The Mystery of Iniquity - Part V

I am publishing a five-part series on a rarely discussed subject called the mystery of iniquity. I am writing this out of deep concern that the body of Christ has ignored the signs that the end is, not near, but here. I gave my life to Jesus Christ 31 years ago, and during that period of spiritual renewal for me and my family, there was a revelry that bordered on maniacal that Jesus could return any moment. Since my conversion, I have witnessed the self destruction of many prominent (and not so prominent) Church officials and lay-members alike, and I have seen the enthusiasm for Christ’s return sink to a low that I would have never imagined.

The first article will discuss Satan’s two thousand year’s plan to harness control of human government. The second article will examine the Church where Satan had established his corporate headquarters. Oh, did I say it was a prominent Christian Church? The third article will discuss Satan’s rebellion in heaven, which led to the expulsion of one-third of the heavenly host. And the fourth and fifth articles will tie it all together by examining the last decade and demonstrating how events have hurled human civilization closer to the poisoned embrace of the anti-Christ.

A minister friend of mine, Jim Nelson, has been advancing the belief that the end-time religion will not be a religion in the traditional sense. He teaches that Capitalism will be the end-time religion, because it permits all who worship at its alter to continue to serve their gods; whether it be Buddha, Allah, or Taoism’s Lao-Tse, yet it still unites the people into a common thread of worship; as in worshipping the “almighty dollar.” I recognized long ago that Capitalism would be the global government’s monetary system; however, I didn’t quite see the religious aspect of its global domination until listening to Jim.

I believe that money is the greatest invention of all time, because it permits people to live in a civilized society where commercial transactions are done, not by compulsion, but by reason. In the absence of such a bartering system, society would be at the mercy of men who force others into their employ at the barrel of a gun. Capitalism is like a manufacturing plant that allows anyone to make as much money as their skills and self determination will take them. It has been the catalyst of our modern society, and although it is not perfect, it has proven to promote higher standards of living than any other economic system that the world has ever known.

Notwithstanding Capitalism’s virtues, it also has a destructive force: In its need for expansion, it cannot coexist with any other economic system. Consequently, as Capitalism expands, it begins to encroach and consume any other monetary system standing in its path. Most of you reading this series witnessed Capitalism’s destructive force as it blazed through Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s. President Ronald Reagan unfairly gets the credit for winning the Cold War. I don’t mean to diminish his role in the demise of the Soviet Union; however, Capitalism won the Cold War.

Capitalism destroyed the economic system of Marxism as we saw with the Former Soviet Union and as we now are witnessing with China. But its greatest triumph may be its victory over Islam disguised as the War on Terror. The War on Terror started out as a just war to apprehend Osama bin Laden and other perpetrators of September 11th; however, it quickly morphed into an effort to expand the Western world’s economic system. I mean, why did President Bush only send 15,000 troops to Afghanistan to capture bin Laden, while sending more than 125,000 troops to Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with the World Trade/Pentagon bombings? Sure Saddam was a cruel dictator, but if being a cruel leader is the litmus test that we are now using to invade a sovereign nation, then who’s next? Ahmadinejad of Iran? Kim of North Korea? Or Mugabe of Zimbabwe?

The Muslim world has historically been the biggest opponent of Capitalism, because they did not want the corrupt influences, that inevitably flow from a free market system, to entrench themselves within their society. However, thanks to the rewards that are inherent in Capitalism, many regions of the Middle East have nearly transformed themselves into a Mecca of Western Society. A quick perusal of the landscape of the United Arab Emirates demonstrates the enormous Capitalist influence in this region of the Middle East. The OPEC nations are flush with cash and they are buying large chunks of the United States and Europe. And farther east, China has replaced Japan as the oriental symbol of the dollar.

As I study the influence that Capitalism has on world markets, I am convinced that the current financial crisis that we are experiencing has been choreographed, among other reasons, to facilitate a level of economic parity between Western society in general and the U.S. in particular with the rest of the world. The social planners who are creating the anti-christic infrastructure learned from the merging of East and West Germany that it is extremely difficult to united a strong currency, as in the West German Deutsche Mark, with a relatively week East German Mark. Consequently, we are witnessing the decline of the United States of America in order to “grease the skids” for a seamless migration to global government and a one world economic system.

Much to my horror, the America we live in today, is not the America I grew up in. Notwithstanding the racial climate of the 1960s, or maybe in spite of country’s racial climate, there were very powerful protest movements during the 1960s that altered the course of American history and indirectly altered the course of world history: No matter how one may have felt about the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-War Movement, the Feminist Movement and the Environmental Movement; these voices of dissent blazed a trail through American society that knocked down barriers between the ruling class and the working class.

In a real sense, America probably began its decline more than 20 years ago during the run-up on the stock market. The massive influx of wealth diverted the attention of many, many people who would have been influential in preserving a climate of change for those who are living on the margins of a capitalistic society. Even many Church leaders have been lulled asleep by America’s massive wealth. The hyper-faith movement conditioned its followers that if they gave unto the Lord he would return it back to them by as much as 100-fold. This principle, though true, distracts many away from seeking the things of God to seeking the things of the American manufacturing complex. James warned us of this mindset - Ye ask, and you receive not, because you ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:3).

In an American church, the first partaker of the financial fruit is usually the one who takes the offering and the bigger the offering, the bigger his or her cut will be. So a very articulate church leader doesn’t need to live by faith, if he can motivate you and me to give obscene amounts of money to “God,” which reminds me of an anecdote that a good friend once shared with me: “I went to the pastor to see if the church would help me pay my rent, and the pastor told me to seek the Lord for a blessing. But when he needed to pay the mortgage on the church, he passed the offering plate.”

Please understand my criticism here – I’m not hating on the message, but some of the messengers have tainted the prosperity message. Since the prosperity message works, where are the men and women of God who are willing to take it to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Indonesia or some other under-developed nation? Sure, there are a few out in the trenches doing missionary work and ministering the message of God’s blessings, but far too many of them are held up in the United States getting rich off the charitable contributions of God’s people.

If the voices of dissent, from the religious and secular communities, were not on life support, there is no way that George Bush would have been able to prosecute the War in Iraq to the tune of more than $1 trillion, (see Part IV of this series to get a better understanding of how and why the War in Iraq was manufactured); neither would he have had the audacity to commit the other illegal acts that he is alleged to have committed. (see parts one, two, three and four of my series on the appraisal of Bush’s presidency at the People's Pulse.)

In this series, we talked about how Satan deceived the angels in heaven; how he deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden; and how he deceived the Pastors of a number of churches in Asia minor. Each lie that he so convincingly advanced, left a trail of misery that the world is still reeling from. However, there is one deception that I left for last, and it may be his greatest of all: Satan has convinced many during the history of man’s tenure in the earth that he does not exist; consequently, it is difficult for most people to make any correlation between the devil and social, political, military and economic events. Therefore, he has been well insulated during the past two millenniums as the mystery of iniquity has spun its satanic web to entangle the last vestige of human civilization. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches (Revelation 1:7a).

The Mystery of Iniquity – Part IV

I am publishing a five-part series on a rarely discussed subject called the mystery of iniquity. I am writing this out of deep concern that the body of Christ has ignored the signs that the end is, not near, but here. I gave my life to Jesus Christ 31 years ago, and during that period of spiritual renewal for me and my family, there was a revelry that bordered on maniacal that Jesus could return any moment. Since my conversion, I have witnessed the self destruction of many prominent (and not so prominent) Church officials and lay-members alike, and I have seen the enthusiasm for Christ’s return sink to a low that I would have never imagined.

The first article will discuss Satan’s two thousand year’s plan to harness control of human government. The second article will examine the Church where Satan had established his corporate headquarters. Oh, did I say it was a prominent Christian Church? The third article will discuss Satan’s rebellion in heaven, which led to the expulsion of one-third of the heavenly host. And the fourth and fifth articles will tie it all together by examining the last decade and demonstrating how events have hurled human civilization closer to the poisoned embrace of the anti-Christ.


If Satan is clever enough to deceive angels (see Part III of this series), run his kingdom from the hierarchy of a Church (see Part II of this series), and persuade Jesus to consider jumping from the pinnacle of the temple in an act of suicide (see Part III of this series), then it is not a stretch of the imagination to believe that he is desperately working behind the scenes to establish a global government on earth. The scripture is clear that satanic forces will harness control of human government to enslave the populations of the earth. This seizure of world control will not be the result of a cabal of men deciding it will be so.

Satan’s ambition to rule the world spans the course of human history back to the day he offered Eve the forbidden fruit. Since that tragic moment in the Garden of Eden, he has been developing a secret plan to deceive the civilizations of the world into embracing his poisoned government. His plan will be so deceptive, he will trick the vast majority of the inhabitants of the earth to bow down and worship him and his appointed world leader – And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him (Revelation 13:4)? In fact, I believe that the deception to plunge the world into the abyss of satanic control will rival Lucifer’s effort that deceived the angels.

In order to recognize Satan’s end-time plot for world domination, one must temporarily discard the belief that he will show up with a tail in one hand and a pitch fork in the other. This “devil” image conjures notions of murder, mayhem and all manner of wickedness. Consequently, many people cannot recognize the devil in a Brooks Brothers’ suit, responding to emails on a Blackberry. They can only see him through a man in a drunken stupor, or a crack addict who abandons her children, or one who betrays the trust of a spouse during a state of adultery.

Satan’s plans for world takeover will be so far removed from our concept of evil that it will be very difficult to discern. In fact, regarding his deception, Jesus seems to suggest in Matthew 24 that the only ones who will not be taken by his fraudulent demonstration of faith are the very elect – For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24, emphasis mine). Matthew 24:24 does not mean that the elect will be deceived, because as Jesus said, “If it were possible,” and we know that it will not be possible. However, what Jesus is actually saying is that the elect will not be able to recognize the devil through his apparent display of spiritual leadership, and of course, during this period of great deception, the elect will be shepherded and mentored by the very elect. Therefore, they will teach the elect how to recognize these false prophets.

Only the very elect will have the spiritual insight to perceive the satanic origin of the deceivers described in Matthew 24. They will understand the significance of many events as they relate to the rise of the anti-christ, while others will not be able to make the correlations. For instance, they understand that September 11, 2001 had less to do with a terrorist attack against the United States than it did with the development of a national security state.

It is significant to note that although we were told that the perpetrators of September 11th were hiding out in Afghanistan, the United States only sent 15,000 troops to capture Osama bin Laden, while sending nearly 150,000 troops to Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. While the War in Iraq became the centerpiece of the Bush Administration, the campaign in Afghanistan has become a footnote.

President Bush campaigned on his wartime presidency status during his reelection bid in 2004. Invading Iraq, we were told, was necessary, because Saddam was vigorously pursuing an atomic weapon’s program and would be willing to launch a nuclear attack against the United States or one of its allies. This report was bolstered by a speech given to the United Nations by, then Secretary of State, Colin Powell. Powell urged the administration to obtain support from the U.N. prior to launching its offensive against Saddam. However, he did not realize until after the fact that his speech, written by Vice-President Cheney’s former Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, contained dubious intelligence regarding Saddam’s quest to obtain weapon’s grade nuclear material from Niger known as yellow cake.

The theme of the yellow cake acquisition was not only forcefully presented in Powell’s speech to the U.N, but President Bush also made it the centerpiece of his 2003 State of the Union Address. This is highly disturbing, considering the fact that the CIA had already discounted this intelligence report as false (see former CIA director George Tenet’s statement on this issue).But what is more disturbing is that it appears that the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) diversion and the alleged link between Saddam and bin Laden were smokescreens to obtain public support to overthrow Saddam; a foreign policy goal that the Bush Administration appears to have developed prior to the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Now, after spending nearly $1 trillion in Iraq and losing more than 4,200 troops, no series public official, Democratic or Republican, will testify that Saddam had a WMD program or was in anyway linked to the September 11th bombing. So public support for the War in Iraq hinged on the feedback from an unreliable source in the intelligence community; however, according to the Downing Street Memo, senior officials from the Prime Minister’s office believed that Bush had already formulated his intention to overthrow Saddam in early 2001.

The secret memo recorded the head of MI6 (British equivalent of the CIA) as expressing the view following his recent visit to Washington that,

"Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

The Downing Street Memo was leaked to the Sunday Times and was first published on May 1, 2005. It is considered by many to be the smoking gun of an alarming abuse of presidential power; especially when one attempts to reconcile Bush’s public comments concerning the buildup towards war in Iraq with the facts of the secret memo. In a March 8, 2003 Radio Address President Bush is quoted saying, “We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq. But if Saddam Hussein does not disarm peacefully, he will be disarmed by force.” However, the memo quotes the head of the MI6 as saying, “Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD.”

The Downing Street Memo demonstrates an unprecedented betrayal of the public trust by the President of the United States. However, the bigger issue is not that President Bush fixed the facts and intelligence around a pre-September 11th policy to invade Iraq, but why was an Iraq invasion important to the Bush administration? War with an Islamic country was inevitable as we race towards the rise of the anti-christ. Muslims are the biggest adversaries of Capitalism, and it is clear to me that Capitalism will be the end-time economic system. The War on Terror in general and the Iraq War specifically is an attempt to accelerate the demise of Islam.

What we are witnessing is the continuation of the Crusades between Western Christendom and Islam, which has been evolving since the 11th Century. In fact, immediately after September 11th, Bush referred to the conflict as a Crusade, which ignited an anti-American sentiment within Muslim nations around the world. If a powerful foe can come into one’s country with sufficient force to alter that country’s mode of thought and action, it won’t be long before that civilization is destroyed. As the Western World evolves and Capitalism expands, it begins to erode the tradition of other cultures. Fifty years ago no Islamic country would have invited the Western Capitalists into their markets. However, today, the influence of the West is prominent in many Middle Eastern countries. It wasn’t that long ago that China was considered a Communist country, but it is now viewed as the largest Capitalist market in the world. It is just a matter of time before it too will be having democratic elections.

I’ll address why the expansion of Capitalism is vital to the rise of the anti-christ in the final article of this series.

To be continued…

The Mystery of Iniquity – Part III

I am publishing a five-part series on a rarely discussed subject called the mystery of iniquity. I am writing this out of deep concern that the body of Christ has ignored the signs that the end is, not near, but here. I gave my life to Jesus Christ 31 years ago, and during that period of spiritual renewal for me and my family, there was a revelry that bordered on maniacal that Jesus could return any moment. Since my conversion, I have witnessed the self destruction of many prominent (and not so prominent) Church officials and lay-members alike, and I have seen the enthusiasm for Christ’s return sink to a low that I would have never imagined.

The first article will discuss Satan’s two thousand year’s plan to harness control of human government. The second article will examine the Church where Satan had established his corporate headquarters. Oh, did I say it was a prominent Christian Church? The third article will discuss Satan’s rebellion in heaven, which led to the expulsion of one-third of the heavenly host. And the fourth and fifth articles will tie it all together by examining the last decade and demonstrating how events have hurled human civilization closer to the poisoned embrace of the anti-Christ.

With one swift jolt, Jehovah thwarted a rebellion that one of his prized angelic beings had initiated. Lucifer, known at the time as the Son of the Morning, secretly plotted to ascend above the angelic host in power and prestige in an effort to be like God. This was no noble objective to be like God, as Christians attempt to be like Jesus. This was an attempt to become equal to God in glory and majesty. Pride, according to Isaiah, convinced Lucifer that he could share in God's glory:

12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Isaiah 14:12-14).

According to the testimony of Jesus, Lucifer and presumably his band of ill-advised followers were cast from Heaven like lightning – 18. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven (Luke 10:18). The motivation behind the only recorded heavenly rebellion produces a variety of questions, but one question seems to stretch the limits of my imagination: What could Lucifer have possibly said or done to persuade one third of the angels to disobey God and to follow him into rebellion? I mean, these angels were already in heaven and enjoying an eternity of bliss. What more could they have aspired too?

Whatever Satan did to persuade, according to some theologians, one-third of the angels to jeopardize everlasting life must have been a masterpiece of wicked deception. In fact, I believe that his “illusion of grandeur” was so deceptive, that God refused to place it in the scriptures so that his earthly creation would not be deceived by it. However, although the handbook for the satanic ascension into partnership with God Almighty has not been revealed through the scripture, Satan’s notion of equality with the divine has been carried out by numerous societies down through the ages: The ancient Egyptians practiced polytheism, as did the ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as a number of modern day sects – Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Shintoism in the East, to name a few.

The scripture does not appear to tell us how the angels complied with Lucifer’s hubris, but I believe that he most likely may have convinced them to worship him as god. This explanation is not a stretch when we consider that Satan is the author of all false religion, and the central theme of any religion is belief in a god. For Lucifer to attempt to elevate himself on an equal plane as Jehovah, it suggests that he would also require his deceived subjects to honor him in the same way as they honor Jehovah, including worshiping him.

There are numerous examples in the scripture where Satan appears to be preoccupied with being worshiped or inspiring people to worship idols. Most Christians are familiar with these four notable examples of people worshiping false gods and idols: The children of Israel worshiped the molten calf in the wilderness (see Exodus 32); King Nebuchadnezzar required the subjects of Babylon to worship the golden image in Daniel chapter 3; Satan tempted Jesus to worship him after his forty days and forty nights fast (see Matthew 4); and, the world will worship Satan and his global leader during the tribulation period (see Revelation 13:4).

No matter what the angels did to succumb to Lucifer’s diabolical plan, their rebellion in Heaven was one of God’s motivations for sending Jesus into the world. Not only did Jesus’ sacrifice redeem humanity from its sins, which most of us are aware of, but it also cleansed the sinful stain that the angelic rebellion produced in Christ’s heavenly abode:

23. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us (Hebrews 9:23-24).

The need for Jesus to cleanse heaven is beyond the scope of this series; however, here is a key to understanding this fascinating subject: There are more than 50 chapters in the scripture that are dedicated to Moses’ tabernacle in the wilderness and only a few verses in the entire Bible that refers directly too the tabernacle in heaven. One would think that as important as it would be to cleanse heaven from Satan’s sin, God would have had more to say about it. Well actually he does. Since Moses’ tabernacle and the Levitical priesthood was made from the pattern of things in heaven, then a study of Moses’ tabernacle is, in a mystical sense, also a study of the heavenly tabernacle. Hebrews 7-9 appears to be explaining the significance of Moses’ Tabernacle, but it is in fact revealing the need for the tabernacle in heaven (see Hebrews 9:23-24 above).

As I close this article, one may be wondering why spend so much time on the enemy. First I’ll say, if Satan is clever enough to deceive angels, run his kingdom from the hierarchy of a Church (see Part II of this series), and tempt Jesus to commit suicide (see postscript below), then he is an opponent worthy (I use the word loosely) of examination. By studying Lucifer's pattern of stealth and deception, it will give the saints of God a deeper understanding into the mind of their enemy. The Chinese Art of War says, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." This military axiom is biblically based: God said in Hosea, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6a).

Postscript: During Jesus’ forty days and forty nights fast, he was led to the pinnacle of the temple, and the pressure of redemption must have been so great that he was tempted, if only for a moment, to jump – 5. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6. And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God (Matthew 4:5-7). Although Jesus was victorious through the word of God, it is significant to note that Lucifer pulled out his sword as well (see verse 6 above). What a deceiver!

The Mystery of Iniquity – Part II

I am publishing a five-part series on a rarely discussed subject called the mystery of iniquity. I am writing this out of deep concern that the body of Christ has ignored the signs that the end is, not near, but here. I gave my life to Jesus Christ 31 years ago, and during that period of spiritual renewal for me and my family, there was a revelry that bordered on maniacal that Jesus could return any moment. Since my conversion, I have witnessed the self destruction of many prominent (and not so prominent) Church officials and lay-members alike, and I have seen the enthusiasm for Christ’s return sink to a low that I would have never imagined.

The first article will discuss Satan’s two thousand year’s plan to harness control of human government. The second article will examine the Church where Satan had established his corporate headquarters. Oh, did I say it was a prominent Christian Church? The third article will discuss Satan’s rebellion in heaven, which led to the expulsion of one-third of the heavenly host. And the fourth and fifth articles will tie it all together by examining the last decade and demonstrating how events have hurled human civilization closer to the poisoned embrace of the anti-Christ.


The clandestine nature of Satan requires that he works in a concealed manner to advance his agenda on an unsuspecting human population. From his first appearance in the Scripture when he cajoled Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit to this moment in time, he has deceived the masses and is now leading them in a race where they are creating and embracing the infrastructure for their own enslavement – cell phones; digital television; ATM technology (aka cashless society); the Internet; a ubiquitous web of cameras, created in name of national security; etc. For more than two thousand years, Satan has been working behind the scenes to create a fertile environment for civilization to betray the final vestige of human dignity by bowing down and worshiping his chosen global leader – the anti-christ.

Neither heaven nor earth has been immune to Satan’s sleight of hand. He deceived angels after purposing in his heart that he would be like God – 12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Isaiah 14:12-14). Satan has been around long enough to have perfected his deception of men and women: From the lowliest non-skilled workers to the captains of industry and leaders of the free world, they have all tasted from the hand that offered the forbidden fruit. How do leaders of human governments embrace a Holocaust, or an Inquisition, or slavery, or war on a scale that leaves rape, pillage and mass murder in its wake?

Satan!

Not only has Satan led conquests of annihilation in national governments, like when he attempted to erase the Jews from the face of the earth through the Third Reich, but he has also wrested control of local churches from its leadership. Jude warned of evil men who have surreptitiously crept into the church:

3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 3-4).

These men, who crept in without the knowledge of the pastors and other church leaders, are in places where they are doing significant harm to local congregations. Consequently, the warning is more of a plea for the saints to be zealous in their effort to live righteously. By earnestly contending for the faith of their forefathers, there would be a difference between those living for Jesus and those who were pretending to live for him. And this distinction would make it much easier to identify those who were secretly infecting the lives of the saints of God.

Throughout the Church Age, Satan has dispatched his minions to peddle their evil wares within local congregations. We see the covert effort that was identified in Jude’s letter to the Church, and John wrote of similar activity within three of the churches in Asia-minor:

• The church at Ephesus was entertaining men who claimed to be apostles, but were not – I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars (Revelation 2:2);
• Evil men claiming to be Jews had infiltrated the church at Smyrna – I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan (Revelation 2:9); and
• The New Testament Jezebel was discovered at Thyatira teaching God’s children how to commit fornication – 19. I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 20. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols (Revelation 2:19-20).

The Church at Thyatira sunk to new lows: The saints were being taught how to enhance their sexual pleasure, or the "art of sex," from the pulpit. I use the phrase, "art of sex" loosely, since the scripture says the saints were being taught to commit fornication. Therefore, in this instance, the emphasis is not on training the saints on the "art of sex," which would be totally permissible in a married couples' setting, but on sexual depravity. Jezebel turned the holy, House of God into into an habitation of unrighteousness.

The clandestine incursions into the Church by satanically inspired men and women have been occurring since the Apostolic Age. However, when the early Church fathers detected these wolves in sheep’s clothing, they did not tolerate them for one minute – 4. And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 5. To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you (Galatians 2:4-5).

What is ironic about each of the above incursions into the Church is that these wicked disciples of Satan were able to sneak past the ushers at the door, the deacons on the front row, the elders in the pulpit and the pastor at the head of the Church. In fact, before Paul left Ephesus, he warned them that notwithstanding his three years of labor among them, that wolves would come in to destroy the flock once he departed:

28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears (Acts 20:28-31).

And we see the manifestation of what Paul prophesied in Revelation 2, where the men claiming to be apostles had entered the Ephesian Church.

It cannot be overemphasized how deceptive Satan and his disciples are. I propose that Paul’s warning in II Corinthians about their stealth should be placed at the entrance of every Church that worships Jesus Christ – 14. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness (II Corinthians 11:14-15). This warning will not prevent Satan’s ministers from attempting to slip into a church congregation, but it will be a constant reminder to the Church officials to be vigilant regarding the motives of everyone who enters the Church.

There is an old saying that goes, “Satan is smart, not because he is the devil, but because he is old.” He has a lot of years on us all. To put the saying in perspective; consider how much you knew at 20 years old compared too how much you know today. Now if I can exaggerate to make my point...if you could live another 500 years, consider how much knowledge you would have accrued compared too how much you have now. Satan was created in eternity and cast down into the earth more than 6,000 years ago; consequently, he has the accumulated knowledge of his tenure in heaven and earth at his disposal.

Satan has been wreaking havoc in the earth for thousands of years; consequently, it should come as no surprise that he has controlled his kingdom from the pulpit of a prominent Church on at least one occasion: The Church at Pergamos suffered the unfortunate distinction of being Satan’s central headquarters – 12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; 13. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth (Revelation 2:12-13).

The scripture seems to be silent on Satan’s motivation for establishing his headquarters in the Church of Pergamos, and my research into this Church did not offer me much more than I see in the scripture. However, this is very significant that Satan is running his kingdom from within God’s House. It is an unprecedented foray into the Church, where he not only created a fertile environment for saints to freely engage in sexual promiscuity, but he also had one of God’s faithful men murdered (see verse 13 above). It is not completely clear why Satan used the Church at Pergamos as his headquarters, but we can reasonably conclude that he intended to destroy it.

Jesus told us that Satan’s only motivation for showing up is to steal, kill and destroy – The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10a). Of all the public, private and religious institutions of the world, one would think that the Church of Jesus Christ is the last place that he could set up shop undetected. However, Revelation 2 is a buttress to how clever and deceptive Satan is, so it would be mistaken to consider that other institutions are immune from his lethal encroachments.