1 00:00:02,669 --> 00:00:08,589 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:08,589 --> 00:00:13,349 moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 3 00:00:13,849 --> 00:00:21,370 Today, how can we characterize the tactics and methods of the Red Dragon of Revelation 12? 4 00:00:21,370 --> 00:00:27,329 And then how are these tactics and methods manifest in the governmental beast of today's 5 00:00:27,329 --> 00:00:34,850 world? We have been examining the book of Revelation chapters 12, 13, 14 through 17, 6 00:00:35,070 --> 00:00:41,469 really, in particular, in seeing how the book of Revelation corresponds to our world today, 7 00:00:41,530 --> 00:00:48,689 not some world in the far-off future after a rapture and then the onset of a seven-year 8 00:00:48,689 --> 00:00:56,030 great tribulation. No, the book of Revelation is meant to be read for us today, even as it was 9 00:00:56,030 --> 00:01:03,130 meant to be read for John's first audience in the first century. Today, our world is falling down 10 00:01:03,130 --> 00:01:08,849 around our ears. We don't know why we patiently articulate the way things ought to be under a 11 00:01:08,849 --> 00:01:14,810 constitutional republic created by wise and magnanimous founding fathers. While in the 12 00:01:14,810 --> 00:01:20,269 meantime, evil tyrants like our president, Congress, and court rob us of our liberties in front of our 13 00:01:20,269 --> 00:01:28,370 eyes, and we do nothing about it. Great evil, I submit to you, great evil, Red Dragon Revelation 12 14 00:01:28,370 --> 00:01:34,890 kind of evil, has swept the once Christian nation. I'm surprised at how fast this has happened, 15 00:01:35,090 --> 00:01:41,590 and most of us will not admit it. I'm frustrated with myself and with other evangelicals in particular 16 00:01:41,590 --> 00:01:46,989 because we excuse our present system as just a manifestation of an imperfect world that will 17 00:01:46,989 --> 00:01:50,989 not and cannot be redeemed until the literal thousand-year reign of Christ after a personal 18 00:01:50,989 --> 00:01:56,829 antichrist and seven-year great tribulation after we have been raptured into heaven. The American 19 00:01:56,829 --> 00:02:03,670 evangelical church has capitulated to this evil, virtually throwing up its figurative hands in the 20 00:02:03,670 --> 00:02:09,189 air saying, what can we do about it? It's just the world being the world. Let's see how many souls we 21 00:02:09,189 --> 00:02:15,310 can save before the rapture. I've heard this a number of times from both evangelical pastors and 22 00:02:15,310 --> 00:02:22,930 congregants. Oftentimes, a misinterpretation of Romans chapter 13, for example, is used to justify 23 00:02:22,930 --> 00:02:29,349 this from the Bible. Now, Paul says to be subject to governing authorities, but being subject to 24 00:02:29,349 --> 00:02:35,349 governing authorities does not mean searing our consciences from distinguishing between the good 25 00:02:35,349 --> 00:02:42,830 conduct and bad conduct those authorities are supposed to sanction. Implicit in Romans chapter 13 is that the 26 00:02:42,830 --> 00:02:50,449 good, i.e., along biblical lines, is done by those authorities. If we, the church, do not teach, 27 00:02:50,449 --> 00:02:57,289 model, and act on behalf of the good and against the bad, how will that world and its governments 28 00:02:57,289 --> 00:03:04,030 know the good from the bad? And this is doubly true. When our own charter, provided for us by the 29 00:03:04,030 --> 00:03:09,650 founding fathers, the Constitution declares that we, the people, are those governing authorities. 30 00:03:09,650 --> 00:03:16,289 How much more biblical and Christian should we be if that indeed is the case? When it comes to resisting 31 00:03:16,289 --> 00:03:22,849 unlawful and evil government authorities, Peter's rule before the Sanhedrin should be ours also. That 32 00:03:22,849 --> 00:03:30,229 is, we ought to obey God rather than man. The gospel, I submit to you, dear listener, has power to transform 33 00:03:30,229 --> 00:03:35,729 not only individual Christians within the church, but also the communities to which those Christians 34 00:03:35,729 --> 00:03:42,030 belong. As Christians become transformed by the gospel, so do others around them in the church 35 00:03:42,030 --> 00:03:48,169 and families to which those Christians belong. We see this time and time again. I see it time and time 36 00:03:48,169 --> 00:03:53,969 again. As a pastor, someone gets converted and pretty soon their churches are transformed and their families 37 00:03:53,969 --> 00:04:00,349 are transformed. And as we see from history, it doesn't stop there. To take one example, we spent some time 38 00:04:00,349 --> 00:04:07,370 in our church history class on Wednesday night this week looking at Johann Gutenberg and his invention of 39 00:04:07,370 --> 00:04:13,770 the printing press. How revolutionary that was. As one historian put it simply, Gutenberg changed 40 00:04:13,770 --> 00:04:19,889 everything. Christians have always been people of the word, for example. And this is true today. We can 41 00:04:19,889 --> 00:04:26,050 fight the beast with the word. We can fight the red dragon with the Bible, with the word of God. We believe 42 00:04:26,050 --> 00:04:31,550 that human speech and thought and understanding is an essential attribute of the image of God in man, 43 00:04:31,970 --> 00:04:38,009 the Imago Dei, as the reformers called it. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth 44 00:04:38,009 --> 00:04:44,889 by the word of his power, speaking that creation into existence. Man, in turn, bears the image of his 45 00:04:44,889 --> 00:04:52,629 maker, distinguished from the animal world, excuse me, by being a sentient being, a thinking, feeling, 46 00:04:52,629 --> 00:04:59,709 rational creature who manifests these qualities in speech. That is, in part, why we are people of the 47 00:04:59,709 --> 00:05:06,470 word. When Gutenberg made the printed word relatively inexpensive, where the Bible before 48 00:05:06,470 --> 00:05:12,689 cost an average of a year's wages and took two years to copy by hand, and he also made it not 49 00:05:12,689 --> 00:05:18,230 only inexpensive, but ubiquitous. His printed Bible was a stone in the pond, if you will, that then 50 00:05:18,230 --> 00:05:25,810 radiated outward for centuries, hence in the printed word in the books. Other men took his invention then 51 00:05:25,810 --> 00:05:30,910 and transformed the world around them. Luther and the other reformers spread the Reformation with books 52 00:05:30,910 --> 00:05:37,230 and pamphlets, and most importantly, the Bible in the language of the people. We can trace the growth 53 00:05:37,230 --> 00:05:43,750 and flourishing of libraries and universities and science, beginning with the scientific revolution of 54 00:05:43,750 --> 00:05:50,310 the 17th and 18th centuries, to the exchange of ideas through the printed word. Even Amazon.com, 55 00:05:50,370 --> 00:05:55,490 if they were honest, must admit that they owe a debt of gratitude to Gutenberg and his Bible. 56 00:05:56,149 --> 00:06:02,529 The Bible, still the largest selling book in the world. My point is, the gospel transforms everything. 57 00:06:03,170 --> 00:06:11,029 The individual, the family, the church, society, culture, and government. Yes, politics and government. 58 00:06:11,029 --> 00:06:16,329 If you think the garments of the gospel should not be soiled with involvement in politics and 59 00:06:16,329 --> 00:06:22,649 government, no, no, no, no. Well, then I submit you have half a gospel. You have a responsibility 60 00:06:22,649 --> 00:06:29,629 to transform your world with the gospel. We also know from history that the red dragon of Revelation 61 00:06:29,629 --> 00:06:37,410 chapter 12 knows this, and that red dragon has been ravaging God's creation with lust, loot, 62 00:06:37,410 --> 00:06:43,230 and lordship, and lordship. The three L's that I articulated for you last week, right? He's been 63 00:06:43,230 --> 00:06:52,290 doing this from the beginning with lust and wealth and greed and then power. All of these from the 64 00:06:52,290 --> 00:06:58,329 beginning. That red dragon is in the apostle John's words, that ancient serpent who is called the devil 65 00:06:58,329 --> 00:07:03,709 and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He certainly has no qualms about transforming human 66 00:07:03,709 --> 00:07:11,029 government, inhabiting and inspiring not only individual leaders, but whole institutions as 67 00:07:11,029 --> 00:07:17,990 personified in the beasts of Revelation. Now, if you've been following what we have been saying, 68 00:07:18,389 --> 00:07:25,550 you know that the serpent, who is more subtle than any beast of the field, that serpent is possessing 69 00:07:25,550 --> 00:07:31,370 beasts from the beginning, not just some future worldwide tyranny following a fantasy rapture in a mere 70 00:07:31,370 --> 00:07:37,449 period of a seven-year great tribulation. No. The Nephilim, for example, which were a bastard race of 71 00:07:37,449 --> 00:07:43,209 fallen angels mated with human women, these were beasts like those in Revelation. The 3,000-year-plus 72 00:07:43,209 --> 00:07:49,889 tyranny of Rahab of Egypt was a beast like those in Revelation. The tyranny of Leviathan of Babylon was a 73 00:07:49,889 --> 00:07:56,329 beast like those in Revelation. The beast coming from the sea in Daniel was the Greek king, Antiochus 74 00:07:56,329 --> 00:08:03,189 Epiphanes, a beast like those in Revelation. And of course, John's beasts of Revelation itself were 75 00:08:03,189 --> 00:08:12,470 simultaneously the empire of Rome and a particular emperor, Nero, the first empire-wide persecutor of 76 00:08:12,470 --> 00:08:21,230 the church. So, the red dragon has possessed them all. As Satan says in his temptation of Jesus, 77 00:08:21,230 --> 00:08:25,310 all the kingdoms of the world, their authority and their glory have been delivered to me, and I will 78 00:08:25,310 --> 00:08:33,690 give it to whom I will." So, if you think Revelation is all future, the red dragon is future, the beast 79 00:08:33,690 --> 00:08:38,549 from the sea and the beast from the land and the false prophet are all future, then you are deceived, 80 00:08:38,730 --> 00:08:45,690 dear listener, Mr. Dispensational Millennialist, and your gospel is stunted, and you are effectively 81 00:08:45,690 --> 00:08:53,110 neutralized in the fight. As I suggested to you last week, we face today the specter of beasts of the 82 00:08:53,110 --> 00:09:00,129 dragons making in our own land. And I've kind of coined my own terms for these, indeed my own 83 00:09:00,129 --> 00:09:06,169 characterizations, personifications of this beast, so I don't put them equal with scripture in any way, 84 00:09:06,169 --> 00:09:11,149 shape, or form. That is, the pure Madonna of the church is the Madonna of rock and roll now, 85 00:09:11,149 --> 00:09:19,409 embodying lust. The American eagle has morphed into the western vulture, personifying lute. And, of course, 86 00:09:19,490 --> 00:09:25,149 Uncle Sam has transformed himself into a big brother, personifying lordship or the lust for power. 87 00:09:25,549 --> 00:09:30,789 Even if you don't like my particular imagery, and I don't blame you if you don't, any honest observer 88 00:09:30,789 --> 00:09:37,610 must admit that these attributes, anyway, of the mythical dragon now characterize our constitutional 89 00:09:37,610 --> 00:09:45,509 republic. We no longer have a constitutional republic. It's on paper. It's in name only. What I want to do 90 00:09:45,509 --> 00:09:53,070 today is make you aware of the tactics of this dragon, his modus operandi, and show you how completely he 91 00:09:53,070 --> 00:10:01,029 leads the American citizen around by the figurative nose. Now, the red dragon of Revelation 12, that 92 00:10:01,029 --> 00:10:06,950 ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, is characterized by 93 00:10:06,950 --> 00:10:15,529 four main tactics. He's a liar and deceiver. He's a murderer. He's our adversary, and he intimidates 94 00:10:15,529 --> 00:10:20,350 and accuses. Those are the four. Let me treat them one at a time here. First of all, the red dragon 95 00:10:20,350 --> 00:10:27,409 is a liar and deceiver. Jesus put it most plainly. He said, when he, that is the devil, lies, he speaks 96 00:10:27,409 --> 00:10:34,970 out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies, unquote, to his very character. Indeed, 97 00:10:34,970 --> 00:10:41,769 that red dragon speaks as a liar, the father of lies. John also calls him in Revelation 12, the one who 98 00:10:41,769 --> 00:10:47,809 deceives the whole world. The Roman emperors who followed Nero deceived the whole world with their 99 00:10:47,809 --> 00:10:53,769 supposed divinity, and that in particular of Nero. This has always been a tactic of the red dragon, 100 00:10:54,289 --> 00:11:03,490 the lie of divinity, is it not? You shall be his gods. He's tempted Eve and Adam with that temptation. 101 00:11:04,970 --> 00:11:11,250 And even then, Satan himself in his fall, Lucifer, when he aspired to the very throne room of heaven, 102 00:11:11,389 --> 00:11:16,830 said, I will make myself like the Most High. So this has always been an aspiration, and an aspiration 103 00:11:16,830 --> 00:11:25,549 he tempts us with. Such has been the habit of all beasts since. Our federal leviathan, for example, 104 00:11:25,710 --> 00:11:32,490 pretends to be omnipotent like a god, and omniscient like a god, and it lies in order to deceive us, 105 00:11:32,490 --> 00:11:40,250 yea, the whole world, if possible. The leviathan, the federal leviathan, our government lies have been 106 00:11:40,250 --> 00:11:46,610 so enormous and persistent and bold that the American people have either cynically accepted 107 00:11:46,610 --> 00:11:51,389 them as standard operating procedure, or else they have naively taken them at face value. 108 00:11:52,490 --> 00:11:58,429 We in America, the American citizen, is living the battered wife syndrome, where not only does 109 00:11:58,429 --> 00:12:04,610 she put up with physical abuse, but actually begins to believe his lies, to excuse his behavior, 110 00:12:04,889 --> 00:12:10,450 even to the point that she believes the lie that somehow she deserves the treatment at his hand. 111 00:12:10,990 --> 00:12:17,490 For example, the lies, the huge lies, the enormous lies, Jonathan Gruber, one of the architects of 112 00:12:17,490 --> 00:12:24,070 Obamacare, cynically revealed in a moment of candor that the entire presentation of the so-called 113 00:12:24,070 --> 00:12:29,230 affordable health care plan was deliberately structured to obscure the truth, to lie to the 114 00:12:29,230 --> 00:12:35,649 American people, that it was indeed neither affordable, that indeed costs would go up and 115 00:12:35,649 --> 00:12:41,710 become more expensive, and that it would be nearly impossible to fully implement. And Obama then 116 00:12:41,710 --> 00:12:46,750 further lied in telling us he didn't know or work closely with Gruber when evidence surfaced to the 117 00:12:46,750 --> 00:12:52,990 contrary. And on top, this all on top of his own deception, that we could keep our plans, that we 118 00:12:52,990 --> 00:12:58,990 could keep our doctors, and we would save as much as $2,500 per year in health costs. These are true 119 00:12:58,990 --> 00:13:04,950 sons of their father, the devil, who is the father of lies. Secretary of State Clinton and Obama 120 00:13:04,950 --> 00:13:11,029 systematically lied to the nation in the Benghazi affair, telling us first a planned terror attack 121 00:13:11,029 --> 00:13:17,370 was a spontaneous response to a video critical of Muhammad. Lie after lie followed in trying to cover 122 00:13:17,370 --> 00:13:22,750 up the reason why Ambassador Stevens was killed, why the weapons that were being smuggled into 123 00:13:22,750 --> 00:13:28,710 Syria were going there, why no rescue was or could be mounted supposedly to save the ambassador and 124 00:13:28,710 --> 00:13:34,750 his men. These are true sons of their father, the devil, who is the father of lies. The Internal 125 00:13:34,750 --> 00:13:40,809 Revenue Service and the entire Obama administration systematically lied to the nation in covering up 126 00:13:40,809 --> 00:13:47,029 the targeting for persecution of the Tea Party and the liberty movements at the time of the election, 127 00:13:47,029 --> 00:13:53,649 did they not in 2012. These are true sons of their father, the devil, who is the father of lies. 128 00:13:54,110 --> 00:13:59,669 And of course, Attorney General Eric Holder and the administration systematically lied to the nation 129 00:13:59,669 --> 00:14:05,730 over the fast and furious gun running scheme, or the Justice Department and the ATF would flood Mexico 130 00:14:05,730 --> 00:14:12,909 with guns and then blame all of the carnage and destruction on the Second Amendment, forcing the 131 00:14:12,909 --> 00:14:19,570 government to take action to save us, quote-unquote. These are true sons of their father, the liars, 132 00:14:19,970 --> 00:14:25,210 Attorney General Eric Holder, the president and his administration. These are true sons of their 133 00:14:25,210 --> 00:14:32,389 father, the devil, who is the father of lies. Not a word can be believed from this government. You no 134 00:14:32,389 --> 00:14:39,370 longer have a constitutional republic, but rather a devilish tyranny, dear listener. Well, secondly, 135 00:14:39,370 --> 00:14:45,830 not only is the red dragon a liar and a deceiver, but he is also a murderer. Once again, Jesus says 136 00:14:45,830 --> 00:14:50,470 it succinctly. He says, you, that is the Jewish leaders to whom he was speaking, are of the devil. 137 00:14:50,929 --> 00:14:57,070 Your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do 138 00:14:57,070 --> 00:15:02,809 with the truth because there is no truth in him, unquote. The apostle John also characterizes the 139 00:15:02,809 --> 00:15:08,570 great whore of Babylon as drunk with the blood of the saints. That is a picture of the devil's 140 00:15:08,570 --> 00:15:14,649 insatiable desire for death and murder. Throughout redemptive history, the red dragon has brought 141 00:15:14,649 --> 00:15:21,070 death where God creates life. True to his lying nature, he said to Eve, you surely will not die. 142 00:15:21,070 --> 00:15:26,870 Oh, of course, they promptly did. They died spiritually immediately when they ate the fruit 143 00:15:26,870 --> 00:15:33,009 and then died physically later. And even their firstborn son, Cain, slew his brother Abel to 144 00:15:33,009 --> 00:15:40,350 inaugurate the human race into murder and blood. The red dragon loves the death of mankind. The great 145 00:15:40,350 --> 00:15:45,590 whore of Babylon, that is the emperor cult of Rome, which was John was personifying there, 146 00:15:45,950 --> 00:15:50,169 became drunk upon the blood of the saints as she persecuted the church over the centuries. 147 00:15:50,549 --> 00:15:56,269 It is estimated as well that the 20th century recently passed was the bloodiest in history, 148 00:15:56,549 --> 00:16:00,990 as historians say, in part because it was the most populous century, but also because it was the 149 00:16:00,990 --> 00:16:07,850 most tyrannical century in history. Human government was responsible for the deaths of almost a half 150 00:16:07,850 --> 00:16:14,210 a billion souls in warfare alone. Many of those dying precisely because they were Christians. 151 00:16:15,269 --> 00:16:21,490 Satan, the devil, the red dragon loves death. He loves blood. Today, there is a movement to 152 00:16:21,490 --> 00:16:27,809 deliberately reduce the human population too, because those in the know, of course, the elites presume to 153 00:16:27,809 --> 00:16:33,330 tell us that seven plus billion souls are too many for the resources of the planet. 154 00:16:34,389 --> 00:16:40,049 The Georgia Guidestones, for example, carve in granite for us the progressive principle that when 155 00:16:40,049 --> 00:16:44,990 practicable, the human population shall be maintained at no more than 500 million people. 156 00:16:45,809 --> 00:16:50,809 Fertility in the general population is being deliberately sterilized. Abortion is not only 157 00:16:50,809 --> 00:16:56,210 destigmatized, but mandated in some countries when families have too many children for the state. 158 00:16:56,210 --> 00:17:04,569 Anyway, humane soft kill, quote unquote, humane soft kill systems are in place, whereby life expectancy 159 00:17:04,569 --> 00:17:11,910 for the average citizen declines as his air and water and food and general environment is compromised. 160 00:17:12,950 --> 00:17:19,529 A systematic propaganda campaign is already underway that demonizes man, that demonizes the race of 161 00:17:19,529 --> 00:17:24,049 mankind as the scourge of the planet. The fewer of us, the better in their minds. That is, 162 00:17:24,049 --> 00:17:31,609 if not outright eradication, of course, except for the few handful of elites. The red dragon was a 163 00:17:31,609 --> 00:17:37,750 murderer from the beginning, and he continues to delight in the death of mankind and continues to 164 00:17:37,750 --> 00:17:44,329 propagate the death of mankind. Well, thirdly, the red dragon is also the chief adversary and opponent 165 00:17:44,329 --> 00:17:51,650 of God. He is not only a murderer and a liar, but he is also the chief adversary and opponent of God. 166 00:17:51,650 --> 00:17:59,170 And the Hebrew Aramaic word for adversary is Satan. He has resisted and fought against God's plan and 167 00:17:59,170 --> 00:18:04,529 program for his creation from the very beginning. In fact, Paul calls the man of lawlessness the one 168 00:18:04,529 --> 00:18:11,650 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship. Of course, 169 00:18:11,710 --> 00:18:16,289 the red dragon has sought to oppose and subvert God and his redemptive plan throughout history, 170 00:18:16,289 --> 00:18:22,390 not just in some supposed seven-year great tribulation. Satan began his adversarial role 171 00:18:22,390 --> 00:18:28,490 in the garden, opposing man's dominion of creation by tempting our first parents into disobedience. 172 00:18:29,049 --> 00:18:34,910 He then opposed the seed of the woman who would crush his head, promised, of course, in Genesis 3.15. 173 00:18:35,190 --> 00:18:39,829 He opposed this seed by compromising that seed. Genesis tells us, 174 00:18:39,829 --> 00:19:04,950 Well, Satan has also been the adversary of Israel. Satan has been the adversary of the seed that did 175 00:19:04,950 --> 00:19:10,910 crush his head. That is, Jesus thought he had won a victory by crucifying him. Satan, our adversary, 176 00:19:11,049 --> 00:19:16,829 has opposed the church as well and its mission ever since. John tells us that when the dragon saw 177 00:19:16,829 --> 00:19:21,349 that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child 178 00:19:21,349 --> 00:19:27,930 and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring. That is us, the church, the saints. This is not for 179 00:19:27,930 --> 00:19:32,589 some seven-year great tribulation that follows the rapture of the church. John was indeed speaking to 180 00:19:32,589 --> 00:19:37,410 the church of his day, the church that extends throughout redemptive history into our own 181 00:19:37,410 --> 00:19:44,069 day. Tell me, Satan, our adversary is not behind this Leviathan, this beast of a government, as it 182 00:19:44,069 --> 00:19:49,230 begins to shrink religious freedom for Christians while expanding it for Muslims and pagans and 183 00:19:49,230 --> 00:19:54,569 atheists. Tell me, Satan, our adversary is not behind this Leviathan, this beast of a government, 184 00:19:54,569 --> 00:19:59,089 as it seeks to black out the memory of our Christian heritage in the United States, especially 185 00:19:59,089 --> 00:20:05,150 in the establishment of our Constitution. Tell me, Satan, our adversary is not behind this Leviathan, 186 00:20:05,309 --> 00:20:10,349 this beast of a government, as it opposes biblical dominion of the earth with a pagan Gaia nature 187 00:20:10,349 --> 00:20:16,210 religion, as this government opposes a biblical Christian morality with a progressive values-free 188 00:20:16,210 --> 00:20:23,369 morality of limitless tolerance and diversity, as this Leviathan opposes creating familial biblical 189 00:20:23,369 --> 00:20:28,269 wealth by robbing the people through taxes, debt, and inflation, and then funneling our wealth 190 00:20:28,269 --> 00:20:35,490 to private banks. In all that it does, the dragon-inspired beast opposes God at every turn. 191 00:20:35,990 --> 00:20:40,569 If God says, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over 192 00:20:40,569 --> 00:20:44,730 the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over the birds of the heavens and over every living 193 00:20:44,730 --> 00:20:50,150 thing that moves on the earth, well, then Satan, our and God's adversary, will seek to make the race 194 00:20:50,150 --> 00:20:56,150 of man fruitless and few, depopulating the earth and seeing that we are subdued rather than 195 00:20:56,150 --> 00:21:01,930 subduing it, and that we as a species are taken dominion of by him and his seed, rather than 196 00:21:01,930 --> 00:21:08,269 taking dominion on behalf of God. If our Lord commands, go and make disciples of all nations, 197 00:21:08,490 --> 00:21:13,230 baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that 198 00:21:13,230 --> 00:21:19,670 I have commanded you, well, then Satan, our and God's adversary, will oppose us by corrupting and 199 00:21:19,670 --> 00:21:24,349 halting the making of disciples for the church, but rather making disciples of Lucifer's own, 200 00:21:24,349 --> 00:21:29,450 baptizing them in the name of the beast from the sea, the beast from the earth, and the false prophet, 201 00:21:30,009 --> 00:21:36,150 the false and unholy trinity, teaching them to disobey all that God has commanded us, and then 202 00:21:36,150 --> 00:21:41,730 commanding obedience to the beast, manifests for us today in our own federal Leviathan. 203 00:21:42,569 --> 00:21:48,230 Well, fourthly, the red dragon also accuses and intimidates the people of God. This is the fourth 204 00:21:48,230 --> 00:21:54,710 thing the scripture outlines for us. That is the MO, the modus operandi of the red dragon through 205 00:21:54,710 --> 00:22:02,109 the beast. He not only lies, he not only murders, he not only is our adversary, but he also accuses 206 00:22:02,109 --> 00:22:08,109 and intimidates the people of God. Like the Wizard of Oz, the devil stands behind his curtain and 207 00:22:08,109 --> 00:22:12,750 manufactures great boasts and threats intended to cast down with accusations and intimidate with threats 208 00:22:12,750 --> 00:22:19,009 the people of God. John, in his apocalypse, calls the devil the accuser of our brothers, 209 00:22:19,269 --> 00:22:26,509 who accuses them day and night before our God. And Peter paints him as an adversary, as an adversary 210 00:22:26,509 --> 00:22:34,789 who prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Oh, how successful the red dragon 211 00:22:34,789 --> 00:22:41,230 through the beast has been in these things. How browbeaten, cowed, and guilt-ridden is the church 212 00:22:41,230 --> 00:22:48,549 in America today. Satan has been very successful in accusing and intimidating that church via the 213 00:22:48,549 --> 00:22:54,890 beast of our federal system. Take down that Christmas crusher, we sue. Intelligent design 214 00:22:54,890 --> 00:23:00,769 is not science. Take it out of the textbooks or we sue, right? How dare you offend Muslims, pagans, 215 00:23:00,829 --> 00:23:06,369 and atheists by praying in Jesus' name. I had that thrown at me here when I prayed at a public event 216 00:23:06,369 --> 00:23:12,950 here recently. And, of course, for the churches, endorse no candidate or political party or position 217 00:23:12,950 --> 00:23:18,990 or else lose your tax-exempt status that's held all over the heads of the churches today, and they cower 218 00:23:18,990 --> 00:23:25,829 in fear at it. Redemptive history demonstrates to us again, time and again, that rather than diminishing 219 00:23:25,829 --> 00:23:32,930 in intensity and frequency, this accusation and intimidation will only increase in time, 220 00:23:32,930 --> 00:23:39,269 especially as we cower in its presence. Bullies are only encouraged by weakness and submissive 221 00:23:39,269 --> 00:23:46,210 cowering. Unless we stand for righteousness and the gospel and our religious freedoms and all of 222 00:23:46,210 --> 00:23:51,970 our liberties under the constitution given us by our founding fathers, well then, that roaring lion 223 00:23:51,970 --> 00:23:58,829 will only continue to devour the little lambs that we have become. And what I want to underline for 224 00:23:58,829 --> 00:24:06,549 you in these closing moments is victory. That is ours. If we fight this beast of our federal Leviathan, 225 00:24:06,950 --> 00:24:12,109 if we fight it in the manner in which Christ commands and with the tools that Christ has given us, 226 00:24:12,849 --> 00:24:19,569 he not only tells us to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, but also that all 227 00:24:19,569 --> 00:24:26,170 authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Yes, all authority in heaven and on earth has been 228 00:24:26,170 --> 00:24:32,990 given to him by the father to accomplish his ends. We can go in confidence knowing that that authority 229 00:24:32,990 --> 00:24:38,769 has been given to him and then mediated to us through the keys of the kingdom and we can accomplish what 230 00:24:38,769 --> 00:24:44,190 he has set out for us. We can be victorious, dear listener. And he says, behold, I am with you always 231 00:24:44,190 --> 00:24:51,210 to the end of the world, not just up until some great tribulation and some rapture of the church. 232 00:24:51,210 --> 00:24:58,529 No, Christ is with us as we take dominion in and of the world, in every area of the world, every continent, 233 00:24:58,789 --> 00:25:04,170 every land, and in every area of society, culture, and government, I submit to you. 234 00:25:04,869 --> 00:25:11,109 Jesus also said, on this rock that is on Peter, Petros, the rock in his confession, on this rock, 235 00:25:11,190 --> 00:25:16,109 I will build my church, he says, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 236 00:25:16,109 --> 00:25:22,470 He says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. These are ours, dear listener. They're 237 00:25:22,470 --> 00:25:29,109 ours presently. They're ours now as we fight the federal Leviathan, as we fight the beast that has 238 00:25:29,109 --> 00:25:35,490 been inspired by the red dragon, that is Satan, that serpent of old, who indeed has deceived the 239 00:25:35,490 --> 00:25:41,809 world but should not deceive us. We should see with clear eye what we face, dear listener, because 240 00:25:41,809 --> 00:25:48,970 the gates of hell themselves, we are commanded to assault and assail those gates of hell, if you will, 241 00:25:49,329 --> 00:25:55,910 the gates of Washington, D.C., if I can use a metaphor for it, that federal Leviathan, that beast 242 00:25:55,910 --> 00:26:01,410 indeed can be defeated with the tools that have been given us as we preach and teach the gospel, as we 243 00:26:01,410 --> 00:26:07,950 exercise all of our rights under the Constitution, and indeed reassert ourselves in that fashion. 244 00:26:07,950 --> 00:26:16,069 So, dear listener, I encourage you to do so. This victory is yours in Christ. We are New Geneva 245 00:26:16,069 --> 00:26:23,769 Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and we meet for Holy Worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 Force 3 on the 246 00:26:23,769 --> 00:26:28,630 corner of 4th and Boulevard. This is Pastor David Bass. I encourage you to give me some feedback 247 00:26:28,630 --> 00:26:34,809 more information you may want at 523-0196.