FEAST OF TABERNACLES – Day 5 – 2004

Fred R. Coulter – October 4, 2004

And greetings, brethren. Welcome to the Feast of Tabernacles, Day 5, 2004. Today we are going to look at Satan’s kingdom, the false kingdom that he is going to set up right at the end time, which is going to look like it’s the best that humans have ever done religiously, governmentally, and economically. Let’s look first of all and see how Satan got his power. Now you see, the truth is, Satan does not have a kingdom. He thinks he has a kingdom. He thinks his kingdom over all the demons that fell with him, the angels who rebelled as we find there in Revelation 12 and Isaiah 14 and in Ezekiel 28; how that he considered himself as good as God, and how was it that he deceived the angels - one-third of them into following him. They became the demons, the principalities, the powers of this age. Now they have no kingdom. Let’s understand that. But they have a kingdom by stealth.

And we go back and we look at what happened to Adam and Eve. First of all, God created them. And He gave them and all mankind the territorial rights to the whole world. And God has put all the nations where they are according to the number of the children of Israel. And so God is the one Who established the nations. And God is the one Who has given them sovereignty, which is a very key thing when we understand the kingdom of Satan. That’s why it is a kingdom “which is, and is not, and yet is,” as we will see described in the book of Revelation. Satan still uses the same tactics that he used on Adam and Eve, which I am sure that he used on the angels who fell with him to convince them to follow him, and to convince them to worship him as God instead of the true God. So what happened? Satan always works this way. First of all, he challenges God. And he did so with Eve by saying, “Is it really true that God said you can’t eat of any of the trees in the garden?” Which he knew was a lie. And of course, Eve had to respond. And then he played on her lust - the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the lust to make one wise; and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now when Adam did so, they gave part of their sovereignty to Satan. And Satan had a toe-hold into this world. As things progressed, after Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden - because the truth is this: you cannot dwell with God and dwell in sin. And that’s the whole lesson of the Garden of Eden. Now you can come as they did to the east gate, where the cherubim were put in the Garden of Eden, to fellowship with God and have your sins covered. But nevertheless, they gave this world to Satan. And that is shown in the actions of Cain when he killed Abel, and shown in the actions of the whole population that absolutely corrupted itself which God had to destroy in the days of Noah because it was so evil. And it was because they were worshiping Satan the devil.

Now when Jesus Christ came (and we also know that Satan is called the god of this world) one of the first tasks that Jesus had to do was establish the sovereignty of God among His people by dethroning Satan the devil. However, even though he has been dethroned as it were, his kingdom still has the power until the return of Christ. So in conquering Satan the devil, Jesus opened the way so that with the Spirit of God and the Word of God, and through repentance and conversion, now God can call the people that He wants to rule in the kingdom of God with Jesus Christ. So let’s come here to Luke 4, and let’s see this struggle. And let’s see how Jesus Christ did not give any sovereignty to Satan. And this becomes a very important thing when we understand what’s going on in the world; when we understand how that Satan is going to also deceive the whole world and establish his one world government, which is coming. And it’s going to be profound.

So let’s see here, Luke 4, beginning in verse 1 (FV): “And Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days to be tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing in those days; and after they had come to an end, He hungered. Then the devil said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that this stone become bread’ ” (Luke 4:1-3, FV). Appeal to personal vanity; appeal to use the power of God in a wrong way. Now Jesus could have done it, couldn’t He? Yes He could have, just like He told Pilate, “Even at this hour I could call on God and He would send twelve legions of angels” (Matt. 26:53, paraphrased). But He didn’t do it because that was not God’s plan. So here is a misuse of power, a misuse of what God has given Christ to do as the Messiah - to heal the sick, to raise the dead, and so forth.

Now Jesus gave the answer. And as the Son of Man, the Son of God, He is showing the whole basis and the whole reason of how men need to live. And this is what Adam and Eve should have said to Satan clear back in the Garden of Eden. But they didn’t do it. And that’s why the sin of Adam and Eve is so great and noted all the way through the Bible. “But Jesus answered him, saying, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” ’ ” (verse 4, FV). And Matthew finalizes what was there in Deuteronomy 8: “...that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4, FV; Deut. 8:3). Now here comes the test of sovereignty for rulership, because mankind has given to Satan the devil sovereignty step by step by step, to rule over them. And the final kingdom of Satan the devil which is coming in the very near future - how long we have before that happens, we do not know; but we need to understand that there is every sign and every indication pointing to it. And it is coming; it is coming; it is coming; it is coming. And I think it’s high time that we be alert, that we be awake, that we understand what is going on, that we be busy doing, as Jesus said, our Father’s business.

Now verse 5: “Then the devil lead Him up into a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, ‘I will give You all this authority, and the glory of them all; for it has been delivered to me...’ ” beginning with Adam and Eve and all of those who follow and worship Satan the devil, they deliver their sovereignty, and as we will see, the sovereignty of their nations to Satan. “ ‘...And I give it to whomever I desire. Therefore, if You will worship me in my presence, all things shall be Yours’ ” (verses 5-7, FV). We need to understand, Jesus knew and realized that His kingdom was not of this world. And we need to understand that. We need to understand something also much more fundamentally important, which is this: only God can reform the world. Only God can remove Satan from his position. So all of the things that human beings do today to try and make the world a better place, at the very best their efforts are going to be temporary. But the die has been cast; the powers have been set in motion. And God has prophesied that it is coming. And this final kingdom of Satan is going to be as all-powerful and as all-consuming as Satan and human beings can make it.

So Satan is the one who takes the power, because it’s been given to him by human beings who have surrendered their personal sovereignty and their national sovereignty to him instead of God. Now let’s go on. What did Jesus say? “But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Get behind Me, Satan; for it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve” ’ ” (verse 8, FV). Any other thing is a false god. So then he led Him to Jerusalem. Now here again, we have misuse of power with the bread, we have misuse of power with the nations, and now we have another misuse of power to make God do something. Now the key is this: no man is ever going to command God to do anything. You need to understand that. God says that He would give to us if we ask; that He will provide for us if we seek; that He will open if we knock. So that’s where our attention needs to be directed. God will provide in all circumstances.

But we need to understand, never misuse God by trying to command Him to do something for you. And how many ministers have done that down through time? Where did they end up? What happened to their works, and their lands, and their buildings, and their colleges? See, God will not be mocked. Brethren, we are in the most fantastic and serious, profound battle that has ever come upon the earth. And this is a spiritual war of the greatest magnitude that has ever been. But we need to grasp that. And we need to understand that we are not here to please ourselves. We are not here to have a good time. We are not here to have a social club. We are here, as we have seen, to qualify to be rulers in the kingdom of God. We are here for salvation; we are here to preach the Word of God. We’re not here to do our own things. We’re not here to demand of God. Because when this kingdom of Satan comes into its fullest glory, which it will, then you’re going to understand that if you haven’t made the use of your time to grow, to change, to overcome, to have a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, you’re going to be just like the five foolish virgins who said, “Oh, give us oil!” There isn’t going to be any available.

Now Luke 4:9 (FV): “Then he led Him to Jerusalem and set Him upon the edge of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down from here; for it is written, “He shall give His angels charge concerning You to keep You; and in their hands they shall bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against the stone.” ’ ” Now let’s understand something else too: just because someone quotes Scripture does not necessarily mean they are telling you the whole truth. Satan will quote as much Scripture as necessary in order so that you will believe his version of it. And that’s why there are so many denominations in the world and so many religions in the world. That’s why the apostle Paul said that we are to prove all things and hold fast that which is good. And there are as many heresies among brethren as there are among ministers, and God is going to hold you accountable. You need to understand that. Let’s see what Jesus said: “But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘It is clearly stated, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God” ’ ” (verses 9-12, FV).

Now let’s see how it’s coming on this world. Let’s see how Satan is active. Satan is busy in government, in organizations, in movements, in schools, in economics, in education, and in the private personal lives of hundreds of millions, if not billions of people on this earth. And he is busy, and he is active, and he is working, and he is deceiving. Let’s come to Revelation 12:9 (FV). Let’s see what is happening in this world right today. And that’s how he’s going to bring in his final kingdom, the way he has always done it - through stealth and through human beings worshiping him, and giving the sovereignty of themselves and their nations to him.

“And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, who is deceiving [present tense active participle from the Greek – “who is deceiving”] the whole world...” And the ones that he wants to deceive more than anything else are those who have the Spirit of God. And how many have let themselves be deceived and discouraged and disillusioned and give up? Amazing, isn’t it? “...He was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him” (Rev. 12:9, FV).

Now let’s begin to look at how Satan does this. Satan is the god of this world, II Corinthians 4:4. Satan is a liar and has been a liar from the beginning. So the way that he operates is by deception. And he will tell as much truth as is necessary to deceive and make it look good. You need to understand that. Let me give you an example. Let’s look at a blatant lie, and everyone can understand that it’s a blatant lie. Here is a million dollar bill. And it mimics “The United States of America, In God We Trust,” one million dollars. But it’s a phony. Recently there was a woman arrested attempting to use this to buy goods. Some people are just plain stupid.

Now then, I want to show you another one. This is a twenty dollar, United States of America. You probably have some in your pocket. And the new ones are colored so that they can eventually bring in the Amero. Because their plan is to defunct the dollar. This is a clever counterfeit. It has no value except what people accept it for. Now let me read you in the fine print. Hell loves fine print. “This note is legal tender for all debts public and private.” It’s worth nothing. Now if you want real money you have to have gold and silver because there is value, because God created value in those. There’s no value in it. And how do we get this? By the stealth of Satan the devil to institute the Federal Reserve System and usurp the power of Congress to create currency and give it to an international, independent, unregulated corporation called the Federal Reserve. And he has done this in every major nation in the world. See, they are under his control. They have given sovereignty to him.

Now let’s come to Revelation 17, and let’s read about this beast, because it describes it very aptly. And I think you will understand it even more by the time we’re finished with this sermon. And of course, you need to understand that there always has been by Satan an alliance of religion and economics and politics. And it’s pictured by what is given here in Revelation 17. Now it’s very interesting, because the prophecies in the book of Daniel, Daniel is told, “Go your way, for the words are sealed until the time of the end” (Dan. 12:9). And now we come to the book of Revelation, and the book of Revelation is the last book in the Bible. And the book of Revelation is that which reveals. And the book of Revelation is that which Christ said which will shortly come to pass. And the understanding of this comes at the end of the age when we look and see the reality of it. And the book of Revelation is looking at the world as a whole. And so when we read Revelation, when we come to understand Revelation, we need to understand that it’s talking about the vast scale of things on a worldwide basis. We’ll see that.

Now Revelation 17:1 (FV): “And one of the seven angels who had the seven vials came and spoke with me, saying to me, ‘Come here; I will show you the judgment of the great whore who sits upon many waters...’ ” Now the “waters” are important to understand, because we will see that in Revelation 13 in just a little bit. Let’s come over here to verse 15. The way you understand the Bible is to let the Bible interpret the Bible. And the way you understand the Bible is to obey the Bible in those things that you learn, beginning with the simple things. Too many people want to jump in and understand the complicated things. No. That’s not how to begin. You begin by keeping His commandments. You begin by loving God. You continue by studying His Word and growing in grace and knowledge, and let God give you the understanding, and do as the Bible says. The way you interpret the Bible is by the Bible itself - here a little, there a little, precept upon precept, and line upon line.

So here, verse 15 (FV) says: “Then he said to me, ‘The waters that you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.’ ” A worldwide event. See, we’re not dealing with a little mickey-mouse religious movement. And we are not dealing with just the Roman Catholic Church alone. We are dealing with all the religions of the world, and they are set, as we have seen, to bring in a one world religion. That’s why they have attacked, as we have seen, the Word of God with such vociferous evil to change it so that people won’t know the truth. Just like Pilate said to Jesus, “What is truth?” And that’s the way people are going to be because there are so many false Bibles out there, so many false religions out there. Where do you go? What do you do? How do you find it? And so even within the church of God there are great and deep problems.

So let’s come back here to verse 2. And as we read these things I want you to think of the magnitude of what is being said: “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication...” And that’s fornication with civil power, religious power, and economic power. “...And those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication” which is the propaganda of all the good, sweet things that come from the governments of this world. People can’t see straight because they don’t know God. So spiritually they’re blinded. They have given themselves over to not want the truth, so God is going to turn this world totally upside down and let it believe the lie and worship Satan the devil openly. And then they will learn the consequences of giving up the sovereignty of theirselves and their nations to Satan the devil.

Verse 3: “Then he carried me away in the spirit to a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, full of names of blasphemy.” Now seven heads and ten horns are always a symbol and sign of Satan’s system and his usurped kingdom that he has on this earth. “And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold and pearls and precious stones; and she had a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominations and the filthiness of her fornication; and across her forehead a name was written [the hard forehead of a harlot]: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (verses 3-5, FV). Now you go back and you read the book The Two Babylons by Alexander Hyslop and you are going to see that all the religions of the world come from ancient Babylon. And the religions of the world are Satan’s devices and organizations and people that work for him to deceive people away from the true Word of God. And so it’s coming.

Verse 6 (FV): “And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And after seeing her, I wondered with great amazement.” Because here is the apostle John receiving all of these visions of the great end time worldwide things that are coming on this earth. And here he is in about 95 A.D. receiving these things. And then to see that which comes up, which professes itself to be of God but is of Satan, he’s amazed: how did this happen?

“Then the angel said to me, ‘Why are you amazed? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, but is about to come up out of the abyss and go into perdition.’ ” Now how can you have something that was and is not? We’ll answer that today. Let’s continue here. Let’s see what’s going to happen. Because as I said before, there is a dividing line, a dividing sword, a dividing plummet that is coming between the world and the true saints of God. So we need to be prepared for it. We need to understand. Notice what it says: “ ‘And those who dwell on the earth, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world [that is, the Book of Life which was established from the foundation of the world], shall be astonished when they see the beast that was, but is not, and yet is’ ” (verses 7-8, FV). In other words, we are going to be forewarned. And we’re going to know. But I also want to tell you something else: this is not done in a corner. This is not done so deceptively and so secretly that other people in the world do not know about this. There are many warning voices going out by many people. And I’m going to read you one today. We’re going to take some excerpts from the book, Diplomacy By Deception, by Dr. John Coleman.

Now let’s understand something. If Satan is deceiving the whole world, that means there is a conspiracy, right? Yes. And who is leading it? Satan the devil. He also has another book, which I’ll give a sermon on again here a little later on, The Committee of 300. Because you see, Satan has those who worship him openly, those who do his bidding directly. And the great leaders and the great powers of this earth through their secret societies worship and serve Satan the devil, which includes leaders from every nation in the world. So today we’re going to find out, what is that beast that was, and is not, and yet is?

His first chapter is, “The Threat of the United Nations.” And we’re going to see how the United Nations fills that bill. We’re just going to cover some general principles that he has in his book. “The history of how the United Nations was created is a classic case of diplomacy by deception” (Diplomacy By Deception, Dr. John Coleman, 1993, page 1). Then he goes on to show that the United Nations is the successor of the defunct League of Nations, but actually continued all during the time that it was supposedly dead. And of course, the League of Nations was founded in Geneva, Switzerland. Now that’s why I have said, because the United Nations is proving itself so corrupt today, that it’s probably going to be reorganized and is probably going to go back to Geneva where the League of Nations buildings are still there, and yes, they are used by the United Nations for their non-governmental agencies. Did you know that? You’re going to be astounded with it.

Now there was a peace conference in January 18, 1919, and it had 70 delegates representing the international bankers from the 27 victorious allied nations. They set upon for reparations from Germany. The reparations went to the League of Nations. Finally the League of Nations was corrupted and went out of business. However, we need to understand this: the international bankers, “It was not until April 18, 1945...” And by the way, he points out that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was told two weeks after the attack of Pearl Harbor what he was to do to help set up a coming United Nations. Lesson number one, the way that they gain control is by war. I want you to think about that with this war on terror. “It was not until April 18, 1945 that the League of Nations dissolved itself, transferring all of its assets (mainly money taken from the German people after WWI, and war loans not repaid by the allies to the United States) [they transferred all that] to the United Nations. “In other words, the Committee of 300 never gave up on its plans for a One World Government and waited until the United Nations was in existence before dissolving the discredited League of Nations” (Diplomacy By Deception, page 5). Amazing stuff isn’t it? Absolutely amazing.

Now let’s understand something of what’s happening in the United States of America today. “In the case of the United States, the plan is not to overthrow the U.S. government or its Constitution, but to ‘make it negligible.’ ” Now you understand why all the federal judges have been doing what they’ve been doing, and tearing down the Constitution? “This has largely been accomplished by slowly and carefully implementing the socialist manifesto written in 1920 by the Fabian Society, which was based on the Communist Manifesto of 1848” (Diplomacy By Deception, page 6). Now let’s understand something: the Fabian Society has its schools in Oxford University in England, and they take the young men that they are able to use and manipulate and give them what is called a Rhodes Scholarship, after Cecil Rhodes who founded it. Now then, let’s understand something more profound: did you know that Bill Clinton attended Oxford, and did you know that he is part of this whole set up?

Let’s go on. You need to get the book and read it. “The warmed over League of Nations was thrust upon the U.S. Senate in 1945, dressed under a new label: the United Nations Treaty.” Now they had this giant thick treaty that they were given three days to approve. Now they should have rejected it. And here’s what we’re going to find out. This is the profound thing that most people do not understand concerning sovereign nations and the United Nations. But it’s just like the principle that I’ve already reiterated, which is this: Satan gets power and sovereignty by people giving it to him because they leave God and His ways and begin to follow him. We’ll see this. “A law, which is what a treaty is, must be clearly written and unambiguous.” Which is the whole bailiwick of the United Nations was totally so. “…The document was so poorly written and, in many instances, so vague, deceptive, and contradictory, that it could have been rejected on those grounds alone.” The United Nations Treaty was far from clearly written and unambiguous. “In any case, the United States, bound by its Constitution, could not [though they did] ratify the U.N. Treaty, for the following reasons…” And as we will see, this will help unravel the mystery of what it talks about, “the beast that was not, and yet is.”

It should have been rejected on this count. “(1) Our Constitution rests upon the bedrock of sovereignty...” Sovereignty means – we’ll define that in a little bit. Now, “(2) [in order to make a treaty, let’s understand this] The United Nations is not a sovereign body, having no measurable territory of its own. It is housed on U.S. territory in New York in a building loaned by the Rockefellers. Under the U.S. Constitution, we cannot make a treaty with any nation or body that lacks sovereignty. The United States could not (and cannot) make a treaty with a body or country having no sovereignty. The U.S. can make an agreement with a country or body having no sovereignty…” (Diplomacy By Deception, pages 7-8). Any body lacking the sovereignty, the agreement is null and void, ipso facto, by the very fact that they don’t have sovereignty. It’s meaningless. And you stop and think what they’re trying to bring on the whole world today, not only going in and obeying a One World Government, which is coming; and the audacity of some of the lawmakers in the United States Congress are calling for United Nations observers for the coming election in November. You think about those things. This is profound and serious difficulties, and this is how the whole beast at the end time, which is going to be formed around the United Nations or its soon-coming successor, is going to deceive the whole world.