Our Bible is clear as to who has established the course of this world.

For in Ephesians 2:2 we are told,  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

We know that our God is omnipotent, however for a season a creation of God, known to us by many names, the principle name being Satan, is the one who leads this world down certain prescribed paths called the course of this world.

Judging by his loyal followers as far as this world is concerned this prince of the power of the air is the way, the truth and the light and the leader of the multitudes.

However, only by knowing God’s word can we know that Satan is the great deceiver.

For by knowing God’s word we can know the truth in a personal way, the truth being the Lord Jesus Christ who is indeed the way, the truth and the light.

As Jesus is the Truth, Satan is the Lie.

In our study of Satan we are concentrating on some of his devices that he has incorporated in the course of this world.

We have studied his ethics, a system of morality without absolutes, for without perfection, there can be no absolutes.

Ethics without God are ethics that vary for they are fitted to ever changing circumstances.

We have looked at materialism, a device of Satan whereby only that which is material is real.

Materialism is another of Satan’s devices for it excludes God as reality and in do doing it is the vanity of vanities for all is vanity without God.

Isaiah in Isaiah 57:13 basically said, Go ahead and trust in your materialism, call upon it when you cry in despair and see if it will deliver you.

This is how he put it:

When thou criest, let thy companies (those things you trust in, nowadays it is those companies in which you have stock) deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;

We are very well acquainted with the wind that carries our materials things away, are we not?

Unfortunately most people of the world, regardless of what they say about the spiritual, live lives as materialists for their daily lives are totally concerned with the material.

They may say they believe in God but their lives belie that statement for their actions speak louder than their words.

Actions always have a louder voice than words!

For their actions are all about treasure that they have laid up in this world.

It is a treasure which reveals their heart to be the heart of one who sees no need of God in their life.

Another of Satan’s devices is an emphasis on the collective.

This is the herding of men into group thinking and group actions and behaviors.

God sees men and women as individuals, unique from each other, with different talents, personalities, gifts and appearances.

God has made no duplicates, no copies.

So Satan goes about to destroy the diversity of men though collectivization.

Today we see Satan’s device of collectivization in an ever growing movement toward Socialism.

Socialism is basically rule by some who determine what is best for the rest.

It is a determination of their destiny, rather than an individual determining what is best for himself or trusting God to determine what is best for himself.

Our country’s motto is at this time "In God we Trust!"

But do we really trust in God or should the motto be changed to "In Government we trust" or In the People we Trust?

If you trust in God, God has an individual plan for you like no other.

His plan will result in a unique individual fitted to fulfill a particular need in His plan.

But Socialism sees you as a part of the masses, to be treated like all others on an equality basis.

We see so very clearly the rise of socialism in our country whereby our government is determining more and more what is best for you.

Satan’s plan is to maximize your dependency on someone or something and therefore lessen your dependence upon God.

He desires that God no longer supply your needs for the collective now insures that all your needs are met.

As believers we know only God is the one who knows what is best for you but Satan again wishes to wrest from God that determination and he does it though political systems.

The fourth academic area in our study is psychology which means the study of the mind.

You can study the mind and postulate all kinds of things and propose different methods for defining and maintaining a healthy mind.

And these methods bring about certain behaviors which are acceptable or not acceptable in the prevailing culture.

Satan again is prominent in this area for his device is counter to that which God presents in his Word.

His device of course, assumes a world where man is considered to be the ultimate reality without accountability to any, other than other more powerful men.

So in this reality there is promoted a freedom of expression without boundaries.

This is not surprising for Satan hates God established boundaries.

The first thing he did in the garden of Eden was to tear down the only boundary that God had established, the boundary relative to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So the course of this world constructed by Satan, a course without God established boundaries, is the course of Expressionism in contrast to the biblical precept of Discipline.

Expressionism is wrapped up in this 1960’s mantra,  If it feels good do it.

It is based upon an elevation of emotion as the prime mover in life with the thought that principles are things that simply get in the way of life and hinder expression.

This philosophy in our day is being taught from birth.

It is taught by mothers who place no barriers or hedges around their children, hedges based upon principles.

It is continued in our government schools where self-expression is pounded into the student’s minds.

Take a look at the appearance of the self expressed student as he or she walks to the public school each day.

Is there any such thing as a disciplined appearance today?

The idea of a disciplined mind and body is alien to most modern educators and looked on as something which hinders rather than promotes a productive life.

It is apparent from the Bible that the disciplined approach to life is the approach that brings the greatest happiness and health to the mind and the body.

God was careful and loving to give children parents to love them.

And parents who love, will always erect hedges of protection and barriers which keep their children out of Satan’s way.

What kind of love is it to allow a child to express himself before the pit of a poisonous snake.

What foolish self expression is allowed when the parent does not provide a hedge between his child and the highway.

In God’s word we read that proper discipline is the result of proper love.

So much of the time, self-expression results in rebellion and in some drastic cases even results in death.

Only a devilish system would promote such an idea.

Failure of the parent to deal with rebellion is not evidence of love but is evidence of an uncaring mother or father who is without natural affection.

The Bible goes so far as to say that a father who does not deal with rebellion is a hater of his son.

We read of this in Proverbs 13:24,  He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Dr. Henson in his Projector 1973 article concerning Satan’s Devices, wrote this about discipline:

When is a violin string free? Is it really free when it is lying loose in the cellophane wrapper in the music store or when it is stretched taut (disciplined) on the violin? I watch in amazement as an accomplished gymnast performs knowing full well the hours and hours and hours of practice, discipline if you will, which were necessary before the performance was possible. There are some far-reaching implications for the Christian in this idea. My favorite illustration of discipline involves a rather famous concert pianist. Some years ago he had just finished a brilliant concert when a matron minced up to him and said, "Oh, I would just give anything if I could play like that." The pianist looked at her for a moment and then replied, "Would you give eight hours of practice every day for twenty years?" Many Christians want the performance without the practice. We want the results without the discipline of training.

Learning takes work.

It takes work on the part of the learner but it takes even more work on the part of the teacher, whether it be a teacher in the classroom or the mother or father in the home.

Anyone who learns has learned by discipline.

God has established an order to things and that order is for

discipline to precede self expression.

The famous concert pianist expresses himself but it all came about because of discipline.

Our children play instruments in church at times but they are only allowed to express themselves musically after much discipline and for that we are thankful.

What a joy it was to attend the Kindergarten graduation last Thursday that Mrs. Brainard brought together.

These little five year olds were a blessing to all who witnessed this evening because they were prepared by Mrs. Brainard to be a blessing.

Imagine having that same event last September.

Would it have been a joy to see these same children express themselves without the burden of discipline imposed on them throughout this school year?

No! It would not have been a joy but a curse for it would have been self expression without discipline.

There used to be in society of old the idea of a finishing school.

The child, when finished was introduced to society.

It is like the baking of bread.

You do not want a half baked loaf of bread put on the table nor should you want a half baked child presented to society.

How many times must we put up with half baked children at the restaurant whose parents seem to think their self expression is so cute and you ought to think it cute also.

These parents who promote self expression without discipline wonder why you do not have a smile on your face brought on by the sight of such expressive children!

But biblical parents train their children with discipline before they are allowed freedom to express themselves.

In this way they can be a blessing instead of a curse.

But the devil promotes self expression without discipline.

Any system of thought which pushes the idea of self-expression in opposition to discipline is not biblical.

When parents allow a child to begin his life without proper discipline, they are guaranteeing that child and themselves terrible difficulties later.

The enforced obedience of the child to the parent is but the primer class whose purpose is to lead to the voluntary obedience of a child of God to the Lord as they are reared up.

Rebellion against authority, parental or otherwise, is a sin for a Christian young person because it is in fact rebellion against God.

If a parent allows his child to go his own way in willfulness and disobedience for years, there should be no surprise when this moves in later life to gross sin and immorality.

And this is from the lane of Expressionism on the highway of this world, the course established by its architect, the devil, that old dragon, the father of lies.

Our next academic area of study is Science, where Satan has devised what the humanist has demanded.

The humanist, exercising the lust of the mind, imagines a world without God and therefore must have an explanation for all that he sees with his materialistic eyes and that explanation is called evolution.

This of course is in opposition to what God has told us relative to what we see with our eyes.

To us God is the creator and that settles it.

Those who have the mind of Christ do not go any further than that understanding, but those without God’s mind imagine a world which has come into being without the agency of a Creator.

Evolution is simply an attempt to explain all that we see in terms of natural, mechanistic processes rather than in terms of an omniscient, omnipotent Creator.

Evolution is a philosophical belief, not a scientific theory.

It is a religion and it is believed religiously not

scientifically.

No knowledgeable evolutionist holds to his beliefs based on experimental grounds for it cannot be demonstrated in the laboratory.

No single fact of Science demands an evolutionary explanation.

Already, through the study of genetics, there are signs that evolution is failing to answer questions of origin.

Genetics is showing a common ancestor of all human beings in lieu of human lines being evolved from many different directions and locations.

If evolution is true shouldn’t there be many lines from which species came?

You can be sure as all false doctrines eventually do, evolution will fall by the wayside only to be replaced by another false way.

For humanists will demand an alternative explanation rather than bow the knee to Almighty God.

Christians ought not to try to accommodate God’s word to current understandings by science.

You cannot harmonize evolution with creation into some kind of theistic evolution.

The Bible is trustworthy, authoritative, and inerrant and has no room for imaginations that exclude or even limit God to some decreased participation in the act of instantaneous creation of all things from nothing.

Let the scientists come up with new theories and let the science text book publishers issue their annual revisions with new imaginations, while God’s word goes on continuously without revision.

Christians do not have a revision committee for God’s word, for we know from Hebrews 13:8,  that Jesus Christ (who is the Word of God, is) the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

And as verse 9 of Hebrews 13 continues, we are with this knowledge to,  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines.

For when we have the mind of Christ we think within the boundaries of the Word of God.