The book of Revelation tells us that there will be a time before the return of Jesus Christ to this earth when Satan the Devil will be cast down to the earth, "having great wrath" (Revelation 12:12).

The context in Revelation 12 also identifies him as the one who is "the accuser of our brethren" (verse 10).

Satan’s very name means "adversary" or "opponent" – he opposes everything God does. One of his main tactics is making accusations. He is first described as doing so in Genesis 3, when he accused God of having lied to Eve.

But his accusations must have started before the creation of man. Revelation 12:4 tells us: "His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth." One third of the angels followed Satan in his rebellion against God.

Did you ever wonder how Satan influenced those angels to follow him?

In his book Mystery of the Ages Herbert W. Armstrong had this to say about what happened: "And then, even after Lucifer himself made the decision to rebel and try to invade God’s heaven to take over the universe, it is not revealed how long it took him to persuade all of the angels under him to turn traitor and follow him. I know well the method he used. He uses the same method still today in leading deceived humans into disloyalty, rebellion, and self-centered opposition against God’s (or any!) government. First, he turns one or two to envy, jealousy and resentment over an imagined injustice (‘Look what God did!’)—then into disloyalty. Then he uses that one or two, like a rotten apple in a crate, to stir up resentment, feelings of self-pity, disloyalty and rebellion in others next to them. And, as each rotten apple rots those next to it until the whole crate is rotten, so Satan proceeds" (pages 85-86, hard copy version).

Satan’s methods have not changed over the centuries. He works the same way today as he did back then, before the creation of man.

As a roaring lion he seeks to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8), and before Jesus’ return he will be especially angry, spewing out accusations against his favorite targets, God and the brethren.

With these thoughts I wish us all a rewarding Sabbath!