Hedge About Satan

Copyright © 2019 Lincoln Smith.

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Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-5119-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-5120-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-5118-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019900438

WestBow Press rev. date: 2/15/2019

To my

loving family who always provide such great support, and my friend in Christ, Patrick, who helped to start this book with various revisions and suggestions, I thank you all.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1   Easy Believism

Chapter 2   Lucifer Turned Satan

Chapter 3   Satan’s Influence

Chapter 4   A Promise of Grace

Chapter 5   Covenant of Redemption

Chapter 6   God’s Covenant People

Chapter 7   Grace for Grace

Bibliography

CHAPTER 1

EASY BELIEVISM

T he core message of this book is aimed against Satan while also serving as a call for God’s true church to move away from spiritual complacency. Never in the history of the church has there been such meddling and darkening of God’s counsel. Outside the church, Satan holds sway in binding people to earth with the endless cares and trials of this life which is devoid of even a thought or contemplation for our Creator, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Countless examples, such as secular humanism, false religions, atheism, scientific reasoning and any other form of darkness all combine to squash down, fade out and marginalize His Word. Through such deception, Satan places man as the central and pinnacle focus above God, is something that he has proactively built upon since the fall and will remain here on earth until the final judgment. That is when all anti-God forces and those held under its evil sway, will be torn down in righteous indignation, And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day (Jude verse: 6).

Our concern, however, must be for God’s true church here on earth for never before has the church been so marginalized and derided in bearing an influence across society. In several Asian regions, including China, parts of Africa, and India, the church is vibrantly growing amidst persecution, but in the west, it appears the church has been overshadowed to a time reminiscent of the dark ages when the Roman Catholic church withheld God’s Word from society.

A great reformation of the church occurred after this period where many Godly men came to the fore to attack the darkness and move the church back into a greater and deeper doctrinal alignment to His Word. Martin Luther, John Calvin, and William Tyndale were great reformers from this time, but only by the Grace of God that worked in them. God’s Word also became more freely available throughout society.

Moving forward to today, Australia, like many other countries, has now legalized same sex marriage, to which our Parliament in 2017 joined in unison of song, We are one, but we are many… – (We are Australian). Yet where is our voice of passion and Christian triumph? Do we really sing praise to the King of glory who is the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:11) over universal and worldwide governance and directive? And the reason for such impotence is Satan having successfully compromised Scripture to cater for the standards of the world instead of Scripture being kept separate and used as a reproof against such ungodly practice, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

COMPROMISE: -

The church itself must also bear a large portion of responsibility for such compromise and immersion with the world. For example, in catering for the flesh, worldly entertainment arises where the distinction between the saved and unsaved in membership is ignored. This leaves the saved as an alienated minority that is eventually forced to leave the church that now holds to a very shallow standing in the Word in succumbing to worldliness over spiritual needs. In seeking cultural relevance and acceptance, many New Calvinist pastors and church leaders within large contemporary, or megachurches, have sadly left off God’s authoritative Word as the regulative and true foundation of worship in favor of both worldly pursuits and thinking.

Satan knows man’s love for numbers for which one former contemporary worship leader calls both unproductive and divisive. ¹ Unproductive is an interesting analogy, for despite such large numbers one may rightly ask, is there really a true saving faith, or reverence, attached to such activity?

Charismatic churches hold to fresh visions, revelations, and healings that sit alongside and weaken the Gospel. Yet, in most contemporary or megachurches, it is both a hypocritical and sentimental love, through a religious synchronism and assimilation with the world, that derides the Gospel. True and discerning love rejoices solely in His Word and stands sure and stable in the doctrines of Grace that set believers apart in salvation. Divine worship must be such as God himself has appointed, else it is offering strange fire. Lev 10:1: He must not leave out anything in the pattern, nor add to it…If God was so exact and curious about the place of worship, how exact will he be about the matter of his worship! Surely here everything must be according to the pattern prescribed in his word. ²

As represented by Cain’s vengeance and anger in slaying Abel in Genesis 4, the seed of the serpent has always persecuted the seed of the women to impede its spread. Although he is prevented and restrained by God’s faithfulness and sovereign will from doing so (more fully discussed in chapter 2), and his final doom is clearly prophesied throughout Scripture, Satan still maintains his ultimate aim and desire to darken and expunge God’s Word and it’s validity by any means and force available. The destructive influence of New Calvinism is one such weapon that certainly pervades many contemporary churches, whereby, a denial of our Lord’s penal substitution, along with His eternal Sonship, adds doctrinal heresy into their broad mix of error.

So this book is a call to arms, in the spiritual context of course. Move Back Satan, and rise up church! must be our call. What shall stand, a false and Satanically led and infiltrated church movement with instability and compromise to worldly standards, or Christ’s uncompromising, visible and militant true church movement standing firm in His Word to conquer hearts and, thereby, fulfill His faithful and sovereign will in salvation?

Where do our priorities really lie? for reaffirmation of God’s Word, not assimilation, is key. Biblical separation determines a walk of faith that is not entangled with, and stands in complete contrast to, the fashions and trends of worldliness. The professing church has lost the respect of sinners because far too many Christians have lost sight of their calling and have been pressed into the mould of things about them. We need to be reminded that the church is a called out organism…And if the church has been called from something, it has also been called to something, i.e., to holy living that God may be glorified in her actions. ³

Believers must keep an overall and eternal perspective on events and circumstance as souls are being lost to everlasting damnation on a disproportionate scale, compared to the evangelistic reasoning and fervor (or lack thereof) displayed by the church militant. Consider the spread of Islam for example. A simple Internet search suggests nearly two billion souls are converted worldwide and adhering to its dark counsels, all lost and heading in the wrong direction in the name of false religion. Our Lord’s great commission is a duty and calling for His people to reach out to the lost, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).

Yet has the general state of easy believism blinded this call of soul winning through unstable and impotent evangelism, a position where Satan would have us be? Having God on your own terms is the attitude that essentially pervades many churches through ecumenicalism, the prosperity Gospel, and various seeker sensitive outlooks. An example of the subtlety by which error is introduced is the joint ecumenical manifesto known as the Manhattan Declaration that was ratified by many prominent Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical signatories in 2009. In presenting such a unified front on common beliefs against abortion and same-sex marriage, however, discernment is lost and apostasy is drawn when fundamental theological differences concerning the Gospel are overshadowed.

Many contemporary church leaders also propagate Christian teaching that extends the great commission to include the unauthorised task of global social restoration. ⁴ Such a spirit of the age in calling for social justice is not in line with the true and vital work of the Spirit which applies Grace upon the soul in salvation and progressive sanctification that yields itself to the righteous and moral commands of Christ in bearing His likeness and image through the fruits of true holiness: –

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).

SIN: -

Fundamentally, punishment for sin is in perfect accord with God’s authority and justice which is binding upon humans by the rule of law, or the covenant of works. This has two aspects. Firstly, it comprises the