Satan a Savior?

by

Robert Sessler

Click to go to our Home Page


 

SATAN A SAVIOR?

 

     The part that concerns me most in Malachi’s vision is the statement that the "dreadful Judge will [then] judge the people." Malachy wanted us to believe that the Judge is Christ coming to rule this confused planet. This is perhaps Satan's greatest delusion of all.  This doctrine is known as the "temporal millennium" or “the age to come."


    After Satan decimates the Roman System, and our noble attempts at Global Governance--to form a "One World Government"-- has utterly failed in total chaos of our society and economic security, Lucifer himself will arrive as a savior and sit in the temple of God, showing himself to be God. Let us together study this important topic.

 

     In Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, he described Christ's visible coming and the resurrection of the righteous with these words:

 

"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord will by no means precede      them which are asleep [dead]. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel [Michael's      voice, see Daniel 12:1] and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be CAUGHT UP together with them in the CLOUDS to meet the Lord IN THE AIR, and so we shall always be with the Lord" (1      Thessalonians. 4:15-17).

 

     This promise excited the Thessalonians who had chosen not to WAIT. Anticipating Christ's coming in their day necessitated that Paul write a second letter itemizing definite signs to precede His advent:

 

     "Now I admonish you, brothers concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together [resurrection] to him, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit [vision] nor by word [false teachers] nor by letter as from us      [misquoted Scripture], as that the day of Christ [the resurrection] is at hand. LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU BY ANY MEANS: for that day SHALL NOT COME except [for two things:] there comes a falling away first ['for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection [homosexuality], truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof...'--(2 Timothy 3:2)]. And [secondly,] THE MAN OF SIN [Lucifer] IS revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that HE SITS IN      THE TEMPLE OF GOD [in Israel: Daniel 11:45] SHOWING HIMSELF THAT HE IS GOD.... WHOM THE LORD WILL CONSUME WITH THE BREATH OF HIS MOUTH AND DESTROY WITH THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS COMING... [Satan comes] with all power, signs, and lying wonders" (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, 8, 9).

 

      Although the papacy has claimed the throne of Peter, and to be God's representative on earth, the ultimate application of this prophecy identifies Satan himself. Before Jesus' rescue mission, Satan must first impersonate God; let no man deceive you... (ibid.). The Bible is clear on this topic, "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time" (Revelation 12; 12). And Satan will be killed at Christ's coming when this world is destroyed; the Roman System has deluded the Christian world into accepting a different conclusion.

 

       Nearly all major religions now follow contradictions popularized by the Jesuit Priests Francisco Ribera (1539-1591), Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), and almost three centuries later, Emmanuel Lacunza. To counter charges by Protestant Reformers that the Pope was the biblical antichrist, it was first necessary they suggest the theory that an atheistic antichrist would reign in the distant future. This novelty was embellished to include, they suppose, the Jews getting another chance to preach salvation and Christ's literal reign on earth for 1,000 years; thus, they excused the prophecies concerning the total destruction of earth. This illegitimate doctrine is, in fact, adopted by many other religions and actually prepares them to accept Satan's advent when he impersonates Christ.  This concoction was taught in Catholic universities during the Reformation and many Catholics now believe that Christ will soon reign on earth.

 

      As you would expect, Reformers initially did not subscribe to this Roman fable; so, to deceive unsuspecting Protestants, Jesuit Lacunza wrote using the fictitious name of Rabbi Ben Ezra. He even applied the 1290 and 1335 day prophecies that we studied in Chapter One to an imagined event in the future--an error many duplicate today. Pretending to be a Jewish Rabbi converted to Christianity, Lacunza's fabrication met success and was accepted by unsuspecting Protestants. Edward Irving, a preacher of the Scottish Church, translated it to English. Irving later discovered the book was a Jesuit production but had already accepted its teaching so fully that he formed a new pentecostal-type church, The Catholic Apostolic Church, and his followers were nicknamed "Irvingites."  Scottish Protestants later added the theory that the coming resurrection was like a thief in the night and invisible to the wicked; hence, the "secret rapture" theory was born.  Therefore, the millennium of peace on earth, invented by the Abomination of Desolation, was embraced by Protestants and contaminated with the rapture fable. This malignant cancer has now metastasized and putrefies unsuspecting Christians who believe it doctrinally sound--the truth is literally Left Behind.

 

     Adolph Hitler said, "tell a lie, tell it often enough and the people will believe it." To subscribe to these popular fabrications requires one to overlook the scriptural warnings of the total destruction of earth. Perhaps my language of warning appears strong in condemnation, but this doctrine is Satan's greatest masterpiece and “will deceive the very elect, were that possible.” And the Daniel 12 code helps us understand the fallacy of these dangerous positions because they were created by the Abomination of Desolation, and constitute ingredients in the wine of Babylon (confusion) "that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine" (Revelation 14:8).

 

    Truly, there is a resurrection of the just, but it is no secret because "every eye shall see Him." Jesus only comes as a "thief in the night" to those who did not prepare (Revelation 1:7). A computer search of the "New Testament" shows two prominent occurrences of thief in the night and it is NO SECRET when "sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape" (2 Thessalonians 5:2, 3).   "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10).  Obviously, the date of Christ's coming is the secret, but the event is no secret and He will not reign on earth at this time because our world is demolished (dissolved, Ibid., verse 11); then, as you have learned, it remains in this destroyed condition for 1,000 years.

 

OUR WORLD IS DESTROYED

 

     Christ will certainly reign forever on earth, but 1,000 years from now--the Bible is precise--at Christ's SECOND coming there will be no utopia here, NO MILLENNIUM OF PEACE ON EARTH. This is a Satanic delusion. We will be rescued from the holocaust on earth at the great harvest of mankind, and are going to heaven to those mansions He has prepared for the redeemed (John 14:1-4). And in Isaiah we read, "They are all gathered together and come to you.... Who are these that fly as a cloud, as a dove to their nest?" (Isaiah 60: 1-8). The saints will ascend to Heaven and this present earth will be totally destroyed during the millennium.

 

    Many prognosticators of the so called "age-to-come theory"--a coming millennium of peace and safety--feel that the scriptural translations of earth's demise are erroneous. For the benefit of those who do not trust their Protestant or Catholic Bibles, they should study Isaiah 24 from several different translations, including the English translation of the Holy Scriptures produced by the Jewish Publication Society of America. That Bible is a non-Gentile translation, and almost verbatim with the King James Bible which is quoted here:

 

        (17) "Terror, and the pit, and the trap, are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth. (18) And it shall come to pass, that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the trap: for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth do shake. (19) The earth is utterly broken, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. (20) The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and will be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof will be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and NOT RISE AGAIN. (21) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will punish the host of the high heaven on high [e. g., Lucifer and his fallen angels]. And the kings of the earth upon the earth [including the Roman System]. (22)      And they will be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the dungeon, and shall be shut up in the prison [the grave], and after many days [1,000 years, see Revelation 20:1-3] they will be punished. (23) THEN the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for the Lord of hosts will [then] reign [on this newly re-created earth] in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously."      Isaiah 24:17-23

 

    This current world will "NOT RISE AGAIN" (verse 20) and will be TOTALLY RE-CREATED after the seventh millennium (remember the 8010 in our previous study: "Blessed is he who WAITS, and comes to the 1335 days"--8010, e.g., the 80th century and 10% redeemed--Daniel 12: 12; and "All these things shall be finished, verse 7).

 

     Chapter four of Jeremiah records a view of earth after Armageddon, during the seventh millennium, when this planet is reduced to the similar "without form and void" condition existing before creation week (see Genesis 1:2).

 

     "I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, THERE WAS NO MAN, and all the birds of the heavens were fled [disappeared]. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and ALL THE CITIES THEREOF WERE BROKEN DOWN at the presence of the Lord, and by [before] His fierce anger" (Jeremiah 4:23-26).

            The Bible is quite clear, the only millennium of peace is not on this planet, but will be among the glories of paradise in heaven.

 

SATAN'S FIRST DEATH

 

     Another thought that conflicts with popular theology, and that is essential to properly understand God's dealing with sin, is the fact that God is the only one with the inherent propensity to live forever. As recorded by Paul: "The King of kings, and Lord of lords, who ONLY HAS IMMORTALITY, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto..." (1 Timothy 6: 15, 16). If God is the only immortal being, what happens to the devil? Well, he is mortal AND DIES like the rest of the wicked in the soon coming battle of Armageddon, except for one small difference which we will now discover as Isaiah 14 describes Lucifer's plight:  (verse 15) "Yet you [Lucifer] shall be brought down to Sheol [the grave], to the lowest depths of the pit. (18) All the kings of the nations, all of them sleep [have died] in glory, everyone in his own house [tomb]; but you are CAST OUT OF YOUR GRAVE like an abominable branch. (20) YOU WILL NOT BE JOINED WITH THEM IN BURIAL...."

 

     Lucifer is resurrected, and will not be allowed to remain in the grave for the 1,000 years of earth's devastation. It is odd that although we profess to believe the Bible, and it tells that the Lord "shall destroy [Lucifer, sitting in the temple of God] with the brightness of his coming" (2 Thessalonians. 2:4, 8), that we are reluctant to say that Satan will be killed in the near future?

    Let us read about Satan's "perdition", the only "purgatory" you will find in the Bible:  "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years: and he cast him into the bottomless pit [Greek: abbuso--this ruined earth], and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more TILL THE THOUSAND YEARS WERE FINISHED. But after these things he must be released for a little while.... but the rest of the [wicked] dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished" (Revelation 20: 1, 2, 5). Again, this is our 80th century (8010), 1,000 years in the future.

 

SECOND DEATH OF THE WICKED AND LUCIFER

 

     This far we have established that Satan has used the Roman System to fulfill his purposes--they are both ultimately destroyed. And after the soon-approaching destruction of earth, Lucifer is raised from the grave to wander the ashes of this desolate planet for a thousand years, knowing that he will face judgment when Christ returns with the Holy City. When we speak of the Roman System, we are really speaking of Lucifer because he is responsible for all evil. So, let us terminate this discourse on the Roman System by discussing Lucifer's fate after 7,000 years of his ignoble attempt to rule earth.

 

     For brevity, we will only use a few verses to document his demise. The first is in Revelation 20, verses seven and eight which reads: "Now when THE THOUSAND YEARS ARE EXPIRED, Satan will be released for a little while from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog* and Magog*, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sands of the sea." At this point, the wicked "nations" are resurrected to life.  Satan's "purgatory" is over; he is no longer bound by isolation, and has the same people who were previously gullible to his deceptions to delude for one final attack. Continuing with verse nine: "They went up on the breadth of the earth and  surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city [the New Jerusalem from Heaven (Revelation 21:1-27)]. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured THEM" (Lucifer and the resurrected wicked). Please notice that the word "THEM" is plural, meaning they are ALL consumed by fire--this is the "second death" (Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8).

 

    This battle is again described by Zechariah and is what we today might call "spontaneous human combustion." This is the fate of the wicked: "And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away as they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouths" (Ibid. 14:12). The final application of these verses is when Lucifer and the wicked are NOT alive throughout eternity; that is, when all is finished and they are eliminated FOREVER.

 

    There is another text found in Ezekiel 28 that also describes Lucifer's death. This verse is not quoted by Bible expositors who advocate the doctrine of a continuous punishing in Hell or Purgatory for those who have sinned against God. Beginning with verse 12, Ezekiel describes Lucifer's beauty and perfection, his pride and loss of glory, and then says: "Therefore have I brought FIRE from the MIDST OF YOU [internal combustion], it has DEVOURED YOU, and I have TURNED YOU TO ASHES upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold you. All they that know you among the peoples will be appalled at you. You are now a terror, AND YOU WILL NEVER BE ANY MORE" (verses 18 and 19). Heaven has sentenced the wicked to everlasting destruction. Any portion that is not consumed by the incinerating fire will be, like the infamous Herod, consumed by scavenging worms--nothing can quench, terminate, or save the condemned wicked before they cease to exist: "And they shall be an abhorrence to all humanity"; and the saints will "look upon the carcasses [corpses] of the [dead] men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die [prematurely], neither shall their fire be [wantonly] quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh” (See Isaiah 66: 24; Mark 9: 45, 46; Acts 12:23).

    Hell fire is much hotter than most people think. To turn "you to ashes", crematories exceed 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (538 c.). That means the temperature of Hell is more intense--it rapidly destroys the wicked and Lucifer--they are "devoured" to nothing. Not existing forever is an eternal punishment, not an eternal punishing; there is a difference, you know.

    The concept of eternal death for the wicked may be new to you. It is discussed a little more here because it is essential that you understand this as we study God's elimination of the sin problem from His universe and the complete restoration of earth to its original state.

 

 

THE FATHER OF LIES

 

     Let me again direct your attention to Revelation 20 where it describes the destruction of the wicked AFTER 1,000 years. Previously I marked Gog and Magog with asterisks (*). Most Bible teachers apply these verses to Communist or Arab countries that, they say, will attack Israel while the saints are supposedly raptured to heaven for seven years, but this scripture has another application. First, you should recall that Satan himself attempts to rule from the Holy Land before he is killed in Armageddon. Just how long this charlatan can deceive the inhabitants of earth is a subject of debate; most theorize either three and one-half, or seven years. He falsely promises eternal life for those upon which the seven last plagues of Revelation 16 will fall, including the seventh plague of death in Armageddon. Scripture is plain on one point, Satan knows that his time is short, and makes war with the remnant people "who keep the commandments of God" (Revelation 12:17).

 

    While these plagues are falling, God's people are not mysteriously "raptured" to heaven because words of encouragement are spoken to them in Revelation. After six plagues, and immediately before the last plague of Armageddon, Jesus encourages the saints to endure a little longer: "Behold I come as a thief, Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame"--take note, Jesus does not "come as a thief" before the plagues like popular theories suggest (Revelation. 16: 15). And, "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Ibid. 14:12). Since Satan's war is against those who keep God's Ten Commandments, it is apparent that some will not comply with Satan's attempt to change God's Sabbath to his counterfeit day, Sunday.

 

    This false Sabbath has been so effectively substituted by the Roman System and will now be verified personally from Lucifer's mouth. When the deceived finally realize the Saints are the ones shielded by God to be translated without experiencing death, and this majestic-looking creature professing to be God is really the Devil who deceived them, it is too late. Their only recourse is to attempt his destruction. Realizing that they have lost eternal life because of Lucifer's lying, their frustration is turned against him. "I will bring strangers upon you, the terrible of the nations: and they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they will defile your brightness. They will bring you down to the pit [grave], and you will die.... You will die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, says the Lord God" (Ezekiel 28:7-10). This is the first application of Gog and Magog--the military assaults against Israel (Armageddon) trigger uncontrollable events that kill Lucifer and destroy the earth. At this time Christ harvests the earth of His faithful saints, "and... [we] will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever" (Psalms 23:6).


SECOND DEATH OF THE WICKED

 

     During the second destruction of Gog and Magog the scene repeats on a much larger scale after the seventh millennium, 1,000 years in the future, when Christ comes with His redeemed in the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, to re-create planet earth. "For thus says the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he created it not in vain, HE FORMED IT TO BE INHABITED, I [am] the LORD; and [there is] none else" (Isaiah 45:18). All the resurrected militants (as many as the sands of the seashore--Revelation 20:8) who lived throughout history are now destroyed FOREVER. This is the final destruction of the wicked and Lucifer. It takes place AFTER he roams this devastated planet alone for 1,000 years. Then he mobilizes the RESURRECTED WICKED to battle against the Holy city that descends to earth (Revelation 21:1-5). Gog, Magog and other nations attack Israel "after many days" (8010, and see Ezekiel 38:8). The description of this confrontation leaves no doubt that everyone attacking Israel is destroyed. Let us peruse a few sentences:

 

         "Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake AT MY PRESENCE. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground... And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops and on the many peoples who are with him flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone" (Ezekiel 38:19, 20, 22).

 

    The next chapter describes a clean-up campaign where the bones of the wicked are buried to eliminate all evidence of sin from this planet, and the Israel of God is restored in Canaan with the New Jerusalem FOREVER. The Lord says: "And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God" (Ezekiel 39; 29).

 

LET US PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

 

     Now, my friends, you have learned the significant points about the Abomination of Desolation. Satan used the Roman System to persecute God's people at the time of Christ, and then forced religious dogma throughout medieval history. This persecution has now diminished temporarily to allow the Bible to be freely presented to the entire world as Jesus accurately predicted: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matthew 24:14).

 

     After the Abomination of Desolation meets judgments under the fifth plague, and immediately before Christ comes, Lucifer will be here in person impersonating Jesus, and then he is briefly destroyed in Armageddon. After this, Lucifer is resurrected and forced to wander alone through the ashes of this destroyed planet for 1,000 years. As God rested from His works on the seventh day, Lucifer rests from his works during the seventh millennium. He contemplates the results of his rebellion against Heaven. He cannot say, like God, "It was very good" (Genesis 1: 31). And he awaits the second resurrection of the wicked. These he marshals to attack the Holy City that descends from heaven. At the beginning of the eighth millennium (80th century from the Edenic fall, and 1,000 years in the future), this final act of violence is met with the second death of Lucifer and the wicked.

 

     The controversy between good and evil will be over and sin and sinners are eradicated from God's universe: "The wages of sin is [eternal] death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

 

DANIEL 12 IS IMPORTANT FOR TODAY

 

     Thank you for struggling through this chapter. Undoubtedly some of these thoughts are new to you. They will become clearer as we repeat them in context in other chapters.

    We hope the information has helped you understand more clearly about the conflict between good and evil, and exactly why Christianity has insulted God's name. And why so many atrocities, like the "inquisition", were committed in the name of God.

      Be vigilant Bible students, my friends, the wise shall understand. Remember, we have a tempter who does not sleep.  All his power is exerted to wrest us from the hands of God through his inducements to sin and unbelief. Some people doubt his existence, saying he is a mythological aberration, but those blind to his devices are his easiest prey.

     Our God is faithful and able to preserve us according to His divine plan. Remember His promise to the saints: "Blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14).

    And remember this important fact: God's special warning in Daniel 12 IS FOR TODAY, as the Abomination of Desolation will soon change its tactics from charm to force in an attempt to control humanity; this will be covered in the next chapter.