Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Aug 2nd The Saturday Morning Post – The Devil’s To-Do List

Today’s Passage – Isaiah 14 – 18 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Luke 21 – 22; Psalms 6 – 10; Proverbs 2)

Read the “0802 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:12-15)

Good morning. Have you checked your To-Do list today? I’m sure the devil checked his. He knows his time is running out. In as few as seven years from now, he will be cast into a bottomless pit: held captive there for one-thousand years. Then the devil will be released (but not for good behavior) and deceive the nations once again, and then he is cast into the Lake of Fire that was prepared for him. So he knows his time is short. If we know what is on the devil’s To-Do list, maybe we could help him not to get anything on the list done. So here it is…

1) Devour someone.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” (1Peter 5:8-9)

It is not just you that the devil wants to devour, but your brothers and sisters in Christ from across the street and around the world. We must resist him: stand on our faith in Christ…

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

2) Steal God’s Word.

“Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.” (Matthew 13:18-19)

And no wonder they do not understand with all the perversions of the Bible available today. Many verses have been changed or left out; words have been changed or left out. God said he would preserve His Word…

“The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” (Psalm 12:6-7)

But the devil is smart, he even steals parts of verses. If you have an NIV (non-inspired version) bible (small ‘b’ on purpose) God’s Bible should only be capitalized), and you were trying to cast out a demon and found you could not do it. You would look for an example in your NIV bible. You would be led to find Matthew 17 and the account of the disciples failing to cast out a demon. You would read verse 20, and then find the passage jumps to verse 22. But where verse 21 should be, the NIV tells you to see Mark 9:29. You turn to Mark 9 and it says…

“He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

You sadly walk away, saying, “But I did pray. What went wrong?”

What went wrong? The devil stole a verse and some words…

“Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:21)

“And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29)

We can’t afford to be led astray by perverted translations of God’s True and Holy Word. Stand on the King James Bible – it’s the only Authorized Version.

3) (NOTE to self: Save this one for last!) Bow the knee, and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11)

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

So submit yourself to God, and stand on His preserved Word for the English speaking people: the King James Bible. Then you can sit back in Heaven and watch #3 happen. You should also bring others with you to see this great event: the devil hates soul winning too!

Peace!