Transcript
THEIR METHODS OF FINDING FAULTS IN FAULTLESS MEN
Perhaps we must now know these things about the “Accusers of Brethren,” particularly the Chief Accuser of Brethren, Satan himself:
1. Being found blameless, innocent, or faultless still does not stop the accusers who are hell-bent on accusing the brethren. So, even if a man is declared righteous, blameless, upright, faultless, pure, and so on, by God Himself, Satan would still not give up accusing the blameless, upright, faultless, pure man. An example was the case of Job: God Himself told Satan that Job was upright and feared God, and yet Satan still would not give up, on more occasions than one.
2. How do the Accusers still attempt to accuse a man who is already found blameless, upright, faultless, pure, and so on? There are basically two methods the Accusers may employ to persist at it:
2-A. The Accusers would either use the “False Accusation Method” to accuse a man they already know is blameless, upright, faultless, pure, and so on. Potiphar’s wife used this method to accuse Joseph. This method, “False Accusation,” has limits to which the Devil, who is both father of lies and Chief Accuser, can use false accusation. Satan cannot use false accusation in Heaven or in communicating with God and higher angels. Satan never dares to lie to God, even if Satan lies to himself or is the father of lies. So, because he cannot use false accusation before God, Satan would use the second method before God in trying to still accuse a man declared blameless, upright, faultless, pure, and so on.
However, Satan uses “False Accusations,” lies, or falsehood when he is in communication with men or in connection with the tongues of men. Someone asserted that “Satan is still learning work where some people who tell lies or falsehood are.” This implies those people told lies that even Satan would not have told or imagined. Well, Satan is the father or originator of lies and falsehood, but indeed there are lies Satan can only use the tongues of men or women to tell to people, after laying the lies or falsehood in the hearts of the deceivers.
Notice that sometimes a mad man or woman—that is, one possessed by demons or evil spirits—may be saying things that are true or factual, while a man or woman who seemingly is not possessed by any demon or evil spirit may be saying things that are lies or false. I am not saying evil spirits or demons do not lie, but saying they have to possess the mouths or tongues of men to be able to tell certain lies or falsehood to men. Two Bible references:
Reference 1 — A spirit that cannot tell lies in Heaven could possess the mouths of even prophets or pastors, and become a lying spirit only in the mouth or by the tongues of men.
1 Kings 22:22–23, AKJV: And the LORD said to him, “With which?” And he said, “I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.” And He said, “You shall persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.” Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and the LORD has spoken evil concerning you.
Reference 2 — Concerning the days of the Antichrist, False Prophet, and red Dragon, the prophecy said God will send to the world a strong delusion, deception, or lies, so that the world would believe the lies of the Antichrist, False Prophet, and Dragon to their damnation, because the world rejected the Truth that God earlier sent to them. Billy Graham, in 1974, told a story of a man who lied to a church, and the church believed him and received him; then later he confessed to the church that he had lied to them, showed them the truth, and the church cast the man away from them. Then the man said, “This is a strange church: I told them lies and they received me, and I told them truths and they discarded and rejected me.” So, God sent truth to the world and they rejected the truth, seeking and making research, especially scientifically, to disprove the truth of God. So, God will send them lies and strong delusion for them to receive:
2 Thessalonians 2:9–12, AKJV: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all delusion of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
But my objective here is to point out the lying spirit in the mouths of the Antichrist, False Prophet, and Dragon. Now read about it here:
Revelation 16:13–14, AKJV: And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth to the kings of the Earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
So, according to this reference, spirits of devils also work miracles, signs, and wonders, and yet are lying spirits in the mouths of false prophets. They are there for people who want miracles but do not want the truth.
Now, we must advance to the second method of the Accusers insisting on accusing a man whom they know is blameless, upright, faultless, and so on.
2-B. The Accusers may use “Shifting the Goalposts” to accuse a man they already know is blameless, upright, faultless, pure, and so on.
Shifting the goalposts differs from false accusation because it does not involve lying or false assertion, but involves manipulation of criteria or standards of requirements to become more difficult for the other party and more favorable to the party of the Accusers. Examples of shifting the goalposts by the Accusers of blameless, upright, faultless, or pure men in the Scriptures include Satan asking God to strike out the hedge of protection around Job and take away Job’s wealth and health as a drastic policy change, making the criteria or standards more difficult for Job but giving Satan more opportunities. Another example was making the Lord Jesus Christ, who was judged by Roman law and found blameless, upright, faultless, or pure, be condemned by another law of the Jews while still using Roman law to crucify the Man whom that law did not find guilty. That is, they used the laws of Moses, Jewish law, to establish the Lord Jesus as worthy of death, but applied that law in a jurisdiction of a different law, Roman law, that found Jesus Christ blameless and worthy to live.
“Okay, take Him and crucify Him according to your Jewish law, because by my Roman law He is found blameless, upright, faultless, or pure.” But the people said, “No, we only apply our Jewish law to condemn Him for claiming to be the Son of God, but we want you to apply your law to crucify Him based on what our law said of Him, even though your law says different things about Him.” Shifting goalposts or double standards:
John 19:6–8: When the chief priests therefore and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” Pilate said to them, “You yourselves should take Him, and crucify Him yourselves: for I find no fault in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid.
Meanwhile, Satan could not earlier find any cause of death for Him even in the Law of Moses. Satan used men with false accusations, and yet the witnesses or false accusers could not establish fault in Him until the Lord Jesus Christ gave them the only truth they were to use to crucify Him—that is, declaring He is the Messiah, Son of God.
Mark 14:55–64, BSB: Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but they did not find any. For many bore false witness against Jesus, but their testimony was inconsistent. Then some men stood up and testified falsely against Him: “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this man-made temple, and in three days I will build another that is made without hands.’” But even their testimony was inconsistent. So the high priest stood up before them and questioned Jesus, “Have You no answer? What are these men testifying against You?” But Jesus remained silent and made no reply. Again the high priest questioned Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of Heaven.” At this, the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “Why do we need any more witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What is your verdict?” And they all condemned Him as deserving of death.
You see, even in the laws of Moses or Jewish law, the Lord Jesus Christ was blameless, upright, faultless, or pure, and they had a very hard time finding any fault worthy of death in Him. He only gave them “I am the Son of God” as their basis for condemning Him to death on grounds of blasphemy—but even that was true, not blasphemy.
However, the main Bible verse in this thread that contains an example of shifting the goalposts that Accusers use against blameless, upright, faultless, or pure men is this:
Daniel 6:5, GWN: “These men said, ‘We won’t find anything to accuse this man, Daniel, unless we find it in his religious practices.’”
Daniel 6:5, LBP: “Then these men said, ‘We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel unless we find it against him in connection with the law of his God.’”
In this Bible verse above, they had exhausted all there was in the Persian laws and all human laws, but found Daniel blameless, upright, faultless, or pure. They affirmed they could not continue to depend on any of the available laws to accuse Daniel because they would find none. So, they said they would go for a law that could accuse him on the grounds of his relationship with God or the laws of God.
So, they would shift the goalposts and get the king to make a new law or policy to use in accusing Daniel, since there was no existing law or standard that currently favored any accusation of Daniel.
Well, they were not resorting to false accusation, but they resorted to shifting the goalposts while still insisting on accusing or condemning a man declared blameless, upright, faultless, pure, and so on.