The Seed and Synagogue of Satan
The synagogue of Satan is a confusing topic, buy it is easy to understand if you look at the full counsel of the Bible. The synagogue of Satan grows out of the seed of Satan, and it hates the true body of Jesus. Both the synagogue of Satan and the body of Christ believe they are the real church. It is important to know how to tell the difference!
I love the footnotes in my Bible. Seeing the connections between passages is so powerful to unlock what they really mean.
The Bible is telling a continuous story. It is not a cookbook with a bunch of recipes for successful living. If I tap into the story God is telling and learn the basic principles, it unlocks the Man who the Word is about.
The synagogue and seed of Satan both find their roots all the way back at the fall of mankind in Genesis 3.
Genesis 3:13And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
Eve was deceived by the promise of wisdom and self the attractiveness of the false freedom of self-leadership. This pride, transferred from the devil to eve by the logic of Satan being presented to eve had massive consequences. It set up a divine struggle for mankind until the end.
Enmity is between the seed of the devil and the seed of the woman. Enmity means hostility and hatred. This hostility and hatred manifests between people. This isn't talking about demons hating people. This is talking about people hating people.
Jesus elaborates on this when confronting the Jewish leaders of His day:
John 8:39They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.
40“But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
41“You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” 42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43“Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45“But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
The seed of Satan subscribe to satanic thinking. Satanic thinkers, throughout the Bible, are generally those in religious circles. Jesus tells Peter "get behind me Satan" when Peter falls into satanic thinking:
Matthew 16:21From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 23But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
The leadership of Satan is very subtle. He is a master at deception. The leadership of Jesus is much different. Jesus is very clear, and very blunt. Jesus' leadership is offensive to logic and often to the desire in the human heart for comfort and self-leadership. This is because Jesus is trying to change the mindset of people to think as God thinks. The value system of heaven is contrary to the value system of the Earth right now.
The synagogue of Satan, or Satan worshipping churches, will think, just like the Pharisees and Sadducees and legal lawyers of Jesus day, that they are the authorized representatives of Jesus. But, they are not. They are God's people in name only, not in the truth of the leadership of God. Like Peter, we can flip in and out of God's leadership pretty quickly, but when the thinking of Peter becomes institutionalized, then you have a synagogue of Satan.
Revelation 3:8“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9“Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
If there is enmity...hostility or hatred... between those who consider themselves the "mainstream church" and those laid down in humility, self sacrifice, and love, then it is imperative that the true seeds of Jesus embrace the truth about who is who. Simply ignoring the lying, scheming, arrogance, self assertion, and self promotion that embodies the seed of Satan is not OK. Jesus said that where this is going is to murder. That root of hostility, under the pressure of the end times, is leading to a murderous division in the church itself, as the seed of Satan tries to bite the heel of the seed of Jesus, but Jesus' true body answers and crushes the head...the satanic logic...of Satan's offspring:
Matthew 24:9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13“But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
As the end of the age unfolds, more and more fruit of the leadership of Jesus will be seen, and the lack of fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control, and goodness) will be seen. It is by fruit that we can tell who is who. In the synagogue of Satan, bad fruit is overlooked for the sake of avoiding the cross. Politeness is the false love of the synagogue of Satan.
In the true church, love speaks the truth, and the whole body grows up into the head. Jesus told his friends the truth (like telling Peter he was under the leadership of Satan). Telling g the truth will cause people to leave. This is good for those marginalized, lied about, and left out, and terrible for those who congregate with others who lie, resist the truth, and operate in pride:
1 John 2:16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 18Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
The synagogue of Satan will always regroup. Offense with God produces worldly friendships that are really only held together by a common enmity.
Luke 23:11Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate.
12That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other. 13Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 14said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; 15“no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him. 16“I will therefore chastise Him and release Him”
Neither Pilate, nor Herod, who both tried Jesus and knew the truth of His innocence, would actually choose the leadership of God because it would be too inconvenient to walk out the truth. Instead they cooperated in the murder of Jesus. They became friends with only the bond of both being guilty of the same satanic leadership holding them together. Within 40 years Pilate's people destroyed Herod's people. These friendships will always fail and many are hurt by the fallout of satanic leadership.
The body of Jesus is much different than the synagogue of Satan. The body of Jesus stays together, it lets everyone have a voice, it keeps meeting together even as there is resistance in the relationships. The body of Christ works through it's issues in a straight-forward way. It doesn't gang up. It doesn't group up because of common interest and talking points. It lives out in the open. It is miraculous. Only the miraculous grace of God could keep an honest an open people together.
Hebrews 10: 22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” 31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; 34for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. 35Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
Acts 4:18So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
19But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.
The gathering out of the large group, and the regrouping of the offended is guaranteed to happen in our day, just as it did in Jesus' day! This is the point of the parable of the wheat and the tares:
Matthew 13: 24Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25“but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26“But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27“So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29“But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
Matthew 13: 37He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38“The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39“The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40“Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41“The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42“and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43“Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
I don't want to do false polite church that never changes who I really am or how I relate to others in truth. The synagogue of Satan stays together the same way a crowd in a football stadium or basketball arena has unity: common self interest and polite behavior.
I want to do the gathering of the saints who speak truth in love and supernaturally stay in relationship as everyone learns how to speak of and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches! Living this way will get you persecuted, reviled, and marginalized. That is the true mark of being in the body. This will crush the head of the synagogue of Satan. The synagogue of Satan will worship at the feet of the true body of Jesus!
I love the footnotes in my Bible. Seeing the connections between passages is so powerful to unlock what they really mean.
The Bible is telling a continuous story. It is not a cookbook with a bunch of recipes for successful living. If I tap into the story God is telling and learn the basic principles, it unlocks the Man who the Word is about.
The synagogue and seed of Satan both find their roots all the way back at the fall of mankind in Genesis 3.
Genesis 3:13And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
Eve was deceived by the promise of wisdom and self the attractiveness of the false freedom of self-leadership. This pride, transferred from the devil to eve by the logic of Satan being presented to eve had massive consequences. It set up a divine struggle for mankind until the end.
Enmity is between the seed of the devil and the seed of the woman. Enmity means hostility and hatred. This hostility and hatred manifests between people. This isn't talking about demons hating people. This is talking about people hating people.
Jesus elaborates on this when confronting the Jewish leaders of His day:
John 8:39They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.
40“But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
41“You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” 42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43“Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45“But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
The seed of Satan subscribe to satanic thinking. Satanic thinkers, throughout the Bible, are generally those in religious circles. Jesus tells Peter "get behind me Satan" when Peter falls into satanic thinking:
Matthew 16:21From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 23But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
The leadership of Satan is very subtle. He is a master at deception. The leadership of Jesus is much different. Jesus is very clear, and very blunt. Jesus' leadership is offensive to logic and often to the desire in the human heart for comfort and self-leadership. This is because Jesus is trying to change the mindset of people to think as God thinks. The value system of heaven is contrary to the value system of the Earth right now.
The synagogue of Satan, or Satan worshipping churches, will think, just like the Pharisees and Sadducees and legal lawyers of Jesus day, that they are the authorized representatives of Jesus. But, they are not. They are God's people in name only, not in the truth of the leadership of God. Like Peter, we can flip in and out of God's leadership pretty quickly, but when the thinking of Peter becomes institutionalized, then you have a synagogue of Satan.
Revelation 3:8“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9“Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
If there is enmity...hostility or hatred... between those who consider themselves the "mainstream church" and those laid down in humility, self sacrifice, and love, then it is imperative that the true seeds of Jesus embrace the truth about who is who. Simply ignoring the lying, scheming, arrogance, self assertion, and self promotion that embodies the seed of Satan is not OK. Jesus said that where this is going is to murder. That root of hostility, under the pressure of the end times, is leading to a murderous division in the church itself, as the seed of Satan tries to bite the heel of the seed of Jesus, but Jesus' true body answers and crushes the head...the satanic logic...of Satan's offspring:
Matthew 24:9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13“But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
As the end of the age unfolds, more and more fruit of the leadership of Jesus will be seen, and the lack of fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control, and goodness) will be seen. It is by fruit that we can tell who is who. In the synagogue of Satan, bad fruit is overlooked for the sake of avoiding the cross. Politeness is the false love of the synagogue of Satan.
In the true church, love speaks the truth, and the whole body grows up into the head. Jesus told his friends the truth (like telling Peter he was under the leadership of Satan). Telling g the truth will cause people to leave. This is good for those marginalized, lied about, and left out, and terrible for those who congregate with others who lie, resist the truth, and operate in pride:
1 John 2:16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 18Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
The synagogue of Satan will always regroup. Offense with God produces worldly friendships that are really only held together by a common enmity.
Luke 23:11Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate.
12That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other. 13Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 14said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; 15“no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him. 16“I will therefore chastise Him and release Him”
Neither Pilate, nor Herod, who both tried Jesus and knew the truth of His innocence, would actually choose the leadership of God because it would be too inconvenient to walk out the truth. Instead they cooperated in the murder of Jesus. They became friends with only the bond of both being guilty of the same satanic leadership holding them together. Within 40 years Pilate's people destroyed Herod's people. These friendships will always fail and many are hurt by the fallout of satanic leadership.
The body of Jesus is much different than the synagogue of Satan. The body of Jesus stays together, it lets everyone have a voice, it keeps meeting together even as there is resistance in the relationships. The body of Christ works through it's issues in a straight-forward way. It doesn't gang up. It doesn't group up because of common interest and talking points. It lives out in the open. It is miraculous. Only the miraculous grace of God could keep an honest an open people together.
The body of Christ learns true deep friendship based on a common identity of Jesus, His cross, and the persecution, reviling, and marginalization that comes with it (Mat 5:10-11). The body of Christ is unpopular with religious people!:
Hebrews 10: 22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” 31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; 34for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. 35Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
37“For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
38Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
39But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
This is where both camps are going in this hour. The church is severely dividing over issues. That is hard, but much worse than that, the church is dividing over LEADERSHIP. The body of Jesus and the synagogue of Satan are both maturing right now. Don't miss the important division in the offense and confusion of the division over issues.
38Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
39But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
This is where both camps are going in this hour. The church is severely dividing over issues. That is hard, but much worse than that, the church is dividing over LEADERSHIP. The body of Jesus and the synagogue of Satan are both maturing right now. Don't miss the important division in the offense and confusion of the division over issues.
The body and the synagogue of Satan won't divide over issues. The issues are the context Jesus uses to test our adherence to His leadership. The body of Jesus is sifted out as it gets Jesus' heart dealing with those who argue over issues! The body of Jesus speaks truth in love.
Those of Jesus' body don't go out. They will get forced out, but they don't quit relationally until they are forced out, when their opportunity to operate as Jesus' body is taken from them and all they are left to do is line up under satanic leadership. The body refuses satanic leadership:
Those of Jesus' body don't go out. They will get forced out, but they don't quit relationally until they are forced out, when their opportunity to operate as Jesus' body is taken from them and all they are left to do is line up under satanic leadership. The body refuses satanic leadership:
Acts 4:18So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
19But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.
The synagogue of Satan tries to silence parts of the body that threaten it's leadership. Those choosing satanic leadership of logic go out from the body. The antichrist comes out of the church. The antichrist spirit breaks relationship with anyone who no longer seems useful to them anymore...when they don't want to be counted among the marginalized, or it seems like it's simply too hard to stay in friendships that are inconvenient and require working through issues.
The gathering out of the large group, and the regrouping of the offended is guaranteed to happen in our day, just as it did in Jesus' day! This is the point of the parable of the wheat and the tares:
Matthew 13: 24Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25“but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26“But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27“So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29“But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
Matthew 13: 37He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38“The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39“The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40“Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41“The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42“and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43“Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
I don't want to do false polite church that never changes who I really am or how I relate to others in truth. The synagogue of Satan stays together the same way a crowd in a football stadium or basketball arena has unity: common self interest and polite behavior.
I want to do the gathering of the saints who speak truth in love and supernaturally stay in relationship as everyone learns how to speak of and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches! Living this way will get you persecuted, reviled, and marginalized. That is the true mark of being in the body. This will crush the head of the synagogue of Satan. The synagogue of Satan will worship at the feet of the true body of Jesus!
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