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00:00:01 “He will crush your head.” 00:00:04 That was Jehovah speaking to the serpent 00:00:07 —really, to Satan. 00:00:09 And God-fearing people who have understood 00:00:12 the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 00:00:14 have been hanging on to those words 00:00:16 for a long time 00:00:17 because we long to see the complete elimination of Satan 00:00:21 and his influence from our lives. 00:00:23 Can we fully imagine what life will be like 00:00:26 once Satan and the demons are out of the picture? 00:00:30 How much influence do they have on us 00:00:33 and our thinking right now? 00:00:35 If you open Watchtower Library 00:00:38 and go to the Watchtower Publications Index 1986-2016 00:00:43 under the subject “Satan,” 00:00:45 you will find a subheading entitled 00:00:48 “methods of operation on humans.” 00:00:52 It lists 56 devices that he uses 00:00:55 to trip us up mentally, emotionally, 00:00:58 morally, and spiritually. 00:01:00 Likely you see things in the list that you have had to contend with 00:01:03 or are contending with even now: 00:01:05 discouragement, entertainment, family opposition, 00:01:09 intimidation, personal differences, 00:01:12 ridicule, temptations. 00:01:14 With each of these, the Index provides 00:01:16 references to our publications where we can find helpful encouragement 00:01:21 and Scriptural principles to deal with whatever is threatening us. 00:01:27 Well, let’s talk about two of Satan’s methods that were on the list, 00:01:31 starting with one that was near the top of the list: 00:01:34 convincing people of being unloved or worthless. 00:01:38 The Devil would have us believe 00:01:40 that from God’s standpoint we are unlovable and unforgivable. 00:01:44 He wants us to worry about our past mistakes, 00:01:47 become overly self-critical, 00:01:49 and underestimate Jehovah’s compassion and forgiveness. 00:01:52 But Satan is just taking the spotlight off of himself 00:01:55 because he is the one who is unlovable in God’s eyes 00:01:59 and who is really unforgivable. 00:02:01 Now, how do we combat this method of Satan’s to dishearten us? 00:02:06 Well, one thing is that we can remember: 00:02:08 “It is impossible for God to lie.” 00:02:11 So take to heart what Jehovah has written truthfully 00:02:14 in the Bible about his love for us. 00:02:16 As an example, please turn to Romans chapter 8, 00:02:19 and keep your Bibles open there, if you will. 00:02:22 It’s Romans chapter 8. 00:02:24 We’re going to read verses 33 and 34: 00:02:29 “Who will file accusation against God’s chosen ones? 00:02:33 “God is the One who declares them righteous. 00:02:36 “Who will condemn them? 00:02:38 “Christ Jesus is the one who died, 00:02:40 “yes, more than that, the one who was raised up, 00:02:42 who is at the right hand of God and who also pleads for us.” 00:02:47 Now, those words were addressed to spirit-anointed Christians, 00:02:51 but, in principle, they also apply to those of the other sheep 00:02:54 who are declared righteous as God’s friends. 00:02:57 So do Satan’s false accusations really matter? 00:03:00 No. 00:03:01 It is Jehovah who declares true Christians righteous 00:03:05 based on their faith in the sacrifice of Christ. 00:03:08 And, really, why would Jehovah stop loving his worshippers 00:03:12 after he has given them the most precious gift he possibly could 00:03:15 —his own beloved son who even now “pleads for us” with God? 00:03:21 Well, let’s keep reading in Romans chapter 8, 00:03:24 continuing with verses 38 and 39: 00:03:28 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels 00:03:32 “nor governments nor things now here 00:03:34 “nor things to come nor powers 00:03:37 “nor height nor depth nor any other creation 00:03:40 “will be able to separate us from God’s love 00:03:43 that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 00:03:46 No one, including Satan, can successfully challenge 00:03:49 God’s favorable judgment of his devoted servants. 00:03:53 Now, a second thing we can do 00:03:55 to combat this method of the Devil’s to dishearten us 00:03:58 is to remember that Satan is a malicious liar. 00:04:01 The truth is not in him, 00:04:03 so we have to reject his lying accusations. 00:04:06 A reference listed in the Index 00:04:08 tells of how a traveling overseer addresses this issue. 00:04:11 He asks downhearted ones, “Do you believe in the Trinity?” 00:04:15 And the discouraged one would say, “Of course not,” 00:04:18 realizing that’s one of Satan’s lies. 00:04:20 Then the brother would ask, “Do you believe in hellfire?” 00:04:23 Again comes the answer, “Of course not.” 00:04:25 So the brother tells them that there is another satanic lie 00:04:28 that’s usually not recognized as such 00:04:30 —the lie that Jehovah does not love us as individuals. 00:04:34 And that approach often gets positive results 00:04:37 in helping the person to recognize and reject Satan’s lie 00:04:40 that we are unloved or worthless in God’s eyes. 00:04:44 So we need to take Jehovah at his word. 00:04:47 He is the one who tells the truth, 00:04:49 and he wants us to believe that he loves us individually. 00:04:54 Another method that was in that list in the Index 00:04:57 that Satan uses to deceive people is propaganda. 00:05:00 That is false, biased, or deceptive information 00:05:03 used to manipulate the way we think. 00:05:06 The first reference shown in the Index for propaganda 00:05:09 is an article in The Watchtower that we are currently studying 00:05:12 —an article entitled “Winning the Battle for Your Mind.” 00:05:15 And it begins: “You are under attack! 00:05:18 “And your chief enemy, Satan, is using a very dangerous weapon against you. 00:05:22 “What is it? 00:05:23 “Propaganda! 00:05:24 A weapon specially designed to attack, not your body, but your mind.” 00:05:29 Satan can use any part of his wicked system of things 00:05:33 to disseminate his lies. 00:05:35 And his objective is to weaken our faith and morals, 00:05:38 to stir up contentions between us, 00:05:40 and to undermine our confidence in the leadership that God is providing us. 00:05:44 How can we resist? 00:05:46 The article says: “Jesus gave this simple rule 00:05:50 “for combating propaganda: 00:05:52 ‘Know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” 00:05:56 In the Bible, we can find all we need 00:05:58 to combat Satan’s propaganda, 00:06:00 provided we’re diligent in “carefully examining the Scriptures daily” 00:06:04 and we use our God-given abilities 00:06:06 and power of reason to make the truth our own. 00:06:10 Now, the second thing we can do to combat this method of the Devil’s 00:06:13 is to keep in mind that Satan does not want us 00:06:16 to think clearly or reason things out well. 00:06:19 So never be content passively 00:06:22 to blindly accept what you hear from politicians, 00:06:26 the news media, the Internet, 00:06:28 because Satan is the master of fake news. 00:06:31 And the article concludes: 00:06:33 “Have you ever watched a film in which, 00:06:35 “from your vantage point in the audience, 00:06:37 “you can clearly see that someone is being deceived and manipulated? 00:06:41 “Did you find yourself thinking: 00:06:43 “‘Do not believe it! They are lying to you!’ 00:06:45 “Imagine, then, the angels shouting the same message to you: 00:06:48 “‘Do not be fooled by Satan’s lies!’ 00:06:51 “Shut your ears, then, to Satan’s propaganda. 00:06:54 Listen to Jehovah and trust in him.” 00:06:57 Now, all satanic influence will be gone when Satan is bound 00:07:01 and hurled into the abyss for a thousand years. 00:07:03 And what a relief it will be 00:07:05 to live in a world totally free from his wicked influence. 00:07:09 But then he’ll be released from the abyss 00:07:12 for a short while for a final test. 00:07:14 What method will he use then to deceive us 00:07:18 —one of the 56 devices we saw earlier in the list 00:07:22 or some new diabolical trick that he has thought of? 00:07:25 Well, we don’t know. 00:07:27 But we do know that if we remember that he is the liar 00:07:31 and Jehovah is the truth-teller, 00:07:33 we should fare just fine. 00:07:36 Let’s go back to Paul’s letter to the Romans, 00:07:39 where he echoes the first Bible prophecy 00:07:41 at Romans 16:20 00:07:45 —Romans 16:20: 00:07:50 “For his part, the God who gives peace 00:07:53 will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” 00:07:58 Rather than being merely abyssed, 00:08:00 Satan will actually be completely annihilated. 00:08:03 The Revelation Climax book says: 00:08:05 “This is more than a superficial bruising. 00:08:08 “. . . Paul here used a Greek word, 00:08:10 “. . . that means to bruise into a jellylike state, 00:08:13 to trample down, to destroy utterly by crushing.” 00:08:18 And the “God’s Love” book says: 00:08:20 “With Satan . . . out of the way, 00:08:22 you will feel relief that may be hard to fathom now.” 00:08:27 Meanwhile, whenever wrong or negative thoughts 00:08:30 creep into our mind, 00:08:32 we need to reject Satan’s lies 00:08:34 and focus our mind on the truths that Jehovah has taught us.
00:00:01 “He will crush your head.” 00:00:04 That was Jehovah speaking to the serpent 00:00:07 —really, to Satan. 00:00:09 And God-fearing people who have understood 00:00:12 the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 00:00:14 have been hanging on to those words 00:00:16 for a long time 00:00:17 because we long to see the complete elimination of Satan 00:00:21 and his influence from our lives. 00:00:23 Can we fully imagine what life will be like 00:00:26 once Satan and the demons are out of the picture? 00:00:30 How much influence do they have on us 00:00:33 and our thinking right now? 00:00:35 If you open Watchtower Library 00:00:38 and go to the Watchtower Publications Index 1986-2016 00:00:43 under the subject “Satan,” 00:00:45 you will find a subheading entitled 00:00:48 “methods of operation on humans.” 00:00:52 It lists 56 devices that he uses 00:00:55 to trip us up mentally, emotionally, 00:00:58 morally, and spiritually. 00:01:00 Likely you see things in the list that you have had to contend with 00:01:03 or are contending with even now: 00:01:05 discouragement, entertainment, family opposition, 00:01:09 intimidation, personal differences, 00:01:12 ridicule, temptations. 00:01:14 With each of these, the Index provides 00:01:16 references to our publications where we can find helpful encouragement 00:01:21 and Scriptural principles to deal with whatever is threatening us. 00:01:27 Well, let’s talk about two of Satan’s methods that were on the list, 00:01:31 starting with one that was near the top of the list: 00:01:34 convincing people of being unloved or worthless. 00:01:38 The Devil would have us believe 00:01:40 that from God’s standpoint we are unlovable and unforgivable. 00:01:44 He wants us to worry about our past mistakes, 00:01:47 become overly self-critical, 00:01:49 and underestimate Jehovah’s compassion and forgiveness. 00:01:52 But Satan is just taking the spotlight off of himself 00:01:55 because he is the one who is unlovable in God’s eyes 00:01:59 and who is really unforgivable. 00:02:01 Now, how do we combat this method of Satan’s to dishearten us? 00:02:06 Well, one thing is that we can remember: 00:02:08 “It is impossible for God to lie.” 00:02:11 So take to heart what Jehovah has written truthfully 00:02:14 in the Bible about his love for us. 00:02:16 As an example, please turn to Romans chapter 8, 00:02:19 and keep your Bibles open there, if you will. 00:02:22 It’s Romans chapter 8. 00:02:24 We’re going to read verses 33 and 34: 00:02:29 “Who will file accusation against God’s chosen ones? 00:02:33 “God is the One who declares them righteous. 00:02:36 “Who will condemn them? 00:02:38 “Christ Jesus is the one who died, 00:02:40 “yes, more than that, the one who was raised up, 00:02:42 who is at the right hand of God and who also pleads for us.” 00:02:47 Now, those words were addressed to spirit-anointed Christians, 00:02:51 but, in principle, they also apply to those of the other sheep 00:02:54 who are declared righteous as God’s friends. 00:02:57 So do Satan’s false accusations really matter? 00:03:00 No. 00:03:01 It is Jehovah who declares true Christians righteous 00:03:05 based on their faith in the sacrifice of Christ. 00:03:08 And, really, why would Jehovah stop loving his worshippers 00:03:12 after he has given them the most precious gift he possibly could 00:03:15 —his own beloved son who even now “pleads for us” with God? 00:03:21 Well, let’s keep reading in Romans chapter 8, 00:03:24 continuing with verses 38 and 39: 00:03:28 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels 00:03:32 “nor governments nor things now here 00:03:34 “nor things to come nor powers 00:03:37 “nor height nor depth nor any other creation 00:03:40 “will be able to separate us from God’s love 00:03:43 that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 00:03:46 No one, including Satan, can successfully challenge 00:03:49 God’s favorable judgment of his devoted servants. 00:03:53 Now, a second thing we can do 00:03:55 to combat this method of the Devil’s to dishearten us 00:03:58 is to remember that Satan is a malicious liar. 00:04:01 The truth is not in him, 00:04:03 so we have to reject his lying accusations. 00:04:06 A reference listed in the Index 00:04:08 tells of how a traveling overseer addresses this issue. 00:04:11 He asks downhearted ones, “Do you believe in the Trinity?” 00:04:15 And the discouraged one would say, “Of course not,” 00:04:18 realizing that’s one of Satan’s lies. 00:04:20 Then the brother would ask, “Do you believe in hellfire?” 00:04:23 Again comes the answer, “Of course not.” 00:04:25 So the brother tells them that there is another satanic lie 00:04:28 that’s usually not recognized as such 00:04:30 —the lie that Jehovah does not love us as individuals. 00:04:34 And that approach often gets positive results 00:04:37 in helping the person to recognize and reject Satan’s lie 00:04:40 that we are unloved or worthless in God’s eyes. 00:04:44 So we need to take Jehovah at his word. 00:04:47 He is the one who tells the truth, 00:04:49 and he wants us to believe that he loves us individually. 00:04:54 Another method that was in that list in the Index 00:04:57 that Satan uses to deceive people is propaganda. 00:05:00 That is false, biased, or deceptive information 00:05:03 used to manipulate the way we think. 00:05:06 The first reference shown in the Index for propaganda 00:05:09 is an article in The Watchtower that we are currently studying 00:05:12 —an article entitled “Winning the Battle for Your Mind.” 00:05:15 And it begins: “You are under attack! 00:05:18 “And your chief enemy, Satan, is using a very dangerous weapon against you. 00:05:22 “What is it? 00:05:23 “Propaganda! 00:05:24 A weapon specially designed to attack, not your body, but your mind.” 00:05:29 Satan can use any part of his wicked system of things 00:05:33 to disseminate his lies. 00:05:35 And his objective is to weaken our faith and morals, 00:05:38 to stir up contentions between us, 00:05:40 and to undermine our confidence in the leadership that God is providing us. 00:05:44 How can we resist? 00:05:46 The article says: “Jesus gave this simple rule 00:05:50 “for combating propaganda: 00:05:52 ‘Know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” 00:05:56 In the Bible, we can find all we need 00:05:58 to combat Satan’s propaganda, 00:06:00 provided we’re diligent in “carefully examining the Scriptures daily” 00:06:04 and we use our God-given abilities 00:06:06 and power of reason to make the truth our own. 00:06:10 Now, the second thing we can do to combat this method of the Devil’s 00:06:13 is to keep in mind that Satan does not want us 00:06:16 to think clearly or reason things out well. 00:06:19 So never be content passively 00:06:22 to blindly accept what you hear from politicians, 00:06:26 the news media, the Internet, 00:06:28 because Satan is the master of fake news. 00:06:31 And the article concludes: 00:06:33 “Have you ever watched a film in which, 00:06:35 “from your vantage point in the audience, 00:06:37 “you can clearly see that someone is being deceived and manipulated? 00:06:41 “Did you find yourself thinking: 00:06:43 “‘Do not believe it! They are lying to you!’ 00:06:45 “Imagine, then, the angels shouting the same message to you: 00:06:48 “‘Do not be fooled by Satan’s lies!’ 00:06:51 “Shut your ears, then, to Satan’s propaganda. 00:06:54 Listen to Jehovah and trust in him.” 00:06:57 Now, all satanic influence will be gone when Satan is bound 00:07:01 and hurled into the abyss for a thousand years. 00:07:03 And what a relief it will be 00:07:05 to live in a world totally free from his wicked influence. 00:07:09 But then he’ll be released from the abyss 00:07:12 for a short while for a final test. 00:07:14 What method will he use then to deceive us 00:07:18 —one of the 56 devices we saw earlier in the list 00:07:22 or some new diabolical trick that he has thought of? 00:07:25 Well, we don’t know. 00:07:27 But we do know that if we remember that he is the liar 00:07:31 and Jehovah is the truth-teller, 00:07:33 we should fare just fine. 00:07:36 Let’s go back to Paul’s letter to the Romans, 00:07:39 where he echoes the first Bible prophecy 00:07:41 at Romans 16:20 00:07:45 —Romans 16:20: 00:07:50 “For his part, the God who gives peace 00:07:53 will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” 00:07:58 Rather than being merely abyssed, 00:08:00 Satan will actually be completely annihilated. 00:08:03 The Revelation Climax book says: 00:08:05 “This is more than a superficial bruising. 00:08:08 “. . . Paul here used a Greek word, 00:08:10 “. . . that means to bruise into a jellylike state, 00:08:13 to trample down, to destroy utterly by crushing.” 00:08:18 And the “God’s Love” book says: 00:08:20 “With Satan . . . out of the way, 00:08:22 you will feel relief that may be hard to fathom now.” 00:08:27 Meanwhile, whenever wrong or negative thoughts 00:08:30 creep into our mind, 00:08:32 we need to reject Satan’s lies 00:08:34 and focus our mind on the truths that Jehovah has taught us.
