SATAN'S CHURCH

                                              SATAN'S CHURCH

    The fastest growing church in America belongs to Satan, but many
Christians don't recognize it. Satan is a really sharp cookie, who has
developed his challenge to God with great sophistication. He started
out with great credentials in beauty and light with the name Lucifer.
He is a great leader, and persuaded one third of the angels to revolt
against God. Satan has the most effective public relations department
ever known. Consider the world's population approaching 8 billion
people, and only about 2 billion Christians. The insidious part of this
is Satan's ability to "plant" his accomplished "moles" or spies within
Christian organizations. Coupled with the lack of knowledge and the
inexperience of most Christians, his forces continue to outpace our
Christian growth.

    Satan's Church does not use a sign or symbol, but works as a sort
of silent partner in Christian churches and organizations. The church
that identifies itself as satanic or by a similar designation is evil, but
isn't the real problem. Many Christians don't take the existence of
Satan's influence over principalities and rulers seriously. Eph. 5:12
warns us, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Since good versus evil is a spiritual battle to begin, we don't realize
the physical battle follows a spiritual battle. Satan has his troops
organized similar to God's order of angels and heavenly workers.
God has a commander in chief of His army, and Satan copies the
organization God utilizes. We may not realize or recognize that Satan
has a prince (ruler) over every nation, and his influence is carried all
the way to local government. He leaves no stone unturned in his
continuing effort to supplant God as supreme being.

    What! You didn't think Satan had an agent in local government?
His desire is to replace God as supreme being. He is working tirelessly
to try and achieve his goal. You can see what power he has when he
is tempting Jesus on an exceeding high mountain. Matt. 4:8,9 tells us,
"Again, the devil took Him up on an exceeding high mountain, and 
showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said
to Him, 'All these things I will give You if You will fall down and 
worship me.'" Satan has his "man" in charge everywhere. You should
also note the temptation of Jesus clearly shows us that Satan is 
indeed a spiritual person. He also has supernatural powers as we see
all the way back to Ex. 7:8-12, where the Pharaoh's wise men were
able to turn rods into serpents. Don't think Satan doesn't try to
influence local governments all the way to town or township levels.


    If you wanted to disrupt Christ's people from carrying out their
mission, where would the most fertile ground be? Satan doesn't worry
about the unsaved because they don't need any help to stray from the
road to eternal life. He concentrates on people who may hear and
listen to the Word of God as well as groups of people who have become
members of churches. Christians have, from the days the Apostle Paul
began planting churches, created methods to separate believers. 
Scripture warns about division in Matt. 12:25, Mark 3:24,25, and Luke
11:17. Quoting Mark, "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom
cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot
stand." Ignoring three warnings by Christ signifies "three strikes and
you're out." 

    During my recovery, I had the opportunity to speak with Christians of
many denominations. Some would not discuss Christianity unless the
topic was related exclusively to a particular denomination. I have
found that many pastors are friendly in gatherings of many religious
leaders, but cold as ice when it's only one or two conversing. Their
little part of the church world is their private domain. It seems every
denomination considers itself the best. Some say certain other
denominations aren't Christian enough, and many conservatives
say a liberal can't even be a Christian. Christ's teaching in the four
gospels is being trampled in bigotry. Satan is using people in church
leadership to destroy the Christian kingdom. These leaders, including
pastors, are following people with personal agendas who are fogging
up Christ's very words by substituting emotional issues for the actual
teaching in the gospels. What these apostate church leaders and
false Christians are proposing is a slap in the face to Christ who taught
that every person in the world has a choice. Forced Christianity 
eliminates choice and makes it impossible to accept Christ's offer
with a commitment from the heart.

    Why don't pastors challenge church leaders or public speakers when
they contradict the teaching of Christ? Can't they read and understand
scripture? In the Old Testament, Israel always went through a cycle
that ended with some singular punishment--usually captivity. The reason
was usually the same. The priests and leaders fell away from God's word
and replaced worship of God. They had carnal interests, just as we see
overtaking Christians today. Christ taught us to love our neighbors, but
our record shows bigotry and hatred against other races, other religions,
gender, political opponents, and even education. Satan is using two main
principles very well. They are the principles driving him to supplant God
in the wake of destroying the world. The two principles are ego and
pride.

    Ego and pride are built on control, and this problem is exacerbated by
the measuring stick of money. Everything is measured by a dollar value,
and the churches that are resisting this are to be commended. It's a
different matter for most politicians, who are basically interested in the
power of money. Christians--some of whom are actually really not saved--
go astray when they hear the damnation charges against small elements
of the population. Satan's people do an excellent job of leading people
with little or no knowledge of scripture into discrimination and separation
of our people. Don't pastors know enough scripture to quote the reason
not to discriminate or try to control everyone? Read Matt. 12:31-32. These
two verses from the mouth of Christ command us not to harass or force
anyone to prison or death. Where did Christ say to force anyone to do
anything or to kill another person?

    All sins are equally bad except one, and that is crystal clear in
Matt. 12:31-32. "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will
be forgiven men, but  the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be 
forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it
will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will
not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come." This is the
only unforgivable sin. When you speak against the Holy Spirit, you are
denying the supreme power of God. Anyone who condemns gays, same
sex marriage or different life style is violating the teaching of Christ
unless the person denies the existence and power of God. You don't have
to agree with the person, but he/she is still one of God's children. You 
should understand that men, both christian and unsaved, continue to
oppress women, just as Israel did in both the Old and New Testament.
This is a world wide phenomenon, as we dictate one rule for women who
sin, while we  tolerate the same sin in men. 

    Adultery penalizes women, while men simply smile and reflect they
are "da man." Nothing new here. Christ pointed out the sin of adultery
in John 8:7 was forgivable as other common sins. The Jews practiced
sexual harassment, following Moses's direction to stone a woman who
committed adultery while excusing men. When the Pharisees asked
Christ to judge the woman and condemn her to stoning, he said "He
who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." Of
course none were without sin, so they slunk quietly away. Jesus was
telling them not to pass judgment. This, too, is in the gospel teaching
of Christ in Matt. 7:1-5, where He instructs us not to judge. Christians
tend to be hypocrites, even between denominations. All these bible
quotes I have given are in the four gospels. These are Christ's playbook.
What have you been doing in church if you don't follow His directions?
Satan's agents in congregations are hard at work.

    Why doesn't the church community question the ridiculous claims
and statements by politicians? Don't they know a person on welfare
can't possibly go on a cruise? It costs thousands of dollars to go on
a cruise. And why do they limit the welfare person to $25 a day at an
ATM? Even a person on social security receives roughly $1,000 a
month (of their own savings). From this, they have to pay rent, 
insurance and other normal costs of living. There is never enough to
save. The conservatives want to ban welfare people from movies and
other cheap recreational activities. Also on the can't do list is the
purchase of lobster and steak. These officials actually have no idea of
what they're talking about. There is a small number of welfare people
who cheat, but none get enough money or food stamps to create any
dollar problem. This is class discrimination, and victims include elderly,
veterans, children and disabled. 

     Since these public officials or wannabes never have to reserach
and defend their outrageous claims, average Americans don't bother
to check out scripture or the facts. These charlatans don't seem to
have any embarrassment for their utterly ridiculous statements. They
continue to pass legislation that is NOT scriptural and that creates
hardship and suffering. Christ taught how we should treat all people, 
not just Christians. We are being led to hatred and greed. Many 
churches are doing the right thing, except there are no brakes
being applied to the false teaching about poverty, education and
fair pay. Racial and religious discrimination is practiced by so many
people--both Christian and non Christian--that our nation is being torn
apart. The social and educational improvements that followed the
Great Depression are being eliminated. There was a radio program 
and Sunday newspaper supplement that explained "no one knows 
what evil lurks in the hearts and minds of men. But, the Shadow 
knows." If we see evil in the making, it is our responsibility to speak 
up. God sees all, and we will be accountable if we commit the sin of 
omission. This is much like being unwilling to witness for Christ. That 
is the real test of our Christian commitment. 

Rev. Walbear