13. Pastor Satan Promotes A Different Spirit In The Church
Chapter 13 Pastor Satan Promotes A Different Spirit In The Church What Does It Really Mean To Repent
Matthew 3:1-12 says: “In those days John the Baptist came into the wilderness of Judea proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."… Then people from Jerusalem, as well as all Judea and all the region around the Jordan, were going out to him, and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadduceescoming to his baptism, he said to them, "You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? …Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. "I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am — I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, butthe chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.”(NET)
John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing Israelites in the wilderness. He had a very simple, one-word message: “Repent!” The basic Greek meaning of this word as John used it is: change your mind (in other words—change your rebellious attitude towards God). All people are naturally independent—rebellious towards God from birth—and need to repent. In Romans 1-3, etc. we see some of the common rebellious attitudes towards God:
“God doesn’t exist or he has no authority over me.”
“God can’t see my sin and so he won’t judge me for it.”
“I don’t need God to save me. I’m good enough on my own.”
In order to start a relationship with God, we first have to change that rebellious attitude towards God (repent). God chose John the Baptist to “prepare” Israel for the coming Messiah (Matthew 3:3). He prepared them by telling them to repent first. If the Jews would repent first, then they would be ready for the Messiah because repentance is an essential preparation for faith—repentance and faith are connected (Acts 20:21; Acts 19:4; Hebrews 6:1). Repentance is turning away from dependence on ourselves, and faith is dependence on God. Repentance is required by God, lest we perish eternally.
Acts 17:30 says: "… God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent…” (NASB) (also 2 Peter 3:9) Satan’s Followers Wanted Baptism Without Repentance
Many people listened to John and were baptized to show they truly repented of their rebellious attitudes. But some Pharisees and Sadducees also went to the Jordan River where John was preaching. These men were the spiritual leaders of Israel. They went along with other Jews who were getting baptized in the river and they wanted to get baptized also. But John did not want to baptize them. Instead he rebuked them and called them ‘offspring of vipers.’
“Pastor Satan” Tries To Blend In With John’s Followers
“Offspring of vipers!!” Wow—those are some really strong words! To call these respected religious leaders “children of a poisonous snake” in those days would be basically the same thing today as calling them “Devil’s Disciples” or “Satan’s Pastors.” Was John crazy? No. He was a prophet, and God had shown him that these particular leaders were just fakes. They hadn’t really repented. They were still proud followers of Satan, so John basically called them who they were—children of the devil. These men were religious deceivers and just worshiped God for their own benefit and in order to be respected in the eyes of the public. John realized that it was Satan who was trying to use them tomix in with his group of followers andconfuse the people’s beliefs and mislead them.
Consider for a minute: who was it that opposed Jesus most during his ministry? It wasn’t the criminals or prostitutes. It was the religious leaders—the priests, the Pharisees and Sadducees and other temple leaders.
Satan knew the best way to confuse people who want to know God was to use religion and false religious leaders, and that’s why he wanted to get these Pharisees and Sadducees involved at the beginning of John’s ministry and work. As we go on, we’ll see how this still happens all the time today! God wants to use these stories from the Bible to show us an important lesson. Satan is very religious. He doesn’t avoid involvement in the church. He welcomes it. Churches and religious groups are probably his favorite places to work and he has been very affective there. “Pastor Satan” has blended in with the church. He loves to act religious—and he actively seeks to work among the pastors or leaders of churches everywhere so he can deceive religious people and especially aggressive Christians. He is the “father of lies” and deceit. Satan was very effective in deceiving the religious people during the time of John and the apostles, and he continues the same pattern among us today. Satan’s best disguise is a religious robe!
False Beliefs Usually Come Up From Within The Church
Another story can help illustrate Satan’s ways: One time, when the apostle Paul was travelling, he sent word to his friends, the leaders of the church at Ephesus, to come and meet him in Miletus to encourage them and say goodbye because he wouldn’t see them again. But he also gave them a very sobering warning and prophecy. Listen to what Paul said to these church leaders:
Acts 20:28-31 says: “Watch out for yourselvesand for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.Even from among your own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truthto draw the disciples away after them. Therefore be alert...”(NET) Satan Will Use Church Leaders To Bring Error Into The Church
Paul prophesied and told those church leaders from Ephesus that some men from among them would be the ones to bring lies and false doctrines into the church! But how could that possibly happen? We know that the church at Ephesus was a strong church and well-taught during Paul’s day. Paul himself had taught them. So how could false teaching get started? It looks as if Satan later deceived some of the leaders working within the church at Ephesus by corrupting some of their beliefs—so they were “teaching perversions of the truth” of God’s word. They became false teachers and deceived many people. Paul talks about false teachers in the church elsewhere too:
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 says: “For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for evenSatan disguises himself as an angel of light.Therefore it is not surprisinghis servants alsodisguise themselves as servants of righteousness…”(NET) Satan Portrays Himself As An Angel Of Light In The Church This passage brings out a very important strategy that Satan has always used, but especially now in the modern church age. Satan likes to disguise and portray himself as an “angel of light.” In other words, he pretends to be a messenger of truth from God. He’s deceitful, so he usually tries to hide his evil work so people will not recognize it. He loves to hide behind a “mask” and blend into the church family with his lies. He deceives people by disguising his workmen “as servants of righteousness” – he loves to mingle them in with the church leadership. He is the father of lies; a master of disguise. He is so good at deceiving believers that many of them don’t even notice.
Satan knows that if he tries to use some evil-sounding man who promotes idolatry or sorcery or some other heathen practices in the church, then believers won’t listen to him. So instead, Satan would rather use a friendly, loving pastor or famous preacher in a suit and tie or a television evangelist with great music and sweet-sounding Christian words in order to deceive us—so we won’t realize it’s actually Satan that is at work there. He does this by gradually mixing a tiny little bit of error in with a lot of other biblical truth, just like he did with Adam and Eve in the garden (2 Corinthians 11:3). In this way he can sneak his lies quite easily into the church (Romans 16:17-18). This is probably his most effective way to weaken or destroy the church.
Church Leaders Are Deceived Into Thinking They Are Right
Satan loves the idea of using church leaders as his spokesmen because they often think they are safe from his lies. Satan can use well-respected teachers just like he used the Priests and Pharisees during the time Jesus was on earth. They had no idea that they were being used by Satan. Even Saul (Paul) himself was deceived as a Pharisee before he became a Christian. Those leaders thought they were doing God’s will when they killed Jesus and his followers (John 16:2)! That’s how deceived they were. The people respected them too and listened to them. Even so today, Satan can easily confuse many believers by using the deceived minds of their leaders. In this way, Satan—like an ‘Angel of Light’—deceitfully uses many leaders in churches around the world, just like Paul prophesied. People come into church, sing songs and pray and listen to these leaders—but some of them are still Satan’s children and don’t even know it because Satan has twisted the truth and they don’t understand God’s word well enough to be able to discern what is right. So they believe Satan’s lies. This is why Paul warned the leaders of the church that they needed to really know the Word of God well. God’s truth can help protect us when Satan’s lies come into the church.
Deceitful Spirits And Teaching Will Abound In The Church
1 Timothy 4:1 says: “Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings…”(NET) The Bible tells us here that during the end times Satan and “deceiving spirits” will be very active in confusing people through false religions and “demonic teachings” within the church. It seems like this prophecy is being fulfilled today. There are many doctrines of demons already influencing the church. (2 Peter 2:1) A Different Spirit In The Church
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 says: “…I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaimsanother Jesusdifferent from the one we proclaimed, or if you receive adifferent spiritthan the one you received, or adifferent gospelthan the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough!”(NET)
Paul warned churches like the Corinthians, that they were already tolerating Satan (the serpent) who was deceiving people into accepting another gospel or a fake Jesus or even a different spirit. Paul warned them to watch out for a different spirit because it was a very real threat. We also need to recognize what a “different spirit” in the church would look like. We need to know God’s word well enough so that we can recognize “demonic teachings” lest Satan twist the truth and we start believing his lies. He is very clever and tricky. If we don’t know God’s word well, we will easily be deceived.
Satan’s Strategy: Rob The Church Of Its Power Source
During wartime, a common way to fight against an army is to cut off their supply line. So, consider for a minute: if you were our enemy Satan, and you wanted to weaken the church somehow, where would you focus your attack—where is our “supply line?” We know that the church has no strength of its own, so, where is the source of the church’s greatest strength, help and direction? It’s the Holy Spirit. And ever since Pentecost, Satan knows that very well! He knows that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as our Helper and he is the ultimate source of strength and direction for the church (John 14:16; John 14:26; Acts 1:8). So Satan knows that if he wants to weaken the church he must specifically target and fight against the connection of the church to its “supply line” or source of strength—the Holy Spirit. Satan doesn’t want the church to become strong and mature in serving God and spreading the gospel.
‘Another Spirit’ Wants To Replace The Holy Spirit
Satan knows that if we don’t have the strength of the Holy Spirit we’ll be weak against him. Satan can’t defeat the Holy Spirit himself, but he can confuse our doctrines about the Holy Spirit—what we understand and believe about the Holy Spirit. Satan knows that if we don’t understand what the Holy Spirit has done for us and how he functions within us, then we won’t understand our relationship with him and how to be led and strengthened by him. We may try to defeat Satan in our own strength, which isn’t possible! Or we could be confused and end up being led by “another spirit” instead of the Holy Spirit. So let’s look at some those “demonic teachings”—the false doctrines that have crept into the church about the Holy Spirit—and see how Satan can use them to weaken us. First, we want to look at how Satan has tried to change the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and also water baptism.
Satan Wants To Confuse Our Understanding Of Baptism When people came to be baptized by John at the Jordan River, some of Satan’s children, the Pharisees and Sadducees, also came and attempted to join with John’s group of followers and get baptized. They probably thought that baptism would give them special status with the people. But if John had allowed the Pharisees and Sadducees to be baptized without repentance, those leaders would probably have mixed in with John’s disciples and they could confuse people about the true meaning of baptism and other important beliefs. Satan would be very happy about that because the people wouldn’t understand what true repentance was and they could get baptized for the wrong reasons—like the Pharisees. Even today, Satan is still trying to confuse people about the meaning of baptism. The baptism by water and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let’s see what John says about these two kinds of baptism and also look at Satan’s lies concerning baptism today and we’ll compare them with God’s word. The Meaning Of John’s Baptism
John the Baptist baptized many people in the Jordan River. Today the word baptize is used mostly just in churches, but the original Greek word “baptizo” means “to immerse” and was used in many everyday situations. For example, people would take a new piece of clothing and ‘baptize’ it into some dye to change its color, or baptize it in the river to wash it. Many people today think that water baptism will make them children of God, or holy before God somehow, but that isn’t true. John himself knew that baptism by water doesn’t change people. It is simply an external symbol of something that has happened inside a person’s heart. Look again at what John said:
Matthew 3:11 says: “I baptize you with waterfor repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerfulthan I, ...He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit...”
John knew that water baptism was just an external symbol to show that someone had repented. His baptism did not have the power to change a person on the inside. Baptism only washes the outside of a person, but it could never cleanse the inside of a man from sin. If John had allowed the Pharisees to be baptized, that baptism would not have changed their hearts: they would still be children of Satan. They couldn’t fool God. Water could not wash away their sins. But if people really did repent, then baptism was actually a good thing—so others could see that they were serious about repentance and that they were trusting God alone to cleanse them from sin. But again, water baptism was merely an outward symbol of something that had already taken place in their hearts.
Now let’s look at the other baptism John talked about.
Baptism Of The Holy Spirit In the verse we just read, John talked about another baptism that was coming which was more powerful than water baptism. It could actually change a person on the inside. That, of course, is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He said that only one person—the promised Messiah—had the power to baptize with the Holy Spirit. He said that the Messiah was coming after him and he alone would baptize people with the Holy Spirit. And it’s true. Only Jesus can save us when we believe in his death on the cross for us. Jesus then sends the Holy Spirit to cleanse us and live inside of us. Even though John was a special prophet from God, he could not do that.
Also, let’s compare water baptism from John’s time with the water baptism of today, during the church age:
Acts 19:4 says: “...John baptized witha baptism of repentance,telling the people tobelieve in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” (NET)
The baptism of John was a symbol looking forward to and preparing for the arrival of Jesus the Messiah and the future work of the Holy Spirit.
Water Baptism now in the church age is a symbol that looks back to remember what Jesus has already done and how the Holy Spirit has joined us with Christ.
Now let’s look more closely at the work of the Holy Spirit.
Satan Likes To Confuse People About The Difference Between “Filling” And “Baptism” Of The Holy Spirit As we said earlier, Satan loves to confuse doctrines, and that is especially true of doctrines about the Holy Spirit and baptism of the Holy Spirit. Satan does not want us to understand it, and so we see a lot of confusion about it in the church today. So in these chapters we want to look at what the Bible actually says about it and clear up some of the confusion. Much of the confusion is about the difference between “Filling of the Spirit” and “Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Many people think they are the same thing, but what does the Bible say? The Baptism of the Spirit was first announced by John (Matthew 3:11) and then later by Jesus as something brand new. That’s because it didn’t exist during the time of the Old Testament. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit only first began during the time of the apostles and it marked the beginning of the church. But the Filling of the Holy Spirit was not new, and it was often mentioned during the Old Testament times. During that time, the Holy Spirit filled certain leaders of the people like the prophets, so they could prophecy and write God’s word. The Spirit’s filling also gave guidance to the judges and the kings, so they could lead God’s people, Israel. But the Holy Spirit did not permanently live inside of people and baptize them like he does now. Look at what King David said about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament:
Psalms 51:11 says: “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” In The Old Testament, The Holy Spirit Came And Went
We know from the Old Testament that David loved God and desired to follow his ways. The Spirit of God began to fill David when he was still a young man, and he gave him wisdom and strength to lead the nation of Israel (1 Samuel 16:13). But one time David committed a serious sin. A prophet came to him and pointed out the sin to him, and David felt guilty and confessed it to God. He pleaded with God for forgiveness and wrote this verse above from Psalms 51 because he was afraid the Holy Spirit would leave him. This verse illustrates to us how the Holy Spirit worked within people during the Old Testament. His “filling” would strengthen and guide leaders—like the prophets or kings like David. But the Spirit could also leave them for a while. The Spirit of God came and went whenever he chose. But that pattern has changed now, ever since the Baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Jesus Told The Disciples That The Holy Spirit Would Function Differently In Them When Jesus was getting ready to leave the disciples to go back to heaven, he told them of this new thing that the Holy Spirit would do.
John 14:16-17 says: “...I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
Jesus Said That The Holy Spirit Would Make His Home INSIDE Of Believers
Jesus said that after he left the believers, the Holy Spirit would be a Helper (Advocate) and friend that would be with them forever—permanently! The Spirit would live inside believers and would not leave them. That was a totally new thing! Before, he was WITH the disciples—but now he would be IN them. We could use an illustration about a house to help us understand the difference. Before, the Holy Spirit was like a friend that might regularly come over and visit with a person on the porch of his house. But now the Holy Spirit comes and actually moves in and permanently lives inside the house, like a family member that lives and sleeps in the house full time. The house is a picture of the body of a believer (1 Corinthians 6:19). Jesus said that the bodies of the disciples would become like the house (or temple) of the Holy Spirit. This new thing that was going to happen is called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. But Jesus said he had to first leave and go to heaven and then he would send the gift of the Holy Spirit to them (John 16:7)
After Jesus died and rose from the dead, he stayed on earth with the apostles for 40 days (Acts 1:3). When he was ready to leave them, he prophesied about the Holy Spirit coming to baptize them and told them to wait for that special day.
Acts 1:4-5 says: “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will bebaptized with the Holy Spirit.” On The Day Of Pentecost, The Holy Spirit Baptized ALL The Believers And The Church Was Born
Ten days after Jesus had left the disciples, the Holy Spirit did come and he lived IN them—just as Jesus had said.
Acts 2:1-4 says: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Fire Marked The Place Where The New Temple Of God Was When the Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost, people saw something like fire (or light) from heaven come down and separate into small flames or tongues of fire and they came to rest on all of the believers. This was the sign that indicated where God’s new temple was: the new House of God—his new permanent residence! In the Old Testament, God often showed his presence or brilliant glory by using fire. For example with Abraham (in Genesis 15:17), and Moses (in Exodus 3:2; Exodus 19:18) and Ezekiel (in Ezekiel 1:4). This was especially true when the Israelites left Egypt and went into the desert. God led them by a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21). Then later he showed them how to build the tabernacle as a portable temple; a place to meet with God. And when they had finished building it, God made a cloud and fire to hover over the tabernacle to show them that he was living and dwelling with them.
Exodus 40:33; Exodus 40:38 says: “…And so Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle…So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, andfirewas in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.”
God used the cloud and fire to mark his glorious presence in the tabernacle during the entire time they wandered in the desert, until they eventually came to Canaan and built a new temple out of stone. Then the same thing happened. God sent a cloud and fire to show that his glory or presence was now dwelling with them in the temple of stone (1 King 8:10-11). But many years later in the New Testament, on the Day of Pentecost, we see that the fiery glory of God’s presence didn’t go and dwell in the stone temple anymore. Instead, God’s fire or light came and separated into small flames of fire and rested on each of the believers. The Church Of Christ Is The New Temple Of The Holy Spirit This fire or light from God that came and rested on the believers was an amazing picture that God used to visibly show the Israelites where his new temple was. The bodies of believers became God’s new temple! Now the Holy Spirit baptizes all believers and unites us all into one family—God’s family, God’s house. We are God’s new “forever” home, the Church of Christ, and he will never leave us. Praise his wonderful name!
1 Corinthians 6:19 says: “Do you not know thatyour bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own...” A House Represents A Family In the Bible, a house was also another name for a person’s family. So, a family was sometimes referred to as the house of Pharaoh, or the house of Jacob, or the house of David,” etc. That is because a person’s house or home is where the family lives. It is a safe place to eat, sleep and relax and enjoy ourselves in fellowship as a family. In the same way, the Holy Spirit has a new home—he lives or dwells in us his new family, the church. Amazing! We are God’s new home now because God lives inside us (1 John 4:13). The Church Began With The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit When the Holy Spirit baptized the apostles and other believers, that is when the church of Jesus Christ began. Before that, these believers were known as children of Israel, and they were under God’s law, the covenant God made with Israel (Exodus 19:5-6). But now, they became part of new family—the family of God, the church—and they were no longer under God’s law. They were under God’s grace.
Galatians 3:24-28 says: “So thelaw was our guardian until Christ camethat we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we areno longerunder a guardian. So in Christ Jesus you are allchildren of Godthrough faith, for all of you who werebaptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
We have looked at several verses that showed us how the church began on the Day of Pentecost there in Jerusalem, when the Holy Spirit baptized all the believersinto one family. And those of us who are believers today, we are the church, the body or family of Jesus Christ, no matter where we live or whether we are Jew or Gentile. The Holy Spirit baptizes ALL believers INTO CHRIST and now all believers are united with him. We are the temple (or home) of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will never ever leave his new temple. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would dwell with us forever (John 14:16-17).
Satan Likes To Make Christians Doubt That They Have Received The Holy Spirit As we have studied the truth about the Holy Spirit, we can see that Satan has been promoting many false ideas about baptism and the Holy Spirit. Satan likes to confuse and frighten some believers and make them think they have not received the Holy Spirit yet. And so they think that only some special “strong or committed” Christians receive the Holy Spirit. But God’s word is very clear, and we shouldn’t doubt it. He says that on the Day of Pentecost, all believers received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3). Before that day, the Holy Spirit used to be with the believers, but now the Holy Spirit lives inside all believers, just as Jesus promised, and he will never leave us. We are his home—his family.
All Believers Have Received The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit
1 Corinthians 12:13 says: “For we wereall baptized by one Spiritso as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we wereallgiven the one Spirit to drink.”
Here again, the Bible says clearly that the Holy Spirit baptizes all believers. And the purpose of that baptism is to form us into one family, the body of Christ—his church. No matter which church denomination we attend, if we believe in Christ, the Holy Spirit identifies us as his own and we are his family. Our bodies are the house of God. He is at home in us. That is what the Spirit’s baptism did for us. It made us one with him and one with each other. Wow. What a special gift from God! Don’t let Satan make you doubt these truths with his “demonic teachings.” If you have believed in the Lord Jesus and his death, burial, and resurrection for you, then you have already been baptized by the Holy Spirit into his family!