The Sanctuary and the Little Horn

The memory verse is Hebrews 8:1-2, “Now, of the things which we have spoken this is the sum. We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man.” Now this lesson today, this whole quarter’s studies are extremely important because the truth regarding the sanctuary and the judgment and what happened, the pivotal turning point in history in 1844, is of monumental significance. That even, to some extent, spawned this movement that is going to be, we believe, the final movement of God’s people in the last days. To which all other people are called into. The movement that people are called into from Babylon. God calls people, his people, out of Babylon. He doesn't just call them out of Babylon into nothing; he calls them out of Babylon into God's church. And what happened during this time of the Little Horn and the sanctuary in 1844 is pivotal. It is the smoking gun of prophecy.

As America went into Iraq there was a lot of debate on the reason we went into Iraq. And one of the primary things that was held for was the weapons of mass destruction. You've all heard discussions about that. Am I right? Was Iraq, did they either have stockpiles or were they preparing to assemble weapons of mass destruction? And some have contended, “No, and if we could prove there really was none of this in the whole thing was just imaginary and there's really no reason for us to be there.” And of course, I think that those are questionable arguments, but so much is pivoted. Everybody has made a big deal about, were these weapons of mass destruction? Or were there plans to acquire weapons of mass destruction to perform these terrorist acts? In like manner, understanding the role of the Little Horn and who Little Horn is, is the smoking gun. The devil has tried to change the attention of this Little Horn in Daniel 8. We'd better read that. What is this little Horn? Turn with me to Daniel 8 and I'm going to read the pivotal first we're going to study in our lesson today. Daniel 8:8-12, and this is in the prophecy about the goat and the ram. “Therefore, the male goat grew very great, but when he became strong the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great towards the south, towards the east, and towards the glorious or the pleasant land. And it grew up to the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the hosts. And by him the daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of the sanctuary cast down. Because of transgression an army, or a host, was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifice. And he cast down the truth to the ground. He did all this and he practices and he prospered.”

Let's get into the lesson. This is the verse we’re going to consider. First of all, we remember when we read, in Daniel 7 you've got these four beasts, the lion, the leopard. Who's the lion? What kingdom? Babylon. The leopard was the Kingdom of Greece. You have the bear, I'm sorry, it's the lion it's the bear. The bear is what kingdom? Medo-Persia. And then the leopard is Greece and then there's this fourth beast, and it doesn't tell what creature it is, or what it is like because it's sort of a kaleidoscope of many creatures. You may compare it with the beast in Revelation 13, which was part lion, part bear, part leopard, isn't it? And so this beast has built on all the other beasts before it, but it's got these 10 horns. And a little horn comes up and up roots three horns. A little horn in chapter seven, and who is that little horn? Who is that final kingdom? Rome. And so little horn, Protestant interpreters and theologians believe was the papacy. But when you get to Daniel eight, you've got now two beasts again, a goat and a Ram. The ram represents Medo-Persia, to horns, one higher than the other. I’ve actually seen rams. When I lived up in the cave we had these big mountain sheep, and these rams. And sometimes their horns were not even. And then you have the goat with the one notable horn. The goat is Greece. The first kingdom was Alexander. The notable horn breaks off and in its place four horns come up. And then it says, “Out of one of them a little horn.”

Now let me tell you something. Go back with me. When you get to chapter 8:9 it says, “Out of one of them.” Out of one of what? One of the four horns or one of the four winds? It says, “In its place four notable ones came up towards the four winds of heaven.” Four notable horns come up from the four winds. “And out of one of them,” one of what? Out of one of the four winds or four horns? There’s been great debate and discussion over this. They’ve gone, I was reading this week, into the Hebrew and all of the nuances of the masculine and the feminine and the tenses and what it means because they say a lot rides on this. I’ll tell you respectfully, I don’t think it matters that much. You know why? The four kingdoms of Alexander kind of started in four different directions of the pole. Some have made a big deal of saying what was exactly north and south and east and west, but in Bible times they didn’t use compasses. And they weren’t that precise. And it is true that the kingdoms of Alexander that split among his four generals sort of went to the northwest and the northeast and the southwest and the southeast. It wasn’t exactly right. And so when it says that out of one of these four directions or four horns it doesn’t matter. The four horns were divided among four winds, the four directions. People argue about that. It’s just saying that from one of those divisions. Whether you say it’s the four horns or four winds, it doesn’t matter. I could draw a line, an X, through a map of Alexander’s kingdom. It would be a little bit crooked and that would represent the four corners of the winds or the four kingdoms of Alexander. From one quarter of his kingdom a little horn sprang up. We believe that is Rome, which would represent the kingdom that was sort of in the northwest. Granted, not exactly north. People have made a big deal out of that and I think that’s sort of a straw man argument.

The reason it’s very important to understand this is a lot of theologians agree, in Daniel 7 the little horn is Rome. Because it ends up saying it arises from pagan Rome. I’m in Daniel 7:19. “The little horn makes war with the saints and prevails against them,” Daniel 7:21. “It thinks to change times and laws,” Daniel 7:25. “It’s a blasphemous power,” Daniel 7:25. But for some reason when they get to Daniel 8 they say, “Oh, this little horn is now Antiochus Epiphanes.” Which I’ve got real problems with, because notice what’s happening here when you read in Daniel 8. First you’ve got the ram, in 8:4 it says, “It became great,” became great. Then in 8:8 it’s got the goat, which is the kingdom of Greece. “It became very great.” And it says, “It grew very great.” Alexander’s kingdom after Alexander continued to grow, a kingdom, an empire. Then you get to Daniel 8:9, it talks about the little horn and it says, “It grew exceedingly great.” How can you compare Antiochus Epiphanes to the empires of Persia and the empire of Greece? And it’s getting exceedingly great, in other words, even greater than them. Did Antiochus Epiphanes become an empire greater than Greece and Persia? But yet, you’d be surprised the theologians, Protestant and Catholic and Jewish (because the Jews read these prophecies, too), they’re very divided about this. And it’s probably ¾ believe it was Antiochus Epiphanes and ¼ believes it was Rome. But it’s a big issue.

One of my favorite commentators is Adam Clark, who you’ve heard me extol before because the guy was a genius, spoke seven languages, a disciple of John Wesley, just a brilliant guy. Here’s what he says in his comments on Daniel 8:9. “Out of one of them came forth a little horn. Some think Antiochus Epiphanes is meant, but Bishop Newton contends that it is the Roman government that is intended here.” See, I agree with him. “And although very great at its zenith,” Rome was very great, “it started in little risings.” It started as a little horn. Rome began as a little empire. But then it grew and became exceedingly great. And then he goes on through the rest of this discourse and defends that Rome was the little horn. So I’m in the same camp. I’m just telling you that; this isn’t something our church manufactured. It’s been a debate among the theologians for years.

Now what does this little horn do? I believe the little horn is Rome. Starts out as pagan, imperial Rome, lead by caesars. It transitions into; the iron becomes iron and clay. It transitions into Rome being led by a church, a religion, or papal Rome. It goes from pagan Rome to papal Rome. That’s the little horn power. It became an empire for a thousand years in Europe, didn’t it? The church, they had controlling influence all over the kingdoms of the divisions of the Roman Empire. What does it do? It says that this power will cast the truth to the ground and practice and prosper. Notice, it not only casts the truth to the ground, it says that the place of his sanctuary is cast down. Two things are cast down, the truth and the sanctuary.

John 8:32-34, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” There is a truth that saves from sin. Isn’t’ this what Jesus is saying? The truth will make you free, free from what? Free from the bondage of sin. That’s a very clear exegesis of this verse. That truth would be cast to the ground by the little horn power.

James 5:19-20, “Brethren, if any of you dare err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death and shall hide multitude of sins.” Once again this is a truth. Would you agree that this verse says this is a truth that saves from sin? You’re either following the truth or you’re slipping away back into sin. And if you’re converted back to the truth you’re being saved from sin. That gospel truth is what this power would corrupt, alter, cast to the ground; that we are saved.

And the daily sacrifice; I’m getting way ahead of myself here, but it just seems like it would fit in here, even though the lesson doesn’t really put it here. Someone read Exodus 29:38-39. We’ll return to this, but I just want to read this here. “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar, two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.” That was the morning and the evening sacrifice. What was offered? Lambs. Who does the lamb represent? What was understood by the blood of the lamb? They were saved from their sins by faith in the blood of that lamb that was shed in their behalf. The whole Passover, the idea is that judgment will pass over because the lamb has taken my place. It is righteousness by faith in the blood of the lamb. The beast power teaches, and virtually all pagan religions teach salvation by works. That’s right, you’re saved by giving offerings to the idols and the gods, or by whipping yourself, or making a pilgrimage on your knees, and there’s all these things you do, these rituals, and you’re saved by your works in some way. But real Christianity is righteousness by faith, salvation by faith in the blood of the lamb. So, the daily sacrifice that is corrupted by this little horn power is a corruption of salvation by faith, the gospel. The truth and the daily sacrifice, it's the gospel that saves us from sin. That's what's corrupted.

I am not inventing this. I cannot even take credit for writing just a little bit of this. I basically got it from other Protestant scholars, not from my church. These are Protestant scholars from across the board, across history, the also believe the little horn power in Daniel 8 represents Rome, and more specifically, the papacy, and that it was foretold in prophecy. “Cast the truth to the ground.” Here are some examples. The Bible teaches that we are not to bow down to statues, Exodus 20:4-5. John says, “Keep yourself from idols.” New and old testament. Yet the papacy teaches that you should bow down to statues. The bible teaches that all have sinned except Jesus. “All have sinned and comes short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:10, Hebrews 4:15, Job, many other, Jeremiah. The papacy, or the Catholic Church teaches that Mary was sinless. Are you aware of that? The Bible teaches that Jesus, these are truths that are taken away. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the only mediator between man and God. I Timothy 2:5. Very clear, one mediator. The papacy teaches, the little horn, that Mary is a co-mediator with Christ and that the priests have the power to forgive sins. The Bible teaches that Christ offered his sacrifice on the cross once for all. Hebrews 7:27-28, 10:10. Yet the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the priest sacrifices Christ repetitively whenever He offers mass. This was the big debate of Protestantism. Martin Luther challenged the transubstantiation of the church, that the priest has the power to turn this bread into the actual body of Christ. [end side one]

… teaches that all Christians are saints and priests, the New Testament spiritual priesthood. Ephesians 1:1, I Peter 2:9. Yet the papacy teaches that the saints and the priests are a special caste within the Christian Church, or they're hovering in heaven somewhere, and they are to be worshiped. The Bible teaches that all Christians should know that they have eternal life. I John 5:13. Yet the Roman Catholic Church teaches that you cannot and should not know that you have eternal life. The Bible teaches that we should call no religious leader, Father. The words of Jesus, Matthew 23:9. Yet the papacy teaches that we may call the priests and the pope father. The Bible teaches you are not to pray in vain repetition, Matthew 6:7. Yet the Roman Catholic Church teaches, and I remember when I went to Catholic school, it you go to confession, you say “Hail Marys” and “Our Fathers” over and over again, depending on what the offense is. The Bible teaches to confess your sins to God, for God and God only can forgive sin. Isaiah 43:25, Luke 5:24, Mark 2. Yet we know, of course, the papacy teaches, the little horn, that you must confess your sins to the priest for forgiveness. The Bible teaches that before baptism, a person should be taught the gospel and the commandments of Christ, believe and repent. Which are things that an adult must do with their cognitive choices. Yet the Roman Church teaches little infants must be baptized. Otherwise, if they should die prior to baptism they'd be consigned to hell. The Bible teaches that those children are sanctified by believing parents before the age of accountability. I Corinthians 7.

The Bible truth was cast to the ground. And it used to be all Protestants would boldly declare these things, but now it's considered unkind, attacking, negative. It's called hate speech if you say anything negative about what someone else believes. It's America; you can believe whatever you want. But the question is, what's wonderful that you can believe what you want, but don't say it’s a Bible teaching. That's my contention. You've cast the Bible truth that saves us to the ground. And so I have to respectfully disagree. The teachings of purgatory, limbo, prayers for the dead are nowhere in Scripture. They are relics of paganism. The words of Jesus to the Pharisees applied well today, when we nullify the word of God to follow tradition. The truth is being cast to the ground by the little horn power. That’s Matthew 15:6.

Tradition the papacy contradicts tradition. For example, the Roman Church teaches the pope is the head the church, a bishop over all. But Pope Gregory, listen to this, Pope Gregory the pope. He was a good man, actually. From 540-604 he lived. He was Pope from 590-604, when he died. He was the last of the four original doctors of the church who became known as St. Gregory. Pope Gregory, later known as St. Gregory, listen to what he said, “I confidently affirm that whoever calls himself the universal bishop, or desires to be so called, is in his pride a forerunner of antichrist.” A pope said that. That’s back when they were a little closer to the Bible. In the Index of Forbidden Books Pope Pious IV, they had a list of forbidden books in 1559 he says, “Experience has taught us that the reading of the Bible in the vernacular,” meaning the language of the people, “generally without discrimination will cause more damage than advantage because of the boldness of man. The judgment of the bishops and inquisitors is that such, they are to serve as guides in this matter. If someone is found in possession of one of these Bibles,” in the language of the people, “without written permission from the priest or the inquisitor their sins cannot be forgiven unless they turn the manuscripts in and confess.” But yet, in marked contrast, Vatican II says that easy access to the Bible should be given. Contradiction of tradition. Now I will offer to you that that is what the prophecy’s talking about when it says the little horn power would cast the truth to the ground and practice and prosper.

Let’s go back again to our study guide. Now notice in this verse in Daniel 8, it talks about the place of his sanctuary is cast down. That word place there in the original Hebrew is a word that is pronounced [machone?]. It means a fixture, an abode, a habitation or a foundation. And many scholars believe it’s saying the foundation of the sanctuary was cast down. Psalm 11:3, “If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do?” If the foundations be destroyed. Now who is the foundation of the church? Jesus Christ, Himself is the cornerstone, the foundation, upon which everything else is built. And do this attack on the truth. Christ says, “I am the truth.” “Cast the truth to the ground.” The truth about Christ, the foundation of the church is cast to the ground, that we are saved through Christ. Not through Mary, not through priests, not through rituals, not through works. We’re saved through Christ. “If the foundations be destroyed.” If you start tearing the foundation out, what did Jesus say? “The wise man is the one who hears these words of mine, he builds on the rock.” The foundation is the rock, the word of God.

Is the word of God the foundation of His church? Is Jesus the word? But is the word of God the foundation of the little horn, the papacy? Or is it traditions? It’s tradition. And they freely admit the big debate during the Protestant reformation, Luther said, “The word of God, scripture only.” And the church said, “No, tradition and scripture and scripture is to be interpreted by tradition.” So the foundation was under attack of the sanctuary.

And then it goes on to tell us that the Prince of the Host, it says, “He exalts himself even as high as the Prince of the Host.” Putting themselves in the position of the Prince of the Host. Who is the Prince of the Host? Acts 3:15, “And kill the prince of life whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.” Who is the prince of life that Peter’s talking about? That’s Jesus. Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The Prince of Peace. Who is the Prince of Peace? Jesus. All through the scriptures they understood the Prince of the Host was the Messiah. He is the Prince of Peace. And so it says that this beast power would exalt himself as high as the Prince of the Host.

Isaiah 14:13-14, this is a verse that’s talking about the devil. “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the North, and I will ascend above the heights of the clouds and I will be like the most High.” Isn’t’ that the devil’s ultimate aspiration? He wants to be God. And so those in the organizations of the devil will also want that same thing.

How did Eve fall? Because the devil waved before her, “You will be like God.” And in many religions of the world, pardon me, but Hinduism; you keep getting reincarnated until you become God. I mean so many religions, that’s there foundation when you analyze it. In the Latter Day Saints, the Mormon Church, they basically say, “Our god that created our universe used to be small, but he grew into big. Our god was kind of given the universe, and there are other gods, and you someday will be a god with your wife or wives and have worlds under you.” And basically, it's the same teaching, you will be like God. In the little horn power, do the priests put themselves in the position of God? If God and God only can forgive sin and they say, “we can forgive sin.” If God and God only is the one who is to be worshiped, or if you're only to confess your sins to God, and they say, “confess your sins to us.” And if a person has the title that they are the Vicar of God, and that's the position of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is God, pretty soon you've got man taking the positions of God. And you tell me, friends, is it just my imagination, or when Pope John Paul II passed away and they had the funeral, did it look like the funeral of a pastor? Or did it look like the funeral of a god, pardon the pun? Do gods have funerals? But it was like he was almost deified. Matter of fact, they said, “We're going to make him a saint right away. We can't wait the regular waiting period.” Isn't that right? And what do you do for saints? You worship them. Only God is to be worshiped. So when man is in a position of worship, when you're kissing someone's ring and kissing their toe. Do you realize, one of the reasons the Episcopal Church was formed is because when Henry VIII was having problems with his divorces that the church would not approve, he sent a delegation to the Vatican and his representative brought his dog with him. It was customary to kiss the toe of the pope. And when the pope stuck out his foot to have his toe kissed the dog bit his foot. This is true; it's an amazing fact. The Swiss Guard immediately killed the dog, which so outraged. You know, I feel so bad for the dog. The whole church broke away because of this. It's so outraged the owner of the dog that he withdrew this mission of peace, and he went home and a rage. And they never did reconcile. The Episcopal Church broke away from Rome, the Anglican Church. Because of a dog bite, because he was supposed to kiss the toe and the dog did more than kiss. And that’s worshiping man. “Exalting himself even to the position.” When someone lives in a palace like that, I'm sorry; it's not the way Jesus lived.

And then you go on here and it says, “the place of his sanctuary.” Something else I've left out. In the vision of Daniel seven, you'll specifically notice the beasts are all unclean beasts. Babylon is a lion, is unclean. A bear, Persia, is unclean. A leopard is unclean. And obviously that fourth beast is unclean, which is Rome. But when you get to Daniel eight. It's a goat, and a ram; these are animals that were offered in the sanctuary. And both the goat and a ram were offered on the Day of Atonement. So to deny that it’s talking about the cleansing of the sanctuary, the whole background on this, it’s God’s sanctuary’s is under attack and the Day of Atonement, the cleansing of the sanctuary is under attack.

Let's go on to talk about the sanctuary. By the way, I just read that verse, or Lou read that verse about the devil saying, “I would be like the Most High.” You notice it says, “on the farthest sides of the north,”? When you finally get to the end of Daniel 11, and it’s talking about the king of the north, it starts out talking about these earthly kings, but by the time you get to the end it is the power behind these kings, which is the devil. Does everyone here agree that the devil is the one behind especially the king of the north? In Ezekiel, when it talks about the devil, it starts out talking about the King of Tyre. In Isaiah, when it talks about the devil, it starts out talking about the King of Babylon and it transitions from these earthly kings to the power behind the king.

Now we’re going to talk about the place of the sanctuary, cast down. Ezekiel 28:18, “Thou hast defiled thy sanctuary by the multitude of thine iniquities. By iniquity of thy traffic, therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee. It shall devour thee and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.” When you want to destroy a kingdom you attack their religion. You destroy their gods and you demoralize them. How did Samson ultimately defeat the Philistines? What was the last act of Samson? Filled with the Spirit, pushes apart the pillars, and brings down the temple of Dagon, which was the principle god of the Philistines. He destroyed their temple and they never really recovered from that. I Know David and Saul fought with them, but that was quite a blow. Samson slew more by his death than he did by his life, that’s what the Bible says. Brought down the temple of Dagon. Even in the Bible, between the Sunni and Shiites, you know how they really get each other’s ire is they blow up one another’s mosques. You attack someone’s sanctuary and you demoralize the people. Why do you think they attacked the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks? Because they say that the god of America is money, materialism. And so they went after Wall Street. They freely confessed that. They say, “That’s your temple.” And there might be some truth to that. We are pretty materialistic.

So, when the devil is trying to attack the Lord he attacks the sanctuary. Is it talking about the physical temple? What is the temple of God on the foundation of; it’s built on the foundation of Christ. First of all, the church on earth is the temple of God, right? We’ve talked about this in other studies. “What, don’t you know, the year of the temple of God, you are living stones, you are a spiritual priesthood, we are built on the foundation of Christ and so we are baptized into the body of Christ.” There’s this temple. God’s people are under attack. The church is under attack. Was the Church of God persecuted by the little horn power? If you know history, by the millions.

The stars, let's talk about, we talked about the hosts. The word host, the host is an army. It's very simple. It comes from the word [?] And it means a mass of persons, a great cloud, a company, an army. It's talking about the assembly of people. The stars, they are the mighty and the holy people. Pastor Doug, what makes you say this? Daniel 12, let the book interpret the book. Daniel 12:3, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. And they that turned many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” This attack against the stars is an attack against the people of God. Revelation 12:1, “And the great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of 12 stars on her head.” What do those 12 stars represent above the head of the woman? It represents the leadership of the church. Jesus had 12 apostles, the Old Testament 12 tribes, 12 judges, the 12 patriarchs. And so they are people who are leaders, spiritual leaders. But it symbolizes stars above the head of the woman. The woman is God's church. Above the head means authority, leadership, of the church. They were under attack. Not only Christ and His people were under attack by this little horn power.

And I could go on and read Revelation 1:20, talking about, what's the pleasant land? Let's find that out. It says, Psalm 106:24. Now why are we studying this? You remember, it tells us that he exalts himself even to the pleasant land. And we've got to know what that is. “Yet they still did not believe God's promise to bring them into the Promised Land and showed no interest in going there.” That's interesting. What version are you reading from? The Clear Word. In King James it says there, “pleasant land,” doesn’t it? It's a correct translation, no criticism, but it actually comes from the words pleasant land. So what is the pleasant land? The Promise Land. Jeremiah 3:19, “But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations? And I said, thou shalt call me my Father and shall not turn away from me.” This is a prophecy of Jeremiah where he’s talking about the Promise Land. He calls it the pleasant land. Zechariah 7:14, “But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them that no man pass through nor returned. For they laid the pleasant land desolate.” Very clear, this is talking about when the promise Land, the land flowing with milk and honey, was laid desolate. Are you noticing now, as we go through the language of the prophecy, that you don’t have to guess on what these different symbols are? Every one of these symbols, there are verses to back them up. You just go here a little, there a little, and the Bible defines itself about these things.

Now it’s talking about the four winds. From one of these four winds it says that this little horn power will wax great towards the south, towards the east, and towards the pleasant land. Well the Roman power did wax great towards the south. They took Egypt as a province. Matter of fact, they took it from Antiochus Epiphanes. Towards the east, they conquered Syria and they made it a province. Toward the pleasant land, or the Promise Land, or Canaan land, this is Judea. Does anyone not know that the Roman power occupied the Promise Land? So the little horn power fills all these things. Not only pagan imperial Rome, during their time, but the church during the Crusades. The little horn power, they said, “We must get the Promise Land back,” and they spent hundreds of years in crusades in a tug of war with the Arabs over the pleasant land, didn’t they? Everyone knows this part of the history. And so there’s no question on that.

Let’s talk about the daily sacrifice. If I want to destroy your computer, assuming you have a computer. I’m just curious, show me your hand, how many of you have computers? You want to hear what’s funny? When Bill Gates first went to IBM with the DOS system for personal computers IBM said there’s not much future in personal computers. And so he formed Microsoft. He was going to sell it to IBM. Boy, are they sorry. If I’m going to destroy your computer, a couple ways of doing that. One way of doing that is I sneak into your house with a hammer and I bludgeon your computer. And that would probably work. But you leave a lot of tracks when you do that, a lot of evidence. It’s very hard to get away with that. Another way I can destroy your computer is a little more insidious, is I email you a virus. I get on the inside of your computer and that virus then executes a file that will rampage through your hard drive, turn it into a bunch of gibberish, computer mush. Anyone ever have something like that happen to their computer, where it totally crashes because there’s some malicious virus gets in there?

The devil has done the greatest damage to the truth that saves people by introducing a virus into the church, rather than the outside. Well, of course, plan A for the devil was during pagan Rome, Imperial Rome, those emperors, they exceedingly stamped the truth; they tried to destroy the church. Feed them to the lions, burn them at the stake, kill them with the gladiators. They all went underground. Christianity was an illegal religion. But that didn’t work very well because the more they persecuted them like that the more it grew. So the devil said, “What I’m going to have to do something more insidious,” and he introduced a virus into the theology. And the theology became corrupted. He cast the truth to the ground and he practiced and prospered by controlling the teachings. Obscure the Bible, the two witnesses were put in sackcloth, cast the truth to the ground, teach nonsense, have just enough truth to still have the illusion of being Christian, some of the trappings and the labels of Christianity. And it’s not the first time the devil’s done it. But how insidious it is to say, “There’s really nothing wrong with worshipping idols if you call them Peter, James, and John.”

It’s like what happened to the children of Israel. Moses is up in the mountain; they just said, “We’re going to keep the Ten Commandments.” Well, they get discouraged and so pretty soon they make a golden calf, they’d point to the calf and say, “Well, this is not an Egyptian god. This is the god that saved us, so it’s ok to worship this idol because it’s the god that saved us from Egypt.” Isn’t that what they said? Just give it a new name and it’s ok. But it’s still idolatry. That’s what happened. They just gave Christian names to pagan teachings. They baptized paganism. So the truth, the daily sacrifice, was cast to the ground.

Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” In the Lord’s Prayer, “give us this day our daily bread.” What does that bread represent? Is that food or is that a spiritual reference also for our daily bread? Christ is the bread; daily we need Him. Paul said, “I die daily.” So when you talk about the daily sacrifice, the gospel is not; salvation’s not acquired by works. It’s something where daily we make a withdrawal on the grace and the blood of Jesus to both sustain us, to forgive us. This is sanctification. Taking advantage of the daily sacrifice by grace, isn’t’ that right? That was under attack. “You have no rights to go directly to Jesus daily for forgiveness,” this is what the little horn taught. “You must come through the church, you must do these works,” and the daily sacrifice was under attack. There’s a lot more I’d like to say about this, but I promised I’d mention the free offer.