Revelation 12:9 “The deception and divide by the deceiver Satan.” with Pastor Michael

This week in our scripture Jesus has to deal with false accusation from the religious leaders.  
 Mark 3:22 ESV
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”

They actually accuse Jesus the Messiah of being possessed by “Satan” to do the work of Satan. It made me wonder as the crowd was listening how many of them believed this misinformation from the religious leaders that Jesus was possessed by Satan?
As I studied the scripture, I realized the people being used by Satan were the prideful religious leaders. Satan has really caused major problems in our nation with misinformation, and we have seen the nation become divided because of it. Just look a simple search on our current pandemic, wearing a mask or not, vaccines or no vaccines, justice or social justice, and even defund the police or crime statistics. Regardless of what side you fall on everyone has opinion and there is so much misinformation out there it is hard to find the truth. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and his servants will disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.  Satan deals in deception and misinformation. Now you see the problem, in America.
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2 Corinthians 11:14-15 ESV
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. [15] So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
 
 
It is the same religious leaders that falsely accuse Jesus in the Book of John 8:41 They said to him, "were you not born of sexual immorality". They accuse Jesus of being of an illegitimate birth, your mother was pregnant before she was married. Again, Fake news and deception, from the father of lies.

John 8:44 ESV
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The reason I brought up this topic is because it is not just our nation that is divided but the American Church or the body of Christ in America that has become so divided in the past few years. We are told in the scriptures there should be no division among you, yet we know it exist. 
 
1 Corinthians 1:10 ESV
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
 
I do believe some have been deceived by the “Father of Lies”. Some believe these current popular topics in the culture is more important then being united in the church. Divisions among believer’s block God’s work in their lives and in the church. Opinions in the church have become extremely vocal in this day and age of technology. Just go through Instagram or Facebook post of friends and families see how much is about current cultural topics and the fighting that is happening in the comments. Christians will push those same lies and talking points. They would rather argue with them and be right then draw people to Christ. Christians will begin to be throwing scriptures at each other, but the scripture is taken out of context. They will use the word of God out context to get there point across. We have a lot of “eisegeses” happening from politicians, celebrities, Christian musicians and even some pastors from the pulpit. What is “eisegesis” it is just a fancy word that means the mishandling of the text and often leads to a misinterpretation.  Eisegesis is concerned only with making your point, it does not care about the context of scripture. It is misinformation that is happening online, with politicians, in the news, and even from the pulpit in America. Satan loves it, we weaponize and misinterpret the word of God to prove our point, so prideful. We have allowed our ideologies to trump our theology in Christ. We have placed an importance of our ideologies and opinions of popular topics to take priority in the church and it has caused major division.

You know the church is like an Orchestra. We have our conductor “Jesus” then we have the body of Christ. We have some in the percussion section, some in the wind section, some in the string section and so on. Now each of us are different, some violins, trumpets, cellos, and drums. Each of us probably have an idea (opinions) on playing the song a certain way. If each instrument played the music, the way they wanted and not the way the conductor wanted the sound would not be in harmony. The orchestra would be divided. An orchestra is unified (just like the body of Christ)—not because everyone performs on the same instrument—but because everyone plays in harmony the same song under the direction of one conductor. A church is to be united—not because every Christian is exactly alike—but because we all follow the same Jesus our Lord. We have forgotten that. My opinion on cultural is just not that important, and I should never use my opinions to create a divide with my brother or sister in Christ. Regardless of where they stand on the issues of today. It is not easy; I mean the problem is we have way too much information available in our hands through our devices and a lot of it is pushing agendas, propaganda and misinformation. How about turn off the news, the politicians, but also followers of Christ with platforms or even pastors that misuse the context of scripture and implant their personal opinions. Turn it all off for a bit.  Remember the Devil wants to deceive the whole world, how do think he is doing? Remember you have the ultimate lie detector the “Bible”, use the word of God to filter the things of this world, God’s word will guide you, and give you discernment in making decision.
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Revelation 12:9 ESV
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is 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.
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We are the family of God we cannot allow the devil to divide us over the things of this culture and world. We have the power of Holy Spirit be eager to maintain the unity and the bond of peace in the church. We have God’s word. If the church becomes united again the nation will wake up and draw closer to Christ.  
 
Ephesians 4:1-6 ESV
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, [2] with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, [3] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [4] There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, [6] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

The Family of the Lord needs to love each other with humility, gentleness, patience and we need to be united not divided.

God Bless
Pastor Michael