The Sin of Rebellion Lesson 1 Religion has always been Satan s great tool of deception; sadly religion has infiltrated the church of Jesus Christ and

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1 The Sin of Rebellion Lesson 1 Religion has always been Satan s great tool of deception; sadly religion has infiltrated the church of Jesus Christ and the majorities who claim to be Christians are deceived by a false gospel of works what individuals have to do and give up to be accepted, which opposes the true gospel of grace through faith not of works. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Individuals are saved by grace! Grace means the outworking of God s agape unconditional love which is unearned, unmerited and undeserved favor for sinners, as expressed through the free gift of salvation He has provided for us in our Lord Jesus Christ. The means whereby God saves us is through faith in the promises of His word concerning Christ s sacrificial death, Holy redeeming blood, resurrection and ascension back to heaven to sit down at the right hand of the Father as the only mediator of the New Covenant. Without knowledge of Gods word no one can have faith to be saved, faith comes by hearing or reading God s word. Through knowledge of God s word we gain faith to receive the free gift of salvation which was freely provided by God s amazing grace. Hence we are saved by grace through faith! Salvation is all of God and nothing of self before we were saved we were dead in trespass and sin and could do absolutely nothing to save ourselves. God draws sinners to Himself by His amazing grace, as we respond to God s grace He puts the desire in our hearts to get to know Him through knowledge of His word. We are not saved by grace alone; we are saved by the twin work of grace and faith, without faith it is impossible to please God! Grace causes one to desire to truly want to know God through knowledge of the scriptures. No word knowledge, no saving faith! God is no respecter of persons and desires that everyone be saved; as He has made salvation available to all people of all time, His grace is the same towards everyone! Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all mankind. Gods grace works upon all people; some respond to God s grace others reject God s grace! God is not as dictator; God is love and desires a love relationship with each and every one of us. We know that God is not a

2 dictator because He has given everyone free choice, and God will never violate the free will or free choice He has given to us as individuals. Where free will or freedom of choice is restricted and individuals are controlled, dominated and manipulated the spirit of witchcraft is the ruling power. We are saved by grace through faith: not of works lest any man boast. No amount of good works can earn us right standing with God! No amount of religious law keeping can earn us right standing with God! Abstinence by giving up all vices cannot earn us right standing with God! Belonging to a particular religion cannot buy one favor with God! God s plan of salvation involved the death of Christ who gave His sinless life a ransom for sin to cancel out sin and sins power to condemn us to the second death eternal torment in the lake of fire and brimstone. This truth must be believed and forgiveness received by the individual by faith, before salvation becomes a reality in our lives. The word saved means that a work was done and completed in the past, which continues to have present results. The work of salvation was done and completed by Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who gave His life as the once for all perfect sacrifice for sin, to set us free from the wages of sin which is guilt, condemnation, sickness, pain, suffering and eternal punishment for sin in damnation the second death! Jesus sacrificial death and redeeming blood which was poured out on our behalf freely provided forgiveness of sin, peace with God, freedom from the guilt of sin, righteousness; which is right standing with our Holy God, eternal life, physical healing, prosperity, a new glorified body in the eternal coming world. No amount of self effort could provide the blessings of the atonement we have in Christ Jesus our Lord. Satan comes only to steal, kill and destroy! In the days in which we now live Satan s agents have infiltrated the body of Christ and caused the majority to turn away from the true way of Salvation By grace through faith in the completed work of the atonement in Christ Jesus to a false gospel of works, religious law keeping and abstinence, which they think gives them right standing with God. Those who minister this false gospel are wolves in sheep s clothing; their aim is to get a following after themselves! They are not working for the extension of Christ s kingdom they are busy building their own kingdoms for their own financial gain. Their end is the second death in the place of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth eternal torment in the place that was prepared for Satan and his demons. True ministers who are called appointed and anointed of God are servants to Christ s body; we are here to serve, care for and feed Christ s flock with

3 His word, true ministers walk in humility, love and compassion towards Christ s sheep. As opposed to Satan s false ministers who walk in pride and use the power of witchcraft to control, dominate and manipulate their sheep. They are wolves in sheep s clothing who see the sheep as their private possession and can therefore do as they please with the poor sheep. The true minister sees the sheep as Christ s possession; He bought His sheep with His own life s blood! The true Pastor who is called of God will constantly point the sheep to the Chief Shepherd, who is the author and finisher of our faith and Head of His Body. The false Pastor sees himself as the spiritual leader over his flock, therefore the sheep must obey him and only him, they teach that the sheep must serve the Lord through the pastor. No! Such teaching has no biblical foundation and leads the sheep into idolatry whereby they idolize the man- the pastor. Such wolves in sheep s clothing use the power of witchcraft to control, dominate, manipulate and exercise authority over their congregations. They even try to get their own way through threatening and speaking a curse over members or their congregation. Only sheep that are ignorant of God s word would follow such a one as pastor. We need no man to teach us the things of God the Holy Ghost is our teacher, however God has set apostles, pastors and teachers in His body, therefore it is vitally important that believers are taught by those whom God has called and appointed. LESSON TWO The word of God admonishes believers, Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not! (Rom 12:14) No born again spirit filled minister of Christ would try and get individuals to obey them by speaking a curse on any one. Such practices are Satan inspired and not God ordained! A causeless curse shall not come to pass as seen in Proverbs 26:2 THE CURSE CAUSELESS SHALL NOT COME! We must not live in fear of a curse, if we fear something the power of fear will cause it to come to pass, Job said, That which I greatly feared has come upon me! (Job 3:25) God has not given us the spirit of fear but the spirit of love, power and a sound mind. (2Tim 1:7) So we must use the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to cancel out any curse words which have been spoken over us. As far a submission is concerned members of Christ s body must submit in love and humility to one another, walking in grace not condemnation, always building one another up never pulling one another down. Rebuke in love when necessary and point the individual to God s word for correction and reproof. Concerning a brother or sister who sins against you, we must follow the procedure laid down by the Lord in

4 Mathew 18:15-17 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. If your brother or sister in Christ transgress against you, by grieving your soul, by deceiving you, by affronting you, treating you with contempt, using or abusing you, or discredits your name by a false report, or gossips against you falsely, that person is guilty of causing hurt to Christ s body, Jesus being the Head of His body feels the hurt done to His child therefore it is also a trespass against the Lord. When wrong has been done restitution must be made to the best our ability and power before we can have the comfort of forgiveness of sin. To say sorry is not sufficient neither in God s eyes or the eyes of the one that has been transgressed against. If the transgressor is truly sorry he/she will undo the evil which they have done.( See Luke19:8) Those who are not willing to bring about restitution by undoing their evil deeds abuse the grace of God, and so bring upon themselves a swift destruction. (1Thes 4:6) We must submit to the word of the Living God, His word must be our final authority we do not submit to pastors, priests, elders, husbands or anyone who are themselves not walking in submission to God s word. We most certainly do not submit to those who control, dominate and manipulate to get what they want to get their own way! Jesus said to His disciples: John 20:25-28 Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. BUT IY SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be a minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. The princes of the Gentiles are rulers over the people, political as well as religious; their way is to exercise dominion and authority over their subjects. They see themselves as Great Men who have the power to do

5 anything their evil heart desired, which is always for their own personal selfish satisfaction and gain they use and abuse all under their dominion. The sheep must be their slaves! Pride breeds self-deceit therefore they deceive themselves into thinking that their evil deeds are good works, they are so deceived that they cannot see their terrible state of depravity wickedness. Jesus said to His disciples this attitude of pride, dominion and authority, SHALL NOT BE SO AMONGST YOU! In other words Jesus was saying to His disciples who include us today, Do not see yourself as a LEADER but as a SERVANT, do not Lord it over my heritage, say s the Lord! Jesus Christ alone is the head of His body, every member of Christ body is a joint heir with Jesus, we have differing functions or ministries in the body and must respect each other in our particular calling, but we do not play Lord over another blood bought child of God. Those who see themselves as Spiritual Leader over a Body of believers are sitting in Christ s role and are therefore antichrists. Antichrist means other christ or substitute christ - one who sits in Christ s place or role. The Pope for example is an antichrist one who claims the title holy father which title belongs only to the one true Holy Father, whose throne is in heaven. Christ s disciples are to walk in humility; if your calling is to teach, teach with humility and give God all the glory for opening up His word to you! If you calling is that of a Pastor you must be a servant to the Lords sheep, instruct them out of God s word always pointing them to the Chief Shepherd, council them, comfort them in their trials, laugh with them when they laugh and feel their pain when they are sad, but never exercise proud dominion and authority over them. (See1Peter 5:1-4) Regardless of our ministry role we must see ourselves as servants to Christ s sheep; this attitude of mind will stop us falling into the pit of pride which will bring us low. Pride is a sin which we must constantly be on our guard against because it is present in our corrupt human nature- none is exempt so we must put it to death to be a successful minister to Christ body. We will now take a look at the power of witchcraft and how it operates because it is at work in most churches, homes and governments. Witchcraft comes in many guises, firstly there are those who claim the title witch who practice black magic, they openly confess to follow Satan and use his satanic emblems and symbols to release satanic power such as amulets something carried or worn as a charm. Superstitious objects, relics, fetishes object believed to have magical powers, drugs, strong drink and music. In religious circles demons are at work behind all idols and statues, whether they are statues of the Virgin Mary so called saints, crucifixes, the true Jesus

6 is alive and well and is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven interceding for His body here on earth. Pictures of a so called jesus with white skin. The true Jesus was a Jew and the color of His skin was brown. There are demons at work behind all religious statues when we respond to God s grace and become born of God s Spirit all statues and religious relics must be destroyed and the demons at work behind them tied up in spiritual chains and rendered powerless, using the power and authority of the name of The Lord Jesus Christ, all demons know that they must obey Christ s name. Those who do not destroy their idols are kept in satanic bondages to poverty or sickness and disease! The Lord God anointed Saul as King of Israel and his obedience to the will and word of God was put to the test. King Saul failed the test he refused to obey the Lords instructions and blamed his rebellion on fear of the people. The carnal- man always finds an excuse for his willful disobedience to God s word.(see 1Samuel 15:24-26) Because of his disobedience to God s clear instructions King Saul was deposed from his position as king over Israel. God will not allow those who oppose the clear instruction of his word through their pride, rebellion and stubbornness to continue in the ministry. 1Samuel For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry! Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. There are four key words in our text rebellion, witchcraft, stubbornness and idolatry. Rebellion is open resistance to the authority of God s word! Rebellion entered the human race with Adams sin of rebellion against the authority of God s word. Adams rebellious nature was imputed to the entire human race, we did not choose to be sinners we were born sinners and we must put the old rebellious sin nature to death. Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the foul of the air; and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. The two key words in the above text are subdue and have dominion. Subdue: keep under your control! Dominion: rule or govern! God made Adam King over all the earth, when God pronounced this blessing, Eve had not yet been taken out of Adam regardless of this truth God pronounced the blessing on THEM, not to Adam only. They were to

7 rule as joint ambassadors over God s creation, under God s direction and guidance submitting to the authority of God s word. They were to do everything together as one body a husband and wife are one flesh. They were to rule the earth as one walking in obedience to God s instruction. It appears that Adam broke allegiance with Eve and entered into a relationship or league with Satan without his wife s knowledge. Adam willfully disobeyed God s Commandment, Do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, if you do you will die By siding with Satan in rebellion against God s clear instruction Adam had already eaten the forbidden fruit of evil and rebellion against the authority of God s word. The Bible teaches, By one man sin entered the world (Romans5:12) Eve on the other hand was deceived by Satan and her husband stood by and watched the deception take place. (2Cor 11:3, 1Tim 2:14)Because Eve was deceived she became a sinner like Adam! Adam deceived his wife on two counts 1) by making a league with Satan behind her back 2) he allowed Satan to deceive her. Adam was not deceived he deliberately and willfully dishonored God by rebelling against His commandment. They both fell from their state of sinless perfection but they did not both commit the same sin, Eve was deceived by Adams silence and Satan s lies. Lucifer was the first of God s creation to rebel against his Creator, Lucifer s motivation for his rebellion was pride and jealousy he wanted to be worshipped as God. The Bible does not reveal how Adam joined league with Satan in rebellion against God, but pride and self-will is evident. It must have been as follows, Satan said to Adam You have been given power to rule the earth, as supreme ruler you do not need another to tell you what you can do or should not do. If you join league with me you will be able to do what ever you want to do, Adam made the decision to rebel against God and pride was born in him. Adam s pride and rebellion was imputed to all his offspring s even down to our day, six thousand years later. We see this pride and rebellion at work in the family situation, God has given parents authority over their children, and commanded the Children to obey your parents. Parents are to control and govern their children under God s authority using God s word as their direction and guidance. Very often in the family situation the role is reversed children control their parents. Example: You are out shopping and your child sees something and decides she wants it, but you say, No! The child reacts by throwing a tantrum and bursts into a fit of rage, past experience has taught the child, if I shout loud enough, scream, cry, bite and hit out, and don t give up, I will get what I

8 want The child is using the power of witchcraft to get what she wants, and is controlling, dominating and manipulating the situation. In the end the mother gives up because she is embarrassed by her child s behavior. Immediately the child gets what she wants the tears dry up, there is a big smile of victory on her face, she won and knew that her mother would break and give in to her demands under such pressure. What caused the child to behave in such a terrible way? Adams rebellious inherited sin! Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and opens the door to satanic power. Witchcraft controls, dominates and manipulates to get its own way! Many children are master manipulators under the power of witchcraft from a very young age because of Adam s inherited sin. The Bible teaches that we are in a spiritual battle against the power of evil spirits, the only way to break the devils power over a child that behaves in such a way is to bind the demons and cast them off the child in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let the child scream and kick for as long as she wants to teach her that when you say No! You mean No! According to Galatians 5:20-21 witchcraft is a work of the flesh which opens the door to demonic power! Rebellion, stubbornness and pride walk hand in hand and is part of the sin nature we were all born with, each individual must put this old man to death and not allow it to manifest in our lives. Rebellion, stubbornness and pride say I will do it my way; I will get what I want! Parents who do not understand the spiritual battle involved come under the control of the devil, instead of parents ruling over their children, the children rule, and control and dominate their parents. Wives control, dominate and manipulate their husbands to get their own way, and use weapons such as guilt, accusations and threatening to get their own way, If you don t do such and such a thing I will leave you and take the children home to my mothers house! Once again this is witchcraft in operation. Husbands control, dominate and manipulate their wives, you will do it my way, if you don t I will beat you! Once again this is witchcraft at work using fear to get its own way. Rebellion is a master trouble maker which releases the power of witchcraft; the following is another example of how the power of witchcraft is released through rebellion. Thomas goes to his father and says, I want to go to the basket ball match tomorrow, I need more money Sorry son, I already gave you your weekly allowance, if you have spent it all that is your problem The Father is wanting to teach his son to be wise and practical with money. Thomas moves into rebellion and decides I will go to the match; I will get the money from mother. Behind his fathers back he goes to his mother who is busy ironing his school uniform and says, Mammy

9 you are working too hard, sit down and take a rest! Not knowing that she is being manipulated she thinks what a good boy I have, he is so caring and loving She switches off the iron and sits down to rest a while. Thomas now has his mothers full attention; he gets on her knee, puts his arms around her neck and proceeds to tell her that she is the best mother in all the world. The moment is right and he goes in for the kill. Mammy all my friends are going to the basketball match tomorrow but Father says I cannot go! He has told a lie, the reason he cannot go to the match is because he carelessly spent all his allowance and did not budget for the match. Please, please let me go, I have saved two pesos from my allowance, all I need is 48 pesos. Please, please mothers don t make me miss the match. He is being very subtle and cunning, but mother is thinking that her son is being kind, loving and caring so gives him what he wanted. Thomas triumphantly goes to his father and says, I am going to the match, mammy gave me the money, she is not mean like you! father goes to mother and they start to argue over the situation. Thomas does not care that he has caused strife between his parents, he got what he wanted and that was all that mattered to him. Rebellion opens the door to demonic power being released into a situation to cause strife and much trouble. All religious leaders who teach false doctrines are master manipulators, who control, dominate and manipulate their congregations using the power of witchcraft to bind the people to themselves. Why do multitudes of educated people pray to lifeless images, and give offerings of flowers and food to dead images that cannot hear, see nor speak? Because they are bewitched- deceived by the power of witchcraft! Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and a rebellious heart is an evil heart! Proverbs 17:11 An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him. Those who claim the titles pastors and priests and walk in rebellion against the clear instruction of God s Word who control, dominate, manipulate and abuse the sheep for their own pleasure and selfish gain are allowed to carry on for a season, then God s word goes into action and a cruel messenger shall be sent against them for their destruction. So say s God s word! We must guard our hearts against the sin of rebellion and be careful never to control, dominate and manipulate others, to get what we want to get our own way. If we do we are opening ourselves up to demons of witchcraft who will lead us into satanic bondage and we will loose the blessings of God. How do we recognize or discern between the wheat and the tares which grow together until the harvest is ripe?

10 The true apostle, pastor or teacher will direct a work under God s direction and guidance and will acknowledge the Lord in all his ways. They are not building their own kingdoms or doing what they want to do, but are wholly submitted to doing the will of the Lord and wait on the Lords provision to carry out His will. The true minister will walk in loving humility and serve the body see him/herself as a servant not a leader. A God ordained minister will council and give advice and leave the individual to make their own decision, and be led by the Holy Ghost. A God ordained minister will never violate the free will that God has given to every individual. A wolf in sheep s clothing on the other hand does as he wants and sees fit and uses the power of witchcraft to finance himself. You must pay ten percent of your earnings into my ministry, if you do not you will be cursed with a curse and they will use Old Testament scripture to force you to give through fear and threat of a curse coming upon you. How terrible! We are no longer living under the Old Covenant of law but the New Covenant of grace and no one is under obligation to pay ten percent of their earnings into religious organization. God loves a cheerful giver, we are to acknowledge God in all our ways and He will direct our steps, which includes our giving into His work. Jesus said Give and it will be given unto you, pressed down shaken together and running over. (Luke 6:38) God accepts our free will offerings and blesses us accordingly. Wolves in sheep s clothing control dominate and manipulate their followers and get them to do whatever their evil rebellious hearts desire, even to the point of sexually abusing children, and then they make the child feel guilty by telling them, it was what they wanted! Wolves in sheep s walk in rebellion they refuse to submit their will in obedience to God s word, but rather choose to do things their own way for their own selfish gain. Wolves in sheep s clothing are proud, pride breeds self-deceit so they are incapable of seeing their true state of wickedness. Wolves in sheep s clothing are stubborn obstinate; self willed; unyielding and therefore refuse to obey God s word. The true minister of Christ will constantly point to the fact that we have redemption and forgiveness of sin through Jesus sacrificial death and Holy redeeming blood. The Wolf in sheep s clothing will point to what the individual must do to gain right standing with God pay your tithes, attend church regularly, give up all vices etc. Colossians 1:14 in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Jesus sacrificial death and holy blood perfectly atoned for the sins of the whole world once for all. Nothing but faith in the blood of Jesus can keep us in right standing with God.

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