Trancript for the talk about Satan. (I cut out the umm's and some of the repetition, but otherwise this is pretty much exact.)
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Can you believe that food poisoning causes one in six Americans to get sick each year, ending with thousands being hospitalized, thousands even dying? To put that in perspective, yesterday here for our attendance we had 7,700 in attendance. That would mean after we eat dinner tonight nearly 1,300 of us would be sick with anything from nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or even worse. So where will you eat tonight? I imagine you or your family will choose very carefully, won't you?
But what about this question: do you think you or your family could be victims of spiritual food poisoning? As bad as it is to be physically poisoned by your food, listening to apostate reasoning can cause spiritual sickness and death.
What is the definition of an apostate? An apostate is someone who abandons true worship, but not only that, they then rebel against true worship in two ways: by speaking against former fellow believers, and two, trying to draw others away from true worship. In this symposium, entitled "Beware of Apostates" we're going to examine two sources of apostate reasoning and thinking. In this talk, Satan the Devil. In the talk to follow, human apostates. We will consider the tricks they use and how we can keep ourselves spiritually healthy.
So let's get started and talk about the first source of poisoned thinking, Satan. So please open your Bibles with me to John 8:44, and as we read, see if Satan fits the definition of an apostate. And here at John 8:44 Jesus is talking to some self-righteous Jewish religious leaders. What does he tell these men? At John 8: 44, Jesus says to them: "YOU are from YOUR father the Devil, and YOU wish to do the desires of YOUR father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of [the lie]."
So does Satan fit the definition of an apostate? Jesus said that Satan rebelled - he did not stand fast in the truth. Jesus said that Satan is a liar. The label "devil" means "slanderer" as he accuses Jehovah’s people. Jesus also said that these religious leaders, they fed on Satan's thoughts. They became what they ate. Satan then turned these religious leaders from serving God to serving his own interests. Does Satan fit the definition of an apostate? Satan is the primary and most dangerous apostate. If you knew that a kitchen worker was infected with a highly contagious disease, would you eat that plate of food he just set in front of you? No. You'd push away that plate of poisoned food. So, too, why would we eat any of the food that Satan sets in front of us? Satan is sick. Any food that he prepares is infected. The Bible puts it, at 1 Timothy 6:4, it says, those who partake of Satan's thoughts become mentally diseased, corrupted in mind. We are what we eat.
So why would anyone want to partake of anything Satan puts in front of us? But brothers and sister, many have, included perfect spirit angels. What was the effect on these angels? They became what they ate. Satan corrupted their minds, didn't he? They became disobedient and sided with him. As Ephesians 6:12 says, these demons along with Satan, they banded together as world rulers of this darkness. And this group has one mission: to poison spiritual food.
Therefore, brothers, how can we stay spiritually healthy and resist the ploys of the ruler of the world? We're now going to examine two tactics that Satan uses against God's people to draw Jehovah's people away from serving him. Two tactics. First tactic: Satan uses blatant outward attacks. So what comes to your mind when you think of the following places: Nazi Germany, Quebec Canada under Maurice Duplessis, or the targeted attacks of Jehovah's Witnesses in Malawi? Yes, at times, Satan tries to shove his poison down the throats of Jehovah's people, doesn't he? How does he do it? He uses brutal persecution, imprisonment and bans to try and draw Jehovah's people away from true worship. And since Satan's the ruler of this world he's set up a system that's so fragile, isn't it, it could happen here in an instant, couldn't it? And if it does, will we recognize these ploys as blatant outward attacks as ploys of the primary apostate?
Tactic number two: Satan uses attacks that are subtle. We're going to highlight three subtle attacks that Satan uses to try and slip poison into Jehovah's healthy teachings. Open your Bibles with me to Genesis 3:1-5. Here in Genesis we're going to read Satan's conversation with Eve. And see if you can pick out some of the ways that this devious little snake tried to poison - subtly poison - Eve's mind. It says: "Now the serpent proved to be the most cautious of all the wild beasts of the field that Jehovah God had made. So it began to say to the woman: “Is it really so that God said YOU must not eat from every tree of the garden?” At this the woman said to the serpent: “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. But as for [eating] of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘YOU must not eat from it, no, YOU must not touch it that YOU do not die.’” At this the serpent said to the woman: “YOU positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of YOUR eating from it YOUR eyes are bound to be opened and YOU are bound to be like God, KNOWING good and bad.”
First subtle attack, brought out in verses four and five: Satan insinuates that Jehovah does not love us. How did he do this? In verse four and five he said: "You positively will not die. Since God is depriving you of something, since he is hindering your well-being, therefore he must not, he could not, love you, or else he would have told you." Brothers and sisters, was Satan truthful in his claim that Eve was being deprived? What was the truth? The truth, if Eve obeyed God, what would she have been deprived of? If she obeyed God, she would've only been deprived of old age, sickness, wrinkled skin, missing teeth, and death. Eve became what she ate. Have you ever felt that Jehovah doesn't love you? In times of sadness, in times or hardship, have you ever felt that you must not, that you could not, be deserving of Jehovah's love? If those thoughts ever surface in us, stop. Push away that plate of poisoned thinking. If you have ever felt deprived of happiness, who is to blame? Is it Jehovah? Remember, Jehovah loves you, and he loves the obedience you show.
Second subtle attack of Satan is highlighted in Numbers 15:39, please turn there with me. To set this up, this is where we find God's law to Israel about what they wear. They were to put a fringe on their garments, and also a blue thread. What did this mean? What was it supposed to remind them of? "And it must serve as a fringed edge for YOU, and YOU must see it and remember all the commandments of Jehovah and do them, and YOU must not go about following YOUR hearts and YOUR eyes, which YOU are following in immoral intercourse." Second subtle attack? The Devil incites people to follow their own heart and their own eyes. Isn't that true today? Satan has geared this entire world to appeal to our heart and eyes, our entire fleshly inclination. And as was brought up here in Numbers, one area where we could follow our hearts and our eyes in in what we wear. So what do you see those at school wearing? Those at work, those on television? Are they dressing more provocatively, overly trendy? Is it affecting you? Might you be tempted to follow your own heart and your own eyes and be seduced by what you see? Might you be tempted to lower Jehovah's standards and dress in a similar manner? If so, brothers and sisters, stop. Push away that plate of poisoned thinking. Remember: Jehovah wanted his people to look physically different than Satan's world around them. Does he expect any less of us today?
Let's move on to the third attack. Third attack of Satan: he tries to capitalize on natural feelings of pride, enticing people to assume that they know better than God. Think back to the conversation between Satan and Eve in Genesis. Didn't Satan try to endeavor to make Eve feel important, as if she were the spokesman for herself and her husband? And what happened? Eve did it. Eve bit on what Satan was offering. And what did she say of the fruit of the trees of the garden? "WE may eat." You know, as humans, we need self-worth. But how do we cultivate self-worth without it turning into self-importance, or pride? We need to remember that we are special, but only because of Jehovah. He turned us into something special. Eve forgot that. She became what she ate. When we begin to think, brothers and sisters, that we know better than God, we know better than his organization, when we begin to resist council, stop. Push away that plate of poisoned thinking.
Brothers and sister, poisoning can lead to sickness and death. Listening to apostates can lead to spiritual sickness and death. We are what we eat. Push away that plate. Brothers and sisters, please, beware of the first apostate: Satan .
ETA: cleaned up format a little