Spiritual ambition. Satan is ambitious. He wants to be like God in every way but not to be part of God. He desires to be an individual who is like God but who maintains his own will.

Satan aspires to the majesty of God, to His authority, His power. He wants to have the worship of all of God's creatures. He also seeks the virtues of love, joy, and peace; and this is why we hear the humanists and other worldly people speak so much of love, joy, and peace.

When man disobeyed God, the spirit of Satan entered him. As a result, man desires to be like God in every way but not be a part of God. Because of the spirit of Satan that is in him, man seeks to be an individual who is like God but who maintains his own will.

Religious man aspires to the majesty of God, to His authority, His power. He wants to have the worship of all of God's creatures. He seeks the virtues of love, joy, and peace, but on his own terms. He is not always ready to surrender his individuality in order to be one with God through Christ.

He desires to be free from the Law of Moses but not married to Christ.

For two thousand years religious man has been active in Christian works of various kinds. Satan's spirit of envy and murder, which often dwells in the leaders of Judaism and Christianity, has been revealed on numerous occasions. Babylon is the "mother" of abominations of the earth.

How many religious leaders actually know God's will? How many are plowing ahead, working as hard as they can, but not receiving clear direction from the Lord? How many think they are hearing from the Lord but are in deception?

Waiting on the Lord for direction should be the most important subject in the curriculum of every institution that trains ministers of the Gospel. But how many of such institutions emphasize numerous methods for spiritual success, yet give minimal attention to the necessity for coming to God for clear direction?

Babylon teaches that we should study the Scriptures and from them build the Kingdom of God. The Spirit of God teaches us that we should look to God always and not trust our own judgment. As the Spirit leads us He emphasizes appropriate passages of the Scriptures. The sons of God are led by the Spirit.

The inability of Christian organizations to follow the Lord. Any person who is doing the Lord's will, resting in Him, is ready at any time to go, to return, to cease the work altogether and turn in a different direction.

We are not referring to the believer who is weak, impressionable, double-minded, unable to pursue an objective to its conclusion. We are not speaking of people who begin projects and then become bored and try something else, saying "the Lord told me to do this and the Lord told me to do that." Such people never can bear fruit, because they do not work at an undertaking long enough to bring it to a successful conclusion, or remain in one situation long enough for their roots to go down into God.

To be continued.