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- PDFLyall Johnston—January 31, 2026
To begin the subject today. We want to turn to Isa. 40 and read a few verses there because it has a great deal to do with the subject: Satan vs the Churches of God. The Churches of Jesus Christ.
Of course, Satan is the one who is the ruler of this world, and he is the chief of the synagogue of Satan, as we read in the book of Revelation.
Isaiah 40:5: “Isaiah 40:5: “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’.... [this is directly from the mouth of God] ...A voice says, ‘Cry!’ And he said, ‘What shall I cry?’ ‘All flesh is grass...’” (vs 5-6).
That includes the flesh of all livestock, but it also includes you and me, human life, because we are flesh, as we well know.
“...‘All flesh is grass, and all the beauty of it is as the flower of the field” (v 6).
What happens to all flesh?
What happens to all the flowers of the field?
Verse 7: “The grass withers, the flower fades because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely... [God says about you and me and all people] ...the people are grass.”
And you can read that statement, because Peter quotes that in the New Testament, once again proving that the Old Testament certainly is not done away.
Verse 8: “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the Word of our God shall stand forever.”
The point Peter makes is that if the Word of God is buried deeply in our minds and in our hearts, then we, though we’re flesh, will wither and perish. That the Spirit of God within us, combined with our spirit, means that we as people will not perish in regard to the eternal life that God has promised to us.
Verse 15: “Behold, the nations... [in other words, all flesh...] ....are like a drop in a bucket.”
This is the way God, looking down on planet Earth, this is what He sees.
“...the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the scales; behold, He takes up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts of it sufficient for a burnt offering.... [to God] ...All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted by Him as less than nothing, and vanity” (vs 15-17).
That includes you, and that includes me, when God looks down upon us in our carnal, unconverted state. However, let’s just go to Isa. 57 to get the alternative to that.
Isaiah 57:15: “For thus says the High and Lofty One... [this is talking about God the Father and Jesus Christ] ...Who inhabits eternity; Whose name is Holy...”
We pray that when we pray, don’t we? ‘Holy be Your name. Hallowed be Your name,’ because God’s name is Holy! God doesn’t take it lightly when we abuse His name in so many different ways.
“...‘I dwell in the high and Holy place, even with the one who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones’’’ (v 15).
Now, what we have here with the Synagogue of Satan, the church that is not the Church of God! They claim it is the only true church; here we’re talking about Romanism centered with its headquarters in Rome:
claiming to be the one and only true church
claiming that John the Baptist was a Catholic
Let me read you something else here from an article. This is from an article just on Romanism, that I pulled off the Internet; Rome claims:
Because our Lord Jesus Christ, when about to ascend from Earth to heaven, left His priests...
Oh, the Roman Catholic priests, when Jesus Christ left the Earth:
…His vicars to be, as it were, the presidents and judges to whom all mortal sin into which Christ, into which Christ, into which Christ, into which Christ’s faithful people should be brought, in order that by the power...
of the keys of Peter
There as a Peter in Rome, but it wasn’t Peter the apostle! He did have keys, but it was not the keys that Jesus gave to Peter. You can read all about that in The Two Babylon’s by Alexander Hislop, and other publications.
...that they might pronounce the remission of sins or retention of sins.
So, they claim that Peter was the apostle in Rome. Peter was never in Rome. In fact, Hislop makes that point as well, that it’s well-known amongst the Churches of God.
It’s interesting that Peter wrote to the brethren from Rome. It says that in the end of one of his epistles. But when you look at where he wrote to the brethren, if he had written from Rome, he would have located the areas closest to Rome first and those furthest away last. But in fact, when you read it, it’s very clear that Peter was writing from Rome because the nations that he’s talking about, the peoples he was writing about, the churches he’s writing about, begin closest to Babylon, the physical Babylon, which was part of the old Babylonian Empire.
Not the modern Babylon, according to the Bible, which is Rome, and that’s spiritual Babylon. Hislop, of course, covers the historical history of ancient Babylon, right through to the modern spiritual Babylon mentioned, as we’ve talked about in Rev. 17 & 18).
Charles Clinique—who was a Catholic priest for 25 years—addresses the subject of the moral depravity of the Church of Rome. How that in Rome, the pope sitting there on his throne claims to speak for God as if He is God!
Does that not remind us of 2-Thess. 2, of the Beast Power coming? Of course, the Beast Power closely connected, almost at the hips, with the False Prophet. So much can be said about that.
Looking at this false church system, we go to John 17, and we find where Jesus talks about the name of the Church. And, because this is Jesus talking, and because we believe what He says, we can believe this, rather than what men say. Because those who are following Jesus Christ are following Jesus Christ and not men, whether he’s a pope or a priest.
Rome, of course, claims that all their priests are priests after the order of Melchizedek.
Where in the Bible do they find that?
That the ministers or elders of Jesus Christ are after the, right now, the order of Melchizedek?
Well, Jesus Christ today is High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, and his ministers are simply listed as servants. We, as elders, serve under the High Priesthood of Melchizedek. The Bible never actually states or claims that elders or ministers are actually of the Melchizedek priesthood. That is something which will be revealed.
Now in the Kingdom of God, when we are kings and priests, then we’ll be able to know and understand that we will be operating directly as spirit beings under that priesthood.
John17—Jesus said, talking to His Father in this prayer, the one major prayer that we understand is the real prayer of Jesus Christ.
John 17:11: “And I am no longer in the world...”
In other words, in His mind, He had already departed; He is going to be crucified.
“...but these are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name...” (v 11).
What is the name of the Father?
Rome?
Presbyterian?
Methodist?
Lutheran?
No!
God is God! God is Father! And the name of the Church, as Paul so frequently mentions it in addressing the epistles, except he doesn’t mention it to the Church in Rome. He doesn’t mention it, saying, ‘the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome.’ He says that of many others. I wonder if he had a reason for that, and God inspired him not to address it to the church in Rome?
But he did address it in v 9, to the brethren in Rome. in Rome; like brethren in Ephesus or Colossae or even in Jerusalem or Antioch, wherever they were, addressing the brethren. But here it says,
“...keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one, even as We are one. When I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name...” (vs 11-12).
What is the name of God the Father?
Is it not God?
Therefore, it is the Church of God! That is substantiated by the writings of Paul.
Matthew 16:18—talking to Peter: “And I say also to you that you are Peter; but upon this Rock [Christ] I will build My Church”—His Church!
So it’s the Church of Jesus Christ or the Churches of Jesus Christ, but He said, “I kept them in Your name...” He’s the Head of the Church of God!
not Romanism
not Catholicism
not the Synagogue of Satan
They are the children of Satan the devil. They are the work of Satan, with the headquarters in Rome—the Seven Hills of Rome, which the Bible talks about: Ancient Babylon whichis a perverted, polluted system. As we see in the historical account of the doctrines of that church, totally contrary, claiming to be the Church of the Living God, and claiming to preach the Bible, but they do not! In fact, the priests of Rome must teach the Scriptures according to the theologians of Rome.
Now, there was an interesting comment in Charles Clinique’s book—50 Years in the Church of Rome—talking about Aquinas and Augustine and about how all the theologians of the Catholic church, don’t agree with each other. This is why Clinique had a difficulty in teaching the Bible according to the Church of Rome, because they all disagreed. The only thing between Aquinas and Augustine was that they agreed with was to disagree on everything!
Yes, they claim the Bible. They quote the Bible, but so did the devil. As he said to Jesus, ‘Look, Jesus, it is written.’ The devil trying to tell Jesus what was written in the Word, which Jesus gave in the first place. Of course, he misquoted, twisted and was abusing the Word of God just like the Church of Rome does. In fact, Catholics in the Church of Rome must follow the teachings of their priests and of the pope over and above the Scriptures! Oh, they will say otherwise, but when you look into the Scriptures, that’s a bald-faced lie!
They must follow what the pope says, and when the pope speaks, in his capacity, what he says is equivalent to what God says.
Read Rev. 22 where it says about adding to or taking away from the Scriptures and the penalty that will be there for those, at the very end of the Scriptures where John—in the years between 98 and 100AD—signed and sealed the Bible. There was no need for any additions because God had revealed to His apostles and to His prophets everything He wanted recorded.
Romanism, the Catholic Church, the pope have no authority whatsoever to change, to add to, or to change, or explain differently than what is written by God and the doctrines that God placed in His Church by His Prophets and apostles. Let’s just see that back in Isa. 8.
This is a powerful Scripture for anyone who does not accept the Old Testament and the Sabbath and the Christian Passover for that matter, which are all recorded right in Gen. 2 & 3. And built on by Jesus Christ as He revealed the meaning of the Sabbath and the meaning of the Christian Passover as it is today.
In the Old Testament, it was, yes, definitely God’s Passover, what is the Old Covenant, which was a physical covenant. The Christian Passover is a spiritual covenant sealed by the blood, and the torn and shattered and ripped apart body of Jesus Christ! He died to establish that covenant. That’s how important it is. God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, gave His life!
Very soon we’re going to be observing that incredible event. You know, as Paul says to Hebrews: ‘We should fix our mind on Christ and we should meditate deeply on Him. In particularly, should meditate deeply on Him. every day, but also more particularly as we come up to the Passover, as we renew:
that covenant of baptism
that covenant of death
we made at the time of our baptisms!
These are two powerful verses and you need to have them noted and memorized even.
Isaiah 8:16: “Bind up the testimony...”
Now this is God speaking through his prophet. Can we trust it? Yes, we can trust it with our very lives! We could die to uphold this as the truth coming out of God’s Word.
Verse 16: “Bind up the testimony, seal the Law among My disciples.”
There are a number of ways we could see the Law and the Testimony:
the Law was given
This is one that I liked. The Law is set in Genesis through to Deuteronomy. The law is there. So, that’s to be bound up and sealed.
The testimony
This is what happened when the people—whether it’s all people in the world or whether it was the people of Israel—when they obeyed or disobeyed God, we see the testimony of the actions!
When they obeyed God, He blessed them. That’s the testimony. What happened when they disobeyed God, what happened when they rejected His Word? Look at the suffering they went through! That’s all as a witness and a testimony for you and for me today.
Verse 16: “Bind up the testimony, seal the Law...”
that’s an absolute
that’s total substantiation of everything that’s written by God
not only in the Old Testament, but this also covers the New Testament!
Verse 16: “Bind up the testimony and seal the Law. The testimony of God was the New Testament!
“...among My disciples” (v 16).
So, it was left to the disciples of Jesus Christ, not to the church of Rome. The Bible was already completed. The Word of God was all completed with the disciples of Christ. That’s why He chose the 12 He did, so that they could do this. This was accomplished by John at the end of the first century, along with his helpers at that time.
Let’s now have a look at verse 20; again, it’s talking about the same writings, the Scriptures, the Old Testament and the New Testament.
How do we know it’s the New Testament? Well, it says in v 16, “...my disciples.” That’s prophetic.
Verse 20: “To the Law and to the Testimony!.... [the same words] ...IF they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them.”
WHEN a church is told they have to follow the head of that church—what he says and what he does, even if it is contrary to the Word of God, THEN this applies:
“...to the Law and the Testimony IF they do not...” (v 20).
So if the pope, and all the Catholic priests, and all the Protestant ministers, and all those other religious leaders—whatever the faith, whatever it is, even to atheists—IF they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them.”
Let’s see what the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God’s Spirit, had to say about Satan and his church.
2-Corinthians 11:2: “For I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God because I have espoused you to one husband, so that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.... [that’s a very powerful statement] ...But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness...” (vs 2-3).
Think back to Gen. 3, wasn’t the serpent crafty, quoting God’s Word? Misquoting it? Tempting her?
She submitted, so did her husband, and we have been eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is mankind choosing his own way to live his life, opposed to the Tree of Life, which is obedient to every Law and Commandment
every statute
every judgment
every ordinance
every precept in the Scriptures
Because as Jesus said, John 6:63: “The words... [every word in the Scripture is given to us from the Father through Christ] ...that I speak to you, they are Spirit and they are Life.” That’s eternal life!
So, the more we drink in of the Word of Christ, the more we eat the Word of Christ
as we study it
as we meditate on it
as we think about it
as we think about Christ and Him crucified
as we meditate on Him
the things that He suffered
the things that He did and the teachings He has for us
we’re actually walking the path that leads to eternal life, to be in the Kingdom!
We’re going to see Jesus Christ and the Father face-to-face and to each other. What a marvelous future there is ahead.
Verse 3: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” How does this happen?
Verse 4: “For indeed, IF someone comes preaching another Jesus... there’s a key!
Do all Christian churches preach Jesus?
Do the Catholic Church preach Jesus?
the Methodists?
the Presbyterians?
the Lutherans?
the Seventh-Day Adventists?
the rest?
Do they? Yes! But they’re preaching another Jesus! They’re teaching and preaching a Jesus that says you don’t have to keep the Sabbath Day. Oh, you keep Easter, you don’t keep the Passover. That’s Jewish, just like the Sabbath.
when God set the Sabbath Day back in Gen. 2
when God revealed the Passover, the Christian Passover in Gen. 3:15, where were the Jews?
answer that one
think about that for a bit
It shows you the hypocrisy, the lies that come out of the mouth of Satan the devil through his servants, as we will go on to see here.
2-Corinthians 11:3: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Paul is addressing you and me, as well as, the Corinthians. He was addressing them there and then, but right now Christ through Paul is addressing you and me today!
Verse 4: “For indeed, IF someone comes preaching another Jesus, whom we did not preach...”
This is talking about the apostles of Jesus Christ for a century, not the priests of Rome or any other one claiming to be ministers of Jesus Christ, not the pope, but the apostles of Christ who were never Catholic priests or vicars, nor Peter who was never in Rome!
IF you want to find out which Peter it was, one of the Peters that was in Rome, just read the 8th chapter with Simon the Magician—Simon Magus—who bewitched the people. Just like Rome and all the Protestant churches today are bewitching mankind with their lies!
“…IF someone comes preaching another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive... [so there are different Jesus’; different spirits] ...or a different gospel, which you did not accept, you put up with it as something good” (v 4).
He basically, in one sense, ridiculed them for being deceived from the Truth. He’s trying to make a very powerful point.
Verse 5: “But I consider myself in no way inferior to those highly exalted so-called apostles.”
You can label all those claiming, from the pope down, to be the apostles of Christ or the followers of vicars or whatever it is, they are false!
they’re not of Christ
they’re not of God
they’re not of the Word of God
Verse 13: “For such...”
These so-called false apostles, and that’s why we have to be so careful even for those within the Body of Christ—
who have accepted that same Body of Christ
who have accepted the sacrifice
who are committed to His Commandment
—we still have to be careful, as Paul said!
Verse 12: “But what I am doing, I will do, so that I may cut off any occasion from those who are desiring an occasion; so that in the things they boast of, they also may be found even as we are.”
Well, they’re not going to do that. How are they going to repent. It’s too lucrative for them, particularly in the priesthood of the Catholic Church. That’s another story.
Verse 13: “For such are false apostles... [they’re a part of the synagogue of Satan] ...deceitful workers who are transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.”
we’re the vicars of Christ
we’re the ministers of Christ
we’re of the Melchizedek priesthood
Where in Scripture is where you can read those words. You can’t! It’s an assumption! Now that may or may not be true, but it’s not mentioned. Yes, we true elders are operating under the High Priesthood of Melchizedek, Who is Jesus Christ. But we are the servants of Christ, doing His will and His work.
Verse 13: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers who are transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And it is no marvel, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (vs 13-14).
He reveals himself to the world through all these pagan churches, claiming to be Christian, but they’re not.
Verse 15: “Therefore, it is no great thing if his servants... [his ministers] ...also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness—whose end shall be according to their works.”
And the works of the Church of Rome, which affect most other so-called Christian religions, are diabolical. They’re all part of Sodom and Gomorrah, which is how Charles Clinique establishes the Church of Rome, which he came out of.
So, again, what we have going on today is a battle between the Church that Jesus Christ established, which He calls it ‘a little flock.’
Whereas those who are going down that wide path that leads to destruction are many. that’s talking about the countless millions, even billions, of so-called people claiming to know Christ, that have no idea who the real Jesus Christ is.
We’re going to finish this here. And we’ll conclude this next time. So we look forward to being with you and seeing you, and bring an end to this topic, which is a major topic, but we’ll end up with some thoughts about the teachings of the very Body of Christ, the true Church, the one that Jesus has established.
Scriptural References:
Isaiah 40:5-8, 15-17
Isaiah 57:15
John 17:11
Matthew 16:18
Isaiah 8:16, 20
2-Corinthian 11:2-3
John 6:63
2-Corinthians 11:3-5, 13-15
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
Revelation 17; 18
2-Thessalonians 2
Revelation 22
Genesis 3; 2; 3:15
2-Corinthians 8
Also referenced: Books:
The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop
50 Years in the Church of Rome by Charles Clinique
LJ:bo/po
Transcribed: 2/8/26
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