When my husband and I first moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, as Friends of Israel field representatives in October 2000, we were bombarded with advertising for the jaw-dropping Las Vegas Strip shows.

One show was the very popular Siegfried and Roy, the longest-running show ever offered on the Boulevard. The two German-American magicians and entertainers, Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn, captivated audiences with a mind-blowing array of eye-dazzling costumes, astonishing illusions, and exotic animals. They were best known for their use of white lions and white tigers, dangerous inborn predators, in their performances.

Why were audiences unafraid to attend a show seated only several feet away from vicious animals without any barriers? Because the lions and tigers were tame, harmless, and completely domesticated. It takes much time, talent, patience, and knowledge to train a wild animal, yet the Bible states that it can and has been done: “For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind” (James 3:7). No matter the size, power, strength, or level of aggressiveness, every creature can be tamed.

The Most Dangerous Creature

What is James’s point in mentioning that the whole spectrum of animals (Genesis 6:19–20) “has been tamed by mankind”? Perhaps because it’s such a sharp contrast from his main thesis concerning the most dangerous, untamable “creature”: “But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).

The tongue? More dangerous than the kings of the jungle? We feel relatively safe at a zoo, and even animal safaris take protective measures. But we give no thought to casually carrying around with us something far deadlier: our tongues. 

The tongue devours, damages, devastates, demolishes, deprives, and dehumanizes.

The tongue devours, damages, devastates, demolishes, deprives, and dehumanizes. It has the ability to destroy us and others, even if it seems innocent. Satan, the very essence of hell, masquerades as “an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), just like the tongue appears harmless. There is nothing more dangerous than something we don’t consider dangerous.

I once took a summer ministry team on an overnight desert campout in the Valley of Fire, 60 miles north of Las Vegas. As we wound down for the night, campers started arranging their sleeping bags around the campfire. Inevitably, one of the girls screamed—a tiny rattlesnake was crawling across her pillow. One of the male leaders quickly picked up the snake by the tail, holding it high for all to see.

“Aw, look, it’s just a baby,” he said. “He’s probably just looking for his mama. He can’t hurt anybody.”

He gave all of the screaming girls a closer view. Several days later, we researched and learned that a baby rattlesnake’s bite is no joke and can kill you if you don’t get proper medical treatment. What you don’t know can hurt you! 

Your tongue has eight muscles that control its sounds and movements. It helps you taste food and form words. But no matter how hard you try to control your tongue, you will never have complete power over it.

The Power of the Tongue

James gave us two illustrations to grasp the disproportionate effects of the tongue: (1) A small bit in a horse’s mouth guides the whole horse (James 3:3), and (2) a small rudder guides a large ship even in strong winds (v. 4). Both a horse and a ship are directed by one person—the rider and the pilot, respectively. Likewise, the tongue is a small member of our bodies, but unlike the rider and the pilot, we are unable to stop it or control its course. 

It’s no wonder James stated, “The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity” (v. 6). Presumably, he suggested that the tongue contains the sins of the fallen world.

James writes that the tongue “defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell (v. 6). This isn’t some commentator exaggerating. This is the inspired Word of God. The tongue’s influence affects all human existence and cannot be accentuated enough. 

As James emphasized, the tongue has great destructive potential (vv. 5–8). We have all used our tongues for destruction. The damage we can inflict with our tongues can be worse and more extensive than a 400-pound white tiger attack.

Untamable by Man

By the way, if you’re planning a trip to Las Vegas and want to see Seigfried and Roy, don’t waste your time looking for tickets. The show tragically ended in 2003 when Mantacore, Roy’s favorite white tiger, suddenly responded to his natural instincts and lunged at Roy’s throat out of fear or confusion during a performance. He clamped his massive jaws around Roy’s neck and dragged him across the stage. Trainers and Seigfried desperately tried to free a bloody Roy from Mantacore’s stranglehold.

The audience was initially unaware that the horrific event was not a part of the act. Some even applauded. Others in the crowd sensed something had gone amiss and sat in stunned silence as they were told the show was over because Roy had been injured. The 400-pound white tiger that “could be tamed” nearly killed his handler and friend of seven years.

Before the story hit the papers, producer Kenneth Feld canceled the 13-year-old show, telling more than 200 cast members to look for other work. Siegfried & Roy, the most popular act in the history of Vegas, ended abruptly.

We can make vows to hold our tongue and create barriers to entrap it, but only the Holy Spirit can tame the tongue.

Ironic, isn’t it? A wild animal that had been tamed created such devastation in seconds, yet we carry something far more dangerous—a small member of our body which no one can tame. The tongue gains its strength from the very depths of hell and can destroy everything in its path like a raging wildfire.

We all need a tongue-tamer, and it’s not us nor any other human being. We can make vows to hold our tongue and create barriers to entrap it, but only the Holy Spirit can tame the tongue. It’s time to enlist His services—or the devastation we inflict may be worse than a white tiger attack.

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

About the Author

I grew up in a religious group in which people claimed to have the gift of prophecy. They were not prophets, but their bold declarations penetrated quiet times in the services and ended with “thus saith the Lord.” A brief pause followed to allow congregants to take in what had been “revealed.” Their utterances were often vague or general, but any assertion that a person’s words come from God Himself is a weighty claim.

Through Moses, one of God’s most important prophets, God warned that “the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak… that prophet shall die” (Deuteronomy 18:20). Moses then revealed how to know a true prophet of God: “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lᴏʀᴅ has not spoken” (v. 22). A true prophet’s words must hold 100% accuracy, or “the prophet has spoken it presumptuously” (v. 22).

Speaking God’s Truth

God’s high standard for the prophets through whom He reveals His Word appears repeatedly throughout the Bible. But of all the great prophets, there is one who stands out above them all: Jesus Christ, the perfect prophet.

Biblically, a prophet is someone moved by the Spirit of God to speak the truth that God has revealed to him. It may include teaching, rebuke, judgment, or predictions concerning the future.

Depending on the criteria used, commentators posit that Scripture specifically names between 48 and 88 prophets of God. These prophets and others are grouped in identifiable settings, such as the 70 elders of Israel (Numbers 11:24–25), the 100 rescued by Obadiah (1 Kings 18:4), and the prophets at Ramah (1 Samuel 19:20).

Some of the named ones are well known to us: Moses, “whom the Lᴏʀᴅ knew face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10); Elijah and Elisha, who performed many great miracles; Isaiah, who prophesied the redemptive work of Messiah; Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet”; Ezekiel, who documented the promised return of the Jews to the land of Israel; Daniel, to whom God revealed a succession of kingdoms that were yet to come on the earth; and King David, “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), to name a few.

When the anointed One came, He would be more than just another prophet. He would be the Prophet, the Priest, and the King.

All these prophets contributed to the great story of God’s redemption of mankind through the promised Savior, Israel’s Messiah, Jesus. Collectively, their prophecies revealed that when the anointed One came, He would be more than just another prophet. He would be the Prophet, the Priest, and the King.

The Subject and Fulfillment of Prophecy

Following the Exodus from Egypt and with his own ministry coming to an end, Moses prophesied of Jesus, “The Lᴏʀᴅ your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear” (Deuteronomy 18:15). Then, God said, “I … will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in my name, I will require it of him” (vv. 18–19). For more than 1,400 years after, the Old Testament prophets spoke of His coming while the faithful of each generation anticipated His advent.

When Jesus was born, several prophecies converged in an irrefutable demonstration that He was the One they had been awaiting. He was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), in the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), at the specific time revealed to Daniel (Daniel 9:25). King Herod tried to kill the Child by putting to death all baby boys up to two years of age, causing great agony among mothers in Bethlehem near Ramah (Matthew 2:18; cf. Jeremiah 31:15). And when He was about to commence His ministry, John the Baptist prepared the way for Him as foretold (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1).

Jesus was the Prophet foretold by Moses and raised up by God.

From the time He was born, Jesus uniquely fulfilled many specific prophecies. And that was just the start! His teaching, compassion, wisdom, love, example, and life fulfilled so much more that had been prophesied and demonstrated the very heart of God towards mankind. No wonder Peter’s experience of Christ led him to write, “We have the prophetic word confirmed” (2 Peter 1:19); and to John it was revealed that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). Jesus was both the subject and fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Jesus was the Prophet foretold by Moses and raised up by God, and He repeatedly reminded His listeners that His message came directly from the Father, saying, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me” (John 7:16; cf. 8:28; 17:8). To His disciples, He revealed many things including His impending death and resurrection (Matthew 16:21), Judas’ betrayal (26:21–25), Peter’s denial (v. 34), and even what the owner of a donkey He needed on Palm Sunday would say to them (21:2–3). In His public ministry, the crowds widely recognized Him as a prophet (16:14; 21:11; John 7:40); specifically, the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:19) and the blind man healed near the pool of Siloam (9:17) recognized His role.

The Prophet Unlike Any Other

Jesus was indeed a prophet, but He differed from all who had come before Him in significant ways:

• He is the perfect Prophet. The article “Jesus the Prophet” sums up this point well: “Jesus replaces the prophets not because He is entirely different from the prophets; He replaces them because He is the Prophet par excellence, the fulfillment of all that the prophets anticipated.” 

While many other prophets performed miracles in God’s name, Jesus’ authority was superior to them all.

• He challenged the traditions and interpretations of the religious leaders of the day, repeatedly using two contrasting declarations: “You have heard that it was said. … But I say to you” (Matthew 5). He uniquely cut through formal pronouncements to reveal their underlying truths.

• He spoke as One with authority: over people (Mark 1:17–20), as a teacher (vv. 21–22), over evil spirits (vv. 23–27), over sickness (vv. 40–42), and to forgive sins (2:3–12). While many other prophets performed miracles in God’s name, Jesus’ authority was superior to them all.

• Unlike other prophets, He does not point to another when declaring the way of salvation. It rests upon Him alone (John 14:6)

• His disciples recognized Jesus was the incarnate Word of God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). This could be said of no other prophet.

God’s revelation of Himself and His story of redemption involved many prophets and faithful servants over centuries. Some performed mighty miracles, some revealed amazing things still yet to come to pass, some suffered greatly and were despised and hunted by their enemies. But, Jesus, the perfect Prophet, is both the fulfillment of all that has been revealed and God’s last great Prophet.

The writer to the Hebrews phrased it well: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:1–2). We thank God for His indescribable gift: Jesus, our Savior, the perfect Prophet.

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

About the Author

Can it get any worse? I asked myself as I read of yet another antisemitic incident on a U.S. college campus. This week at Cooper Union, a college in New York City, Jewish students were locked in a school library as pro-Palestinian protesters banged on the door, yelling, “Free Palestine!”

Since October 7, I have hurt for my Jewish friends like never before, praying for my friends and their family members who are battling Hamas and Hezbollah in Israel. “Never Again!” has been the Jewish people’s cry since the Holocaust. They are now living in their ancestral land, Israel. Never again should anyone be able to come in and do what they did to them during the Holocaust. Except they did. And they are. 

As I continue to learn of the demonic way innocent lives were destroyed and traumatized in southern Israel on that sleepy Shabbat morning, anger grows inside me. How can this level of evil be allowed? I ask God. Yet, I know the answer. The prophet Jeremiah told us how wicked our hearts are—so wicked that he asked, “Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

I have asked God how I can help. I am a middle-aged Christian woman living in America—can I make a difference? I cannot go to war in Israel and defend Israelis. But I can do something much more effective right here in my part of the world. And through the reading of the Word, I have found my battle cry, and I ask that it be yours too.

Walk in the Spirit

Galatians 5:16 says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (NASB). Walking is a natural action for most of us. I don’t have to tell my brain to move my feet with each step. It is something that I have learned and practiced. We walk in the Spirit by being filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our helper (John 15:26), and being in God’s Word, allowing the Spirit of God to shape and mold us, results in a life identified with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

I cannot expect to make any lasting change in this world without moment-by-moment walking in the Spirit.

I cannot expect to make any lasting change in this world without moment-by-moment walking in the Spirit. Even our good intentions are worth nothing without the Spirit of God living and working through us. I am not my own. So if I am in a war with evil, I must obey my Master, and walking in Him is the only way. 

Be Sober-Minded

We are often reminded in the New Testament to be sober or of sound judgment (Romans 12:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; 2 Timothy 4:5; 1 Peter 4:7; 5:8). As believers in Jesus, walking in the Spirit means we must think clearly. Many things can take our soberness from us: alcohol, drugs, food, sex, anger, or any other escape our flesh is prone to. We must fight to stay sober-minded at all times.

I remember the anger that rose up in me as I heard the true accounts that happened in the south of Israel. It had been several days after the attack, and the stories were worse than any horror tale man could make up. Angry tears ran down my face as I clenched my fists. At that moment, I was not sober. I was filled with rage. No human—especially women, children, and the elderly—should have to witness and be subjected to the evil that happened in Israel. I paced the floor, asking God to take vengeance on the ones who did this.

As I prayed, something happened: I began praying for their enemies.

I was quickly convicted, remembering I don’t direct our Maker but rather that He directs me. I then spent time praying for the families of the victims. I prayed for the Jewish people near and far to seek Him and His Son. I prayed for the peace of Jerusalem.

As I prayed, something happened: I began praying for their enemies. God, open their eyes to YOU! They are not beyond Your reach. Open their eyes to Your Son. The last place I needed to be at that moment was not online spewing my rage, trying to force others to see what happened. Instead, it was at my Father’s feet, letting Him fight the battle. 

Do Not Grow Weary While Doing Good

We cannot sustain our Christian walk on our own. It is the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is not in our own flesh but because of what Jesus, our Savior, did for us on the cross.

Nothing saddens me more than watching people fall away from Christ. We have seen much of this in recent years. But something else has happened, Christians are simply weary. They are weary of the culture growing darker, weary of the economy, weary of countries at war. As I have prayed for Israel and the Jewish people, I have prayed that God would not allow me to grow weary because of the darkness that surrounds the world.

I remember the story Corrie ten Boom told from her time living in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. In her devotional book Each New Day, she wrote,

Once, while we were on a roll call, a cruel guard kept us standing for a long, long time. Suddenly, a skylark began to sing in the sky, and all the prisoners looked up to listen to that bird’s song. As I looked at the bird, I saw the sky and thought of Psalms 103:11. O love of God, how deep and great; far deeper than man’s deepest hate. God sent that skylark daily for three weeks, exactly during roll call, to turn our eyes away from the cruelty of man to the oceans of His love.

When we depend on our strength and focus on the dark world around us, we will grow weary, even while doing good. When we walk in the Spirit and stay sober-minded—knowing God has a plan for all of the chaos going around—everything changes.

Soldiers in war do not follow their own will but the will of their leader. It is no different in the Christian life. God has called each of us where we are.

I pray you will share my battle cry: “Walk in the Spirit, be sober-minded, and do not grow weary while doing good.”

Right now, Christian, Israel and the Jewish people need us. They need our support and prayers. They need us standing beside them. They need our resources and our time. Our workers in Israel and around the globe are busy doing good. They need our prayers as they share God’s love through His Son in tangible ways. It is our responsibility to “not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:9–10).

Our battle cry is not emotion-filled. It is a Spirit-filled cry of faithfulness. I pray you will share my battle cry: “Walk in the Spirit, be sober-minded, and do not grow weary while doing good.” Be encouraged, Christian: We are on the winning side!

About the Author

I remember the night I became a believer in Jesus. The Holy Spirit had been working on my heart for some time. When I was 21, God used Galatians 5:22–23 to bring me to a saving knowledge of Jesus. I was raised in a Christian home and had been a follower of my parents’ faith. But it was not until that night as a young adult that God allowed me to see that I did not have a personal relationship with Him when I was a child.

The sermon that evening at church was on the fruit of the Spirit, and I was making a checklist of the ones I successfully practiced and others that needed work. I could use more patience, but I am very faithful, I pridefully thought. At the end of the sermon, the Holy Spirit pierced my heart when my pastor said, “This fruit is a gift given at salvation. It is not something you are able to work to obtain.” At that moment, the scales were removed, and I realized that I had been working to gain God’s favor on my own. Only because of Jesus’ saving work on the cross could I be accepted by a holy God. 

“This fruit is a gift given at salvation. It is not something you are able to work to obtain.”

As the years pass, I often try to make those checklists again, although they sound more spiritual now. “God, help me work on my self-control,” I say on Monday mornings as I wake up to a new work week. “I need more patience with my family, God,” I pray as I feel guilty for snapping at my husband and son. But it is not more self-control or patience that I primarily need.

Another Gospel

Paul wrote the book of Galatians in an urgent state. In many of his letters to the New Testament churches, Paul gives a warm greeting and encouragement before getting down to business and teaching or admonishing the church. Even in the letter to the church of Corinth, where sin was practiced openly, he greeted and encouraged them before calling out their sin—but not in the letter to the Galatians. Why? Because their sin was more severe than the others. The gospel was being attacked; they were preaching another gospel.

The Galatian church began at the right place. They believed and taught that salvation came only through the work of Jesus, but they also taught that in order to grow as Christians, believers were required to work in their own strength. This blasphemous instruction rejected the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification in the lives of believers. 

Jesus said, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me” (John 16:7–9, NASB). The doctrine of sanctification—the work of the Holy Spirit, where we are moment by moment becoming holy until we are with the Lord in heaven—was being attacked, and Paul was not having it. He called them “foolish,” asking who had “bewitched” them (Galatians 3:1). 

The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit’s work in the life of believers is vital. He is our Helper and Comforter. He convicts us of sin, opens our eyes to the Scriptures, and intercedes on our behalf. We cannot be true, sanctified believers without the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is a supernatural work. 

How do we obtain the fruit of the Spirit, which “is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (5:22–23, NASB)? Paul answered, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (vv. 24–25, NASB). 

When filled with the Holy Spirit, we obey God in our daily walk, study His Word, confess our sins before God and our brothers and sisters in Christ, and spend time with Him in prayer. This is how we mature as believers in Jesus and manifest the Spirit’s fruit. 

As we grow, our prayers change from, “I need more patience, God,” to, “In this circumstance, make me more like Your Son.”

We receive the gift of the fruit of the Spirit at salvation, but we cannot pick and choose which fruit we will work to improve upon. This does not mean we cannot ask God to give us patience in our time of need, but our desire should be deeper. Instead, as we grow, our prayers change from, “I need more patience, God,” to, “In this circumstance, make me more like Your Son. I trust and thank You, no matter the outcome.” 

Spiritual growth does not happen overnight. It’s a lifelong process—one with bumps and bruises along the way. But as we are filled with the Spirit, we cannot help but bear His fruit. We will be known to those around us as loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. This is the abundant life Jesus promised (John 10:10). This is how we can freely share the Good News of the gospel to a dark and hopeless world. Let’s stop asking for more patience and start asking for less of us and more of Him.

About the Author

In broken English, the former witch, now a believer in Jesus, took my arm, looked me in the eyes, and said, “Pray for me! Daily I am spiritually attacked, and I am weary of the war.”

I was in my late 20s when my husband and I took our first short-term mission trip together. We traveled to Brazil to build two rooms in a small church, the only evangelical presence in a city of almost half a million. 

I met the former witch one day at the church. She was younger than she looked until she started talking about how Jesus saved her from her sins and freed her from the enemy’s stranglehold. When she talked about her Savior’s love, her eyes lit up and a smile spread, taking years off her face. I will never forget that day as our group was leaving and she grabbed my arm, asking me to pray for her. 

For the majority of my life, I rarely thought about the spiritual world. I knew there are angels and demons, that Satan is our enemy, and that God allows him to currently rule this world’s system (John 12:31; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19). I was always leery of those who believed every obstacle in their path, like the flat tire they encountered on the way to church, was the enemy trying to trip them up. As I have matured in my faith, I now see the balance between never thinking of Satan and his followers and seeing signs of them everywhere. 

Who Is Satan?

Scripture describes an evil leader God has allowed to rule this present age. Today, many refer to him as Satan, meaning “accuser” or “adversary.” He does not have a straightforward story in Scripture, no groups of verses that fully explain who he is and his purpose in God’s story of redemption. However, we are able to sketch a picture of him, how he became God’s chief enemy, and what his fate will be. 

In Genesis 3, Satan possessed a serpent and deceived Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. This act led Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, too, bringing sin into all the world. 

Ezekiel 28:11–19 and Isaiah 14:12–15 describe a heavenly, created being who once was in the Garden of Eden, succumbing to his prideful desires and leading a rebellion, resulting in being thrown out of heaven. Three of the four Gospels record when Satan tempted Jesus in the Judean wilderness (Matthew 4; Mark 1; Luke 4). 

His end is clear: an eternity of torment in the Lake of Fire.

Finally, in Revelation 12, 19, and 20, we learn of his fate. Satan will deceive the masses through the Antichrist until Christ’s return. Then he will be bound for 1,000 years until he is released and leads one final rebellion against his Maker. But his end is clear: an eternity of torment in the Lake of Fire. 

Satan’s Purpose

The reformer Martin Luther once said, “Even the devil is God’s devil,” meaning Satan cannot do anything outside God’s holy will. This truth should bring believers in Jesus great comfort. Yet Satan is powerful, and God has allowed him temporary reign over this present age. Satan lusts for power and fame. We see this as he tempts Jesus in the wilderness, trying to assert his authority on the Maker of heaven and Earth. 

He is like a lion looking for someone to devour.

He wants to deceive and kill what is closest to God’s heart—those made in His image. The apostle Paul warns us that Satan comes as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). The apostle Peter warns us he is like a lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Men and women are all made in God’s image, making us unique among creation and a target for God’s enemy. 

Satan’s prideful heart will one day result in his eternal damnation, but he will not go down without a fight, taking any image-bearer he can with him. When we look at our world and culture, it’s no surprise that acts like abortion are seen as good, many believe they can change their gender, witches and mediums are seen as partaking in holy work, and false teachers look and sound so close to genuine teachers of God’s Word that weak-minded Christians are easily deceived.

Our Hope

Yes, a battle not of this world rages around us. But how involved should Bible-believing Christians be in fighting Satan and his followers?

It is ultimately not our battle to fight. Scripture does not avoid talking about those who actively seek the spiritual world. In Leviticus 20:27 and Deuteronomy 18:10–12, God told Moses that any sons of Israel who practice witchcraft or are spiritists, interpreters, or mediums should be put to death. God doesn’t say these people are false or deceiving others; more importantly, He says they are detestable to Him. He commands their death because the spiritual world is real, and it is not for humans to entertain outside the protection designed for us in Scripture.

Sadly, the former witch we met in Brazil was used by Satan and his followers in the spiritual world for years before Jesus rescued her. Because of her past, she may be vulnerable to attacks by the enemy in ways many of us will never encounter. 

More than 2,000 years ago Jesus left this earth and said He was sending someone who will be with us forever: our Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 14:16; 15:26). The Spirit strengthens us, comforts us, and works everything out for our good. He intercedes with the Father on our behalf (Romans 8:26–28). He fights our battles for us. Through prayer, studying Scripture, and obedience, we are using the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10–24).

Satan is pleased with those who are obsessed with him, trying to fight him and his followers with their own strength. He is also pleased with those who do not think about him or his tactics. The place of a committed Christ-follower lies somewhere in between. Be alert, be ready for the enemy’s attacks, but also rest in the One who died in our place and who created everything, including the enemy of this present age. One day He will make all things right forever.

About the Author

The rich symbolism prescribed for the ancient Hebrew celebration of Pentecost culminated in the inauguration of a brand-new entity in the program of God. It all occurred, according to His perfect plan, on Pentecost Sunday, which was the 50th day following the resurrection of Christ.

As Bruce Scott stated in The Feasts of Israel: Seasons of the Messiah, even in the Hebrew Bible, “Both the so-called Feast of FirstFruits and the Feast of Weeks are inextricably linked.”

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry

When we come to the New Testament, we find that Jesus rose from the dead on the day of firstfruits “and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Then—linked to His resurrection and ascension—He promised that something monumental would transpire on the day of Pentecost, which the Christian world marked on Sunday, June 5.

And that day is remembered with good reason! It is the day in which the Holy Spirit would work within Jesus’ apostles and, by implication, their own disciples, in a very different way.

Jesus summarized it by saying: “He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17).

By contrast, in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit worked within those people who were given a unique place of responsibility in the theocracy of Israel, and He did so only for particular purposes and periods of time. (See, for instance, 1 Samuel 10:6; 16:13–14; Psalm 51:11.)

But now in the New Testament church—which He launched on the day of Pentecost—the Holy Spirit has an entirely different type of relationship with all believers—whether they are Jewish or Gentile. The Spirit places each of them “in one body” (Ephesians 2:16) in an act that we call the baptism of the Holy Spirit. (See Acts 1:5; 1 Corinthians 12:13.)

On three occasions in the book of Acts (2:6–13; 10:44–46; 19:6) this baptism resulted in the exercise of the miraculous sign gift that is commonly called speaking in tongues. This gift soon ceased for the duration of the Church Age—ending at the point when the New Testament revelation was complete (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:8–13).

But while that specific gift has ceased, the greatest gifts of the Spirit continue on. By indwelling each believer, He becomes the “guarantee” (2 Corinthians 1:22) of our glorification, which we wait to receive when Christ returns to rapture His church. Note Paul’s use of this term for the same purpose also in 2 Corinthians 5:5 and Ephesians 1:14.

Of course, the nature and attributes of God the Holy Spirit did not change on the day of Pentecost. He is and remains, from eternity past, the third Person of the Godhead—fully possessing the essence of God, and exercising perfectly abilities such as omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. Jesus made reference to the Spirit’s deity in John 14:16 and 15:26.

On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit simply began to interact and function in a manner that was different from anything He had done previously.

Rather, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit simply began to interact and function in a manner that was different from anything He had done previously. While He had always been omnipresent, He had never before indwelt all believers as He now does during the Church Age. I believe He will conclude this unique ministry at the time of the Rapture, which ends the Church Age (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:6–7).

Jesus predicted the events of Acts 2 all the way back in John 7:37–39—referring to this new coming of the Spirit in terms of “rivers of living water” (v. 38).

The Perfect Storm of Acts 2

With the confluence of all these happenings and more—which would have interlocked so completely in the minds of the Jewish people with the bountiful imagery and traditions that had grown up around the Feast of Weeks—it is hard to fathom a more suitable beginning for the age of the church.

Some Bible students have gone “beyond” (1 Corinthians 4:6) the dispensational system of theology and offered extreme—if not fanciful—explanations to justify their belief that the church did not, in fact, begin on the day of Pentecost, but rather much later in, or even beyond, the book of Acts. In this view, a tremendous amount of the New Testament is written, not for the church that we have known—a New Testament “mystery” (Ephesians 3:3, 4, 9) composed of all believers, Jewish and Gentile—but, rather, for a Jewish group being offered the Millennial Kingdom, either in the 1st century, the future, or both.

However, if the church did not begin in Acts 2, we certainly have no clear indication of when it began—or even if it began at all! It seems almost as if one would have to utilize Acts 2 as the model for the beginning of such a church, while also denying that this was its actual starting point. This would leave the church without her Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8), and with precious little revelation to govern her directly over the course of the past 2,000 years.

The amazing alignment of events in Acts 2 points to something of remarkable significance.

But, of course, the amazing alignment of events in Acts 2 points to something of remarkable significance. And it is not merely a Jewish church, or a Gentile church—but the church, “the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27), God’s previously unrevealed plan for this age.

In the flow of the book of Acts, the birth of the church in Acts 2 establishes a foundation for understanding all that follows, as God progressively reveals more—and actually accomplishes more—toward “the edification of the church” (1 Corinthians 14:12).

As believers, we can look back with gratitude and celebrate the fact that, by faith in Christ alone, His Spirit has graciously taken us—Jewish and Gentile people, alike—and made us part of “one body” (12:13), the most wonderful and blessed institution on Earth, “the church of God” (10:32).

If you missed Part 1, you can read it here.

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