When God created Adam He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Not only did God’s breath give life to a dead man, it also gave man the power to understand various options, weigh the merits of each, then make a decision using his human spirit. No other earthly creature (created entity) has this ability. The spirit that God breathed into man is called “… the spirit that is in man. The breath (spirit) of the almighty gives him understanding” (Job 32:8). Man can reason, understand and choose because of his HUMAN SPIRIT given to him by God. But the most important aspect of man’s spirit is that it enables him to commune with God. Through his spirit man can hear God’s voice and reply to Him by way of the Holy Spirit. It is through the Holy Spirit that God and man commune (Heb. 1:1,2/Acts 1:2/1Cor. 2:10,11). This is expressed in such statements as “… and the Spirit said ….”, “… the Spirit bade me go,” etc. This is God speaking to man. Man replies to God via the same Spirit. More on the Holy Spirit later.

In First Corinthians 2:10,11 Paul explains the importance of man’s spirit. “God has revealed them (what God has prepared for His people) unto us by His (Holy) Spirit; for the Spirit searches (reveals) the deep things of God …. What man knows the things of a man except by the SPIRIT OF MAN which is in him …? Therefore, the things of God no man knows except BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.” God uses His Holy Spirit to reveal His Will to man, who is able to hear God’s Spirit-carried Words through his (man’s) spirit.

In Eden God offered man His spiritual knowledge. Man chose Satan’s spiritual knowledge. God had made clear to Adam and Eve the fact that obedience to His Words would result in life, and that disobedience to them would result in death. Satan convinced them that the opposite was true. How? First, he performed a miracle–he knew what God had told them. How did he know? Today it is called a “word of knowledge” which God’s ministers have used from the days of the prophets. Next, he quoted what God had told them–what God’s messengers have always done. Third, he spoke in their language–miraculous in that the serpent was not one of their kind. Today false prophets preach wonderful messages, quote Scripture, heal the sick, give words of knowledge, lead world-wide congregations, etc. by which they convince the masses of their positive standing with God. They then convince their listeners to join their religious organization where they are pronounced “saved.” For those who do not believe that Satan can duplicate many of the acts of God, and that anyone who does the above must be of God, let us briefly return to Phillippi where Paul and Silas were being followed by a girl possessed by a demon who repeatedly shouted out that they were the servants of the most high God who would show the people the way to salvation–every word true. But Paul cast out of her the demon (Satan’s messenger) that was speaking the truth. Earlier, the witch/wizard of Endor, using a familiar spirit (demon), raised Samuel from the dead (1 Sam. 28). Never underestimate the power of Satan. Now let us see how he uses modern false prophets (who do not know they are false prophets) to convince people to reject God and to follow him.

The key to the process is found in Matthew 16:23 where Peter, who had earlier professed that Jesus was the Son of God, has now accused Him of lying. Looking at Peter, Jesus commanded Satan to come out of him, thereby identifying the source of Peter’s words. Jesus then reveals to us how the devil is so successful in deceiving men to follow him: “… you (Satan) are not concerned about the things of God, BUT THE THINGS OF MEN.” That statement sums up Satan’s attack strategy–GIVE MAN WHAT HE WANTS AND HE WILL FOLLOW YOU. What does man want? SELF-RULE. By convincing religious man that God’s church is whatever he (man) wants it to be, Satan has captured the hearts (minds) and souls (bodies) of multiplied millions (more on the soul-body question later). In 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Paul noted that the god of this world (Satan) had blinded the eyes of those who were perishing, causing them to reject the gospel that Jesus, the prophets and apostles taught and to embrace the teachings (“things”) of men. Nothing has changed; “the church” is still blinded by Satan and will continue in a state of blindness until the end. As Revelation 12:9 attests, Satan has deceived the whole world, which includes the worldly, Satan-empowered, man-directed Counterfeit Church System. The number of her sects continues to grow as congregations split over the question of “saved” homosexuals and homosexual ministers. The fact that homosexuals are allowed in “the church” proves that Satan is in control. The loaf has been thoroughly leavened. How does this happen? The same way it happened in Eden.

Adam and Eve failed to react when Satan contradicted God’s Words: “You shall not surely die.” Why this failure? They had not focused on God’s Words. Therefore they failed to become alarmed upon hearing the contradiction. The FBI’s method of detecting counterfeit bills shows us how to know when we hear or read something that is not of God–they study only the real thing. Multiplied hours of examining a true bill makes it easy for them to spot a fake. The principle applies perfectly to the study of God’s Word. Through diligent study of the real one immediately knows when the fake is presented. But churchman is much too busy with sports, the news, recreation, entertainment to give God a couple of hours each day. But why should he in that he’s already “saved?”

As long as the apostles were alive they managed to expose Satan’s work within the New Covenant Church. Alerted by the Lord, Paul warned that following his death, savage wolves (false prophets) would destroy the church and not spare the sheep. They would speak perverse things (“another gospel”-Gal. 1:6-9) in order to draw away disciples to themselves, thereby creating divisions (denominations-more later) within the body (Acts 20:29). Satan’s divide and conquer strategy has succeeded greatly as proved by the number of “churches” found throughout the world today. Thus the world is inundated with conflicting, contradicting, contending organizations, each calling itself “the church,” each rejecting God’s Word and Him in its own unique way, each claiming that it is God’s chosen vessel to lead wayward men to heaven. To be continued