|
|
The Doctrines of Demons, and Star Wars
RV87-01© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1993)
We continue with our series on the worship in the throne room based on Revelation 4:6-11. We have seen that in God's heavenly throne room, there
are four angelic beings continually proclaiming the holiness of God. In Revelation 4:8, we have this recorded, where he observes that these four
living beings, angelic beings, day and night, continually, say "Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." The single
greatest misconception that people have about God today is concerning this very issue of the holiness of God. They do not understand that the
sovereign Creator God is absolutely and always holy.
God's Holiness
I trust that by now you understand that "holy" means two basic things about God.
God's Righteousness
"Holy" means, one: that God is absolute righteousness. That
means that God never does anything evil. He is always perfect in all that He does. He is always true to His own character. This is proclaimed
for us, for example, in Psalm 119:137, where the psalmist says, "Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments." What that simple
statement means is that God is absolutely perfect. He never does what is evil. He never does what is wrong. That is one element that constitutes
His Holiness.
God's Justice
The second element you should know that constitutes His Holiness is His perfect justice. Perfect justice means that God never does anything
unfair, so He must always punish that which is sinful. His justice demands that punishment be provided. If one is an unbeliever, and that
sin is unpaid for by the substitution of Christ, the consequences of that punishment will be suffered by the individual for all eternity in
hell. Or he must punish, in the believer, in temporal punishment of various kinds, and in the ultimate eternal consequences of an unrepentant
believer in the loss of eternal rewards. A believer who is under unconfessed sin cannot be in fellowship with God the Father, and thus cannot
be serving under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and thus cannot be storing treasures in heaven, no matter what good things he does. During
the time that he is out of fellowship, he is wasting his life.
Therefore, in Romans 6:23, Paul says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The
wages of sin is death. Because God is perfect justice, He must punish sin. He must bring about the consequences of evil. So, what these angels
meant when they were saying, "Holy, holy, holy," addressing each member of the Trinity, was that God's holy character means that He is
absolutely perfect, because He always does what is right and fair.
Moses expressed it this way in Deuteronomy 32:4, when he said, "He is the rock. His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice; a God
of truth, and without iniquity. Just and right is He." He is perfect. He is holy. He is true because He is without iniquity. He is perfect
justice, and He is right. He is absolute righteousness.
It is very important that you understand this about God. Never forget that God is holy. It will keep you from a pack of sins. It'll keep you
from a pack of foolish human good works. It'll get you oriented to the real values in life. It will enable you to know how to function in your
business; how to function in your social relationships with people; how to function within your family (to rear your family); and, how to act
as a human being who is made in the image and the likeness of God, because you'll know how to be holy.
The other side of the story is that God
clearly declares to us in the Bible that we are to be holy as He is holy. That's a big order. If you understand what God is in terms of holiness,
you can see what He is demanding of us: to be absolutely perfect; to be absolutely righteous in our performance; and, to be absolutely fair and
full in our justice. That's what He's asking for. We are to represent Him in that kind of holiness.
Obviously, it takes a supernatural capacity to do that. The unbeliever cannot do that. Therefore, the unbeliever has no holiness. You and I
have the absolute righteousness of God imputed to us. That is already credited to our account. We have perfect justice performed in our behalf
by the death of Christ on the cross. Therefore, we have fulfilled these qualities so that, positionally, we are absolutely holy. We've got it
all made. But the unbeliever does not have either one of these. Therefore, he is facing the terror of a God who is going to judge him. It is a
terrible thing to fall into the hands of an indignant Holy God.
God cannot Compromise His Own Integrity
The old sin nature in man minimizes the seriousness of moral evil, and reduces God to an indulgent grandfather image. I saw a little segment of
Archie Bunker's "All in the Family" the other day. He was out on the ledge in a high office building, trying to help a man who was hanging onto
the wall, and he was going to jump over and commit suicide. He was trying to talk this man out of jumping. He walks out on the ledge, and he
discovers in this conversation that the man is a grandfather. He says, "You're a grandfather, and you're going to commit suicide? What kind of
a grandfather are you? Do you know how much your grandchildren need you? Do you know the things that only you as a grandfather is going to do
for them? When your little grandson is being punished by his father, and he wants to go to a movie, who's going to slip them $2 so that he can
go anyhow, except his grandfather? Who's going to do that for him if you jump over?" He just carried on about what grandfather was doing, and
everything he mentioned was an indulgent quality that he envisioned as the role of the grandfather.
This is the way people think about God. He's a nice, gray-haired, indulgent grandfather. This is the image I saw projected on the Phil Donahue
Show that I picked up the other day. Again, they got into the subject of being born again. And, boy, does that ever bristle? When people bring
up the subject of being born again, there is no greater ignorance on the face of the American scene than this. You can really tell how ignorant
Americans are about the Bible when they rise up in indignation over the idea that you have to be born again to go to heaven, and if you're not
born again, you're not going to heaven. The reason is because they catch the message. That's a very clear phrase. To be born again spiritually
through faith in Jesus Christ certainly separates the men from the boys, and the ladies from the girls. It separates those who are in, and those
who are out. And all the vast number of Jews who reject Jesus Christ are out. And all the vast numbers of denominational groups who are operating
on a system of works of some kind to appease God for their sin are out. So, with one blow, most of the citizens of the United States are headed
for the torments of hell.
People don't like that – especially those who are in that majority group. So, after the discussion went around a little bit, Phil Donahue
just didn't like that idea. Finally, he summed it all up in his inimitable, deep, perceptive way that he has, when he said, "You know, I like to
think of God this way: That on Judgment Day, we're all going to be standing there, and God is going to walk out, and He's going to just stand
there and look at all of us, and just look us all over. And finally, He's going to say, 'Ah, come on in, all of you.' And everybody is going
to walk into heaven." What have you got there? It's a beautiful illustration. The guy couldn't have put it any better. That is the American
mentality – a grandfather God who, even though you deserve to be punished, says, "You know, I love you. I don't have the heart to do
that. Ah, come on in, all of you, no matter what."
Well, this is an idea that's based, obviously, on a misconception of God's love. This is a misconception that God's love enables Him to
compromise His integrity and His holiness. And that's exactly what the angels in heaven were trying to convey. They were doing it 24-hours-a-day.
God is holy. And because He is holy, He cannot compromise His personal integrity. There is no way that He can say to those whose sin has not been
paid for: "Ah, come on in." They do not have absolute righteousness, so they're disqualified. They have not had perfect justice executed in their
behalf because their sin has not been paid for. Therefore, He cannot invite them in.
So, this is a purely human viewpoint observation concerning God. It's a view that would make God as unholy as the sinner who has not been born
again spiritually. It's a concept of salvation which is based on the principle that man's works are the basis of his entrance into heaven, and
we all do the best we can, so, what the heck, let's let them all in. They've done the best they can. That is the concept.
Of course, you can understand why Mr. Donahue thinks this, because he is a Roman Catholic. He is reared in the tradition of thinking that it
is man making it with God some way by his own personal efforts. He envisions God (and likes to envision God) as a loving Person who is going
to understand that we've all done the best we can. But having done the best we can is not acceptable to a Holy God. What is acceptable to a
Holy God is God having done the best that He can, which is what He has done in Jesus Christ. That is what He demands – nothing less than His
absolute perfection. God must be true to Himself.
When you think that God will compromise His personal integrity, that is a naive view of God, resulting from enormous ignorance of the most
elementary principles of Bible doctrine. But man by nature is in rebellion against the Bible: its revelation of God; its revelation of sin;
and, its revelation of salvation. Man doesn't like that answer. The Bible is dismissed, therefore, because it gives unacceptable solutions to the
human sin problem. The angelic proclamation of the holiness of God is a statement that can only be ignored at the cost of one soul in hell
forever. This is a very important scene in heaven that John is portraying for us.
Eastern Mysticism
Satan has used his current authority over the earth to deceive mankind about God with doctrines taught by demons. These have been summed up in
the basic religious system of Hinduism, which represents a series of doctrines of Eastern mysticism. These are doctrines which are taught by
Satan's demons. These systems of Eastern mysticism have some truth in them. This often deceives Christians into viewing them as variant
expressions of biblical concepts. But you see, Satan's technique is to be like God. He does this in part by trying to sound as much as possible
like God, short of subjecting himself to God's truth and authority. Satan puts up good food sprinkled with poison.
I've had a little reaction that we're being a little too hard on the systems of Eastern mysticism, because we're only saying the bad things
about them and not recognizing that they do have some truth; they do have some good; and, they do have some ideas that are on track. Of
course, they do. Satan is smart enough to know how to serve you good food laced with poison. There are not many of you that are going to
respond readily to a fish served up to you that smells bad and is crawling with maggots, even though that has raised the protein content
of the fish. You will probably recoil from that. But if it's served up as a delicious morsel, but with arsenic laced through it, then you
will readily accept it; you will be delighted to eat it; and, it will be quite palatable to you. Better you should have eaten the rotting
fish with the maggots. At least you wouldn't die from that. Of course there's good in these systems, but the good is the hook by which Satan
brings people to destruction.
So, I don't apologize for the fact that what I'm trying to teach you are the areas that are impacting upon the American mind today in a variety
of ways (entertainment, in a big way) which are teaching Eastern mysticism. Apparently we're getting through because some of you are coming to
me and being surprised how you're beginning to discover it. You're discovering it in lyrics that you're hearing. You're discovering it in remarks
that people are making. You're discovering it in opinions which people are holding. You're discovering it in ideals that are set forth, and
in proposals that are made in all areas of life. You're discovering that the concepts of Eastern mysticism have captivated the mind of the United
States.
The 1960s were probably the watershed. That was the era when we went over the continental divide, and we left behind us the whole era of
biblical Christianity in this country. We crossed over to the other side of Satan's religious systems, as expressed in these doctrines of
demons. If you don't understand that, you're going to be deluded. You are living in a society that no longer basically views the Bible as
a book to be seriously considered, let alone that it has absolute authority in what it says. The 1960s and the youth drug cult revolution
took us over the top, and down the other side, and we're now on a landslide going down to the destruction of Armageddon.
The Doctrines of Demons
The doctrines of demons have included several things that we've looked at. One of them is the basic idea that God is not a personal thing,
but an impersonal force permeating everything. This is drummed away into the minds of Americans to an amazing degree: "God is not a person.
He is just a force." This force reveals itself in various material expressions, and these material expressions are themselves illusions.
There isn't any difference between the material and the immaterial. It's all an illusion. It's just a force. It's just a power. It's not a
person. Therefore, man can control this force to his benefit by proper techniques.
Star Wars
The Star Wars movie, as I've indicated, is a movie about witchcraft, and about the power of this impersonal deity. Star Wars
is the first of a series of many films. It was followed by the Empire Strikes Back, and there are many more. This is a series of films,
all of which are basically structured on the principles of witchcraft and the power of witchcraft. It is a subtle, terrific way of teaching
the doctrines of demons as expressed through the concepts of Eastern mysticism. And people are learning. Sometimes they don't fully realize
what they are learning and what they are accepting. But they are increasingly being prepared for the kind of a religious system that will be
functioning under the antichrist.
Witchcraft is Satan's religion, of course. It has, from Nimrod's Day, a variety of expressions, and it is centered on the worship of the sun.
We have studied that in considerable detail, as that system found modern expression in the Roman Catholic Church. But in the Star Wars
movie, the witchcraft religion is referred to as the old religion. The old religion of witchcraft is further proclaimed in the film to be
empowered by a force behind it. That force, of course, is Satan.
In the film, the rebel pilots of the Old Republic are being briefed for retaliatory attacks on the Death Star, the space station which has
been created by the Imperial Empire group, which is attacking the Old Republic and its freedom. It has just about conquered them, and they built
this huge, enormous space station called the Death Star. The rebels have found one weakness in its construction, through some data tapes that
they secured, by which they can destroy the Death Star. So, you have this scene where the commander is briefing the pilots of the Old Republic
who are about to take off on a retaliatory attack on the Death Star.
After he finishes briefing them on the mission, he then dismisses them with the words, "Man your ships, and may the force be with you." The
expression, "May the force be with you," is an expression which unthinking Christians can pick up and interpret as saying, "And may God be
with you," but that is not what it means. It is wrong for Christians to pick up the terminology of Eastern mysticism, such as referring to
God as the "force," because the term "force" refers to an impersonal pantheistic power, and it is falling into Satan's trap for us to use
Satan's terminology. We shouldn't do it. It is wrong to compare God to an impersonal force, and it's an easy thing to do.
I remember one time in Dallas seminary I was called upon to recite in class, and Dr. Whitmire asked a question about the Holy Spirit: "Who
is the Holy Spirit?" And he called on me and I said, "The Holy Spirit is a force." He said, "No, it's not a force. The word 'force' implies
an impersonal being." And he was quite right in making me change the word. He is a person. He is a living person. And God is a living Creator.
So, the concept here of "May the force be with you" is not the same, being interpreted in Christian terms, as "May God be with you."
The leading disciples in Star Wars of the Old Republic were the Jedi Knights who were portrayed as the guardians for centuries of peace and
justice in the Old Republic before the dark times of the Empire. The hero and the master teacher of the Jedi Knights was Obi-Wan Kenobi.
He explains to the young man, Luke Skywalker, that Luke's father had also been a Jedi knight, and that Luke's father had been killed
by Darth Vader, who had turned to the evil side of the old religion – the same force, but the evil side of the force. Today, we call
that "black magic," such as Satan groups practice today. He turned to the evil side of the old religion, and he joined the empire against
the good side of the force, which today we call "white magic," which is Satan functioning as in the charismatic movement, where the glory
and credit is not given to Satan, as in black magic, but it is given to God as in white magic.
The Jedi Knights had been pursued and killed as the result of Darth Vader's treachery, and the dialog between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker
goes like this: Obi-Wan says, "Vader was seduced by the dark side of the force." Luke says, "The force?" And Obi-Wan says, "The force is what
gives the Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and permeates us. It binds the galaxy together."
What a beautiful statement that is of Eastern mysticism right there in that film, for Americans to learn; to subconsciously pick up; and, to
begin absorbing. The force is what gives the Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us; it permeates us;
and, it binds the galaxy together. What a contrast this darkness is to the light found in Colossians 1:15-17, which say, "Who is the image
(speaking about Jesus Christ) of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven, and
that are in earth, visible and invisible; whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers. All things were created by Him, and
for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." By Him, all things hold together. What a difference that is – an
enlightenment that the Bible reveals of a sovereign Creator God separate from His creation, and who holds it all together, rather than a force
field that Obi-Wan suggests binds the galaxy together.
There's another scene in the movie, in the council room of the Death Star space station, in which they proclaim the supremacy of the force over
the power of technology which the Empire has produced. The council members are sitting around a table, and they are debating the problems of the
rebels, having secured data tapes which reveal the construction of the Death Star space station, which they are going to be able to use to analyze
in order to find a weakness. And sure enough, they do find a weakness. They find a ventilating vent which goes down to the core of the nuclear
reactor. If they can shoot a torpedo into that ventilator vent, the whole thing will blow up. So, in their attempt to recover these tapes, the
Empire Council realizes that they have a serious problem if these plans of the space station are analyzed, and they discover how to destroy it.
One of the Empire council members, however, dismisses any possibility of the rebels figuring out a way to destroy the space station. He declares
that their space station is the ultimate power in the universe, able to destroy a whole planet.
Then the dialog takes place between Darth Vader and the council member. Darth Vader says, "Don't be too proud of this technological terror that
you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force." The council member replies, "Don't try to
frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes,
or given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebels' hidden fortress."
At that point, Darth Vader stretches out his hand toward the council member and closes his fingers in the air without touching the throat of the
council member, and the guy begins to gasp, and his eyeballs bulge out, and he struggles for breath. Finally, Darth Vader releases, and the council
member falls gasping to the table. Darth Vader says, "I find your lack of faith distressing."
What is he proclaiming? He is proclaiming the fact that there is a power in the universe, and that this power is all mighty. And to think that
technology can overcome this power is foolishness. Darth Vader is still a believer in the old religion – the old religion of witchcraft.
This same concept of deity, as a material universe permeated by an inherent force, is proclaimed by the evolutionary scientists. Those of you
who saw the TV series "Cosmos" may perhaps remember that Dr. Carl Sagan, with his mellifluous voice, began that series by facing 140 million
Americans who were watching with the statement, "The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be." What a beautiful statement of Eastern
mysticism – pantheistic belief of an impersonal God. The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be. This is the creed of the
religion of secular humanism that is destroying the public school system today, and that has captured the minds of the college and university
students. It is an impersonal God existing in all material things. Again, what a contrast Carl Sagan's smug, arrogant statement on television
introducing that series is to our verse here in Revelation 4:8, which says, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to
come." Sagan is wrong. The cosmos is not all that ever was, and that is, and ever will be. It is this personal Creator Sovereign God: "Who was,
and is, and is to come." He is the one who has been, and who is, and who always will be.
Satan says that Man will become God
Another doctrine of Eastern mysticism that Satan promotes is that man is evolving upward to where he becomes a God. Since God is an impersonal
force which resides in everything, man too has deity within himself. This impersonal deity in man is a universal mind which expands one's
consciousness as one yields to it.
Again, the Star Wars film conveyed this concept. The Galactic Empire used the Death Star space station to destroy the planet Alderaan.
Do you remember that sequence? Alderaan is the home planet of Princess Leia, and it was inhabited by the rebels of the Old Republic who were
fighting the Galactic Empire, who had created the Death Star. The leaders of the Death Star demonstrate to Princess Leia the power of the
Death Star space station by destroying the planet Alderaan, her home planet. Upon the destruction of Alderaan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is flying,
at this point, in the spaceship, says, "I felt a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and
were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."
The message by that remark is that everyone is part of the force of deity, and those who have developed and expanded consciousness will feel
that force, and will be affected by it. That is the goal and the point of mysticism – to expand your consciousness, and to come into
altered states where you are aware of the power or the force which is about you. When Alderaan exploded in that spectacular display of light
and sparkling little specks of glowing star-like material that expanded, Obi-Wan felt it, because he was part of deity, which was part of
that impersonal force that resided in that planet that had been destroyed. It is in the arrogance of the sin nature of man to seek to exalt
himself to be the equal of God.
Satan says that Man has no Sin Nature
A third doctrine was this man has no sin nature, so there's no moral problem relative to God. As part of the universal deity, man's conduct
cannot be condemned no matter what he does. Modern psychiatry, therefore, seeks to relieve man of the sense of moral guilt. Freudian psychiatry
blames human defects on someone or something other than the individual. Psychiatry relieves the guilty of the responsibility for his actions,
and claims ability to cure through self-help techniques. Psychiatry always rejects the real solution of spiritual regeneration.
Subjectivity vs. Objectivity
Another falsehood was the doctrine that religious beliefs are not based on an external objective authority, but on what one finds subjectively
within himself. Truth is determined by one's feelings about a matter. You know how many Christians function on this misconception. Since one
is a part of deity of the universal mind, one has all the personal answers within oneself. This concept of looking into yourself for the answers
has permeated the lyrics of modern songs. Some of them are very openly, clearly declaring that you look within yourself for the answers that
you're seeking. Each person, consequently, is free to do his own thing according to his own personal preferences. It's only important that a
person feels something is true, whether anybody else thinks it's true, or whether there is any external fact to confirm it.
Again, in Star Wars, this truth is conveyed by a feeling that one has – this idea that truth is conveyed by how you feel about
something. As Luke Skywalker and his friends approach the Death Star in space, Luke says, "I have a very bad feeling about this." That's not
too bad of an expression. We sometimes say that. But in this context, he was conveying that he was learning truth about the Death Star through
his personal feelings. When Darth Vader was speaking to the commander of the Death Star, as it was approaching the space station of the Old
Republic to destroy it, Darth Vader says to the commander, "He is here." And the commander says, "Obi-Wan Kenobi? What makes you think so?"
And Darth Vader says, "A tremor in the force. The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old master." The commander says, "Surely he
must be dead." Darth Vader says, "Don't underestimate the force." The commander says, "The Jedi are extinct. You, my friend, is all that's
left of their religion." Here, again, you have the concept conveyed: "How do I discover what's going on? How do I find what is truth? It's
because I am giving in to my feelings. I'm wiping my mind out; I'm letting it all come in; and, I'm getting the feeling of it."
We have this demonstrated in the film in the scene where Luke Skywalker flies a spaceship in an attack on the Death Star space station. They
discover there's a canyon. At the end of the canyon is the ventilating vent. If they can put a proton torpedo into the ventilating vent, it
all blows up. So, the fliers have been briefed. They've been told by the commander, "May the force go with you," and they take off. As Luke
is preparing to leave, he hears the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who at this point has been killed. He hears the voice speaking from the dead
– necromancy, which is a heart principle (a core principle) of witchcraft. He hears the voice of Obi-Wan saying, "Luke, the force will
be with you." After trying an unsuccessful attack on the Death Star, Luke again, in the cockpit of his spaceship, hears the voice of dead
Obi-Wan, saying, "Luke, trust your feelings."
Luke comes in on the final run; makes his sweeping right hand turn; scoops into the canyon;
and, heads for the ventilator vent opening. He is siting through his computer site, and it's bobbling back and forth. And he's having a
hard time trying to keep on target, because on his tail has come Darth Vader and two of his agents who are barreling down on them; shooting
away; and, causing them to have to swerve back and forth. He's trying to get on target, and he can't keep the computer line centered properly
so that it can take over and fire the proton torpedo.
Then, suddenly, he hears again the voice of dead Obi Wan saying, "Luke. Let go, Luke. Luke, trust me." So, Luke turns off the computer and
pushes the scope aside. Back at the control center, they realize that he has done that, and they call to him, "What has happened?" He says,
"Nothing happened. Everything is alright." They realize that his computer control has been turned off. So, he now simply aims toward the
ventilator shaft by his feelings, and he fires away the proton torpedo. It swooshes out. He makes a climbing, hard, right-hand turn out of
the canyon, and the proton torpedo goes into the ventilating vent.
Darth Vader, realizing what has happened, makes a turn up and out of the canyon, and escapes, as the Death Star explodes in a dramatic
destruction. Sure enough, following your feelings brought you the accomplishment. Then once more from the grave, he hears the voice of
Obi-Wan saying, "Remember, the force will be with you always." This sequence, again, teaches Americans the witchcraft doctrine of necromancy,
and the guidance from the dead as can be experienced through séances.
Experiences
There was also the doctrine that what one experiences is more important in determining reality than what one's reason indicates. Spiritual
truth is arrived at by experiences – not learned from the Bible. And even if your experiences seem to contradict the Bible, once you've
committed yourself to the fact that you find truth through your experience, then the Bible can very easily be dismissed. Those of you acquainted
with the charismatic movement, this is exactly what happens. They have committed themselves to finding God's thinking through their experience,
and they use their experience, and even though their experience is contradicted by the Scriptures, they dismiss the Bible, and hang on to the
experience as being the guide to the truth. Psychic experiences of Eastern mysticism will put you in touch with reality and power. The mind is
viewed as inhibiting one's instincts, and thus inhibiting the power that one could have of experiencing the power of the impersonal force of the
universe.
There's that scene again in Star Wars, where Luke Skywalker is trying to learn to use his dead father's light sword, which has been
given to him by Obi-Wan. He's trying to learn how to use it by hitting a remote ball which is floating in the air. He constantly misses it,
and periodically the remote ball comes and stings him in the seat of his pants. So, finally, this conversation takes place between Obi Wan,
Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo, the pilot who is sitting there watching this. Obi Wan says, "Remember that a Jedi can feel the force flowing
through him." And there you have the concept of feeling your way through reality again. Luke says, "You mean it controls your actions?"
Obi-Wan says, "Partially, but it also obeys your commands."
That is a very important statement. If you know how to perform the proper rituals,
the demonic world will be under your control. At that point, Luke gets hit by the remote ball. Han Solo laughs, and says, "Hokey religions
and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." Luke says, "You don't believe in the force, do you?" Han Solo says,
"Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe
that there's one all-powerful force controlling everything." Luke says, "That's what you think, isn't it? You are a disbeliever in the force:
There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense."
Obi-Wan observes this for a moment, and then he turns to speak to Luke, and says, "I suggest you try it again, Luke. This time, let go your
conscious self, and act on instinct." He is saying, "Shift out of gear with your mind, and go on your instincts. Your thinking is interfering
with your ability to strike that floating ball."
Then he places a helmet on the head of Luke Skywalker, and he pulls down the blast shield over his eyes so he can't see. Luke says, "With the
blast shield down, I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?" And Obi-Wan says, "Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them." At that point,
Luke gets hit again by the floating remote ball. Obi-Wan says, "Stretch out with your feelings." At that point, "Luke smashes the remote target
with the light sword. Then Luke says, "You know, I did feel something. I could almost see the remote ball." Obi-Wan says, "That's good. You've
taken your first step into a larger world."
This is the same satanic concept that is found in the charismatic movement today that promises people that if they will disjoint themselves
from their mentalities, and follow the leading of their feelings into experiences, they will find something more with God. In Star Wars,
the term that Obi-Wan used was, "You have stepped into a larger world." If you have ever associated with a charismatic group, you will know
that the word "more" is a big word with them. That is what they dangle out before people as something that God has for them that they are not
experiencing with all their learning of Bible doctrine and being positive to it. There is something more in spiritual things in the way of an
experience that overrides having content of the Scriptures in your mind. It is because we are being impacted upon intellectually in the
entertainment world by movies such as Star Wars, which, I trust that if you ever see it again, it will have a meaning to you such as you never
dreamed possible. You will begin to discover them all around you, and then you will realize that indeed Satan is alive on planet earth, and
he's doing very, very well indeed.
Is there any doubt why it is important what this congregation is doing in terms of Berean Christian Academy; in terms of social relationships
that are based upon godliness within the Berean Youth Club; or, in terms of proclaiming that the most important thing in the life of a person
is to learn the Word of God, and to make that available, in one way or another, without charge, to people through the tape ministry and
otherwise? It is a prime target because it strikes at these core doctrines of demons which Satan is promoting. I hope you will be aware of what
he is promoting, but at the same time, be aware of the fact that you are the winners. The Spirit of God who is in you is far greater than the
spirit of Satan who is in the world. You are the target of his attack. When the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, Satan ground his teeth in rage
and indignation, and he turned to the only way he could strike now at that risen Savior, and that was through the body of Christ, the church,
left here on earth.
You had better be aware of it. Stop living in your dream world. Take into context the society in which we live. Realize that 1960 was the
continental divide. We've come over the top, and we're on the post-Christian era side, and the rejection of the Bible side. We are in the era
which increasingly is accepting these concepts that are being promoted through the basic religion of Hinduism. Also, be aware that this is
where your children need to be informed; where they need to be trained; and, where they are absorbing things from you left and right. In a
few years, they grow rapidly. In a few years' time, their minds can be captured by these doctrines of demons if you do not alert them to it.
You'll never be able to come across these doctrines again yourself (if you paid half attention), without being aware of what a terrible thing
Satan is doing in the world today to the minds of men and women and boys and girls. You will be aware of what he is doing. You will be sensitive
to it, and you will be now prepared to show people the subtle destruction that Satan is seeking to foist upon them – the specific kind
of poison that he has sprinkled through the good food that many of them are ready to accept. Do not trust him. He is as evil as the Bible tells
us he is, but he is also as smart, and he is also as attractive and personable as the Bible tells us he is. May the Lord help us to grasp that
we are in a world where the Christian is being driven increasingly into a smaller area of functioning. We, in this country, are the last great
hope of the world, because here there are people who are holding back the hand of judgment of God upon this nation, simply because there are
enough Bible teaching churches and believers functioning at this point. But as each day goes by, the forces of Satan's doctrines are becoming
stronger. We hope that you will begin this new year, as we resume so many church ministries, with a new resolve to be part of the angelic
conflict as a victor, and not as a victim.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1982
Back to the Revelation index
Back to the Bible Questions index |