After faithfully serving Satan for many years by having orchestrated the martyrdoms of numerous Christians and the imprisoning many others, the Apostle Paul would be the one to consult relative to the power of Satan in the life of religious people who do not know the Biblical God. This includes those who believe they know Him but in fact do not KNOW Him and are not KNOWN BY Him. The Christian-hating man known as Saul, while serving the god of this world (Satan–2 Cor. 4:4), was absolutely positive that he was serving the God of the Israelites–the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He “knew” that he was obeying the God who had freed his ancestors from Egyptian slavery by performing a series of incredible miracles, then had led them into the Promised Land, parting both the Red Sea and the Jordan River so that they could walk into freedom on dry land. Saul “knew” that he knew that great god and that that great god not only knew him, but directed all of his (Saul’s) actions which he (Saul) did on his god’s behalf which included persecuting his god’s most hated enemy–the church.

In the Book of Acts we find Paul explaining his previous actions against the church. Here he is testifying that he was both a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee, and that he had lived in strict adherence to the religion of the Pharisees from his youth (23:6; 26:5) In his letter to the churches in Galatia he said about his former life that he had been more devoted to his religion than his fellow Pharisees, and that he had been exceedingly zealous for “THE TRADITIONS OF MY FATHERS.” In today’s church world we find some 2 1/2 billion people who, like Paul, are exceedingly zealous for the traditions of their fathers, otherwise known as “Christianity.” Unlike Paul, they have not had a Damascus Road Experience with Jesus Christ.

Paul’s encounter with Jesus Christ took place when he was on his way to capture Christians who had fled to Damascus, Syria in order to avoid being persecuted by them in Jerusalem. Prior to that event, he had been totally loyal to the customs of his religious elders. Following his introduction to Jesus, his total reversal of life (his “walk”) came as a result of his reading, believing and obeying the Law of God. In Romans 7:9-13 we find him saying about that his soul-saving, darkness-to-light, death-to-life transition that, as a Pharisee and not subject to the Law, he believed he was spiritually alive. But then came his Damascus Road encounter with Jesus Christ (vs 9). Everything changed after that. First and foremost, he was introduced to God’s Ten Commandment Law. This was the point at which he realized that he was a sinner–a transgressor of God’s Law–and therefore spiritually dead. He also realized that the god he had been so zealously serving was counterfeit and that the religion he “knew” was legitimate, was also fake. He also realized that he had been what Jesus Christ would identify as a FALSE PROPHET. Upon embrcing these truths Paul wrote about himself: “I died.”

To his amazement and regret, Paul realized that the commandments, which were designed to produce eternal life had instead brought about eternal death BECAUSE HE HAD LIVED IN OPPOSITION TO THEM (vs 10). He explained that Satan had kept him in sin by having him obey the traditions (customs) of his Pharisaical fathers, which involved persecuting those who obeyed God’s Law (His church). God-defined sin, which had been hidden from him by his ignorance of the Law, had deceived him, and in so doing, had spiritually destroyed him (vs 11).

In verses 12 and 13 Paul confesses that the Ten Commandment Law is “holy, just and good.” Then he asks a question: Could that which was good (the Law) render him spiritually dead? His response: GOD FORBID! He explains to the Galatian churches and us that the holy, just, good Law cannot make one a sinner. It simply tells us what sin is (“the transgression of the Law”–1 Jn. 3:4). The Law brings life to those who obey it and death to those who disobey it. Because of His righteousness and grace, the Almighty tells us how to please Him (obey His Law) and what He will do FOR those who do so. He also tells us what He will do TO those who fail to do so. An excellent summary of this holy covenant is found in Deuteronomy 28. If you have not read that most enlightening chapter, I highly recommend that you do so as soon as possible in that it was written not only for church people during Paul’s time, but also for us who are living at the end of the age (1 Cor. 10:11). The Lord’s command to obey His Law–or else–brings up a deadly serious problem which has infected the New Testament Church for almost 2000 years-HER REJECTION OF GOD’S LAW– SPECIFICALLY COMMANDMENT NUMBER FOUR–THE SABBATH LAW. This in spite of the fact that the Word (Who came to earth as Jesus of Nazareth–Jn. 1:1-4,14) wrote the Ten Commandments in stone with His finger. It is that Law, along with the writings of the Old Testament prophets, upon which the New Testament Church was founded (Eph. 2:20/ 2 Pet. 1:21) and upon which she rests today.

Question: TO WHY DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH REJECT GOD’S LAW AND THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS WHEN JESUS SAID HE DID NOT COME TO DESTROY THE LAW OR THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS, BUT RATHER TO FULFILL THEM–PREACH AND LIVE THEM TO THE FULLEST (Mat. 5:17). WHY DOES THE MODERN DAY CHURCH REJECT GOD’S LAW WHICH DEFINES SIN AND RIGHTEOUSNESS? (SIN IF WE BREAK IT–RIGHTEOUSNESS IF WE OBEY IT). We will delve deeply into that question in the following posting. If you have not already come to grips with the church’s deadly relationship with God relative to His Law, the following posting will hopefully entice you to do so. Simply put: IT IS A MATTER OF ETERNAL LIFE AND DEATH. Using the key word–Old will take you to several series dealing with the exalted place the Law occupies in God’s New Testament Church. Law-rejecting churches are not God’s churches, but are rather Satan’s counterfeits that pose as God’s churches. The extreme irony of this situation is that, though different in a variety of ways, each so-called “church” claims to have as her head the same divine entity–the Lord Jesus Christ. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER SATAN EXERCIZES OVER PROFESSING CHRISTENDOM. L.J.