In this sermon, the preacher urges his audience to take their Bibles and go to the halls of Congress to show the governing officials what the Word of God teaches about moral righteousness and sin. He emphasizes the need to remove pornography from the streets and bring prayer back into schools. The preacher then references the fourth chapter of Luke and discusses the sphere of activity of Satan in the present world. He highlights the distinction between Satan's moral fall and his physical banishment, and suggests that demonic forces are working to destroy the welfare of God's people.

You know, I never listened to announcements at night. I don't know whether I was listening correctly or not. But it seems that I heard Brother Dobe say that we continue the chart message on Wednesday evening. And if you did say that, I hate to correct you publicly, but we won't be. I don't say that to embarrass you, Brother Leslie, but because I don't want anybody to come to hear the chart on Wednesday evening, because you won't if you can't. The message in the chart is Sunday morning and Sunday evening, and during the week, it's whatever the Lord gives us to encourage His people. I think we have been given a remarkable demonstration by the Lord Himself of the value of just a little bit of enthusiasm. Leslie is a paper boy, and a paper man, pardon me, and he has a paper route down in this part of town, an old farm, British woods, and it's through Leslie's enthusiasm that you see a sixty-one increase from last Sunday to this one, which goes to give us just a small, incremental idea of what we could do here at the chapel if we would really get revived and all of us would get restored to the Lord. I confess to you the other week that I had been vaccinated, and God has restored me, and I am rejoicing, and I hope it's catching. And I believe that the Lord will continue to impress upon our hearts that if the Lord Jesus Christ is worth knowing, He's worth being enthusiastic about. So may the Lord stir our hearts up, and we ought to see this place. I told some of my friends the other day, and they looked at me out of the corner of their eyes, that I expected to see this building comfortably filled on the mornings it leaves before the end of our October visit with you. So let's just remember this. If this is what it takes, then may I put in a plug for the Saturday morning prayer meeting. I have found that praying early in the morning is the best time of the day. It's like going fishing. You are fresher, and the bass strike all the harder early in the morning. And early in the morning, our minds are clearer after our bodies have had a night's rest, and our minds are not cluttered with things of the day. We're having a wonderful prayer meeting on Saturday mornings at eight o'clock, and God is meeting with us. There's been a melting of hearts, a spirit of love and oneness, and a real desire to go forth. Now, that's at eight o'clock on Saturday mornings. I am persuaded that if we could see this prayer meeting grow until there were twenty or thirty men, and then at some convenient time in the week, twenty or thirty women, to gather the crimes of God for a real Holy Ghost revival and blessing, that the presence of the Lord and the glory of God might come upon us. There was a moving of the Spirit of God here this morning, very definitely. I had a nice talk with one Jewish man who was interested in the things of God. He stayed behind to talk, and it's perfectly obvious that the Holy Spirit is working. He is the only one we need. He's the only one who can meet our needs. So let's pray, and let's work, and let's trust God, and let's expect blessing. Now, let's turn tonight in our Bible to Isaiah, chapter fourteen. When you find the fourteenth of Isaiah, leaving a finger there, I want you to turn to Ezekiel, chapter twenty-eight. And if you'd like a good way to remember the two major portions of Old Testament prophecy that have to do with the origin and the history of Satan, you'll remember that fourteen and fourteen is twenty-eighth, and the first passage is Isaiah, and the second one is Ezekiel. When you turn to the fourteenth of Isaiah, and you leave a finger there, and then you'll turn to the twenty-eighth of Ezekiel, and you'll hold a finger there so we can readily turn from one passage to another. Isaiah, chapter fourteen. Our reading commences at the twelfth verse. Isaiah fourteen, twelve. And shall we pray? Now, our Father, we come in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Holy Spirit with thy word open before us to learn of the enemy of our souls. In thy word we are told that we must not be ignorant of his devices. And so we pray that the Spirit of God will teach us tonight concerning this opposer of all the purposes of the plans of God, that we might be familiar with him and might be on guard against him. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, who didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my soul above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell through the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look or gaze upon thee and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners? Keep your place there and turn to Ezekiel, chapter 28. This time our reading commences in the eleventh verse. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God, thou seest it up to some, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone is thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, the diamond, the girl, the ounce, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuncle, and the gold. The workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and thou hast set thee so. Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God, thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned. Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will restore thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic. Therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. O they that may be among the people shall be astonished at thee, thou shalt be a cherub, and never shalt I be any more." In the eleven o'clock service this morning, we were considering the subject of the door. As you see here on the chart, those words of our Lord Jesus that are in one sense of the word, so wonderful and simple. He said, I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. We saw this momentary authority that we use for all of our messages, the inspired word of God. As when the Lord said, I am the door, He was speaking metaphorically, using the door as a picture of Himself having been crucified and raised from the dead and exalted to God's right hand. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ being that which alone satisfies God's judgment against us, making it possible for God to be just and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus. Just as the door is that part of your house that lets you inside or out from one room to another, so the Lord Jesus is the door, the only means of access into the presence of God. We learn that the Lord in His desire to give salvation to all has made the way of eternal life just as uncomplicated and uninvolved as possible. And yet, millions today ignore this marvelous opportunity to be saved. They completely disregard the plain teaching of the word of God, go on in their unbelief and in their selectionism and liberal theology and all, and though the Lord has made the way of salvation so clear and simple that a child may understand it, like you step inside the door of your house and you're from the outside in the moment you believe that Jesus died for you and touched and received him as your Savior, you are immediately a child of God, and this is what Jesus meant when he said, I am the door. But most of you will not enter into the door, so tonight we want to pick up a subject that has to do with Satan, who in the Bible is called the God of this world and the Prince of the power of the air, and we're going to learn that he is the one who is determined to keep people from entering this door. I believe it can be safely said that every unsafe person tonight who has never availed themselves of the salvation of God has been hindered by the power of this enemy of the soul of men. Now, just to give us some idea of the importance of the study of the doctrine of the devil, I'd just like to call your attention to three things. You know, when I made this discovery, I was amazed, and yet I found it to be true. The more I study it, the more I am absolutely convinced that the doctrine of the devil is one of the most fascinating Bible truths found, one of the most enlightening. Number one, if you study the Bible doctrine of the devil, you will discover that this chief of fallen angels appears in the Bible under at least 40 different names. Some of these names are proper names, and some are descriptive titles. Everywhere you find a descriptive title, Conferred upon Satan by the Spirit of God, it gives us, of course, an insight into the character of the work that he is engaged in. For example, in two places in the book of the Revelation, in the twelfth chapter, in the ninth verse, in the twentieth chapter, in the second verse, you'll find four of these titles. The Spirit of God is Conferred upon Satan, and one first. He is called the Dragon, the Serpent, the Devil, and Satan. And you'll notice how simple it is to see that, as a dragon, we learn of his power and of his furious, ferocious antagonism toward people and toward God. As a serpent, we learn that he is one who practices God. Now, the devil himself, the word devil means accuser or the slanderer of the present. This is exactly what he is called in the twelfth chapter of the book of the Revelation. In the coming days, he will be cast out of heaven as a result of war in heaven. The inhabitants of the earth, or heaven rather, are told to rejoice because the accuser of brethren is cast out of heaven. And so, he is accuser. That's the meaning of the word devil. The meaning of the word Satan is from the Hebrew. It means resister, and in the Greek it's apollyon, which means to destroy. You'll find that in the book of the Revelation, chapter nine and verse eleven. And so, the Spirit of God has conferred upon Satan forty distinctive, different titles. Now, as we consider this subject, our amazement grows to learn that whenever you look at the doctrine of the devil, he appears in the word of God with prominence, importance, and power second only to the Trinity. Now, that is an amazing discovery, but it is an absolute fact that the doctrine of the devil, you'll find that he is found in the word of God and appears in the Bible, first of all, with prominence, importance, and power second only to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Third, and perhaps most astounding of all, is this. The most significant fact of all is that the Scriptures trace with detail and cheer this arch-enemy of God from his creation through all his career and on to his final judgment. I'd like to repeat that, that this enemy of God, this chief of the fallen angels, who has forty different names, is traced in detail throughout the word of God, concerning his history from his origin through all of his activity to his final demise when he is confined to the lake of fire that burneth with fire and brimstone. And just remember this, that in your study of the word of God, no such distinction is accorded to any other angel of any human being in the word of God. Now, this may be a little astounding, but it is absolutely true. I repeat, forty different names the devil has in the Bible. He appears with prominence, importance, and power second only to the Holy Spirit of God, the Father, Son, and the Spirit, and that his history, his origin, his work, and all is traced with minute detail and care from all his career to his final judgment. And let me remind you just once more that no such distinction is accorded to any other angel or to any other human being in the word of God. And notice I said any other angel, and whether it be good or bad angels, all angels are spirit beings, and the only distinction between the devil and the other angels is that they are all spirit beings, but there are evil spirits and there are benign spirits. So, tonight we want to get into a study of this doctrine of Satan, and look on the word of God, first of all, as to the origin of the devil, who made him. Secondly, we're going to see in the night of the Bible shows us his present year of activity, where he operates in this world today, and in something of his power that he exercises in this world today. This second Sunday morning in the will of God is the work of the devil among unsafe people, and a week from tonight in the will of God is the work of Satan among God's people. Now, tonight, as to the origin of Satan, what the Bible tells us is found here primarily in these two passages, first one in Isaiah 14 and in Ezekiel chapter 28. We find him here, first of all, addressed as Lucifer, the sun of the morning, and the introduction we have to Lucifer here is in his unfallen state. We read in verse 12 of Isaiah 14, "...I have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning." Now, this word Lucifer here, in the original Hebrew I understand, is the same exact word that is translated, the word that means bright or shining, and it has exactly the same meaning as was given to the serpent when we find him in the garden. He is the shining one. One translator puts it this way, "...I have fallen from heaven, O shining one." Mr. Garvey says, the brilliant star, the American Standard Version referred to him as the day star. We are introduced to an angelic being in his unfallen state, and this is the only place in the Bible that you'll find the word Lucifer. Now, when you turn to Ezekiel chapter 28, I want to show you something interesting. Under Oriental imagery here, we are introduced to the king of Tyre, and we are introduced to a method of teaching, the doctrine of inspiration, how God, so open, addresses Satan indirectly through another person. Now, notice in the 11th verse of Ezekiel 28, the word of the Lord came when he was saying, "'Fellow man, take up a lamentation.'" Now, that is interesting. This word lamentation means intense anguish accompanied with a beating of the breast. It is a reference to Jehovah's sorrow over his erring preacher. And, notice what he says. I want you to say, "'Unto the king of Tyre, tell him in verse 12, Thus saith the Lord, Thou sealest up the sun full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.'" And, right away, when I look at this passage and find such words addressed to a king, I stretch my head and I say, "'How on earth could God say that an earthly king was of very measure of perfection?' That's the meaning of the word, "'Thou sealest up the sun'." Not only that, full of wisdom, but perfect in beauty. And, how could God use such language of an earthly oriental king? And, then he goes on to tell us in verse 13, "'Speak unto this same king of Tyre, Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God.'" And, then he gives us a description, symbolically, of the beauty of this person who is dressed as the king of Tyre under the picture of precious stones. And, they are enumerated here in verse 13. Two times in this passage we read that this king was created. Did you notice that? In the last statement of verse 13, we read that he was created. This statement is also found in verse 15. "'Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created until iniquity was found in thee.'" So, here we have God addressing a lamentation through the prophet to a king of Tyre, thus speaking of him as being the very sum of beauty, perfection in itself, speaking of him as having been in Eden, the garden of God, and giving us a description of his beauty under the symbolism of these precious stones. And, two times he tells us that he was created. Now, I don't know anywhere in the history of this world the ever read of a king having been created. So, here we are introduced to one of the mediums of revelation where God has given us proof in this strikingly unusual way he is addressing none other than Satan himself in and through the king of Tyre, who is, I believe, a perfect picture of Satan himself on a coming day he shall impersonate himself in the coming Antichrist. Here, in this passage, we ought to remember that the vision we read here, and the key to an understanding of it, is to remember this. It is not that Satan is his own person, but of Satan fulfilling himself in and through an earthly king who takes to himself divine honor. And, notice how this is consonant with the rest of prophetic scripture. In Daniel, chapter 7, and verse 8, and Revelation 19 and 20, and 2 Thessalonians 2 and 4, if you study those passages, you'll find that this king of Tyre thus foreshadows a beast to whom we are first introduced in Daniel, chapter 7. You see, Satan is the god of this world, a prince of a power of the air. In a coming day in the great tribulation, he shall certainly, the Antichrist, shall hold sway over this world, over commerce and religion and politics of this world. Here, prophetically, we are given a picture of the devil himself fulfilling himself and giving to us a cunning preview of that which is going to take place. The talk, and the ceremony, and the commerce of Tyrus is given to us in symbol here to remind us that all these things are under the control of the wicked one. The one addressed as Lucifer in chapter 14 of the book of Isaiah, and the one on which lamentation is taken up, the king of Tyrus, are very obviously one and the same person. He is given to us here in his unfallen state. Now, this is before sin has veered its ugly head. The purpose of which this one called Lucifer was created is given to us two times here in the 28th chapter of Isaiah. Notice in verse 14, Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, I have set thee so, or have appointed thee. Notice in verse 16, in the last statement of the verse, he is referred to as, O covering cherub, when God said, I will cast you from the midst of a stone of fire. Now, here in this interesting, very intriguing passage, I'll call your attention to the fact that God is often found addressing the devil indirectly through others. There are numerous places in the word of God. For example, when he spoke to the serpent in the garden, we know full well he was speaking to the devil himself. Perhaps the most familiar one, because it's in the New Testament, is found in the eighth chapter of the gospel of Mark. You remember when the Lord Jesus was on his way up to Jerusalem, he went aside and took his disciples by the way and began to tell them that the Son of Man was going up to Jerusalem to be betrayed into the hands of the enemies, to be split upon, to be crucified, and the third day he was to rise from the dead. And this was so repulsive to Peter, it was beyond Peter's imagination that the Lord should suffer at the hands of men. You remember Simon said to the Lord, Far be it from thee, this shall never happen to you. And you remember what the Lord Jesus did. One of the things that Peter needed to say was, Get thee behind me, Satan. So, you see, the Lord was speaking directly to Satan, but he was speaking through one of his own disciples, and that is exactly what he is doing here in Ezekiel chapter 28. He is addressing the devil himself, Satan, set forth in these beautiful stones here in verse 13 in his unfallen state. This is going to introduce us to a fact that we ought to be very well acquainted with, that the concept of Satan so indelibly impressed upon the minds of people in the world today comes from a can of red devil icons and has nothing to do with that which the Bible teaches. Nowhere in the word of God did he ever even suggest it as being a horrible red creature with horns and with a crooked tail and a pitchfork in clothes and hoods. He is a creature of unparalleled being, and I am persuaded that if he were to present himself here tonight in his real personality and take on a tangible form, he would be a creature of such absolute beauty and such shining glory that we would all have to put our hands over our eyes to keep from being blinded. He is the second greatest power in the world, next to the Lord Jesus himself, about without a doubt the most intelligent created being in the whole universe today and exercising unusual power. Now, notice it says in the fourteenth verse, which we just mentioned a moment ago, he is called the cherubic cabaret. A study of the doctrine of angelology and the word of God will introduce us to this discovery that God, not because he needed them, but because in the divine economy it pleased God to do so, he is sovereign, created a vast innumerable host of angelic beings. The Bible recalls them as cherubim and seraphim. These angelic beings were created for the express purpose of simply garnishing heaven, and some of them as actions of protective covering for God, and for the very place where God dwells. Not that God needs protection, but they are there acting as protective coverings. Do you remember if you were here this morning when we were speaking on the subject of the door? We went all the way back to the book of the Exodus and saw that beautiful picture of this door. When we went behind the veil, and the holiest of all in the tabernacle, and saw that box forty-five by twenty-seven by twenty-seven with a lid made of one piece of beaten gold that covered the wood lid, and on each end of this box in the lid were two angelic beings called cherubim, and their wings stretched over and touched one another, and it was underneath the wings of the cherubim that the blood was placed on the mercy seat, and God said to the people of Israel, I will meet with you there, and will commune with you there. So, there you have an example of cherubim acting as a protective covering for the presence of God. But remember, in the closing chapter of Genesis 3, we read that so God drove men out of the garden and placed at the east of the gates of Eden cherubim with a flaming sword. Remember, to turn every way to keep the tree of life. So, there you have again an inspired account of cherubim created to act as a protective covering for the presence of God. And so, this is the origin of Lucifer. He was the covering cherub. He was the morning star. He was the brilliant, the bright, and the shining one. Now, in Isaiah chapter fourteen, we are told that one of the things that brought about the downfall of Satan was self-will. In the other one in Ezekiel, it is pride. It's very obvious. In fact, in Ezekiel's account, we read that he was carried away with his estimate of his own beauty. We read that a moment ago. But, I want you to look at Isaiah chapter fourteen now, and you'll find five I wills. Now, remember the two sins that brought about the downfall of Lucifer. Now, introducing us to Satan, and let's assume that this is the first place that Satan entered into God's creation. Eden is the second place. Here, in the heaven-less, this angelic being created for the express purpose to act as a protective covering for the presence of God aspired to a place that God had not given him. It's self-will in Isaiah, and it's pride in Ezekiel. Now, I want you to notice later on, if I forget to mention it, so I do now, in case I do forget, then I will insist, and I won't regret it when I go home. But, in the word of God, you'll find that the two sins that introduced him into the terra firma in which we live and brought about the downfall of Adam and Eve was self-will, that was going against the command of God, and a spiritual pride, a self-exaltation. These are the two sins that brought about the downfall of Lucifer, introducing Satan into the world, and I am persuaded that today there are still the two sins that keep more people from being saved than the other sins in the category of sin. It's the desire to have my own way, and, secondly, it is pride. I am so self-sufficient I do not need anyone to help me live, not even God himself. But, now notice in the thirteenth chapter, a verse of Isaiah 14, I want you to notice these are wills, and they're all upward. For thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above, and lift it up above the stars of God. In Bible symbolism, always in the Old Testament, stars are symbolic of authorities and principalities and powers. We find that, too, in symbolism in the book of Revelation itself. A mountain is symbolic of a kingdom, and stars would be symbolic of rulers, and so he says, I will exalt myself above all the other rulers, above all those other created beings that God had made. You see, whether we understand this or not has nothing to do with a plain teaching of the word of God, but God created this vast multitude of angelic beings, and very obviously gave Lucifer to be the commander-in-chief over the entire host, and these, too, then he committed the government of the existing world. The fact that he has not yet taken this power away from Lucifer, we'll discover just a little later on if the Lord gives the help that we need. Now, 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 sight of the Lord. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Lord's child. Now, he lets the cat out of the bag. This is what he had in mind all the time, but it took him a long time to get around to it. But, you see, God knew what he was after, because if you remember in Ezekiel 28, and hold your place there and turn there just for a moment, notice in verse 15 of Ezekiel 28, it says, This thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created until a liquid was found or discovered in thee. So, the secret sin. He said in his heart, I will be like the Lord's child. Now, notice the similarity. Whenever the devil tempted our parents in the Garden of Eden, he said to them, God does know that the day that you eat thereof you'll be like God. Do you see it? And this is the very thing that he pulled on our original parents. Notice how it goes together. And so, here in Ezekiel 28, we read that it was a secret sin. It was a secret sin. So, it was self-will, a desire for position, a place that God had not given him, a spirit of self-exaltation. But, now, in Ezekiel 28, it was pride. I want you to notice something very interesting. Five and exactly five I wills in Ezekiel, and they're directly in contrast to the five I wills in Isaiah. As in Isaiah, each one of them progressively is upward-facing or in equality with God. So, five I wills in Ezekiel are progressively downward, bringing down ashes and dust, and never to be remembered anymore. Now, look in verse 16. By the multitude of thy merchants, God, they have filled the midst of thee with violence and thy sin. Therefore, now God is speaking. This is the difference. I will cast thee as profane out of the mountains of the kingdom of God, and I will destroy thee, O coppering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Notice the latter part, a little over halfway rather than the seventeenth verse. Well, we'll read the seventeenth entirely. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. So, here it's pride, you see. He gets carried away with the sense of his good looks. Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground. Then I will lay thee before kings that they may know thee. The latter part of verse 18, And I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. And, so, five times in Ezekiel it's, I will, I will, I will, but it's God, and it's down, down, down, until Satan is ultimately to be destroyed. Now, may I just say this right at this point? I believe it here in Isaiah 14. And, in Ezekiel 28, we have a panoramic view of the history of Satan, from his origin throughout his entire career all the way until his incarceration in the lake of fire. Now, if you'll notice with me for just a moment, again in Isaiah chapter 14, before we move on with our subject, there is something we need to be very clear upon. The second point in our talk tonight, in connection with Satan, is called the Godless world. After having seen what the Word of God teaches, whether we have grasped it or not, we now look at the sphere of activity as to where Satan operates in this present world in which we live. And, I believe to have a clear understanding of this subject, we must first of all be careful to make a distinction between the moral fall of Satan and his physical banishment. Now, I'll tell you why. One day I was driving along through the country going somewhere preaching, and I heard one of my beloved brethren trying to encourage me and the rest of God's dear people, and he was preaching over there on the radio. And, he said, So, all of us poor pilgrims, cheer up ye saints of God. The victory is won. The Lord Jesus defeated the devil upon the cross. I said, Amen. And, then as I drove along, a little lady said, You haven't got a thing in the world to be afraid of. The devil is bound, and he's in hell, and he can't hurt you. And, I said, Oh, me, if that was only true, that would be nice. So, you see, it is true that the Lord was defeated potentially, or the Lord defeated Satan potentially. The rest of this world is judged in John, says the Lord Jesus, in John's gospel. And, upon the cross, the Lord defeated the devil, but he has not yet exercised his authority over Satan in that sense of the word, but he has completely isolated him and put him in a position where he cannot fight against the purposes of the plans of God or injure the Christian witness of the people of God. But, now, if we learn this, and I want you to notice verse 12, I believe the secret to a vital understanding of the present field of activity of Satan is to learn to distinguish, I repeat, and listen carefully, between the moral fall of Satan and his physical banishment. I believe you have them both. I won't press this point, because when you're in prophecy like this, you never really stick your neck out too far. If you find a position that satisfies you and doesn't do harm to the other passages of Scripture, it is most acceptable. Notice in verse 12, "'How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nation?' Now, I believe that in verse 12, the first half of that verse is history, and the second half is prophecy. In Gospel according to Luke, let me give you a very interesting passage. In chapter 10, whenever the Lord called the Seventy and sent them forth to preach, they came back to Jordan. Do you remember what they said to the Lord? They said, "'Why, Lord, even the demon was a subject to us through thy name.'" And, what did the Lord say? Do you remember? Immediately, he says, "'I saw Satan like lightning fall from heaven.' What was it, Lord, about the downfall of Satan? It was pride." And, Paul was writing to Timothy about a man who was going to be an elder, he'd love to be a novice. Instead of being lifted up with pride, he fell into the condemnation of the devil. And, Jesus, when the disciples were elated at the fact that they had power over demons, he said, "'Look out now, that's pride. I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Don't rejoice because you have power over demons, but because your name is written in the book of life.'" And so, you see, the Lord speaks, I believe, of this instance recorded in Isaiah chapter 14. I believe the first half of the verse, "'How have thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer?' has to do with the moral fall of Satan through self-will and pride. And, I believe the last statement, "'How have thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations?' is a prophetic prediction of the physical banishment of the devil out of the heavenless as a result of war in heaven in the book of the Revelation, chapter 12. So, I believe you have both history and you have prophecy. Now, if we see this, you won't be surprised when I tell you tonight that the devil is not in hell. You won't be surprised either when I tell you tonight, in the light of this revelation, that so far as I know, there's not a verse of Scripture that says the devil ever will be in hell. That is Hades, the place of the abode of the city of the departed dead, the place where the rich man went, where his ultimate place of confinement is the lake of fire. But, what the word of God does teach us is this, that when the devil fell morally because of self-will and pride, he was not at that time literally and physically finally completely banished from heaven. He has access to God and he has access to man. One day, the Lord Jesus, or rather the devil came to the Lord Jesus and he says, You know, you have a presumptuous disciple, a fellow who hasn't really discovered the truth about himself, and I'd like to get a hold of him, and if you don't give him to me, I'm going to sift him like wheat. You say, where on earth did he do that? I don't remember reading that. You don't read that. But, you read where Jesus said to Peter, that Peter's Satanist desire is to have thee, that he may sift you as wheat. I pray, Peter, that thy faith fail not. And, with that, I turn again straight from the Bible. And so, we read that he has access to God and he has access to man. He is primarily operating in the heavenly spheres. The domain of Satan is the heavens over our heads. He has access to heaven and he has access to us. I believe the word of God teaches that presently today, the devil is in control of the principalities and the powers, and that the very hosts of heaven, that is, the heavens, are under the control of the devil. He is the ruling authority. In the word of God, he is called in 2nd Corinthians, chapter 4, and verse 4, the god of this world, the god of the slaves. He is called the prince of the power of the air, and three times the Lord Jesus acknowledges that the devil is the prince, or the ruler, of this world in which we are living. That's three times in the Gospel of John. And, whenever the Lord Jesus himself says that the devil is the ruler of this world, then I think we ought to pay attention. Now, turn to the right a little to Daniel, chapter 10. I'll only show you something very interesting. In the tenth chapter of the book of Daniel, beginning in the second verse, we find Daniel who has been fasting and praying, but he's got a revelation from God concerning what was going to happen to his people Israel in the end times. In the tenth chapter of Daniel, in verse 2, "...in those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled." Now, Daniel is fasting and praying for 21 days. Now, notice the tenth verse, "...and behold, a hand touched me which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands, and said unto me, O Daniel, O man greatly beloved, understand the word that I speak unto thee, and stand upright. For unto thee am I now set. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel. Notice this now, please. From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and hasten like that before thy God, thy words were heard." Notice it. "...and I am come." Notice the other last verse. It says, "...for thy words, but because of thy words, or to bring you an answer to your prayer. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for 21 days. But, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the king of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days." Now, here is Daniel, a man greatly beloved of God, prostrate upon the ground, fasting, not even taking his clothes off for washing, laying upon the ground with nothing to eat or drink, but pleading with God to reveal to me, Lord, what's going to happen to my people in the latter days. And he prayed for one, two, three, four, right over the 21 days, and when the message came, much to his surprise, I believe, he learned that the answer was given the first day he started praying, but the problem was with communication. For, in that day, the angelic being coming from heaven to bring Daniel on earth and answer the prayer, encountered infernal forces in the heavens over our head that withstood his progress and took him 21 days to get to us with the message. Now, you know, I'm not running scared, but I'll tell you one thing I'm running these days. I'm running cautious, for I am persuaded that the very heavens over our head are lethally filled with demons, and I believe that while they are ultimately under control of Satan, that these demonic forces are bent upon destroying the welfare of the people of God. They are resisting the progress of our Christian testimony and of our witness. These evil forces are at work today, and remember this, that Satan works primarily in the religious realm. I've tried to impress it upon you. Notice, he said, I will be like the most high. Now, isn't it strange? It tells us, yes, the idea that the devil said to God, I'm going to be like the drunk and the guy. He didn't say that. I am going to be like the most high. I want a place of authority, and the devil is primarily a religious and a moral being. And, I'll tell you something else that will occupy your time tonight. If you get home in time to look it up before Kojak comes on, maybe, is this, that you'll not find one single reference in the word of God, search it carefully, where Satan is ever said to be the instigator of one immoral act that involves the flesh. Now, I see why Sister Turner didn't copy it a little bit, so I'll repeat it. Now, in connection with the conjugal relation between the husband and the wife, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells the husband, your authority over your body is not yours, but your wife's, and the control of the wife's body is not hers, but her husband's. And, he says, remember this, and defraud not one another, or hold not yourself one from another, except it be with mutual consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, lest Satan tempt you for your lack of self-control. But, it's not Satan that did it. It was the temptation that Satan is going to utilize because of a lack of control in the area of our flesh. James makes it clear in his epistle that the source of our fleshly problems is this depraved nature with which we are born. Every man is enticed when he's carried away with his own lust. That's what he tells us in the Word of God. And, you'll notice that Satan, in the Word of God, is primarily occupied with the religious sphere and the activity of this world. That is the reason, and I'm going to say this very lovingly and very tenderly, when a poor, misguided man... I'm not so sure he's misguided at all. I think, perhaps, he is a religious charlatan and a crook, and an outright religious hocus-pocus bandit is this man's moon, who mesmerizes millions of young, ignorant people to giving them the clothes off his back, and he himself has accumulated a religious and a business empire running in the millions of the dollars. Why do you think it is, when Jehovah's Witnesses have a conference, or a meeting in the Polo Grounds years ago in New York, they could draw 120,000 people? Why do you think it is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so called, has such tremendous, vast holdings in the world, multiplied millions and billions of dollars? It is because every false religious system in the world has as the force and power behind it, for its propagation and the winning of converts, none other than the devil himself, the greatest religious power on the earth, second to the Holy Spirit of God, is saint. And that is the only sensible answer to why the Pope comes and joins such phenomenal groups. It's because he is in charge of this area. And remember that, though he's held moral, he has not been physically banished from heaven yet, and his main sphere of operation is in the heavens. Now, I'm going to tell you something else. I believe the Word of God emphatically teaches, whether it be consonant with human reason or not, that is, whether it harmonizes with human reason, or does it matter if it's judged against my traditional concept of the devil, of preconceived ideas of what I thought. Whether it's true or not, here's what the Bible teaches, that the devil most distinctly is taught in the Word of God to be in control of all of the governments and all of the societies and organizations in the world today that are not in business for the purpose of glorifying Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to repeat that because you have to be careful when you talk like this. I said this in a certain place down among the Lumbee Indians, and somebody went downtown, filling a false room with that short load of ugly priests from Durham and up there preaching that all the Democrats and the Republicans were children of the devil. Now, I didn't say that. What I did say was that the Bible teaches that the devil, when he fell and lost his position for which he was created, he did not lose any, if he did, very little of his power and authority that God gave him over the kingdoms of this world. You see, my friends, it is not that the devil is superior to God. He has none of the attributes of God, but it's the fact that God originally created Lucifer, gave him authority and dominion and control over the kingdoms of this world, and he has not yet taken them away from him. This is what the Word of God teaches. He exercises authority and control over the kingdoms of this world within the permission, within the control of God that is set forth in the case of Job. You can go that far, no problem. Second encounter, all right, you can go a little farther, but no problem. Remember that God is using him, and God has left him with control of the kingdoms of this world. Now, if you don't believe that, I'll tell you what to do. You go up to the United Abominations that meet in New York, that infamous excuse for a peacemaking organization, and you go up there and take your Bible and get up there and demand a hearing for Jesus Christ, and you can't get a hearing because the president of the association is in a back room or a private room burning incense to his heathen god. But Jesus Christ can't get in there, and if you believe that he can get in our government, you're a fool. And I don't ever intend to get involved in politics, and I don't ever intend to make this platform a sounding board for political views, but one thing I do know is Mr. Jimmy Carter, with his peanuts and baloney, is a Christian. If he rules, I'm going to do him a favor and vote against him, because I don't believe any God-given believer has a right to be in a place with such authority, because it's absolutely impossible to occupy such a position without being crooked, if you're not already. It will not work, honestly, because our government is not under the control of God, but it's under the control of Satan. Now, that doesn't mean for one moment that there are not a lot of fine Christians in Washington. This is not the point. This has nothing to do with what we are saying. We are talking about the controlling influence of all the governments of this world. My dear friends, if you think I am pulling your leg tonight or trying to be sensational, just remember how ultra-religious Richard Nixon was when Billy Graham went to preach at the White House. And I'll tell you this, take your Bible and go to the halls of Congress and the House of Senates and show these men who govern our country exactly what the Word of God teaches about moral righteousness, that righteousness exalts the nation, and sin is a reproach to any people, and see if they take pornography off our streets or let prayer back in our schools. And if you're not convinced, you're, I don't know, unconvincible or inconvincible or what. There it is. This is obviously the end of the world. Now, let me give you one passage, and we've got to close. Turn quickly to the fourth chapter of Luke. Yes, help yourself. I need a break anyway. Not in the proximity that Jesus Christ occupies at the right hand of God, because Paul, writing to Timothy, speaks of Jesus Christ as being the only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone hath immortality. That's a good answer. He's the only one in heaven that Jesus Christ is abiding. The devil is not there. He has access, okay, and he's in the heavens, but not in the immediate presence of God. All right, in Luke chapter 4, notice in verse 1, And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing. And when they were ended, he acted with hunger. And the devil said unto him, If I be the Son of God, demand a spoon that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that men shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into the high mountains, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world. Now, this word, world, is cosmic. It is not aion, translated by the word age, nor is it chara firma, the ground on which we live, but it's the Greek word kosmos, which comes out of the English word cosmetic, which means order and arrangement and dress and adornment. Now, the devil took the Lord Jesus into the high mountain apart, and showed him how the world arranges all of its politics, religion, and its kingdoms. Notice, unto him the kingdoms of the cosmos in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this authority, exousia, is not treacherous dominion, and it's not soot on each dame like the power of gospel in Romans 1, but it's authority and control here. You got it? Check it carefully. The devil says unto him, All this authority and control over the kingdoms of the world I will give you, and the glory that goes with them, for it has been delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it. Now, there's a statement of inspired fact that when Jesus was alive on this earth, the devil said to him, I have authority and control over all the kingdoms of this world. If you'll fall down and worship me, it's mine, and I've got the right to give it to whomever I will. If you'll worship me, I'll give it to you. Now, a brother said to me one time, But word, don't you know that the devil has usurped on the lion of father on it? I said, That may be true, but if I ought to give you ten dollars and I was broke, would that be a temptation? And how could it be a temptation if the devil offered to the Lord something he couldn't give him? And, Lord, he said to him that he did not rebuke the devil, nor did he correct him, because what he said was true. And he didn't take them. You know why? Let me tell you why. Because in the coming day, beloved friends, as Jesus has come and taken his people off this earth, the great tribulation has run its course. We read that in the coming day, the Lord Jesus is going to establish his kingdom upon this earth and sit upon the throne of his father, David, for one thousand years. And at that day, God the Father is going to give to the Son all the kingdoms of this world. Why should he take them from the hands of the devil when he's going to get them from the hands of his Father? And when Jesus Christ comes to take his blatant people home, it's going to be resolved once and for all. It's controversy, and Jesus will be proved to be superior to Satan in every way. When, with a shout with the words of the archangel of the truth of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first, we who are alive and remain shall be called to gather wisdom and counsel each the Lord of the earth, and Jesus is going to come and take every one of his people, those who are asleep in Jesus' person in the grave and living when he remains, pull us together, every one of them, right up through those domains in the quickest of an hour. And it took the angelic messenger twenty-one days to get through. Right through the devil's territory, in triumphant glory, leading every goodful child of God to the dominion of Satan. Jesus shall reign where others die. Pentecostal journey's done. Kingdom's wrecked. The Greek's on shore to shore. Our troubles shall wax and wane no more, my friend. Jesus Christ is Lord of all, but he has not yet exercised this lordship over the world. It's still under the control of Satan. Now, you see, I'm on the winning side, hallelujah. I'm just waiting for my man to come, and I don't need to vote but once for him. I voted for him thirty-two years ago, and he saved this poor soul of mine, and someday he and I are going to reign together. No crooked politicians, no backroom under-the-cover cigar smoke slicing like pie to get through the government you want. Just Jesus Christ reigning in glory, and I'm going to reign with him, because I trust him as my savior. But I want to tell you, my friend, if you're not saved tonight, the devil is determined to take you to hell, and he's getting you to put off the salvation of your soul. So, may the Lord give you the seat tonight that you're in a match for this one, and you must plead for refuge to take hold of the hope that is set before you. Believe that Jesus died for you to enter in through the door, and the power of Satan of your life will be broken, and you'll be delivered. And I love that verse, and with this we close. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Shall we pray? Holy Father, we are thankful tonight for thy word. The entrance of thy book gives light and understanding. We rejoice tonight, those of thy dear people here. Because we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. The glorious Lord Jesus, our only and exclusive eternal hope of glory, who died upon the cross, who was raised from the dead in the power of an endless life, makes intercession for us at the right hand of God. And, O God, we read in thy holy word unto those that look for him, shall he appear the second time, a part from a sin offering, and the salvation from the very presence of sin. And our hearts go out to you tonight, O Lord Jesus. Come quickly. But, O, for these dear people here tonight who may not know him, we pray, Heaven and Father, the Spirit of God will speak to their hearts. O God, it's so wonderful to be saved, and we don't want to even think of anyone missing it. And if there are those here tonight who have been deceived by the devil, who have been resisted from entering through the door, we pray that you would break his power of their lives tonight and save them, for Christ's sake. Amen. Now, we're not going to sing tonight because I've taken the singing time from preaching, but if you have any questions, then all I've got to say is, if everything I've said tonight is clear to you, you've got something on me. But I believe what I've said, and if you want to talk about it, just say to her. Good night. God bless you.