The accuser of the brothers and sisters

Rev 12:10-11 NETV  "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, the one who accuses them day and night before our God, has been thrown down.  (11)  But they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die."

An instructive question comes to mind with this passage. Who was accusing the brothers and sisters day and night before God? The answer to the question is the unbelieving Jewish leadership. It becomes even more interesting when one understands that both Jesus and John the Baptist called the Jewish leadership, a brood of vipers, or in other words, the seed of the Serpent. Here is an undeniable tie between Satan, religion, and religious leaders.

They were accusing them of blasphemy, worshipping a false God, and heresy, but mostly they were accusing them of being sinners. When will we wake up and realize that religion and the religious mindset is the handiwork of Satan. Today, in most assemblies, the accuser of the brothers and sisters stands up at the pulpit. Instead of proclaiming the gospel of grace, they instead, look at the law and find multiple reasons to accuse. All of this in light of the obvious teaching against it by Paul.

Here's what Paul taught:

• Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for those who believe
• God cancelled the written requirements that were against the believer by nailing it to the cross
• Paul knew that the letter killed while the Spirit gave life
• The Jews tried to establish their own righteousness and did not submit to the righteousness of God
• Believers are justified by the faith of Christ Jesus
• There is no condemnation for anyone in Christ Jesus
• God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not counting trespasses/sin
• Made the one who knew no sin to be made sin for those that would become the righteousness of God in Christ

Above is just a portion of what Paul taught about the gospel of grace, and he went on to tell the Corinthians that he had determined to know nothing among them save Jesus Christ crucified. So why are so many of the sermons continually accusatory? Why is it that the brothers and sisters are accused every time they enter a sanctuary. Think about that, a sanctuary is a place of refuge and safety and week after week the saints go to the sanctuary to be beat up and accused. You must admit that there is something drastically wrong.

You hear a lot of individuals from the Pentecostal ranks speaking of the strong man in the demonic realm. I have maintained, and I know beyond doubt that I am one hundred percent correct on this that the strong man is the demon of religion. The main avenue that Satan uses to accuse is religion. It is a perversion of the truth. It has elements of truth, and it seems very right to the human mind, but it is antithetical to the gospel message.

Satan quotes scripture, Satan interprets scripture, Satan uses scripture to accuse the sisters and brothers. It is his most effective tool. But perhaps, Satan's biggest triumph is that he uses gospel preachers and pastors, unwittingly I believe, but uses them none the less to accuse the children of the kingdom.

No doubt some are saying but Paul was accusatory was he not? What about all the passages in Paul that speak of how the saint should behave? To that, I say that evangelical/orthodox dogma has not properly understood Paul in light of the redemptive decrees that I stated above in bullet form. If the way church doctrine treats the redemptive decrees is correct then it is doubtful that anyone is really saved, but we know, by the witness of the Holy Spirit within us, that we are in fact children of God. The reason is that God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us bears witness with our Spirit that we are in fact children of God, and guess what, it is the job of the accuser to bring doubt. I repeat. Why do so called gospel ministers do Satan's dirty work? It comes from erroneous teaching and thinking.

James, (don't get me started on the most misunderstood text in the scripture,) said the following: Jas 3:1 NRSV "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." Yes, if you say your called to the gospel ministry, and rarely or never preach the gospel, you need to worry about the fact that you will one day have to answer to God/Christ for what you taught and how you taught it and who you accused.

But back to the idea that Paul, James, John, Peter, the author of Hebrews appear to accuse the brothers and sisters as well. Those passages of the New Testament deal with a question that many if not all asked when hearing and believing the gospel of grace. The question is simply this: Based on unmerited reconciliation, HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE/WALK/ACT? The first century apostles and prophets DID NOT believe for a minute that their dealing with this question would be codified in a legal/constitutional way. This can be studied and proved but most of the minister's are too prideful and hardheaded to look at it differently than they currently do, and because of this, they become accusers of the brothers and sisters week after week.