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Amazing Facts

The Arch-Villain of Prophecy

Doug Batchelor

The Arch-Villain of Prophecy, Part 1

This presentation is brought to you by the Friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry.

Coming to you from New York City at the historic Manhattan Center with your host, Doug Batchelor.

Join this exciting journey of discovery as we learn the truth about Bible prophecy, explore the timeless wisdom of God's Word, and see how it relates to our lives today.

You know, whenever I present this subject, I do it with much prayer, because the adversary, I can promise you, is not happy that we're exposing his tactics.

But I know that there are people around the world that are hedging in this entire event with prayer.

Bible says the angel of the Lord encamps around about those that serve him and delivers him.

And we're praying that God will just hedge in this whole series with his protection because we're gonna tell you what the devil's up to.

He appears all the way from Genesis to Revelation and the battle between good and evil is 1 of the central battles that you're going to find in the books of prophecy.

So you need to understand the enemy and what you're up against.

I don't spend an inordinate amount of time talking about it but Jesus talked about the devil, so we must.

To understand his tactics, Paul said, we do not want to be ignorant of Satan's devices.

Well, we always like to start with an amazing fact.

And you know, I don't think I ever did mention that you might wonder, what is Amazing Facts and where'd you come from?

Amazing Facts has been around now over 65 years, started with a 15 minute radio program that began with an amazing fact from science or from history or from nature and then we would weave in spiritual biblical truth, and it just became very popular and grew from radio to television to Bible school to mission training, and we've got mission training schools around the world and broadcasting.

God just has been blessing ministries and going by faith for over 65 years now.

Always like amazing facts and I love amazing facts.

Well, we're gonna start with 1 about the octopus.

Now, Karen and I, We have our scuba license and we like to dive.

We were diving off of Egypt a couple of years ago and the octopus is an amazing creature.

It's among the most flexible and versatile and clever, very intelligent.

They say its intelligence level is on the same level as a dog.

When it comes to disguise, an octopus is the ultimate chameleon.

Thanks to special cells in its skin, it's not only able to change the color in just a flash of a moment, but it can change the texture of its skin so it can suddenly look like a rock on the seafloor or appear like the coral where it's hiding.

There's an octopus in that picture, that octopus that you're looking at, if he wants he can turn purple or red and he can look, they can change and look like a crab walking, they can look like a fish swimming, they can even make themselves look like a sea snake.

They are so clever, they will find an empty clamshell, they'll get inside the clamshell, they'll open and close the clamshell and stick 1 little tentacle out like a worm to lure fish over and then they pounce.

They have a famous way, if people put them in aquariums, of escaping from the aquariums.

And if they're being pursued by a predator, They'll let out a blast of ink and then jet off in another direction, leaving their predator totally bewildered and confused.

No, I have nothing against octopus, but it makes me think about the devil, who is a master deceiver.

And through history, the devil has also inspired and possessed individuals that have deceived.

Jesus said in the last days, there will be false Christ.

Jesus came into the world to show us what God is like.

It's called the incarnation, God became a man.

Before the second coming, the devil is going to come and impersonate Christ and deceive much of the world.

We need to know how to spot him and recognize his devices.

Another little fact of history, some of you maybe have heard of Grigori Rasputin.

You know, for years, the Russian family, Czar Alexander, and for generations back, they ruled Russia with the imperial family.

And there was this peasant born in Siberia, very clever, and he became something of a mystic quasi-priest.

Petersburg and he sort of wormed his way into the upper echelons, a very clever, manipulating man, very charismatic.

He finally said that he believed he could heal Tsar Alexander's son, Alexei, that was a hemophiliac.

And they brought him into the palace and it seemed like his advice when followed was helping the boy.

He eventually wormed his way into the royal court and began to manipulate the family, especially the czar's wife.

Some accuse him of having an affair, but that was never proven.

And started encouraging military decisions.

And finally, the imperial family disintegrated.

They were assassinated and so was Rasputin.

Historians look back and say, they call him the mad monk.

Because of the evil influence of this mad monk, the whole kingdom was lost.

Now, before we go to our lesson, we like to go out and just talk to people on the streets and ask if there's a good God, then why is there so much evil in the world?

So let's take a listen to what our people on the street have to say.

I believe that there's evil in the world because so many people are looking to fill the hole in their heart with things that are not sustainable, like how Jesus Christ is sustainable.

Probably not how most people believe in the devil.

I think there's a balance of bad and good in the world.

Maybe the presence of Satan is a kind of way to guide people away from him.

To know the difference between the good thing and the bad thing.

You know I've had that same thought myself along with other thoughts but yeah.

I think it's far more, you know, I don't know if I can answer that question, you know.

I think I do get out 3 or 4 rounds probably.

1 thing is perfectly clear is that people are not perfectly clear on whether or not there is a devil.

And if there is a devil, Why would God make a devil?

And if God's more powerful than the devil, is God evil in allowing the devil to do evil?

How many of you have thought these things or wondered or heard these questions before?

If God is love, if God is good, If God is all powerful, then why is there so much suffering and evil in the world?

This is 1 of the most important questions that we need to understand.

And if you pay attention and study the lesson tonight, you're gonna have the most important answers.

Why is there evil in the world today if God is good and He is a loving God?

Well, to get the answer to that, we need to go to the questions.

And these lessons, of course, we're on lesson number 3 tonight, talking about this arch villain.

And we're gonna begin with question number 1.

Every good and perfect gift comes from God.

The Arch-Villain of Prophecy, Part 2

In our last episode, We learned that God created a perfect angel named Lucifer who became proud and rebellious and was eventually cast out of heaven Today we're gonna continue our eye-opening study of how Lucifer became Satan, our arch-enemy, and he's working to deceive all people and twisting the truth.

We'll also learn how to resist the devil's temptation and how he will soon be destroyed.

Remember, for a deeper Bible study experience, check out the Prophecy Odyssey Bible lessons and our free offer.

I'll say more about that at the end of this program.

So for right now, thanks for watching and let's return to our prophecy odyssey.

Question number 5, what methods, we need to be aware of how the devil operates.

Point number 8, it's Satan who deceives the whole world.

Now, deception is different from just a blatant lie.

Deception is the commingling of truth with error.

Never is the devil more dangerous than he'll take something that is 85% true.

Do you know that all religions have elements of truth?

But then the devil mixes in 15% to 5% of poison.

You take a good piece of bait and you put a hook in it.

Nothing wrong with the bait, it's the hook in it.

And so the devil, he'll take something good, but he'll mix in something evil, and that's why as a Christian, you gotta know your Bible because the devil will misquote it.

And so many people are deceived because they see some truth in the religion, but they don't see where the poison is, where the danger is.

Answer B, he, Jesus, was there in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights tempted.

We are all tempted probably many times a day.

Some of you don't know you're tempted because you are not even trying to resist temptation.

Do you know you do not feel the current in the river if you're drifting with the current.

But as soon as you try to resist the current and swim upstream, you're gonna feel the pressure.

A lot of the world says, I don't get tempted, it's because they're doing everything the devil wants them to do.

Reminds me of an evangelist named Billy Sunday.

Man was coming to his evangelistic meetings and Billy Sunday was preaching against sin.

And finally this man came stomping up to the evangelist and said, Pastor Sunday, will you stop rubbing the cat's fur the wrong way?

He says, you keep rubbing the cat's fur the wrong way.

And he said, no, I'm rubbing the cat's fur the right way.

And if we find out that we're going in God's direction, we're gonna realize that we're getting resistance from the devil.

You just don't want to give in to the temptation.

Answer C, they are the spirits of demons performing signs.

Can fallen angels perform signs and wonders and miracles?

And there are wicked powers in high places that are often manipulating the leaders of the world.

King Saul, before he died, he went to a witch and she conjured up an evil spirit that left him utterly discouraged.

Armageddon, Revelation tells us evil spirits come out of the mouth of the beast, the dragon and the false prophet to gather the kings, the leaders of the world together to that final battle.

Evil spirits are going to be involved in deceiving through the devil and his angels.

Satan is always standing around accusing.

He's up there in heaven saying, well, the only reason Job follows you is because you protected him.

And you read in the book of Zechariah, the devil is pointing at the high priest, Joshua, and says, well, look at his dirty garments.

He can't get into heaven looking like that.

And when Michael comes to resurrect Moses, the devil's there and he says, oh, Moses sinned before he died.

The devil will tell you to sin and then he'll turn you in for doing it.

Some people think that, well, you know, the devil tempted me to do this.

I thought that all of a sudden I'd get some benefits if I sold my soul to him.

Devil's much more powerful than any of us, but the devil is not more powerful of you and God together.

You have nothing to be afraid of if you're linked up with Christ.

You know, the Bible tells us that Jesus is the son of David.

And if you read in the Bible, David never lost a battle.

Sometimes his army would retreat from him.

There's 1 story where everyone left David except 1 soldier named Eliezer.

I could never forget his name, Eleazar the son of Dodo.

And everybody retreated, but David did not retreat, and he stood and he fought the Philistines with Eleazar, and the 2 of them defeated the army.

If you are with Jesus, the son of David, you have nothing to fear.

Because you'll pick up the sword of the Spirit and you'll win that battle.

The accuser of our brethren will be cast down.

By the way, people that are always gossiping and accusing other people, You're not doing the work of Jesus.

He was the 1 who inspired Cain to kill his brother Abel.

Whether you're young or whether you're old or a baby.

People say, why does God allow all this death?

It breaks God's heart more than it does that of any human.

The devil has claimed this world as his territory, but God so loved the world, he sent his son into this world to save as many as will come to him.

And he will eventually, he's redeemed those who believe in him and he'll create a new heavens and a new earth, right?

But right now there's a war in this world and he's also a liar and the father of it.

Question number 6, when is the devil the most dangerous?

Answer, 2 Corinthians 11, 14, for Satan himself transforms himself into a what?

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