Class Notes: 3/9/2020

Exod 20:1-6; 2 Cor 10:3-5; The doctrine of evil part 8

Exod 20:1-6; Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

False gods and their associated Idolatry is comprised of anything that is promoted above or in opposition to God consciousness, divine establishment, believing in Jesus, or PMA of Bible Doctrine.

2Cor 10:3-5; For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ...

We are presently in a study of the doctrine of evil that is the product of believing the false narrative of the public lie that satan, the god of this world, fabricates and raises up in opposition to truth and righteousness that are the product of believing the Person and Word of the Living God of the universe.

At this point we are looking at Lewis Sperry Chafer's description of satan's system in his Systematic Theology Volume 2 pages 100-111. Backing up a bit from where we left off...

Satan has always adapted his methods to the times and conditions. If attention has been gained, a complete denial of the truth has been made, or, when some recognition of the truth is demanded, it has been granted on the condition that that which is vital in redemption should be omitted.

This partial recognition of the truth is required by the world today. For, while the direct result of the believer's testimony to the cosmos has been toward the gathering out of the Bride, there has been an indirect influence of this testimony upon the world, which has led them to see that all that is good in their own ideals has been already stated in the Bible and exemplified in the life of Christ.

Moreover, they have heard that every principle of humanitarian sympathy or righteous government has been revealed in the Scriptures of Truth. Thus there has grown a more or less popular appreciation of the value of these moral precepts of the Scriptures and of the example which Christ presents.

This condition has prevailed to such a degree that any new system or doctrine which secures a hearing today must base its claim upon the Bible, and include, to some extent, the Person and teachings of Christ.

The fact that the world has thus partly acknowledged the value of the Scriptures is taken by many to be a glorious victory for God, while, on the contrary, fallen humanity is less inclined to accept God's terms of salvation than in the generations past.

It is evident that this partial concession of the world to the testimony of God has opened the way for counterfeit systems of truth, which, according to prophecy, are the last and most-to-be-dreaded methods in the satanic warfare.

In this connection it must be conceded that Satan has really granted nothing from his own position, even though he be forced to acknowledge every principle of truth save that upon which salvation depends.

Rather is he advantaged by such a concession; for the value and delusion of a counterfeit are increased by the nearness of its likeness to the real. By advocating much truth, in the form of a counterfeit system of truth,

Satan can satisfy all the external religious cravings of the world, and yet accomplish his own end by withholding that on which man's only hope depends. It is, therefore, no longer safe to subscribe blindly to that which promises general good, simply because it is good and is garnished with the teachings of the Bible; for good has ceased to be all on the one side and evil all on the other.

In fact, that which is evil in purpose has gradually appropriated the good until but one issue distinguishes them. Part-truth-ism has come into final conflict with whole-truth-ism, and woe to the soul that does not discern between them!

The first, though externally religious, is of Satan, and leaves its followers in the doom of everlasting banishment from the presence of God, while the latter is of God, "having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

It is also noticeable that the term "infidel" has, within a generation, disappeared from common usage, and that that manner of open denial of the truth has been almost wholly abandoned.


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