The People Born of God

Because people are so preoccupied with the Second Coming and with salvation, heretical sects are springing up among those who have fallen for Satan’s schemes instead of living by the Word. Satan, who tempted Adam and brought him into death, is a fallen archangel, cast out when he tried to seize the place of God, and even now he clouds people’s minds so that they hear the gospel and still fail to understand it.

That Satan can foretell the future is no marvel; it shows that a spirit cast out for opposing God really does exist. Those who have met Jesus Christ love their brothers and strive to keep away from sin, while those who have not met him go on following their own nature, and their lives make it plain. The heresies and false christs now flooding the world, along with wars, famines and earthquakes and such things as the legalization of homosexuality, are signs that the Second Coming is near.

No one knows the day or the hour, yet the faithful, as children of light, must stay awake and keep themselves sober. Satan does not bring a person down at a single stroke; he makes a small cut and leaves them to rot from within. But whoever holds out, even in small ways, will find that God guards that life and makes it grow. For those who walk the way of truth, God becomes a shield and a fortress, so they must not be afraid, but must be ready to meet Jesus Christ with lives that bring no shame.