Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): Pastor James Kaddis on how Satan works.

James Kaddis: Let me beg you to drive this concept in your brain. Please drive it in your brain. Think about it, obsess over it, meditate on it, do whatever you can. Think about it and literally do not let go of this thought. This is how Satan works. Listen to me, folks. This is how Satan works. How does he work, James? Okay.

He deceives you. This is what he does. In the deception that he communicates to you, he then uses you. After he uses you, you know what he does? He throws you away. After you’re thrown away, the patterns that have been built within your heart that have come as a result of listening to his lies and being used by him cause you to continue to rebel against God, and destruction becomes your ultimate end.

Guest (Female): Thanks for ending your week with us here at Light on the Hill. Pastor James Kaddis is at the end of a study in the book of Revelation. As we head back to chapter 20, we’re at the end of the millennium. Satan has been bound for a thousand years in the pit and is now released. Immediately, he goes on a rampage of deception, and people fall for it yet again. Here’s Pastor James with all the details.

James Kaddis: He releases him out of his prison. Look at this in verse eight. It says, "And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." So, there’s a description here of Satan coming in and deceiving the whole world again, causing them to be deceived.

I want to stop and just note something here because this is really, really important. I want you to think of two words. Some of you have heard the term "phenomenological," and then I want you to think of "logic." So, think of phenomenological language. Just think about that for one second. Phenomenological language. I want you to understand what that means because that’s what’s being used here.

This is especially for those people who somehow, some way think that we live on a flat earth. We don't live on a flat earth, okay? People use this section of the Bible to make an argument that we do because they see this term "four corners of the earth" or "the four quarters of the earth." That’s what you see, that the earth is made of four quarters.

It’s really important to understand this. People think that in order to have four quarters, then you have to be sitting on a flat surface, and that’s what creates the four quarters. But remember the term here. Remember phenomenological language. I want you to understand what that means. Phenomenological language is a very common occurrence in the Bible, as it is a common occurrence in the things that we say and do every single day.

Here’s a great example. How often do we walk outside and say, "What an absolutely gorgeous sunset"? We say that all the time, don’t we? Is the sun actually setting? Think about it. Like, is that actually what’s happening? Because we know scientifically what’s taking place. We know that the earth is in essence circling around the sun.

It’s impossible for the sun to circle around the earth. There’s a whole lot of reasons why that’s the case and just the science of that is pretty powerful stuff. It’s really unique stuff. But think about this for just a second. When we say the sun is setting, what we actually mean or what we actually are saying is that the earth is rotating to a point where the sun is becoming at a place where it’s out of our view.

That’s what we’re saying. When we talk about the sun rising, is the sun actually climbing? This is the type of language that we use on a pretty regular basis. We use language like this every single day in our lives. It’s a common part of how God created our minds to work. As a matter of fact, this is really interesting.

When you start looking at large language models in artificial intelligence, this is kind of the final frontier of large language models, is being able to understand or use the difference between what we would call metaphorical terminology or terminology that involves similes versus what we would talk about when we talk about this type of terminology when we use phenomenological terminology.

It’s very, very difficult for AI to understand kind of what that means, and that makes all kinds of confusion and all kinds of problems for these models to be able to understand what’s being said. As a matter of fact, a lot of the translation that we’re doing right now from specific languages from one language to another for the stuff that we’re doing with our Bible studies and the things that we’re doing online, this is one of the big barriers that we deal with.

We don't even need AI to create this barrier. There’s another barrier in terms of how do you translate what that means. For example, this is a really interesting thing. When I went to Russia and we were ministering to a group of kids in Vladimir and we were actually teaching them in the Bible college, imagine being in a position where I’m teaching kids how to read Greek using a Russian translator while teaching in English. That’s a challenge.

What’s really interesting is Cyrillic languages are easy to Russian kids. That’s a whole other story. But let me just simply say this. As we’re having this conversation and all of this is going on, Pastor Jeff goes up there to teach. I pulled Pastor Jeff aside and I'm like, "Look, bro, I just want you to understand this. You only speak one language, okay?"

I'm being really funny with him. I'm like, "Look, Whitey, you don't speak any other language. You don't speak Spanish, you don't speak any other. You know a few words, so understand me when I tell you this. You cannot use this type of language when you’re teaching these Russians. They look confused, and the reason why they look confused is because the translator is even confused."

They don’t understand terminology in pop culture. Phenomenological language is very difficult for somebody who was not born speaking that language. So, you’ve got to make sure you can’t use language like this. Now, I’m just going to tell you right now, my pastor is now with the Lord, but he was such a brilliant man and I learned a lot from him.

I will tell you this, but there were some times where you just think, "My goodness, bro, it’s like it just went in one ear and out the other." So, what does he do? He stands up, and if you loved Pastor Jeff or you knew him, you could totally picture him doing this. He gets up and he starts talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

He’s doing this very good Bible study. It’s really, really good. He’s going through Acts. It was just awesome. You could see that these Russian kids are just really getting excited about what they’re hearing. They’ve never heard the Gospel being preached. This is 1999, I think somewhere around seven years removed from the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Some of these kids, the first time they ever stepped in church was within the last few months. So Pastor Jeff is doing this, he's doing a great Bible study, and then he talks about an illustration or he chooses to demonstrate the baptism of the Holy Spirit and he talks about the Nestea plunge. That’s what he starts talking about, okay?

First of all, Russians don’t know what Nestea is, and there is no Russian equivalent for the word "plunge." If the translator even understood what that meant, then to make things worse, he's talking about how the baptism of the Holy Spirit is so beautiful. It’s like going out one day on a very, on a super, super steamy hot day.

Imagine trying to translate this, right? You're in a steamy hot day and you just finished because you’re so tired from mowing your lawn. You just finished mowing the lawn, and so you step back to the pool and you take a Nestea plunge. How do you translate that into Russian? I mean, think about that.

He’s using language that is beyond metaphorical. He’s using language that depends on certain constructs in popular culture to be able to understand. And so when you say things like that, it’s very, very difficult to translate across the board. And this is the problem. This is the problem with the thinking and the teaching of the ideals that come from what I would call "flat earthers."

They have a very diminished view and understanding of not just the English language, but they have a broken view and understanding of original language. If you read and you understand the Greek language, for example, and you understand subsets of its culture and how it’s actually being used and the context in which it’s being used, and you line it up with the Hebrew mindset that John would have been raised with, then it makes perfect sense.

You’re talking about phenomenological language. This is not him saying we have a flat earth and these people are being gathered from all four corners. What it’s actually saying is there is going to be a military force that is created as a result of Satan’s deception that will be larger than anything we’ve ever seen before.

Imagine this, folks, that the world is going to rebel against God. Now, it talks about more than the sands of the very sea. Think about the amount of people that will have been populated the earth during that thousand-year reign. There will be a large population of people. It’s interesting that that large population of people will have been deceived by Satan to rebel against God and to fight against God.

I mean, you think about how crazy that is. By the way, it’s really interesting. There’s another phrase that we see here in this verse that creates some confusion for people because there’s what I would call a great conflation. We read this oftentimes and people get confused, but he talks about all four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog.

By the way, I want to back up for just a second and talk about all four quarters of the earth. You could reasonably argue that a quarter is very different from a corner. Actually, the way that it’s translated from the original language, it actually would make even more sense with the earth the way we understand it to be scientifically speaking.

But that’s a whole other story. I’m not even going to get into that. But there is a great conflation that ends up happening here because they see the term Gog, Magog, and all of a sudden they think that this is the Ezekiel 38 account of the war. As a matter of fact, I’ve heard lots of people teach this.

I’ve even heard Calvary Chapel guys teach it. The problem is, which by the way, I want to go out of my way to say this, an overwhelming majority of the Calvary Chapel pastors that teach this get this right. I should probably note that. The reason why they get it right is because Calvary Chapel guys know Bible prophecy and they know it well.

The ones that kind of have strayed away from Bible prophecy and kind of mock it and don’t really focus on it, they’re the ones that typically get it wrong. So it would seem as though the more woke you become as a pastor, the less understanding you become because you don’t understand the bigger picture that exists within the whole context of the Old Testament.

But there are major differences between the Gog, Magog account in Ezekiel 38 and what we read about here in Revelation chapter 20. Let's talk about some of the differences because I think they're really important, okay? First and foremost, you do not see the naming of a series of nations. That’s not even referred to here.

As a matter of fact, what’s really interesting here is in Revelation chapter 20, you don’t see any reference to anybody. As a matter of fact, Gog speaks of a title. Gog is presumably the title of the leader of Rosh, which of course would be Russia. When we talk about Magog, Magog is of course a region. So they are completely, they speak of things that are not so direct.

When you get into Ezekiel 38, you’re talking about all kinds of nations. You’re talking about the nation of Israel, which is the subject that is being attacked. The Gog, Magog description that we see here is not a regional war. The Gog, Magog war description that we see here is a worldwide war. It’s all four quarters of the earth.

So right away, the Gog, Magog of Israel or Ezekiel 38, which is the Gog, Magog of Israel, is completely disqualified. They don’t match even on that basis alone. In Ezekiel 38, let me point out some other things that happen. In Ezekiel 38, we talk about Gog, presumably the leader of Rosh, will be leading a coalition of nations against the nation of Israel.

What happens in that context? Let's talk about what happens in that context. You have a bunch of nations that join up. We’re talking about Libya. We’re talking about Turkey. We’re talking about Iran. We’re talking about the Sudan. We’re talking about Ethiopia. We’re talking about basically Morocco or that region near that area.

We’re talking about all kinds of other countries. We’re talking about all the different Stan countries. That’s the Magog area. Uzbekistan and all of them. You’re talking about all of those nations. You’re talking about Russia itself, the Russian Federation. You’re talking about a whole bunch of nations that come against the nation of Israel.

What’s even more specific and more important is the fact that there will be other nations that will be dissenting to the attack. For example, we know that Saudi Arabia will be the largest dissenter to this attack. They’ll say, "What in the world are you doing?" And it would appear as though all the attackers have a close relationship with one another, including Israel, the one being attacked.

So it’s interesting because when you read about the Gog, Magog war in Ezekiel 38, you’ll also recognize the fact that God is defending specifically Israel. His purpose for defending Israel is a very unique purpose, and that purpose is to teach them and to start dealing with them, and that’s what the use of the tribulation period is for.

Now, some of you might look at this and go, "Okay, James, you’ve convinced me." It’s a pretty easy thing to convince somebody of. We’re talking about two completely different battles, significantly different battles. But then there’s the big question, and this is a viable question. This is a question you should be asking.

Why would Gog, Magog be mentioned? It’s such a unique picture here. Why in the world would it actually be mentioned? Well, it’s mentioned because it’s a reference to a war that people will understand as having been or having had been so hellacious that the world understood exactly what it is.

If you think about it, what do we do? We do this all the time. We use language like this all the time. Again, very phenomenological. It goes along the same bed. It’s the same infrastructure. Think about it like this. We watched Afghanistan happen. As Afghanistan was unfolding, what was the number one sentiment that was being spoken of by a lot of Americans who were looking at things sober-mindedly?

What did they refer to Afghanistan being another what? Another what, anybody? Vietnam. Thank you. You all get it. You didn’t even have to think about it. I asked, "What do they call Afghanistan?" and they said it’s another Vietnam. You guys all get it. They’re calling now, right now, they’re calling Ukraine another Vietnam.

We’re looking at these situations, why? Because we understand the significant effect of certain battles that took place in our world and they are so hellacious, so crazy, so unbelievable that we now assimilate those languages. They become such a solid part of pop culture that we now can make associations with them.

So think about this for a second. When you see the term Gog, Magog here, what it’s basically doing is it’s trying to describe to you the nature of the intensity of the battle. That this will be something that will be on par with Gog, Magog. In other words, it’s going to be an attack that makes no sense. It’s going to come from all four quarters of the earth. It is going to be a terrible, terrible, terrible war.

Now, this is interesting because I want you to understand what’s happening here. Understand the pattern. This is Satan being released from his pit. Watch this. Satan being released from the pit, being released from this prison, and immediately deceiving people. Notice what happens. The people listen to Satan. The people give in to their sin natures and choose to rebel against God.

Now, here’s the question that you would ask. If God knew that this would happen, why in the world would He release Satan from the pit? Why can’t we just live happily ever after? I'll tell you why. Because God wanted to continue to put on demonstration His perfect justice. God wanted everybody to understand that mankind’s rebellion against Him has nothing to do with environment.

It has absolutely everything to do with the nature that they have. You see, we’re going to be living on the earth at this time as well, but we will not have sinful natures because we will have been redeemed. We’ll have been changed. We’ll have been metamorphosized. We’ll be in our resurrected bodies, in essence.

We’re not going to be the same people that we were. But there will be a whole bunch of people that will still have sinful natures living on this earth, and they’re going to rebel against the true living God, and it’s something that we should pay attention to. But watch this. Look what happens because there’s such a powerful lesson that we can learn from this.

And they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city. The beloved city, of course, would be referring to Jerusalem. By the way, it is interesting. Jerusalem is oftentimes referred to as the beloved city. Not the beloved city, but God’s beloved city.

We read about that in the book of Psalms. And so when we talk about the beloved city, of course, we’re talking about Jerusalem. This is very, very important that we see this. So they, which by the way, as you know, in the millennial reign, Jerusalem is in essence the capital of the world. It’s not just the capital of Israel, it’s the capital of the world.

So it would make sense that it’s gathering around those people who have chosen to walk with God and to serve God. The remnant that still say, "We're going to listen to you, God." This would be in reference to when we talk about the saints. This would be in reference to God’s ancestrally chosen people, the Jews.

The Jewish people who choose to continue to walk with their God and don’t rebel in this context. Some people say that the reference to the saints could also be us as well, but the reality of it is we are in a different, in a completely different state. But look what it goes on to say because this is really interesting.

They went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city. And notice this: "And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them." Can I just stop before we read about Satan’s final fate here? Let me make this one statement. And the next time you’re tempted to do evil, can you please think about this pattern?

Please, please, please, I'm just begging you. Can I say this even before I bring this up to you? I am praying for God to give me a smart and effective way to demonstrate this to my children early on so that it stays embedded with them and that they’ll never forget it. But please listen to me when I tell you this. This is the nature of Satan.

Let me beg you to drive this concept in your brain. Please drive it in your brain. Think about it, obsess over it, meditate on it, do whatever you can. Think about it and literally do not let go of this thought. This is how Satan works. Listen to me, folks. This is how Satan works. How does he work, James? Okay.

He deceives you. This is what he does. In the deception that he communicates to you, he then uses you. After he uses you, you know what he does? He throws you away. After you’re thrown away, the patterns that have been built within your heart that have come as a result of listening to his lies and being used by him cause you to continue to rebel against God, and destruction becomes your ultimate end.

Let's compare that for a second. When God chooses to use you, oh yeah, it’s going to be difficult at times. Imagine God choosing to use Joseph, for example. Joseph spent most of his life leading to the point where God used him greatly, in prison. Joseph was sold as a slave. Joseph was mistreated. Joseph was accused of rape when he never did that. As a matter of fact, he did the exact opposite.

And yet, God used Joseph in a way that was so remarkable, you cannot even begin to imagine. And the end result of God using Joseph was not only lots of lives being saved and lots of souls being touched, but Joseph experienced the reward of what it means to put your faith and trust in the Lord.

When you are faced with temptation, when you are faced with the enemy lying to you, and folks, can I just say this, the enemy will lie to you about absolutely everything. He will lie to you literally about everything that you can think about. He will lie to you about your appearance. He will lie to you about what you could have, should have done.

Have any of you lost anybody close to you recently? You've lost a loved one? This is the great way the enemy will lie to you. You could have been there for long. You could have prevented it. You could have done this. You could have done that. You should have spent more time with them. You should have talked to them. You should have.

It’s the shoulda, woulda, couldas. The enemy will lie to you and lie to you and lie to you. And eventually, what will happen if you continue to listen to those lies is you’ll give into those lies. You’ll buy those lies, you’ll believe those lies, and then you’ll allow yourself to become used by the devil. And eventually, he’ll throw you away like trash to be burned in the incinerator.

That’s how the enemy works. So the next time you hear a lie that is coming out of the mouth of Satan into your ears, do not believe him. Do not be the person that gets used by the devil, because as you get used by the devil, all it means is your sure destruction.

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Pastor James Kaddis on Light on the Hill. He’ll be right back with more. As we go through this study of Revelation, there may come a time when you miss a message or would just like to hear a program again. If so, visit lightonthehillradio.com and click on radio or listen through our app.

We have a Light on the Hill app available for iPhone and Android users. Just search for Calvary Chapel Signal Hill. Light on the Hill is heard all around the world and it takes a team to bring these shows to the radio and internet. With your help, we’re able to reach people with the truth of God’s word at a time when they really need to hear it.

You can donate today at lightonthehillradio.com. You can also give through our Light on the Hill app. As we’re going through Revelation, this is a great time to mention Pastor James’s new book entitled The Last Book. It will share what you need to know about Revelation, the rapture, and the end times.

This guide to Revelation is part one of two and you can order it today at lightonthehillradio.com or at Amazon. We hope you’ll join our online communities. You’ll find James Kaddis on YouTube, Rumble, and Instagram. You can also hear our weekly prophecy show Countdown to Eternity wherever you get your podcasts and at countdowntoeternity.com. Now with these final thoughts, here again is Pastor James.

James Kaddis: I have said it from the very beginning. Satan is good at lying to you. And if you give into his lies when he’s done using you, he’ll destroy you. Folks, it’s got to start somewhere. Even if it starts in a small church body, it has to start somewhere. We have to be able to say, "No, it’s not acceptable. This is absolutely a hill that is worth me dying on. This is absolutely something that is worth me fighting for."

Why? Because it may not work favorably for me today or tomorrow or next month or three months or ten months or a year or two years from now, I know that at least I know I’m not getting thrown away and burned later. At least I know that God will take what He wants to take in me and use me for His purposes. I don’t care about anything else.

I want you all to have the same view. I want you all to have the same attitude. Why? Because we see what happens at the end. So what if it starts off with a small voice? Let it become a big one. So much depends on it. Amen?

Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for your word and we thank you for the insight that we gain from it. The things that we learn. Lord, your word is true and it’s real and it’s important. Lord, help us to never lose sight of it or forget it. May we understand and determine and know and recognize so much of what it is that you’re wanting to tell us.

That we would be awake and know and realize and discern what it is that you’re wanting to tell us. We want to be used by you. Help us to be honest and open and help us to recognize and discern and know what it is that you’re wanting to tell us. So Father, we just love you. We look to you. We thank you, Lord. Keep us seeking you with a whole heart and a whole mind. We ask these things in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): Our study of Revelation will continue next time on Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. Remember, as a Christian, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.