Friday, September 8
He will crush your head.—Gen. 3:15.
When Jesus was born, Satan knew that this newborn child would grow up to become the promised Messiah. Would Satan reason that taking the life of a baby was going too far? Satan has no noble code of ethics. And with regard to the child Jesus, Satan did not hesitate to act. How? King Herod was greatly upset when astrologers inquired about “the one born king of the Jews,” and he was determined to kill him. To make sure that the job was done, he ordered the execution of all boys two years of age and younger who were living in Bethlehem and its districts. Jesus escaped death in that unimaginable slaughter, but what does this tell us about our enemy Satan? It is evident that the Devil places no value on human life. He certainly does not have a soft spot for children. Satan truly is “a roaring lion.” Never underestimate his vicious disposition!
It is true. Satan is vicious and cunning. However, he is far more subtle, clever and insidious than Jehovah’s Witnesses can possibly imagine. First, though, consider a bit of history.
After Satan failed in his attempt to kill Jesus in the cradle and tempt him in the wilderness his most successful scheme was placing one of his dupes, a certain Judas Iscariot, into Jesus’ intimate company as one of the 12 apostles. And on the night when Jesus instituted the evening meal the account says Satan entered into Judas and he betrayed the Son of God with a kiss. Jesus knew his betrayer, but the apostles were completely oblivious. Even after Jesus handed Judas the morsel and told him to go do his deed the 11 apostles were still in the dark.
The point is, Judas was an insider. And he wouldn’t be the last. Shortly after Pentecost a great persecution erupted. The apostle James was killed. So was Stephen. Gentile Christians came under great persecution in Rome when Nero blamed them for the great fire.
But the frontal attack on Jesus’ disciples, as vicious as it was, did little to stop the spread of Christianity. Jesus had forewarned his disciples that they would be persecuted and even killed. So, they were prepared for it. Satan’s primary strategy was to infiltrate and corrupt. It began even while the apostles were alive, such as occurred in the Corinthian congregation, which was dominated by those whom Paul dubbed the superfine apostles, who were evil men who were merely disguised as ministers of righteousness in imitation of Satan, who routinely disguises himself as an angel of light.
In time the apostles passed off the scene along with other stalwarts. And as Paul warned oppressive wolves entered in and dominated the flock. Ultimately, Satan took complete control when the Roman emperor, Constantine, inserted himself as the decider of Christian doctrine. Over the centuries the popes acquired such power that the light of truth was extinguished. Even the Bible was locked away in a dying language and kept out of the hands of the common man.
It wasn’t until the invention of the printing press in the 1400’s that it became possible to break Satan’s grip on the Bible. But it still took several centuries to make the Bible affordable and widely available in the common languages of Europeans who were under the authority of the clergy of Christendom. But with the colonization of America by pilgrims seeking religious freedom, the political environment was established for the truth to thrive. And with numerous Bible-distributing societies in the 1800s the field was fertile as could be for the seeds of truth that began to be sown by the Watchtower.
With the reappearance of anointed Christians zealously preaching and teaching, Satan reverted to his original strategy of infiltration. Jesus illustrated this in the 13th chapter of Matthew, where he explained: “The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man; the field is the world. As for the fine seed, these are the sons of the Kingdom, but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels.”
What is most telling —as regards the telltale influence of Satan —is that according to the Watchtower the Devil has no influence over the organization. The harvest has already occurred. The weeds are all bundled up and the wheat is secure in the storehouse. Indeed, Jehovah’s Witnesses are luxuriating in spiritual paradise. Only those who wander off the spiritual estate come under evil influence.
What is also revealing, is that, at no time has the Watchtower ever pointed forward to the second coming of Christ. From the very beginning of Russell’s Bible studies with the little Allegheny group the second coming of Christ was believed to have already occurred. Think of it, those original Bible students were just figuring out that Jesus was not Jehovah God, that there was no burning hell, that the soul did not live on, and all that simple stuff, and yet they believed that the monumental second coming of Christ took place in 1874, the very year Russell began to study the Bible.
Of course, around 1930 the Watchtower unceremoniously dropped 1874 and flipped the date of Christ’s return to 1914. But the intent is the same —to place the second coming of Christ in the past; hence, rendering the most important and profound event imaginable into irrelevancy.
On the one hand it is clear that the whole 1914, invisible parousia doctrine, is an artfully contrived satanic operation, it only remains in operation because God allows it. After all, it is easy to refute it, as I have done. God could easily override the operation of Satan if he wished. But it is as Paul said: “That is why God lets a deluding influence mislead them so that they may come to believe the lie, in order that they all may be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Jehovah allows Satan to wield his deluding influence —blending the lie with the truth, which has been the case from the very beginning —in order to serve as a test. The test will commence with the second coming of Christ. Then all the things the Watchtower has taught regarding 1914 will be shown to be a lie.
But 1914 is not the only lie promoted by the Judas-like man of lawlessness. Over the decades the Devil has elevated the Watchtower in the minds of Jehovah’s Witnesses to become an idol. Just look at how often the Watchtower refers to “pure worship.” What a presumptuous thing. How could there be any such thing as pure worship as long as Satan is allowed to influence God’s people? Keep in mind that Jesus told his apostles that not all of them were clean —intimating Judas was not pure.
The organization is considered to be the infallible mouthpiece of God. So, when it becomes apparent it is not many will find it impossible to accept. Hence, they will be judged because they took pleasure in worshipping the organization and will refuse to believe the truth regarding the real second coming of Jesus Christ.