Let's get started. Like I said, we're not going
to get as far as I planned or as we need to this
evening, but that's okay. If the Lord tarries,
we've got plenty of time to talk about the spiritual
warfare going on all around us, angels and demons
and whatnot. And so just to kind of recap, what
we're doing is we're saying that we want to get
in the right mindset to be able to understand
Revelation chapter 12. And so we are talking
about the unseen realm. this reality that there
exists in our world, an entire world that's just
beyond our eyes, an entire world that we're often
not aware of, that there's really this unseen
realm all around us that consists of angels and
demons and spiritual forces, and they are actually
at work in our world today. And I was saying
it's important for Christians to realize this
because oftentimes we're just like the world.
We're materialists. We only believe in what we
see and not what we can't see. and that's to
our detriment because it makes us ignorant to
this ongoing war all around us. It makes us unaware
of the spiritual darkness that exists all around
us today, and last week we kind of did the what
I like to call the 30 ,000 foot overview of angels.
We certainly didn't exhaust that topic, and we
can dive in more to that at another time, but
But this evening I wanted to start touching on
Satan and demons and kind of doing another 30
,000 foot overview of Satan and demons and then
the plan for next week is to get more personal
with demons and talk about demon possession and
demon oppression and what that looks like in
our world today because it still exists. But
when you look at the Bible, the Bible is going
to tell us in Revelation chapter 12 as well as
other places that Satan was an angel and he led
an army of angels in rebellion against God. And
then God and Michael the archangel and all the
other angels who didn't rebel, they fought against
this rebellious angelic army and they defeated
them and Satan and his angels were cast down
to earth. So you're wondering where Satan is
today, and you're wondering where demons are
today, it's here. They're in our world. I think
we maybe kind of think there's just a few demons,
but there's a lot. There are a whole lot of demons
in our world today. We read about this also in
Jude chapter 1 verse 6. The Bible says, and the
angels who did not stay within their own position
of authority, but left their proper dwelling,
he is kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness
until the judgment of the great day. Now we look
at that and it's another example of how angels
who rebelled were cast down and fallen angels
are just called demons, right? They're synonymous.
They were angels, they're fallen now, and now
they're demons. And here's what we know, not
all angels are the same, right? There are different
classifications of angels. You know, people will
add more or less depending on their view. We
know archangel, cherubim, seraphim, angels, principalities,
rulers, thrones, dominions, regular angels, whatever
that looks like. But there's all sorts of names
and classifications for angels in the Bible,
which raises a pretty good question. If Satan
was an angel, what kind of angel was he? Anybody
know? Possibly. Yeah, so the Bible doesn't ever
explicitly say Satan was this type of angel There
is a passage in Ezekiel 28 that many believe
is about Satan that There's debate whether or
not it's actually about Satan but needless to
say there is a passage in Ezekiel 28 that many
believe is about Satan and it says he was a cherub
so he's possibly a cherub although his name is
never explicitly mentioned in that chapter and
so you would have to draw inferences and things
like that but there's another possibility and
it's possible if he wasn't a cherub it's possible
that he was a seraphim potentially some people
say he was an archangel but the bible only ever
mentions one archangel michael Many will say
that Gabriel is an archangel as well. The Bible
never explicitly says that, but they'll say he's
the only other angel who has a name given to
him in scripture, therefore he must be an archangel
like Michael. But the Bible only ever explicitly
says Michael is an archangel, archangel. But
the seraphim, here's what's interesting about
them. Anybody know what a seraphim looks like?
Okay, so in Hebrew seraphim the the word seraphim
it just means the fiery ones and this is the
description we get of them in Isaiah chapter
6 verse 2 Above him being God stood the seraphim
each had six wings with two He covered his face
and with two he covered his feet and with two
He flew and the word seraphim not only means
fiery ones, but it's connected to the word serpent
snake and so when you're reading this in Hebrew
it reads the fiery snakes and so you read about
this description in in the Bible of what these
angels look like and they are described as a
serpentine creature that has wings and they are
fiery in the sense that at least their bite is
fiery and potentially have fire coming out of
their mouth. That's how they're described. Now
this brings up another interesting passage because
the word seraphim is not often used in scripture.
It's very rarely used and it's only ever used
of angelic beings in heaven. But there is another
passage in scripture where the word is used but
our English translations decided to translate
it differently. You might remember this story
of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness.
and they're complaining about God and you brought
us out here to die what did we do to deserve
this we wish we could go back to Egypt we had
it so much blah blah blah blah right so what
does God do he sends some serpents who bite them
and their bite is said to burn right and the
Bible says in Numbers 21 6 then the Lord sent
fiery serpents among the people and they bit
the people so that many people of Israel died
Now, here's what's interesting. You can see from
the screen the English translations, and let
me know if yours says something different, but
almost all English translations say, then the
Lord sent fiery serpents among the people. I
don't know why they did that though, because
it's the exact Hebrew word, seraphim. In Isaiah
6, they just translate it or transliterate it,
they just put it into English, seraphim. It's
right here and it's the only time in scripture
where it's used of what would lead us to believe
not angelic beings. However, if you just read
this in Hebrew, you believe there's no difference.
And I don't believe there is. So when we picture
this scene, here's what's really cool, right?
When we picture this scene from how we've heard
it all our lives, we like to imagine a bunch
of snakes slithering around on the ground, which
is horrifying. I will grant you that. That is
horrifying. I would not want to be there. I'd
be calling Gene McKinney so quickly, Pop, come
get these snakes. But we like to imagine them
slithering on the ground and then they bite people
and the bite just kind of burned, right? But
what if it was even more terrifying than that?
Because the Bible literally says, then the Lord
sent the seraphim. I think it makes more sense,
especially when you're reading this in Hebrew,
to see that God sent forth angels from heaven
to come and discipline the Israelites. And those
angels from heaven just happened to look like
serpentine creatures that had wings and could
either breathe fire or had a fiery bite. That's
much more terrifying, is it not? than a bunch
of snakes slithering around on the ground. They
look like dragons, right? Can y 'all see that?
How would you describe a dragon? A dragon looks
like a serpentine creature that has wings and
can breathe fire and potentially has legs like
the seraphim because they stood before God. That
is a hornet. Y 'all just ignore it. It'll probably
not sting you. This is my sermon illustration.
So it's a winged creature and it will burn. So
anyways, no, so the the seraphim they kind of
look like what we think of as dragons a serpentine
type creature with wings that either breeds fire
or has a fiery bite which is interesting because
You know, I was talking with Joseph about this
and and you know, you could say people might
think we're crazy but I Personally believe that
the dragons that we have heard about throughout
history are not really mythological creatures
at all I actually do believe that they are probably
fallen seraphim that are terrorizing the earth
much like they did the Israelites here except
these are the good seraphim not the fallen ones
and one interesting point on that is to note
that almost every civilization at least many
many civilizations throughout history have dragon
stories and you're like okay well everybody does
but but here's the thing they didn't have contact
with each other so Let's put it another way.
Almost no culture has vampire stories, right?
That is pretty much Transylvania. Everybody on
board, right? So if you think of vampires, what
do you think? You think Transylvania, Dracula,
right? That's unique to their culture. That didn't
originate in every other culture. Not every culture
has a Loch Ness monster, right? That's unique
to Scotland. But almost every culture has dragon
stories throughout their history. with no contact
with one another to spread something like a dragon
mythology. And so it seems more likely that these
people had an actual encounter with something
that they didn't really know how to describe
other than it was a serpentine type creature
that had wings and breathed fire and was terrorizing
people. That sounds like a fallen angel to me.
That sounds like a seraphim a demon who is rebelled
against God So I just want you to see that that
is possible And I've got to move on now because
Anna's gonna get on to me for even mentioning
dragons tonight But I told her I was gonna do
it anyways, so Back to Satan. Okay. I want you
to think about this. Here's what's interesting
is throughout the Bible What is the most common
phrase used for Satan or common word used to
describe Satan apart from the name Satan? The
dragon or another one? No, not that one. Never
that one. The serpent. Yeah. So this is interesting,
right? He is, throughout scripture, referred
to as the serpent. And the Bible makes it abundantly
clear that the serpent, that Satan was the serpent
in the garden. right you know this so revelation
chapter 12 verse 9 it says and the great dragon
so look the bible says there were dragons i'm
not crazy y 'all think i'm crazy the bible says
it so the great dragon was thrown down that ancient
serpent who was called the devil and satan the
deceiver of the whole world he was thrown down
to the earth and his angels were thrown down
with him so here you have a description of satan
and he is referred to as a dragon and a serpent
and we know that he was an angel at one point
and the only angelic being that is described
as either a dragon or a serpent is a seraphim
but we go on 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse
3 Paul says but I'm afraid that as the serpent
deceived Eve by his cunning your thoughts will
be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion
to Christ so there again he's referred to as
the serpent and then 2nd Corinthians 11 14 and
no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as
an angel. light and so you have this idea that
fallen angels we like to picture the devil with
horns and he's red and he has that you know forked
tail and whatever and demons are these nasty
ugly creatures but the Bible says most of the
time they're disguising themselves as angels
of light as something that's beautiful and appealing
because they will set themselves up as a counterfeit
to Christ so that they can get worship for themselves
So here's what you do. Think about the Genesis
story, Genesis chapter 3. We're in the garden
of Eden and then you see that there's this serpent
that comes on scene. And what's interesting is
the Bible says now the serpent was more crafty
or shrewd than any other creature of the field
that the Lord God created, right? Why does it
say the serpent? Why not a serpent? It's a specific
one. That's right. That's what the definite article
is there for. It's a specific serpent, one that
was known, and then here's the other thing about
this story. The serpent can talk. How many other
of God's creatures have the ability to speak?
None that we read about I mean parrots can kind
of mimic you today, but but in the the narrative
of scripture There are no speaking animals and
yet here's one and so from the very get -go when
you're reading this story It becomes clear that
this serpent is is more than a serpent, right?
It's not your ordinary snake that God just created
all these snakes And here's one that had the
ability to talk and maybe all the other ones
did as well This one is unique and it's saying
the serpent because it's a particular one. It
has the ability to talk so it's not just just
a regular snake. And then here's what gets me
about this account, right? Is that people, atheists,
have you noticed that they use this account to
mock Christians all the time? there's a famous
comedian Ricky Gervais who actually has a whole
stand -up bit about this where he's mocking the
Bible and he says you know when he gets to the
part where God's dishing out punishment the snakes
like oh what's my punishment God and God says
well you're gonna slither around on your belly
for the rest of your days and the snakes like
oh no okay well if you insist it's like how's
that a punishment if snakes were always like
slithering on the ground how is it a punishment
for him to have to slither on the ground for
it seems like it's not a punishment right you
get what i'm saying here and so i've had people
mock me atheists where they're like how can you
believe this thing you have a talking snake and
its punishment is to continue doing what it's
always done but this account makes a lot more
sense if satan here is a seraphim Seraphim have
the ability to talk, as we saw from Isaiah 6.
They go around the throne of God saying, holy,
holy, holy. So they have the ability to talk.
They're serpentine creatures with wings that
can either breathe fire or have a fiery bite.
Let me ask you something. If you are a creature
of the air, what's the worst thing that can happen
to you? To be brought low, right? To slither
around on your belly. If you're used to soaring
the heavens, the worst and most humiliating thing
that can possibly happen to you is to be forced
down to the ground forever. And so it makes a
lot of sense if in the Genesis account, the reason
this is a punishment is because God clipped his
wings there. He was taken from the sky and not
able to fly around like the rest of the Seraphim
anymore. He would be forced to slither around
on his belly for the rest of his days if you
still don't believe me on this or you're not
convinced that's okay but let me remind you of
another phrase that's used of satan in the bible
in ephesians chapter 2 it says that he is the
prince of the power of the air the air the prince
of the power of the air He was in the air, had
a whole host of angelic beings who accompanied
him in his rebellion, and ultimately God defeated
them and cast them down to the earth. And so
we go on though, and you see that Satan, although
he is on the ground, he's slithering around as
a seraphim who's had his wings clipped, he does
still have the ability to possess people. We
read about this in Luke 22 in verse 3. The Bible
says, then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot,
or called Iscariot, who was of the number of
the twelve. And so that's terrifying. We don't
read often that Satan is possessing people, but
he intentionally, out of all people on earth,
chose Judas to possess. And so here's the thing
about this today, is that Satan doesn't have
to look like a seraphim that's had his wings
clipped today. He could look like anyone in this
room. He could possess anyone he wants at any
time. He's not omnipresent, so he'd have to go
to them, but we can rest assured that he's most
likely possessing someone today seeking to lead
people astray and away from Christ. We see that
Paul tells us that demons often disguise themselves
as angels of light. And like I said earlier,
one of the reasons they do this is because they
want to get worship for themselves. They want
to present themselves as God. They want to be
a counterfeit to the original. And we're going
to see that all throughout the book of Revelation.
Satan and the beast, they constantly set themselves
up as a counterfeit to Christ and even try to
do the same miracles as Christ so that people
will come and believe that they are Christ. They
want to lead people astray. And so here's what
I want to propose to you as well as we're thinking
about demons on earth today is that many of the
false gods and idols of all these other religions,
they don't necessarily have to be false in the
way that we think about them. So for instance,
think about ancient Egypt and all the gods they
had. Think about ancient Rome and all the gods
they had. Rather than thinking that all of their
gods were imaginary gods, it's possible that
the gods they worshiped were fallen angels who
had set themselves up as an angel of light and
seek to lead people astray and get worship for
themselves. And I actually think that there is
some biblical warrant to this. And you actually
get this in the book of Exodus, right? So think
back to the book of Exodus. At the beginning
of the book, we're about to start the 10 plagues.
Anybody remember what the first plague was? Gene
McKinney. We are going to get to that, but the
first plague upon Egypt was turning the Nile
into blood. Now here's what's interesting, right?
The Egyptians believed in a river god, a god
that was over specifically the Nile River. The
god was called Hopi, and this god symbolized
life and fertility because when they believed
that Hopi visited them once a year, and when
Hopi came to Egypt, and specifically to the Nile,
it would flood. And when it would flood, that
would be great for everybody. Fertile soil, the
crops would grow, everybody blessed, so he became
the god of fertility and life. And then the plague
happens and the water turns to blood. Now we
look at that and we go, oh, it's just a symbolic
or metaphorical picture. But if you have to imagine,
if you're an ancient Egyptian, you believe that
there is this actual being that many people claim
to have seen who is God over this river and they
know that this God is over this river and then
they see that river filled with blood. Do you
know what that would have meant to them? That
someone had just killed their God and its blood
was filling the Nile. See each one of the plagues
of Egypt is actually a judgment against one of
the gods of Egypt. It's God's judgment upon Egypt
as a whole, but each specific plague relates
to one of the gods of Egypt. And so when God
slaughtered this false god, the Nile turns to
blood. The one that they associated with the
god of the river, the Lord slaughters that god
and the Nile fills with blood. Then there's the
second plague. And I know what you're thinking
at this point. You're like, well, no, it's just
a symbolic metaphorical picture. There's no substance
here whatsoever. You're kind of reading too far
in the text. I would think that too. Trust me,
I told you, I'm a skeptic. I'm not like one of
these people who believes everything, despite
what my wife would think if she's listening,
but I'm not one of those people. And I would
be right there with you if it wasn't for the
second and third plague. Because something really
interesting happens. Anybody, you get kudos from
me, theologian of the night, if you can remember
the second plague. Anybody know what it was?
Eat it each. Okay. I Was gonna make a joke. I
was gonna say it's hopping right on the tip of
your tongue. But yeah It's just hopping ready
to get out All right. So so the second plague
is you God sent all these frogs And they invaded
all the homes of the Egyptians right and the
Bible specifically says that these frogs go into
the homes and Into the beds of the people and
it makes this big deal about the beds and where
they sleep and things like that alright, so there's
this God in in Egypt and This God I wrote down
its name somewhere Hec tight or something like
that and This God was depicted as a frog it had
like a frog's head and it was the god specifically
of fertility so again what would happen is the
Nile would flood and when the Nile flooded all
the frogs came to shore and so there was an abundance
of frogs and people would see the frogs and they
would know that oh things are about to be fertile
around here and so the frog god became the god
of fertility right and here's what's interesting
about the the plague stories it's that as the
the story of Exodus is going on Pharaoh had these
magicians and they were able to do everything
Moses did, right? Gene just mentioned one. So
Aaron throws his staff on the ground. It turns
into a snake. A lot of significance there, by
the way. And then the Bible says that Pharaoh
had his magicians and they were able to do the
exact same thing. So it basically made Moses
seem not that impressive, Aaron not that impressive.
And then the Lord turns the waters of the Nile
to blood. And guess what happened? Fear as magicians.
It says the Bible repeatedly keeps saying they
did their secret arts and they were able to do
the same thing so they turned water to blood
and then the frogs happened and The Lord sent
these frogs invade the homes and the Bible says
the magicians practiced their secret arts again
And they were able to conjure up frogs and the
frogs came upon Egypt I don't know why they'd
want to make their problem worse, but they did
it to just prove like oh It's not that special
we can do it, too, right? So everybody at this
point is like, okay, well here's what happens.
This is where it gets really interesting. The
Bible never says that they were like the magicians
we have today. The magicians we have today are
illusionists, right? Like they make a pen disappear,
but it doesn't really disappear. It's a sleight
of hand. The Bible specifically says that these
magicians practiced secret arts and were able
to do what Moses did. Okay, are we tracking?
Like there was some occultist, real dark art
stuff going on here. So then here's what happens
they complain to the Lord and the Lord agrees
to to kill all the frogs and then make it to
where only frogs are in the Nile again and so
all the frogs die in their beds which is hilarious
because he was supposedly the god of fertility
and where did he they die they died in the beds
and in the homes where people will you get the
point so um so there's there's irony there And
so they compile all these frogs, and they put
them on the shore, they stack them in this big
pile, and the Bible says that all of Egypt stank
because there were dead frogs. God has just killed
the frog god. So the frog god was not just the
frog of fertility. Another interesting point
that I left out is that he was the god of witchcraft.
And actually his name, like Hectate or something
like that, was given later to a Greek god who
was over witchcraft as well. So it was the god
of witchcraft, sorcery, magicians. and so all
of Egypt stank because the frog god has metaphorically
symbolically been killed and then you get the
third plague and this is why it gets really interesting
the third plague comes it's the plague of gnats
and the bible says the lord sent gnats just as
he sent frogs and then we have this on screen
this is what the bible says in exodus 8 18 through
19 The magicians tried by their secret arts to
produce gnats, but they could not. So there were
gnats on man and beast. Then the magician said
to Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. But Pharaoh's
heart was hardened and he would not listen to
them as the Lord had said. It's at this point,
here's what's really interesting, okay? If they
were just faking it, they could fake gnats, that's
not that hard, okay? And if it was all a show,
they could put on a show, they want to please
Pharaoh. This proves that what they were doing
was not an illusion, it was not an act, they
were actually practicing dark arts, you know,
spiritual, dark demonized things, dark practices,
but after the god of witchcraft is symbolically
murdered, they no longer have the ability. to
do any magic. We have to reckon with that somehow,
and in my own view, I believe that there was
actually some sort of demonic force at work in
Egypt, and because they were connected to this
demonic force, they had the ability by secret
arts, dark magic, to produce some sort of what
looked like real magic in the world today, but
i believe that that demon was actually put to
death because their connection to the demonic
the dark arts is severed and they are no longer
after the frogs die i mean again this is in the
bible you just have to reckon with this there's
a lot of verses that are going to trip us up
like the one last week with their angels in heaven
that tripped us up this week this is the one
that got me this week after the frogs died the
magicians are never able to do magic again now
make of that what you will but I just want to
say to you, I think there's something more going
on there. I think there's a power at work there,
and we know that there was all sorts of demonic
activity in Egypt because Egypt, they had many
gods, but the main god of Egypt, this was a god
named Wadjet. I don't know if I'm pronouncing
that right. I don't speak Egyptian. It's kind
of a dead language to me. So the god was named
Wadjet and it was the main god of Egypt. It was
said to be the protector and the patron of all
of Egypt. Anybody want to guess what Wadjet looked
like? No. The god Wadjet looked like a snake
with wings. That's how it's depicted, as a snake
with wings. In fact, all the Egyptian kings and
pharaohs and whatnot, they had a royal diadem
and on the middle, there was the serpent. And
so you look at what's going on in Egypt and how
they are oppressing the people of God, keeping
them in bondage and enslaved, how they hate the
people of God. You see them practicing dark arts
and magic and things like that. And it's very
clear when you see the symbol of the snake and
it's a snake with wings, there's something more
at play here. There's the influence of the demonic
here. and it's really getting at this idea that
we kind of mentioned some last week as well.
Remember we said that demons, according to Daniel
chapter 10, that demons have the ability to have
some level of authority in kingdoms. You all
remember that? That a demon had set up shop in
Persia and that Michael and this other angel
were warring against it. So we said demons can
be regional. We're going to talk about next week
demons can be personal, they can possess you,
but demons can be regional. They were regional
in Persia, regional in Egypt here. You also see
other examples in scripture. Anybody ever heard
of the witch of Endor? Yeah, this was a person
who practiced witchcraft and necromancy which
all throughout the Bible are connected with demonic
activity and This which this person connected
to the demonic had set up shop in indoor and
had become known to be part of that region So
there was a demonic influence that exerted control
over an entire region You might say well pastor.
You're crazy. You're in too much into it Matthew
8 28 When Jesus came to the other side, to the
country of the Gadarenes, two demon -possessed
men met him coming out of the tombs so fierce
that no one could pass that way. And so here
are two demon -possessed men, and the Bible says
that these demons had such control in the region
that no one passed that way. They had to take
alternate routes to get wherever they were going
because no one was going to pass by that particular
region because the demonic influence was so great
there. And I think you can still see this in
our world today. I don't think it's a stretch
to say that demons can set up shop in a particular
region and exert a level of control in that region
like the Witch of Andor or the people here in
the demon possessed people in the gatherings.
I mean, there are just some places you go and
they give you the creeps, right? We just get
that feeling and it's universal. Like even the
bravest person will walk in some place and they
just get the creeps. Something doesn't feel right
there. And you can see places in our world today
where I think there is a high level of demonic
influence and activity. And I mentioned one last
week. I mentioned this place in Japan that's
known as the suicide forest. And so in Mount
Fuji, right at the edge of Mount Fuji, there's
this forest. And pretty much over a hundred people
every single year go there to commit suicide.
And what's amazing is they've had to set up like
signs and everything encouraging people to remember
their loved ones, to call a suicide hotline.
And people report there that when they go there,
the forest is so thick that light barely gets
in. And you walk in and they say it just feels
heavy. It feels eerie and they start going in
and people have reported feeling an overwhelming
sense of dread. They've reported feeling incredibly
uneasy. There are people who reported feeling
overwhelmingly sad. And then worst of all, there
were people who reported that once they were
walking on the path, the further they went into
the forest, the more they had a sense that something
was drawing them to leave the path and go off
the beaten path further into the forest. And
when they did, they felt like they should take
their own life. And this is a place where, like
I said, over a hundred people every single year
go there to take their own lives. And many people
of the families have said that they don't think
that the person who took their own life had any
desire to do that. But there was just this overwhelming
presence there that something was not right.
And I think it's another example of demonic influence
in our world, that there's some sort of demonic
influence in this region that is seeking to do
what demons always do. to hurt the people of
God and what better way to do that than to kill
those and coerce someone into killing themselves
who's made in the image of God. Demons hate God
and since we are made in the image of God, they
hate us. They see God's love for us and they
want us dead. They want us to despise God and
so all of this to say like we could go more in
depth and like I said next week we're really
going to get into demon possession and demon
oppression and what does it look like for someone
to be demon possessed today? But I just want
to put this before you to show you that there
is a real spiritual darkness in our world today.
This is not some fantasy that Alex has created.
This is something that is real. There are demonic
forces in our world and they can set themselves
up in governments. They can set themselves up
in kingdoms. They can set themselves up in regions.
There are real demons out there who can appear
as an angel of light, who can deceive you, who
can try to lead you astray, and who actually
have supernatural powers and the ability to do
things with that, which I mean, we could get
into this too, but occult practices and practicing
dark arts and things like that, I mean, that's
always connected to the demonic. If you really
want to investigate this further, and I would
encourage you to do so, Go home, you go on a
three -hour trail about this, look up the use
of psychedelic drugs in connection with spiritual
realities and demonic forces. And there have
been extensive studies on this where people who
take like acid or acid -related drugs, things
that alter the cognition of the brain, that almost
all of them enter what they would call some sort
of spiritual reality. and many of them see a
serpent and sometimes that serpent has wings
and they have this feeling of dread and like
they're in some other plane of dimension and
so it's really interesting to see the use of
drugs in connection with the spiritual realities
that often go unseen in our world today and so
there's a lot there. There's more than we have
time to say but all of this should make us thankful.
that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God.
And I'm going to mention this Sunday because
we're talking about a demon passage on Sunday
too. I didn't plan it that way. That's just where
we're at in Matthew. But basically the Bible
says that because we are indwelt by the Spirit
of God, we cannot be possessed by demons. That's
good to know. Is it not? You look at what demons
do to people. We'll get in that next week. It's
good to know that because the Holy Spirit has
made His dwelling in us, there's no room for
a demon. We don't have to worry about that. And
because we have the Holy Spirit, He guides us,
He protects us, He comforts us, and all of that
comes through faith in Christ. So you see all
this darkness and the things we're talking about,
it should just make you that much more thankful
for Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit. All
right, Michael, how about a word of wisdom?