Satan has run a tremendous bluff on the Christian community. Satan has injected the idea that as long as we are in the world we are required to sin. Satan has injected the idea that God cannot or will not deliver us completely from sin. Satan has injected the idea we are so filled with sin that total deliverance is impossible. Satan has injected the idea that God's will is so difficult to attain that no one could possibly do it. Satan has injected the idea that if we do God's will we shall be miserable and lack good things and the joy we could have if we would just follow our own desires. This was the means by which Satan deceived Eve and to this day deceives the human race.

But the Bible says we owe the flesh nothing that we should live according to its appetites. The Bible says if we confess our sins God is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Bible says the portion of Christ that is in us does not sin and cannot sin because it has been born of God. The Bible says if we as a Christian continue in slavery to sin we will die spiritually.

Whom are we to believe, Satan or God? Whom would you like to believe (a very revealing question)?

If one is to understand the history of man from the time of Adam he or she must consider it in terms of the rebellion of the angels.

At some point in eons past the angels rebelled against God's will. God did not immediately cast all of them into the Lake of Fire (which is prepared for the devil and his angels) but conceived of a far-reaching plan. God's plan includes removing the authority of the angels from them, creating a new realm, the physical universe, creating a new race of creatures termed "man," and giving to man the authority to govern all the works of God's hands.

If you do not understand the previous paragraph I do not believe you will be able to place the events of history in proper perspective, particularly the events of Church history.

God began the program of developing human rulers by forgiving our sins through the blood atonement made on the cross of Calvary by Jesus Christ.

But our being forgiven, while it benefits us, does not solve the problem of rebellion in the universe.

God proceeded to give His Holy Spirit those who have been forgiven. The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and power to live a moral life and to bear witness of the atoning death and triumphant resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it does not solve the problem of rebellion in the universe.

Once we have been forgiven by the blood of the Lamb and filled with the Spirit of God we now are in a position to begin to solve the problem of rebellion in the universe. We solve the problem of rebellion by choosing to do God's will in every detail of life.

To be continued.