by
Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)
(Chapter 30 from Dr. Hyle's excellent book, Justice)
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:10-12
The great work of Satan is to disrupt justice. The way he disrupts justice is by accusing. This causes people to judge others based on the accusation, not on the reality.
Everyone is a judge. Maybe it's as a parent or employer, but in some capacity, each of us has a position of judging. If the Devil can cause us to judge falsely, then he has totally paralyzed God's system of justice. That is exactly what Satan is trying to do.
Daniel 10:12 13, "Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and Lam come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia."
The angel came to give Daniel the answer to his prayer. The Devil has a system of fallen angels or demons who have different levels of authority. Satan has assigned a certain one of these angels to every nation of the earth. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against principalities and powers. The United States of America has a prince assigned by Satan to try to make our nation do wrong.
The Devil is not omnipresent; nor is he omniscient. He discharges his demons to do his work at different levels. This prince was sent to stop the angel who was trying to deliver this message to Daniel. He withstood him for 21 days. Michael, the archangel came and fought the prince of Persia. He defeated that prince so that the angel could go on with his message to Daniel.
Notice, there is a power structure. Daniel was the weakest. The angel was stronger than Daniel, but the prince of Persia was stronger than the angel. Michael was stronger than the prince of Persia. That is as far as the progression goes here, but in Jude we see it go even further. Jude 9, "Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee."
Michael, the archangel, was no match for the Devil. The Devil had more power than he had. The fact is, Michael admitted that he was no match for the Devil, but God is more powerful than the Devil! That is God's system of power. Man is the weakest, but God is the most powerful. As long as we do things in the power of the Holy Spirit, we can overcome Satan!
Ephesians 6 tells us that there are four powers against which we wrestle. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against these four powers. We cannot change America by fighting flesh and blood. What are these four powers? Let me explain what they are.
1. Principalities. I believe that is Satan himself.
2. Powers. I believe those are the generals or captains of Satan's armies.
3. Rulers of the darkness of this world. These are the princes which are appointed over each country.
4. Spiritual wickedness in high places. These are all of the demons that work individually against us.
Let me show you the Devil's purpose for this structure of power. Revelation 12:9, 10, 'And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of the brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night."
This passage is talking about the tribulation period. Until the middle of the tribulation period, Satan will continue to have access to God to accuse us to God. At that time he will be cast out of all access to God and will come to earth and center all of his attention on the earth. He will become the Devil incarnate (the Antichrist) for a period of three and a half years. His angels will also be cast out of Heaven.
The Devil is accusing. Right now he is accusing and trying to get us to believe things that are not true. He is attempting to disrupt the entire order of justice on the face of the earth by causing people to be accused of things falsely and being wrongly judged by others.
The word "Devil" means "accuser." When you say, "Devil," you are saying "accuser." Thirty-four times Satan is called an accuser. Once he is called a murderer. Never is he called a thief or an adulterer. Satan's main work on this earth is to accuse and disrupt our system of justice.
The entire system of the Devil is designed from the top to the bottom to cause us to accuse. Consequently, the worst work of Satan is not drunkenness, adultery, murder or lying. The worst work of Satan is accusing. That's what his name means.
Satan appeared only three times in the Bible. He first appeared in Genesis, then in Job, and finally in Matthew 4 to Jesus on the Mount of Temptation. All three times he appeared for the purpose of accusing. In Genesis he came to accuse God to man. In Job he came to accuse man to God. The Devil is trying to get man to treat God unjustly, and he is trying to get God to treat man unjustly. The third time he came to accuse the God-Man. His entire system is accusation.
So, one of the greatest sins a Christian can commit is accusing! Most of us do not believe that, and most will refuse to accept that; yet it is the one thing we can do that is most like the Devil! If we believed that accusing was the worst sin, we would not associate with accusers. The Devil wants all of us to be accusers. The worst form of demon possession is gossip. That is what all the angels in Satan's system are committed to doing. The epitome of diabolic action is being an accuser or slanderer. That is the fulfillment of the work of the Devil. The entire Satanic structure revolves around it.
Satan is trying to get the Christians of our fundamental churches to accuse one another. The demons of Hell are the ones who tell you to gossip. The demons of Hell are the ones who tell you to listen to it. God's people ought to have something better to talk about than to gossip about each other. Let's talk about Jesus! Let's talk about the Gospel! Let's talk about the good things people do!
The Devil's entire system of power is dedicated to ruining the reputation of God and man. If you are involved in ruining someone's reputation, you are used of the Devil, and you are doing his work. Satan is out to destroy people's reputations, and he is working with all his power to get us to help him.
God never tells us to avoid sinners such as alcoholics, drug addicts or adulterers, but He does tell us to shun vain babblers. He never tells us to separate ourselves from derelicts, but He does say to avoid those who cause division. God does not want us to associate with those who are involved in doing what Satan is most actively doing. When you gossip, you have become a part of Satan's power structure, and he has performed in you his supreme work.
If Satan came to your town to show you his most prized accomplishment, he would not take you to the area of taverns or sleazy places of prostitution or the drug trade. He would not take you to some fallen sinner or skid row. He would take you to a classroom where a professor in some seminary is saying the Bible is not totally true, or he would take you to the home of some Christian who is gossiping on the telephone.
One day while preaching on the Devil, I received the shock of my life. It dawned on me that the Devil does not just falsely accuse us to God. He often tells the truth about us. It is not only false accusation that makes us like the Devil; it is also true accusation!
We are not to be accusers!
My enemies enjoy stressing that I like to cover up sin. I never cover up sin. I simply do not go around the country telling about everybody's sins. I am in the business of restoring people, not destroying people! I am in the business of reclaiming, not defaming!
You will never be more Satanic than when you tell something true or false about someone else. The entire structure of the system of Satan is accusation in order to destroy God's system of justice. I do not want any part of Satan's system. I want to be involved in carrying out the work of the perfect justice of God!
