In other words, don’t earn a living. There’s a way to keep a Holy Day like there is a Sabbath. It’s a time of rest and it’s a time for God. It’s about turning to God and thinking about things of the creation and things that God is achieving in our life and in people’s lives, like the brethren. It’s a time to think. It’s a time to pray. It’s a time to rest from the physical things of life.

Verse 36—For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal. We look at that, it’s a physical thing that was done. Well, we, of course are to sacrifice (which is offer something), made by fire (which is tests and trials). In other words, we have to fight our selfishness. We are in the battle, we’re in the trial, we’re in this tribulation of selfishness that we have to overcome because we’re in this fight against self. It’s a difficult thing to achieve because God will help us, but we still make mistakes.

It’s because of our mind, it’s like the record. I’ve been through that before. It’s like a record’s needles in the groove. We’ve got to learn to make decisions that jump the needle out of that groove of selfishness. It’s a lifelong process because the needle will always want to go back into the groove all the time, which is the repetitive way of sin, the practicing of sin, which is what our life has been. Well, now it’s not. We don’t practice sin; we fight against self. The finer we go into this, the more detail we go into this, the bigger the battle in some ways because we realize that the mind is just quite an incredible thing and how it does get into patterns of selfishness and habitual responses and habitual words and habitual things that we do.

On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. So, we understand the eighth day is the Last Great Day.

These are the feasts of the Eternal which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and a drink offering, everything on its day—(verse 38) besides, which that word really is, in addition to the Sabbaths of the Eternal, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings… So, this is something else because really what this is about is a mindset. A person that is faithful in tithes and faithful in offerings and freewill offerings and giving – we know that there are certain times that Deuteronomy 16 talks about that are set. But there are other times people do and can give offerings and gifts to God in thankfulness, appreciation.

Well, we understand these really reflect a mindset. What is our priority? Because when we’ve looked at tithes and offerings in the sermon series, we understand this is really about a way a person thinks. Now, if a person’s mind is really distracted from God and God’s way of life, in other words, He is not the first priority in their life, the first thing that starts to be seen to be affected is tithes and offerings – and particularly offerings, because people forget. The reality is, how could we ever forget? If God is number one in our life how do we forget? Well, only we as individuals can answer those questions.

Verse 39—On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Eternal for seven days. Now, we understand also that this is a time where second tithe has it’s relevance and it’s importance because this is a time for rejoicing. It’s difficult for people to fully rejoice when they’ve had a tough year, but this time is a time (and the Church has offered assistance at different times and to different degrees for different reasons), that this is a time for rejoicing. Now, the most important thing to rejoice about is something spiritual, because yes, physically we may not have a lot, but this is a time to rejoice on a spiritual level.

To have been called. To have been awakened. To see and understand the truth is an amazing, amazing thing. We underestimate it; because of our human nature, we just do. But this is a time for real rejoicing. The fact that we see what we see, and other people can’t, and we’re separate because of this. We’re separate because of the truth, because of the love of the truth. We’re separated. Just because that’s the way it is. That’s what’s supposed to happen, come out of this world. Well, we come out because we believe something completely different than what the world has been deceived by Satan to believe – lies.

The last part of verse 39—on the first day there shall be a Sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a Sabbath-rest. So, we understand there the two High Days that are there.

Verse 40—And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches and palm trees, and boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Eternal your God for seven days. Now, what happened was, we understand, they built a small booth that they could sit in, and they would take the fruit and they would put it there and they would be able to sit there, eat the fruit for a period of time, ever how long it was. It wasn’t long periods. It wasn’t all day that they would sit there, and they would think about the blessings.

Now, their inability was the fact that they did not have God’s holy spirit, therefore, they could not think in a spiritual way towards God. They could think of it on a physical level, about the blessings they’ve had and how many lambs have been born and other blessings, and fruit, and how their family might have grown. Basically, all physical things. The only thing they could. But they could still thank God for that.

But this is something physical that is pointing to something spiritual, that we now have the ability to be thankful for the spiritual. We have the ability to truly rejoice, to have joy (this is what rejoice is), to have joy about the spiritual things that we have been given, that we have been shown.

Now, we’ve been shown 57 Truths. One of those truths (we’re going to go through a few today), but one of them is about Satan and his end. This is an incredible thing because the world in general doesn’t believe that there is an evil spirit being that has the power to deceive and that he is broadcasting lies continually, deception. Little bit of truth and a lot of error, or vice versa, a fair bit of truth, a little bit of truth here but mainly all error. Because people get tricked and deceived into things and it’s very obvious in today’s world what’s going on.

So, we understand that the fruit was placed in a small booth to eat while they thought on what they had. That would have been all physical stuff. Well, we’re to do the same. We’re to stop and pause during the Feast to think about the things that God has allowed us to see and understand, the truth, and the blessings that God has provided us. Now, they were to do the same, they would just think about all the physical things. We think of the spiritual. The most important part at this particular Feast, brethren, is that we now meditate and think about the blessings that we’ve been given with regards to our calling and an awakening.

Verse 41—You shall keep it, the Feast, as a feast to the Eternal for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute, which is like an appointment. This is a marked occasion. It’s set, and therefore there is a time allocation. …throughout forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. So, to celebrate. What’s a celebration? People of the world would say they celebrate a birthday. What do they do? They rejoice!

So, we are here, brethren, on this first day of the Feast of Tabernacles of 2021 for the purpose of rejoicing before God for seven days. That’s why we’re here. The most important reason we are rejoicing is because of the truth.

God has called us or awakened us to see the truth. I mean see it, to really see it. Because when we see something and we understand it the choice really now comes down to will we implement the truth into our life, which is the key.

Well, if we’re here celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles we’re implementing the truth into our life, and we can do lots of those things in life. Sabbath-keeping is the same thing. A person may understand about the Sabbath and go, “Ah,” read it all. But to implement it is a choice. Because a person doesn’t have to. They should, but it’s a choice, because God gave mankind a free choice.

Many people, of course, would implement what Satan has set up, which is some Friday, some Sunday, and some Monday. A lot of them are on a Sunday. Well, that’s a deception but they’re implementing because they’re making a choice based on what they think they see because of heritage and people passing things down and deception. Satan is the author of all this confusion because God is not the author of confusion, but Satan is the author of confusion. That’s why there’s thousands of religions and what people will do in the name of religion.

Verse 42—You shall dwell (sit) in booths for seven days. We sit in the body. It’s a temporary dwelling we know. It gets older. Its memory starts to go; it goes. But God’s spirit is there to lead and guide us, to give us the opportunity. Through the sermons we’ve been fed. It’s a matter of whether we eat and then implement those things into our life. Well, they are personal choices. God doesn’t force us to obey the truth. God doesn’t force us to do anything. We’re to come out of practicing sin (the way we think), we’re to come out of that and to practice righteousness, which is God’s mind, God’s word, the logos.

We are now to dwell in God. That’s the real difference. The natural carnal mind dwells in Satan’s thinking (selfishness), but we have been called at this time to dwell in God, which is to make a choice of obedience to God, God’s word, to obey it.

All who are native Israelites shall dwell (sit) in booths (verse 43), that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out... It’s staggering really if we really can grasp our calling. “I.” This is God talking. “I brought them out.” God can say to us, “I brought you out of the confusion, from Satan’s deception. I brought you out.” Because without God doing it, what do we have? Same as what we were before, deceived. So, this is like a calling.

…of the land of Egypt. Out of sin. We’ve been called out of sin. I am the Eternal your God. So, God has given us everything. We should make sure that we give Him credit for everything. One of the greatest things we can do is to thank God, in a mind of thankfulness, for the calling or the awakening, and for the truth, and for the fact that we understand that there is coming an end to Satan and His deception. Now, this is an incredible thing. Because when Christ returns that deception is going to change for 1,100 years. We understand he’s released at the end.

Verse 44—So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Eternal. That was a long time ago and here we are keeping the Feast of Tabernacles as God has said in Leviticus 23.

Now, there is a scripture that comes to mind when we talk about the Millennium and the removal of Satan. When we look at this present evil age we know that Satan has a great influence on mankind’s thinking, and it’s obvious everywhere. It’s so obvious, the deception.

There’s a bit of a joke that goes around (you would have probably heard it), saying, “How do you know when somebody is lying?” The reality is or it’s applying to politicians, that “Their mouth is moving,” because it’s this deception in everything. Mankind is deceived but they don’t know it, and mankind speaks deception.

The reality is, before our calling we spoke deception. We were in deception. Now, the difficulty is to come out of that and to be fully aware of it because the biggest deception of all is not what is out there about many of the deceived things that are out there in the world, but self. Because the protecting of self, we will deceive people. In other words, we will exaggerate, or we will not tell all the truth because we’re protecting something which we value, which is the self, the image that we have. We protect it.

So, we can look out and say, “Oh, yes, they’re all deceived, and you know, they’re all talking lies and they’re deceived.” Oh, we need to turn around and have a little look closer at self because self protects self. It does a lot of things and one of the things it does is that it defends self, or it lies about self to portray that image. Even if we don’t think we have one, we have one. We all have one and it’s a danger that we don’t actually see it and start to fight it. Because it’ll come out in words, in the end, this deception of self and how we defend self.

So, when we look at this present evil age we know that Satan has a great influence on all of mankind, on everything. To a degree he has a deception in us. We have deception; we just haven’t come out of it all yet. We won’t fully come out of it until we’re changed to spirit.

Satan’s removal from influencing mankind will have a great impact on the thinking of those who live into the Millennium, because things are going to change. The way programs are made, the way billboards are put up, the way things are marketed, all that is going to change dramatically. TV as we understand it is going to completely change because most marketing programs have a level of deception in it. Most politicians that speak, there’s deception in it. Most people that speak, there’s deception in it. That deception, they’re not aware of it. It’s self.

So, we look forward to this removal of Satan because things are going to change. And what Christ does when he returns with 144,000 in destroying those that destroy the earth, and then we see in particular a removal of Satan and His demons. Then things can change dramatically because there’s not that broadcasting. “The prince and power of the air” is no longer broadcasting out deception, hate, bad attitudes, wrong thinking, lies. All that is going to have to change. It’s going to take some time, but we know that Joshua the Messiah, who cannot lie and doesn’t, that the truth is going to come out. A lot of people are going to hate it just like they do today. People don’t want to hear the truth, but they’re going to be forced into hearing it and then a choice is going to have to be made.

Revelation 20. We’ll look at Revelation 20 because it covers something that is quite incredible that we look forward to. It’s the end of 6,000 years, the rule of man is now going to change, it’s going to be the government of God on this earth.

So, we see in Revelation 20:1, remembering there is a lot of symbolic language in here, that we understand a lot of it, but some of it we haven’t full understanding of everything.

Revelation 20:1—Then I (John) saw an angel, which is a messenger, or one sent by God, one who is sent coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit (place of restraint or abyss). Now, we understand that it’s not a big physical key, that this is spiritual language being spoken about and it’s symbolic of something and pointing to something that’s going to take place. …and a great chain in his hand. So, it’s not a physical chain, it’s pointing to something that’s going to take place. It’s about restraint. It’s about changing something, locking something up and stopping it from doing what it was doing.

He laid hold of the dragon. Now, this, this laying hold is about using strength, to use strength to something. So, there is a power here which we don’t understand, the spirit realm and the power that they have, which is probably beyond our thinking in some ways because of the creation and all the billions and billions of planets and light years of travel to get to certain ones. But they were involved in all of that. It’s quite incredible. We lack a lot of understanding in all that.

He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old. Now, we understand that “serpent of old.” Look at the Garden of Eden about the serpent, which is, again, symbolic language. It’s not about a snake, it’s about somebody, an angelic being that can slither around. It’s very quiet. You look at what a serpent is like.

…who is the devil, and the Greek word there is “diabolis or false accuser or a slanderer.” …and Satan (the accuser) and bound him for a thousand years. Well, this is that period, the thousand years of the Millennium is a time without Satan’s influence over mankind’s thinking. This is just a time to rejoice about this. This is going to be absolutely incredible to see mankind come out of deception. Because that’s what’s going to happen. They’re actually going to come out of deception.

It’s no different than when we were first called and how excited we got about very basic things. I can remember being so excited about learning about the Sabbath, that it was an incredible thing. It was just an excitement to think, well, this is true! I learned about tithing and learned about various things.

I remember one particular time we were in a country town in Western Australia and my parents were there. My mother was sitting out on the back balcony, and I remember raising with her about—and I was just so excited—about the Sabbath day. And of course, I wanted to tell her everything, unload the truck.

Well, the reaction was completely, you know, like I’d lost it, and she was really quite upset at me about the way I was trying to relay things. Drew a line in the sand there, and it was never the same from that point. Because it couldn’t. I tried to back off a little bit, but you know, it was too late.

So, now I wouldn’t handle it that way at all. I would handle it completely differently because I now understand fully why it was pointless raising anything with her. Because she couldn’t understand because she wasn’t called to understand. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t understand. So, I was the one in error in some ways because of the way I handled it. You learn.

Verse 3—And he cast him (cast Satan) into the abyss (the bottomless pit), this place of restraint, and shut him up, and set a seal on him. Now, this really is a great power that has to be given by God. Because God is the Almighty. He is much greater than Satan, the demons, and all the angels because they’re all created beings. So, God has the power to do this, and God can authorize the power and give the power and the authority.

…and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive… If you were to go and say, “Look, you’re just deceived.” They would take that as a personal insult. But they are. They’re deceived. But that’s like an insult. It’s like giving them a slap in the face and say, “Oh, you’re just deceived.” “Well…!” The pride would rise up and respond.

Well, that word “deceive” is “you’re in error; you err; to go astray; seduce; wander out of the way.” …that he should not do those things anymore to the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a short while. Well, we realize it’s the end of the hundred years because mankind has got that hundred-year period to make a choice.

Now we see the 144,000 will reign with Christ for a thousand years. So, Satan has been restrained, the demons have been restrained, and they no longer can broadcast. Now Christ with 144,000 and the Church can now teach the truth, and there are truths that we don’t understand and things that will be given to us through Christ – through God, through Christ to the 144,000 to preach to the world. It’s going to be an exciting, exciting time. There’ll be some that will be just excited when they are first called, like I was, and there will be others that will reject it and not want to hear it.

Verse 4—And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, talking about the 144,000, and judgment, which was committed to them. Now, that word “judgment” is “determine an outcome; to make a decision.” So, we make judgments all the time. We have to make decisions about various things. Sometimes things are a lot more complex than what we would like to have. It is quite complex, and we need to go through it all and to work it out, and then make a decision and that’s it, the decision is made.

Well, the fortunate part is that the 144,000 cannot make a mistake. It’s a beautiful thing to understand, because they’re spirit, and they have the mind of God.

Then I saw the lives of those who had been cut off for their witness, which is what they were living, the choice that they had made to Joshua and for the word of God. What that’s saying is they chose to live by the word of God. They were shown things, they could see things, they understood things, and then they made a choice, which was to follow God, to live God’s way of life. Now, did they make mistakes? Every single one of them made mistakes because they had selfish human nature, but they set their mind to practice righteousness rather than practice sin. But at times they slipped like we all do.

…and they did not worship the beast or his image, which is Satan’s system of confusion and deception and lies, and had not received this mark on their foreheads, which is in their thinking, and/or on their hands, which is their actions. So, they didn’t continue in the deception. They didn’t continue in living that way of life. They chose another way of life because they saw, and they understood, and then they made a choice.

And they lived and reigned as spirit beings, as kings with Christ, which is on this earth, for a thousand years. So, that’s something that we look forward to. We look forward to the return of Christ and the 144,000. Why is it we look forward to that? Because we want to rejoice in the fact that the deception has been take away.

Verse 5—But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years was finished. That’s referring to a second resurrection to a physical life. We realize that then there is a hundred-year period. So, at the end of 7,000 years of man then we see what is called the hundred-years or the Last Great Day. Now, this, now it’s referring to the resurrection that took place with the 144,000 at Christ’s return, is the first resurrection. So, we’re not far from that. We’re not far from this change that’s going to take place. The rejoicing that’s going to take place within the Body of Christ at that time, those that are remaining alive, there’s going to be incredible rejoicing because now we’re going to see complete change, which is what we’re celebrating here. It’s a Sabbath rest. It’s the seventh day rest. It’s a one-thousand-year period. Because we know that six days and then the seventh there’s a rest. The seventh day is a rest. So, it’s the Millennium, that’s what it’s pointing go, a millennial rest because there is no longer Satan there to deceive.

Verse 6—Blessed (fortunate) and holy is he who has part in this first resurrection. Over such, or on such the second death has no power, and they shall be priests… What do priests do? They serve. …of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Now, when the thousand years have been fulfilled, Satan will be released. So, we realize that’s at the end of the hundred-year period he will be released from his prison, which is he’s loosened. So, there’s a seal set on him, and he’s restrained from deception. Well, now he’s able to be released again for the purpose of deceiving. We understand that this is the end of the hundred-year period called the Last Great Day.

Verse 8—and will go out and deceive the nations. Because that’s what Satan is about. Satan is about deception. We can rejoice because we know we’re entering a period soon where he will not be able to deceive at all. It’s going to be gone completely.

Verse 8 again, and will go out and to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, which is about a spiritual mindset, to gather them together to battle, because Satan is about destruction. Satan is about deception. So, the intent is to destroy. At this particular point his intent is simply to destroy. …whose number is as the sand of the sea. So, there’s millions, if not even billions that will be with him.

They went up on the breadth of the earth to surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Now, we understand that is the second death. That’s at the time of the second death that God will do it. We won’t be able to do anything per se because it’s Almighty God that is the one that can make the judgment to destroy. We can’t.

We can see from these scriptures that Satan will again try to destroy what God has established. Now, that’s something that’s going on now. One of the incredible things that we understand is that Satan today is being used for a purpose, but he doesn’t understand it to the degree that we do. Because it’s spiritual; it’s about God’s holy spirit. We understand that the 144,000 are being developed while Satan is around and that his ways that they see and understand, they’ve rejected it and they’ve chosen God, and there’s a point in time where God says, “Now I choose you.” We’re set. The mind is set.

But Satan doesn’t understand that process. He would still be just trying to destroy, which is his whole purpose, destroy and deceive. It’s unfortunate that when we see brethren that were once with us, that leave, because they’re going into what? Deception. They’re being deceived. They’re deceived because of many reasons but one of them is that they don’t love the truth like they should.

So, in the end, Satan himself will be destroyed at the end of 7,100 years. Now, that’s a new truth that has been given to God’s Church that the churches that are scattered and the world don’t understand, know nothing of it.

We’ll now start revealing some of the truths that God has revealed to His Church. The main point to remember is that God is using Satan to develop the first part of His spirit family, the 144,000 who are to be redeemed from mankind. That’s an incredible thing.

That is one reason why we should rejoice. Because we see this. We see this. We see what’s going on. We see why we’re in what we’re in now with the virus and many other things that are going on. We see it because God is revealing it through an apostle to us, through Christ. It’s an incredible thing that we see these things, because mankind can’t see it.

I want to read Truth 6 (3). God’s purpose for mankind is the main thing. You know, mankind teaches and is deceived that we climbed out of the slime. The evolution theory is something that is new. It’s a theory just like a lot of other things that are out there at the moment. They’re just simply theories and they’re deception.

The truth of God is not a theory. The truth of God is the truth of God. It’s not a theory. If you looked up the word “theory,” what it really means, it’s virtually just a thinking. It’s possibly that way, may be, potentially. It’s a theory. It’s not real.

6 (3)    … God is reproducing Himself and no other church knows or preaches this truth. We are to be born of God and become God—in the God Family: Elohim.

Now, this is really the mystery of the ages. It’s a mystery to mankind. They can’t see it. They don’t know it. They don’t understand it. Well, we should rejoice in the fact that we have been called to see this truth. What a great rejoicing that we can have to think and be thankful to God that we see it. It’s just an incredible thing that we see this truth.

This truth is about the development of God’s character, His thinking in those called from mankind. Now, we’ve entered a point where God has called us and is transforming the way we think. Now, that is something. If we’re in this battle we should rejoice in this battle because there are billions of people that know nothing about this battle. We walk around and can go down to the shops and go down to different places and nobody really knows what’s going on in the mind. We’re in this battle against selfishness, they’re not. They’re not required to because they haven’t been called to it. But we are.

So, at this Feast we can now just stand back a little bit, take a little bit of time and just think about this battle that we’re in. Some of us have been in it for a long time, others are new to this battle. But we’re in a battle and it’s a marvelous thing and it’s a thing to rejoice about, the fact that we can actually choose to battle. It’s our choice. We’ve been called to do it, but we still have to make a choice. It’s a wonderful thing and it is an incredible thing, this transformation of the way we think – from practicing sin, which we did by nature, to practicing righteousness—which can only be done because of a calling and the gift of God’s holy spirit. That’s the only way it can be done.

So, there are very, very few, and I mean very, very, very, very, very few in this world today that are actually transforming their thinking, which is this repenting, ongoing repenting. Repenting means, you know, to think differently, to change, to make a change, to think differently. I used to think this way, but now I think that way about this particular matter.

That’s why my mother couldn’t understand about the Sabbath. Because see, I used to think that way when I was of a mindset, and then my mind was being transformed by God to think differently about, “Ah, have to keep a seventh-day Sabbath.” And I was rather zealous the way I delivered it. But that’s the transformation that takes place.

Well, over a lifetime there is much, much more than just the Sabbath Day and tithing. There is much more about selfishness and pride that’s in here that has to be transformed to think differently, to have a sacrificing love, to have God’s love towards others out to the benefit of others. That takes time. That’s a transformation because selfishness is about inward, love self first, not about loving others first.

A key point in all this is God is using Satan’s ability to broadcast evil to the mind of mankind for a spiritual purpose. God has allowed him to stay on this earth with a third of the angels for the purpose of allowing him to deceive mankind for 6,000 years. But that’s coming to an end.

Those called to salvation are to learn to fight against their evil thinking, the lusts of the flesh, fight and resist Satan’s attitudes. Now, a lot of people wouldn’t see that a bad attitude of throwing a moody, is what we could say, or just in a wrong thinking or really negative attitude towards another person is actually Satanic in thinking, because it’s all about attitudes and a way a person thinks.

We have to be very careful and pull ourselves up, that we don’t get frustrated about other people, that we don’t have ill will to other people, that we don’t become impatient with other people, because it’s the wrong way to think. We should be revealing or sharing or living the attitudes of God, which we understand and are listed in scripture.

53 (32) There is an end to Satan’s existence.

This is an amazing truth. This is something that we can actually rejoice about, the destruction and the end of deception and evil. And you think if something dies, why would you rejoice? Well, it’s because he chose to go a particular way and we’re to choose a particular way. It’s a choice. It was his choice to do it. That’s what he did, and the best thing that could happen to him is that he be destroyed for the purpose of Elohim. It’s a benefit.

Because in the end there is going to be Elohim and two-thirds of the angels that are there to support, who have never had God’s holy spirit and don’t have access to it but have chosen to follow God. Well, here is somebody that has chosen to resist God and to fight against God’s way.

53 (32) … His punishment [talking about Satan], is that of eternal death, never to have life again, once God brings an end to his spirit life.

This is an amazing thing because it’s a great sign of mercy, really, God’s love. Because why would you have a miserable being that existed forever that was going to be there always and that was going to try to deceive and resist the whole time? It’s far better and more merciful and more loving to actually put an end to it so that it doesn’t suffer any longer.

“Some have believed that since angelic beings are composed of spirit that they cannot cease to exist and are therefore eternal beings. Angelic beings can cease to exist.”[1] They don’t have self-existing life like God does. They are created beings that were brought into existence. They can also be removed from having existence by the one who created them, Yahweh Elohim.

“The only angelic being who has been formally judged by God, through scripture, is the one who was created in the beginning as Lucifer, but who now carries the names of Satan, and the Devil.” God has clearly revealed that his (talking about Satan’s) existence is coming to an end once he has fulfilled his purpose in God having allowed him to continue to exist through the end of the age of mankind.

Now, this is an incredible thing that we see and understand, that there’s a benefit. Because it’s about spiritual development of those in mankind, and with Satan there having that deception, that’s what creates a lot more of the fight. There is still going to be a fight in the Millennium because of selfish human nature, but the 144,000 are developed out of the rule of Satan’s existence for 6,000 years.

Satan has been free to broadcast wrong thinking to mankind for 6,000 years. That’s coming to an end.

54 (33) Angels are created and composed of spirit essence when given life by God (spirit life), yet they do not have self-sustaining life inherent in themselves. They are sustained by God, and only God has immortal, self-sustaining life inherent in Himself.

So, life has to come from God. The life of Christ came from God. Our life, physical life, came from God. If we are given a spirit life it comes from God. So, life of an angelic being came from God and God can create it, and He can uncreate it.

It also needs to be understood that at their creation (although the angels were given spirit-sustaining life) they were never given of the holy spirit, nor were they ever given access to it.

We understand, brethren, about mankind, what mankind is all about, about the spirit in man and that we need God’s holy spirit as a gift to begin that transformation of the mind, which takes time. It’s a way of thinking differently. We have to come out of deception because we were once deceived fully.

We are still partly deceived. Sometimes it’s hard for us to grasp it. There is deception in us. Anything to do with a prejudice is a deception. We’re deceived if we have a prejudice because God is not prejudice. We’re not like God yet, but we’re working towards it, so if we have any type of prejudice, which we do have hidden away within our thinking, we are still deceived. Our pride is still raising up, in other words.

We’re going to turn to Ezekiel 28. The reason we’re covering this particular one at this time, at the beginning of the Feast this year, is because it’s an important aspect of the Feast, which is the celebration, the rejoicing. We can rejoice at a lot of things, and we can rejoice in particular for us, brethren, about the 57 Truths that we have. The name change that freed us from (the Catholic Church is where it started) that word. It’s just incredible that we understand it’s “Joshua.” It’s just a staggering, staggering thing and that we have this freedom.

Well, we should rejoice at that. We rejoice at the truth. This is a perfect time, at the Feast, there’s 57 Truths, and there is 8 days in total, to just review a few of those truths, to go over them and look at them and thank God that we understand them. Thank God that we understand them. We only understand them because God is giving us the sight to see it and to understand it, and during this Feast we might grow in a deeper understanding of those truths.

Ezekiel 28:11. We understand that verses 1-10 are about a human physical being, but verses 11-19 are about Satan as a spirit being. There are lessons in this that we can learn, and during this Feast we can just think about the truths and then think about, well, Satan is going to be removed, what will the Millennium be like? Well, God will intervene, and we understand various things are going to change.

But there’s a lot in our life that we live now that are going to change. It’s all about the way a person thinks towards others. That’s one of the biggest changes. Because at the moment mankind is divided on every single topic. There is nothing that you could mention where there’s someone else that would not come up with a different view or a different opinion. But the reality is in the truth that there’s lots of different ways to do things, but it’s all done with one thing in mind which is outgoing concern for the welfare of others. Well, nobody does that. Not really.

When you look at a lot of the charities that are existing, which are doing a “work for the benefit of others,” but when you look deeply behind it you’ll find there’s an executive there that’s running it and he’s earning a lot more money than everybody else. Because that’s the way mankind is. It might be structured a particular way, but it’s all about money, title… But there are others that are thinking they’re doing things for good. Of course, they’re getting something back from it, which is to do with pride and selfishness.

But these things that are in the world are of Satan. It’s not God’s way of thinking. God’s spirit doesn’t motivate these things and drive these things, which is about sacrificing for the benefit of others. Real sacrificing doesn’t exist.

Ezekiel 28:11—Moreover, the word of the Eternal came to me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation, which is “cry out” for the king of Tyre, which is referring to Lucifer (or Satan), and say to him, Thus says the LORD God, Yahweh Elohim, the Eternal, You, the seal of perfection. Now, this is about a measurement or a pattern or a portion. This is God made Lucifer as a spirit being for a reason. Full of wisdom, which is not the word of God, not the logos, didn’t have God’s holy spirit but was created a particular way to think a particular way for the purpose of serving.

But at that point in time of the creation Lucifer never knew about God’s purpose for mankind. It hadn’t been revealed. But he is made, and he’s made to serve. He is in charge of an angelic realm that is supporting the creation, supporting God’s purpose without understanding that God’s purpose was to create a family. So, there’s a mindset and he is made to the full and a skillful way. It was God’s way. He was perfect which was holy in beauty. He was perfect in beauty, he was whole. This is an incredible, beautiful spirit being that had a mind that was supportive of God.

Verse 13—You were in Eden, which is a place of pleasure, the garden (enclosure) of God. Firstly, there’s a spiritual one at God’s throne, so he was there at God’s throne, and this is a place of pleasure. It’s an incredible environment that we have never seen and comprehend in minute ways. Then the physical Garden of Eden, which we understand he was there because he was on the earth, and he then influenced Adam and Eve.

Every precious stone your covering. This is all about beauty, really. This is about something that is beautiful in a creation, that God has made a pinnacle of a creation that is absolutely beautiful to see, this being at his creation. The sardius, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, topaz, emerald with gold.

The workmanship of your timbrels (sounds) and the pipes, the settings that were in there, which we don’t fully comprehend everything, was prepared for you in the day you were created. Now, that’s the key part, “the day he was created.” It’s an individual thing and it’s at a particular time that God did it.

Now, this would have been an incredible thing to witness, Yahweh Elohim creating this being so magnificent, such glory and such beauty that he had. He was shaped for a purpose of authority in God’s government, but he was an incredible, beautiful being.

You, the anointed cherub who covers… He was at the mercy seat. I established you. “I set you so.” So, it was God that did it. God did it from His mind, from His thinking, and it was all about for the purpose, the creation of a spirit family, which at that time the angelic realm was put on this earth for the purpose of serving mankind, only they probably didn’t know it. They were out there doing different things, creating things in the sense of supporting God’s creation.

You were in the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. This is the angelic realm and the government of God and the government that was within the angelic realm.

Verse 15—You, perfect, which is without blemish. So, he’s got a mindset that is supportive of God and what God was doing to the knowledge that he had. …in your ways from the day you were created, until… This is “until.” There’s a point in time now. How long it was, we don’t know. …iniquity… Now, “iniquity” is sin, perverseness, and pride.

Now, when we look at something like iniquity, which we would say, well, it’s a sin. Well, what is sin? Sin is the transgression or it’s the going against God’s way, God’s law. God’s got a law, a way He operates, the way He thinks, and it’s to the benefit of others. Its about love. That is God. God is love. He’s outgoing and it’s about loving the creation. He loves what He’s created, and He’ll sacrifice for it.

Well, here we have someone who is now choosing to go opposite. At some point in time, ever how long that was, he’s decided to go against God. “Sin is the transgression of God’s law,” and God’s law is about love, so here is somebody that is now not living love any longer. Not God’s love, because he didn’t have it, but he’s not thinking the way of concern for the creation that God had made.

Till iniquity, which was based on pride, was found in you. It was present in his thinking. His thinking was basically against God. Now, could have been along the lines of “Well, this isn’t fair.”

We believe and we understand that it’s the time when God revealed that mankind was going to enter Elohim. Now, Satan, Lucifer/Satan, was never going to enter Elohim. The angelic realm that was created was never going to enter Elohim ever because they never had the gift of God’s holy spirit to be able to achieve that. They were created beings with a mindset.

So, now we see that once this is revealed, what would happen? Well, if you look at our minds, which is selfishness, which is what Satan was, the first thing that would come into your mind is, “Well, that’s not fair!” “That’s not fair! I’ve been here all these years…” It’s like the prodigal son, I think it is, the one where one goes off and spends all the money and the one that stays back. Yet the father rejoices because one comes back and the other one gets in a bad attitude. He says, “I’ve been here all this time. I’ve served this… I’ve done that.”

Well, that’s the same attitude. “That’s not fair. I’ve been here for how many billions of years! Look at all the things we’ve done. Look at ‘this’ and look at ‘that,’ and look at all this and You’re going to what? You’re going to make man, a physical thing with a mind like that and You’re going to what, bring them into Elohim to live forever, to be with You forever? That’s not fair!” So, there’s an attitude. So, his thinking now has changed, that now he’s against God.

By the abundance of your trading… So, this “trading” we understand is about attitudes, doubt, deception, division, words against God’s plan. We’re going through this now and we can say, “Yeah, look at Satan!” Well, this is something that we at this time of the Feast need to meditate upon, about do we have these attitudes toward God’s government? Do we have these attitudes about the ministry? Do we have doubts about God’s true Church? Are we deceived still in certain things or in the process of being deceived by accepting some of the garbage that’s coming out of this world from the natural carnal mind that’s going to be destroyed?

Are we involved in any point of division within the Body about favoritism? About prejudices? Do we have different views that we’re willing to speak out and say things? Have we different views in our minds that if we’re not very careful will take us out of the Church? Are we using words against God? God’s Church? God’s people?

They’re all the things that we need to examine ourselves. We can look at this as history, but today this exists. This exists. Because Satan broadcasts attitudes and he is a powerful being, and if we open ourselves up to this thing or this way of thinking, the things that he does, we don’t even know what we’re getting involved in.

One of the things to always remember when things come out from mankind is to stand back and just look at what God has revealed to us as the truth. One of the truths that we have is regarding that we understand what Satan is like. We understand that he’s deceived the whole world. He’s the prince and power of the air. He broadcasts and it’s lies, deception for the purpose of destroying mankind because he doesn’t want to see mankind enter Elohim. So, we in particular, brethren, need to be very careful.

This is the time, at the Feast, where we need to stand back and just remember our calling, and just to think about it and rejoice that we’ve been called to enter this fight so that we have the opportunity to enter Elohim at a point in time. It’s an incredible thing to rejoice about, the mystery of God. We are involved in the mystery of God. We are involved today in the mystery of God.

Continuing on in verse 16—You became filled with wrong within, and you sinned. So, sin we understand is transgression. And what is the wages of sin? What do you get paid for it? Death. So, it’s a spiritual principle. The wages of sin, what we get paid if we choose to sin and not repent, not to be transformed, is death. The wages of what Satan has set his mind to, because he’s set his mind from the beginning and it can’t be unset, is that he’s going to face death. Because that’s the wages of sin is death.

Satan’s mind is set, and he has no desire to change, and he cannot repent. He’s got none. He is going to go down fighting. Now, when he heard from God through the Church that he had an end, can you imagine that thought process? Now, does he really believe it? We’ll have to see.

Therefore, this is God speaking, I cast you as a profane/polluted thing out of the mountain of God, which is God’s throne, and I destroyed you, which is he will cease to exist. He was thrown out of the throne, but at some point in time he will cease to exist, he will vanish. That’s what it’s about. …O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.

Your heart (your thinking) was lifted up, lifted up because of pride in his thinking, that he thought that he was something. That’s one of the dangers within the Body of Christ, that we ever think that we are something and that we have a value. Because the reality is our only value that we carry is God’s holy spirit in us. That’s the only thing of value. Everything else is of no value. The value we have is if we are transforming our mind to think the word of God, think the logos of God.

…because of your beauty. So, he took it to himself. He lifted himself up and he saw himself for the way that God created him, which was beautiful. But it went to his head, and he had something that God had given him, a gift, and it went to his head, and it made him think that he was better than others, better than even God.

You corrupted (spoiled, ruined) your wisdom that God had given him. It wasn’t the holy spirit, as we know, but he had a great mind that was able to serve and to do things. Well, he corrupted it because he made himself better in his mind. Pride took over. …for the sake of your splendor (self-importance).

I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings… So, this is futuristic. I cast you to the ground, I lay you before kings. What kings? Spirit beings. Something in the future. That they might gaze on you. Now, Satan is spirit and only spirit can see spirit. We as men, humans, man or woman cannot, mankind cannot see spirit. We just can’t see it. That’s one of the problems of mankind. Because you can’t see it, means it’s not real. No, we see spiritually so we know it’s real.

Verse 18—You defiled (polluted) your sanctuaries, place that God had set him for a use. He polluted his mind by the multitude (the abundance) of your lawlessness (your iniquity). By the iniquity (wickedness) of your trading. The merchandising and trafficking of attitudes.

So, we have to be careful. We should check ourselves. This has already happened. This is happening today with Satan, but we need to stop and check ourselves and go, “Hang on a minute. Am I involved in any of this? Am I doing this without even realizing it? Am I actually lifting myself up and forcing my opinion out to others or giving my opinion in disagreement with God?” That’s the important part. This is the time to do it, during the Feast while we’re rejoicing.

Therefore, I brought fire from your midst, and it devoured you, so “it consumed you.” So, Satan will be destroyed, as we understand, at the end of the Last Great Day. And I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you, which is spirit beings.

All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you, and you have become a horror, and no more forever. In other words, it’s going to be an end.

We understand that Lucifer was created with great beauty and power to be a leader, a light bringer. We know that God created other spirit beings to support His creation of a spirit family. That was their purpose. We know that angels did not have access to God’s holy spirit.

Revelation 12:9, we’re going to look back here because it does give us a bit of an outline of what is going on in this world.

Revelation 12:9—So the great dragon was cast out, so this is looking back, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. Now, we either believe this or we don’t. So, things that come out from mankind, much of it is about deception. Not every component. Much of it is about deception. So, we have to be very careful that we’re not drawn into the deceptions of mankind, and that we need to do the opposite. We need to be drawn into the truth of God. That’s where our motive should be. That should be our whole thinking.

Remember that this world, what Satan is doing in all this deception, is to cause division—Division!—which is the opposite to what God wants. God doesn’t want His Church divided. God wants a family that’s not divided. That’s why in the future there is not going to be any division. Division and all the opinions of mankind are going to be crushed, because Satan has deceived the whole world.

If you go through the four books that have been written to date that are on the website, that if you have a look at that, it’s about this really. It’s about mankind being deceived and about what God is really doing. We’re in a stage now at the end of man’s self-rule and man’s deception that Satan has caused. Man is deceived, and they can’t understand, and they’re not meant to understand.

Well, aren’t we lucky that we’re not deceived? What a thing to rejoice about! We are not deceived. We have the truth if we hang on to the truth.

…he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The world is deceived and cannot see spiritual things of God. Straightforward statement. The world is deceived and cannot see the spiritual things of God. What are the spiritual things of God? His word, the truth. Incredible. We have been given so much, brethren.

Verse 10—Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power (authority) of His Christ (the Messiah) have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before God day and night, was cast down. It’s just an incredible thing of what we’re going to see. We’ve got, we have no real understanding of what the Millennium will be really like. We think we know but it’s going to be amazing, absolutely amazing when you have one government that is going to be right.

The whole legal system goes. No juries of twelve. No legal system and people that have studied law and the technicality of law so that people that kill people can get off and people that kill people that should be put to death are not, they’re put in jail, and then they appeal twenty times and the victim’s family have to reappear every ten years and go through this agony for their whole life while they think this person could be released with good behavior and all these other things, get all these points and could be released.

All that is going! The whole system is going! The whole tax system that we understand today, the way its geared and superannuation and all those things have to be changed. We have to go back to what God said and God will establish a government in righteousness. It’s going to be an incredible thing that we see. Everything is going to change! We think we can see it all, but we can’t. But it’s coming and it’s going to change.

…who accused them before God will be cast down. And they overcame him, talking about Satan, by the blood of the Lamb, Joshua the Messiah, our Passover, and by the word of their testimony. Now, the word of their testimony is the evidence. And what’s the evidence? Change, repentance, thinking differently. The evidence that a person is transforming is because they change.

We use a simple one like the Sabbath, the third, and one of the main ones. There’s a transformation that takes place. Used to keep this day, now transformed thinking changes, “Ah, it’s the Sabbath, and there are certain things that we don’t do on the Sabbath and certain things we do do on the Sabbath. That’s the transformation of the mind that’s going to take place. Incredible thing!

So, there’s something to rejoice about at this Feast, brethren, the fact that we’re called and we’re in the beginning process of transforming the mind, that we think differently than everyone else. It’s something not to be depressed about, “Oh, I think differently, and I’m ostracized and I’m isolated.” Fantastic! Fantastic that we are ostracised and isolated, that we suffer for God, we suffer because of what we believe. It’s a beautiful thing, really. It’s not a bad thing, it’s a beautiful thing.

…and they did not love their lives to death. God was placed first and they sacrificed self. It’s incredible.

Ephesians 2:1—And you who were dead in trespasses and sins… Now, we were dead because we practiced sin and we didn’t know about repentance. …in which you once walked, which is to be occupied with. That’s what we did.

I look back at my life and think, I don’t think I thought until probably about thirty, as a male. Other than that I was just complete selfishness, and I did some terrible things and treated people terribly because I was just so absorbed in self. So, this is how I walked. I was occupied in it. At thirty-two I think, “Oh, hang on a minute. I’ve got responsibilities.” It took a long time.

…according to the course of this world. That’s how everybody is, they just walk according to the way that they see it and their view and their opinion and the way they were brought up, according to the prince of the power of the air. So, mankind walks under this influence of Satan, which we did too. …the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, in unbelief. They don’t believe. They can’t. They can’t believe the truth. But we no longer are like that.

Satan broadcasts selfishness to the selfish and confusion and division and opinions. It’s broadcast so that people develop thought processes. Some that’s insanity. To be spiritually obedient, to believe God requires God’s holy spirit.

Verse 3—among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires, the pleasures that are there, the pleasures of the flesh, that’s what we did, and of the mind, the way we thought, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. Because they’re not under a judgment in one way like we are. Because we’ve been called, judgment has begun at the House of God. It’s us. We’re under judgment. What will we choose? Right or wrong?

We know that there is a temporary pleasure in sin. It’s temporary. That’s something that a person can’t see until they are called by God. Then we realize that the temporary pleasure that’s fulfilled in that sin by whatever we’ve said or whatever we’ve done, it’s done and then it’s “Uh oh!” Then reality. “I desire that I hadn’t done it that way or said that” or whatever.

But to mankind, they have the temporary pleasure of sin, but they don’t see it. And therefore, they seek more of that pleasure. Where, we’re the opposite. We don’t seek the temporary pleasure of sin. If we do something is wrong and there’s that temporary pleasure, we then change and go, “Ah, I don’t want that anymore. I want something different.” But mankind, because of selfishness, goes down a different path. They want more of that temporary pleasure. It’s like drugs or something else. “I want it again.” “I want it again.” “I want it again.” Because it’s the selfish desires, the pride of life, that they’re drawn to that to fulfill it.

2 Corinthians 4:3—But even if our gospel, which is the good news of the Kingdom of God, about the return of Christ—that’s what it’s about—is veiled, which means it’s hidden, as a veil, it’s hidden from them, it is veiled to those who are perishing. Now, what we need to understand in all of this, brethren, is we can see that a mind that is not seeing the truth is actually perishing because it’s being destroyed.

That’s what Satan is trying to do, is to destroy the mind so at some point it is so bad that God can’t work with it. So, it is perishing. So, the moment a child is born this whole process of the mind developing, it’s actually being destroyed. It’s being corrupted. It’s being worked down to a point that it’s virtually set in its way. So, we have now been called, our mind was perishing, but then it’s stopped and now it’s back going a different way.

They’re not called to see spiritually so that mind is perishing, it’s going a different way, and if we’re not careful we can set our mind a certain way and become set. That’s why people leave God’s Church because their mind starts to perish and goes back the other way and goes back to Satan’s thinking.

Verse 4—whose minds the god of this age, Satan for the first 6,000 years, has blinded. So, we were once blind, now we see. …who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, which is the word made flesh, should shine on them. So, Satan is the enemy of God, but he has an end, which is incredible. Satan is the deceiver and works against the truth.

Now, we have the truth. Satan is working to undermine it and to destroy it. No one out there can hear the truth, in the sense of hear spiritually. They can see things, but they don’t understand it, they don’t see like we see spiritually, because they can’t. Satan is full of falsehood and division. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Because we stumble and fall.

There are scriptures, of course, which we know where, I think it’s in Job and in different books where Satan appears and says, “Have you seen…?” It’s like, “Have you seen Job?” Because Job would have had some sins against God’s law. But he might have lived a life in the beginning that he thought it was righteous, but it wasn’t because it wasn’t of God’s spirit.

But we’re accused and we can give Satan the ammunition by not repenting. So, we need to be careful in our own life about this. Satan desires to seduce humans to evil, to sin. That’s what his motive is. That’s what he’s doing.

1 Peter 5, and we’ll begin to wind up here. 1 Peter 5:6—Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. So, we need to take all our issues, our thinking, our sins to God and lay them before God. He cares for us, and He will give us what is desired for Him. He desires that we be transformed, that we be in Elohim. That’s God’s desire for us. That’s His will and purpose. We’re the problem because we do stupid things and make stupid choices.

Verse 8—Be sober, which is to be spiritually on guard of the mind; be vigilant, because your adversary the devil… Satan. He’s our adversary. He’s out to destroy us. He is out to destroy us! …walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Now, who would that be? Well, the main focus, of course, is God’s people, members of the Body of Christ, brethren. That’s the main focus of Satan. But he also can destroy others by letting them go too far. He can work with them, and they can set their minds against God so much that they can’t be worked with. But the main focus is God’s Church, God’s people.

Now, Satan stalks his prey. Now, we’re obvious who we are because we have God’s spirit. Physical death is nothing, but spiritual death is a win for Satan. Because we have to fight. If we want to enter Elohim we have to fight.

In conclusion, brethren, we’ll just go to 1 Corinthians 14:33—For God is not the author of confusion, Satan is, but of peace. There is a peace of mind that can be had by us, brethren. This Feast, this is a time to rejoice and to rejoice in the truth and rejoice about what God is doing with us. We’ve been called; it’s an incredible thing.

God is a God of peace. There’s a peace involved because He has a plan for a family, and it will be achieved. It’s about what we want to choose.

…as in all the churches of the saints. God is not the author of confusion, but Satan is. Babylon, the system of the world is confusion. Babylon means confusion. We are in a world of confusion because the truth is hidden from them.

In conclusion, brethren, during the Feast of Tabernacles that we’re now at, we are to rejoice before God because of the many blessings that we have received from Him. We should rejoice because we see the truth. We should rejoice because we know that Satan has an end. It’s just an incredible thing that we can rejoice at.

1 John 4:4—You are of God, little children, and have overcome them… Now, this is talking about anyone that was antichrist, that there are people that are antichrist, against Christ. …because He who is in you, God who is in us, God dwells in us, is greater than he, talking about Satan and those with Satan’s thinking, who is in the world. So, we shouldn’t have anything to fear because we have God and God loves us. God is in us. God is trying to work with us. The choice is us. He will work with us. He’s called us to work with us, to transform our mind. So, this is a time to rejoice at the Feast because of what is happening to us.

So, brethren, during this Feast let us all rejoice at what God has planned for us. We can rejoice about God’s plan, we can stop and meditate about the truth, and we can rejoice to know that Satan is soon to be removed and that Satan has an end.

[1] The Rest of the Mystery of the Ages

1. Chapter 1