Paul introduced the possibility of falling into a satanic setup in his letters to Timothy. He understood the dangers of a satanic trap or snare: “Lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7). But he also gave a recovery from that satanic trap: “That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:26).
The Lord desires a people who will keep faith even if they suffer the loss of all things.
“But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions . . . and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance” (Hebrews 10:32, 34).
The New Testament has much to say about chastisement [educational correction]: “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Hebrews 12:5-7).
All the Old Testament prophets foretold God’s people going into the refiner’s fire. “I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried” (Zechariah 13:9).
“For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:2-3).
God has given us a powerful weapon to use against any attack on our faith. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).
Beloved, we are in a fierce war that is a life-and-death struggle for our faith. Satan is determined to shipwreck and destroy the faith of God’s elect, and the stronger your faith, the greater his attack against it will be.
When faith is shattered or lost, believers become weak and turn to idolatry and wickedness. Paul warned that some had cast aside their faith. He charged Timothy to fight the good fight by “holding faith and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck [ruined]” (1 Timothy 1:19).
Babylon is falling! That merchandising world of greed and self is collapsing. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of their sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).
We have so spiritualized Babylon that we have missed a simple, fundamental truth. It is spoken of in Revelation 18 and includes “delicious living” and “making merchants rich” (see Revelation 18:3).
The Word says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15). Jesus warned, “Beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15).
Things—our possessions—can tie us down to this world. While heaven and hell prepare for war, we go shopping. Eternal values are at stake! The end of all we know is near—and we are busy playing with our toys!
“Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Revelation 12:12).
Listen with your spirit to these words: Satan knows his time is short, for he has “come down” to the earth. This planet is the final battleground! He has prepared his forces, and his strategy is underway. All of hell is one big, satanic operations network!
We are living in the days of final preparation. In heaven, in hell and on earth, tremendous activity is erupting as all of creation anticipates the culmination of man’s history.
If the Holy Spirit were to pull the scales from our eyes, we believers would be both joyful and horrified at what we saw. We would cry out, “What is going on? Why is everyone rushing about so determined, so intense? What is about to happen?”