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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Dee Casper

How Heaven’s War Became Ours

Sweet Jesus, thank you for this privilege to pray.

I thank you that our greatest argument is our need.

I've not done this before, and I wanna do it justice the first time around.

So I just pray that you would give me clarity of mind.

I pray that you would give me sincerity of heart and that you would just speak and bless us with a better understanding of the root issues in this great controversy.

And we ask this now in Christ Jesus' name.

Now, the goal for this evening is not to give you an exhaustive study on all the verses in Scripture that tell you who the anti-Christian power is.

That's not my objective here this evening.

My objective is to explain some other things, the root issue on the role that the Antichrist is playing in the big picture of the great controversy.

There is a war being fought between Christ and Satan.

There are casualties in this war, but there are also people right now who are playing a role for 1 side or the other.

We're gonna address the big picture, what the real issue is about, is my objective.

This is from Testimonies of the Church, Volume 6.

The law that none liveth to himself, Satan was determined to oppose.

And it was man's acceptance of this principle that brought sin where?

So the idea that no man liveth to himself is the main principle on how heaven is to operate and the violation of that principle is how rebellion started in heaven and how man fell here on earth.

So, unselfishness is the principle of God's kingdom.

And it's the principle that Satan hates, and its very existence he denies.

He hates unselfishness with all of his guts.

Its very existence he denies and from the beginning of the great controversy, Satan has endeavored to prove God's principles of action to be selfish.

And he deals in the same way with all who serve God, but to disprove Satan's claim is the work of Christ and all who bear his name." So the topic of selfishness versus unselfishness is actually the root issue in the great controversy.

It's the deal in the topic of selfishness versus unselfishness.

They continue, It was to give in his own life an illustration of unselfishness that Jesus came in the form of humanity.

We'll talk about this tomorrow in the morning.

And all who accept this principle are to be workers together with Jesus in demonstrating it in the practical life.

1 of the ways in which you are going to aid Jesus in the great controversy is by living a life of unselfishness.

1 of the ways in which you will be aiding Satan's case in the great controversy is by living a life of unselfishness.

1 of the ways in which you will be aiding Satan's case in the great controversy is by living selfishly.

So from the very beginning of the rebellion, Satan has sought to portray God as being selfish, while at the same time alluring others to live for themselves and abide by his own kingdom principle, claiming to worship God while living by Satan's kingdom principle.

And this is a campaign, by the way, that is still alive and well.

This didn't just happen millennia ago, who knows how long ago, up in heaven.

This is still a rampant issue today, and Satan has a storefront on Earth propagating this teaching and this idea.

So Satan is a storefront on Earth right now that's responsible not only that is living out these principles of selfishness, I'm going to skip this actually.

Now, There is a storefront that Satan is using on earth right now to propagate this teaching of selfishness, that is trying to do religion with selfishness at the helm and is causing a lot of problems.

And this apostate Christian system is called the Mother of Harlots and it has many daughters according to Revelation chapter 17.

Those daughters are religious movements that bear similar traits to the mother in leading people to serve out of fear and selfishness and putting themselves and their own preferences first.

They're also giving a theology to the world that distorts the character of God and his unselfish love.

So the anti-Christian system is doing a few things, well many things really, apart from persecuting the saints of God and causing other issues.

They're painting a false picture of the character of God before the world, and they are uplifting selfishness while striving to know Christ.

She's also known for her opulence, her grand display in religious matters, and I mean if you've...

Yeah, I'll skip that too for time's sake.

But according to Revelation chapter 18, 9 to 19, this anti-Christian power has actually shaped the way that the leaders of the known world do commerce and do life.

We're not going to be able to break all this down this evening, but it talks about the kings of the earth and the tradesmen and the people who drive ships that literally fallen apostate Christianity through the Roman papacy is actually leading this to take place.

And all of this is in the context of elevating self and at the expense of others.

But let's take a step back in the great controversy and look at how this all began.

So in Revelation chapter 12 we're told in verse 7 that war broke out where?

Those 2 don't really seem like they should go together.

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought but they did not prevail nor is a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out that servant of old called who?

The devil and Satan and who deceives the whole world he was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

Then you go to verse 3, and it shows that Satan literally took a third of the angels with him in this rebellion against God.

And we'll see how he did this here in just a moment in Ezekiel chapter 28.

Now, usually when we quote Ezekiel 28 in the topic of the great controversy, we skip down to right, I think, verse 12.

But I want you to listen to the language here that's employed, because it's very similar to language that is used by the seed of the papacy regarding their authority, their role, and the role they play on earth, it's very similar language.

And it's very similar language that Satan himself uses about himself.

It's very easy for us to stare at the Antichrist and make a big deal about an institution, but it's just a puppet.

The real issue in the great controversy is what Satan is doing on earth and he just has a storefront to do so.

I mean, yeah, we can stare at this if you want to, but that's not the real issue.

The real issue is what's controlling this entity and how it's operating.

And this is where we see some of the language that's scary in Ezekiel 28 regarding the topic of selfishness.

"'The word of the Lord came to me again saying, "'Son of man, say to the Prince of Tyre, "'Thus says the Lord God, "'Because your heart is lifted up, "'and you say, I am a God, "'and I sit in the seat of God's in the midst of the seas yet you are a man and not a God though you set your heart as the heart of a God.

So they're claiming to be God but God is saying no that's not true no you are not.

Skip down to verse 4 with your wisdom and your understanding you've gained Riches for yourself and gather gold and silver into your treasuries by your great wisdom and trade you've increased your riches and your heart is lifted up again because of your riches." Selfishness, self-righteousness, pointing the finger at how awesome they are, and they're getting very, very rich in their exploits.

Verse 6, because you set your heart as the heart of a God again, and we'll skip some of this, go down to verse...

"'Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "'Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre.'" And what we're going to start hearing are characteristics that don't just apply to the king of Tyre, it's talking about the force of darkness within the man.

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How Heaven’s War Became Ours

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