Is Satan Ruling In The Churches?
 
On March 1, 2002, on the Open Forum, Harold Camping made that statement that “The king in the churches is Satan.”
 
(Rev 9:11 KJV) And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
 
This is the only place in Scripture where Satan is directly called a king. He is called a king, only because he is the chief destroyer. If you notice, it has nothing to do with Churches. He has no authority over the believer whatsoever. There is not one Scripture in the Bible which states that Satan is the king of the church at any time in history. Christ is the one who died for the church, not Satan. This statement is a blasphemous one.
 
There are absolutely no Scriptures in the Bible which teach that Christ will ever hand over every church to Satan at anytime in history. This is a contrived dispensational belief by Harold Camping based on his failed time paths of 1994. He claims that the church age ended in 1994 and that is when the Holy Spirit was taken out of the churches resulting in Satan taking his place as king in the churches. This particular belief will place the Holy Spirit under the authority of Satan, which means that this belief is akin to the unpardonable sin. Now how does that happen?
 
The Depart Out Teaching claims that the Holy Spirit is no longer active in the church. One thing that is noticeably absent in the DOT is the teachings on Law and Grace. When these are factored in and not ignored like the DOT does, then DOT would crumble like a house of leaves in a hurricane. The Bible teaches that the Christian is saved eternally and cannot lose their salvation. The Bible also tells us that the Holy Spirit indwells every true believer and seals us.
 
(Eph 1:13 KJV) In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
 
(Eph 4:30 KJV) And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
 
So here we see that the believer is sealed and that sealing is a permanent one. Now Harold Camping and his followers claim that Satan is king in the churches and the Holy Spirit is not active. Since a believer cannot lose their salvation, this means they cannot lose the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We can quench and grieve Him, but there is nothing in Scripture which states He will leave us.
 
(1 Th 5:19 KJV) Quench not the Spirit.
 
(Eph 4:30 KJV) And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
DOT teaches that the local church is now under God’s judgment and Harold Camping has stated that anyone who is in the local Church when the Lord returns will be under eternal judgment. This claim has two blasphemous results:
 
1) Since the believer cannot lose their salvation and the Holy Spirit will continue to indwell a Christian until they go to glory, then when a believer enters into the local church, the Holy Spirit will be in subjection to Satan if he is now king in the churches. How can God make God subject to Satan? This is total blasphemy and is the unpardonable sin. This is the danger that Camping and his followers are in! How can anyone who claims to be saved teach that God is subject to Satan?
 
(Mark 3:28-29 KJV) Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: {29} But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
 
2) The second blasphemy is that we can lose our salvation if we remain in the local church. There is not one Scripture that states we can lose our salvation for any reason.
 
(Rom 8:38-39 KJV) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, {39} Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
(Rom 11:29 KJV) For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
 
These two verses alone along with many others in the Bible teach that the believer is absolutely secure in Christ. To say that a saved person will be under the wrath of God upon His return, defeats the whole purpose of salvation. The unbelievers will be under the wrath of God when He returns on the last day, not the believers. Harold Camping now teaches a works for salvation gospel. In Camping’s eyes, the Holy Spirit has been removed from the churches but the Bible teaches the exact opposite that the Holy Spirit cannot leave the churches until the last day. The reason for this is, if there are believers in any local assembly, He is indwelling them and does not leave them when they go into a local church.
 
March 12th Open Forum - 14 minutes into the program Camping states the following:
“Once the Church age has come to an end, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit has been taken out of the midst that is He is no longer applying the Word of God to the hearts of those who are present in churches because God’s work with the churches has become finished.”
 
Has God’s work with the believer become finished? The Holy Spirit does not apply the Word to walls or to the non-elect but to the heart of each and every believer. Here is what the Bible really teaches:
 
(Isa 55:11 KJV) So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
 
Let us ask another question. What shall it accomplish?
 
(2 Tim 3:16 KJV) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
 
Whenever the Word of God is taught, whether in the church or out of the church, the true believer will always benefit from it. To make a blatant statement like Camping said is to say that the Holy Spirit is no longer active in harmony with the Word of God. This is nowhere taught in the Scriptures and is another contrived tenet of the Depart Out Teaching. Every true believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit which means the Holy Spirit comes into the church with the true believer.
 
Message 11088 - Reformed Watchmen Yahoo Group - 3/16/02 - Notice what this Campingite proposes:
 
“I believe it is very dangerous now to stay in the church under its authority; not that we can lose our salvation, but it just may be evidence that we are not saved because God is not opening our spiritual eyes. The words in Daniel are very ominous: The righteous will understand but none of the wicked will understand.”
 
According to this Campingite, if you remain in your church, then it is giving evidence that you were never saved because your spiritual eyes are not opened. Notice the last line, how the words of Daniel 12:10 are manipulated to say that those who follow Camping’s teachings are considered the righteous but those who do not follow him are the wicked. Camping and his followers sit in judgment not only of the church, but on every believer in the world.
 
Summary
This tenet of Depart Out is as heretical as it gets. The more you investigate and compare his teachings with the true interpretation of the Bible, you will find this teaching to be a dangerous and blasphemous entity. It is deceiving because he makes it sound so biblical when he is really manipulating the Scriptures to his own and his follower’s destruction. Stay far as you can from this teaching. Isn’t it interesting that the Church age ended in 1994 and Camping did not discover this truth till 2001 when he began telling his minions to leave their churches. Does this mean that Harold Camping’s church, Alameda Reformed Bible Church, was under the authority of Satan from 1994 to 2001? You mean Harold Camping was teaching in a satanic church for seven years before he realized it? And you mean just because they went from a church to a “fellowship” that Satan left and the Holy Spirit came back? This teaching is a muddled mass of moronic smatter.

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