Derek Prince - Satan's Power Is Real (But God's Power Is Greater)
Now we have to cut this short, but I’m building up to the truth about the rod. Moses went back and told the children of Israel that he’s to be their deliverer. They were glad. And then he went into Pharaoh and he said, God has told me that you’re to let My people go. Pharaoh said: Well, I don’t know who the Lord is. Why should I let them go? What evidence can you give? Actually it was Aaron who did it but it was Moses’ rod. Aaron threw the rod down on the ground and it became a snake. Well, it’s very interesting. That didn’t very much impress Pharaoh. He said: I’ve got magicians. I’ll send for them. And he sent for his magicians and said: This is what Moses did, what can you fellows do? And they said: We can do the same. And they threw their rods down. And they became snakes.
Now, that’s the Bible. Don’t ever tell me that the devil doesn’t have supernatural power. I wonder whether amongst the Maori people there aren’t, what I think you call toe-honers, that could do things like that. If the worse came to the worse. I’m inclined to think they could. But, the climax of that incident is that Moses’ snake ate up the snakes of the magicians. So, I don’t know whether you’ve ever pictured this scene, but Moses went out with a much thicker, heavier rod than he had before. And the Egyptians went out without any rods!
So, Moses won round one but the Pharaoh wasn’t convinced. So they had another encounter and, Pharaoh said to Moses: What else can you do? He said: I can take the water out of the river and pour it on the ground and it will become blood. Pharaoh said to his magicians: What can you do? They said: We can do the same. And they did. So Pharaoh said: I see no reason to believe, that you’ve got anything that my magicians don’t have. So he next says: What can you do now, Moses? Moses said: I can call the frogs out of the river. and they’ll fill your house, they’ll fill your bed, they’ll fill your ovens, they’ll fill your cooking pans. And he did. And Pharaoh sent for the magicians: What can you do? They said: We can do the same. And they called the frogs out of the river.
We really need to bear this in mind. Because I’ll show you in a moment that this is just a preview of what this age is going to be like at the close. Then the next thing that Moses did was to throw dust in the air, and it became either lice or gnats (and we don’t know which) on the body of man and beast. And Pharaoh called for the magicians and said: That’s what Moses did, what can you do? And they tried and they couldn’t. Then they said: This is the finger of God. Now we have met our match. But it took four supernatural demonstrations to convince them. And three of those supernatural things they could do. Don’t underestimate satan.
Now look, I want you to see, that this is where it’s going to be at the close of this age. There are three great patterns of witchcraft, the supernatural satanic in the Old Testament: The magicians of Egypt. Balaam and Jezebel. And the interesting thing is every one of them are referred to in the New Testament, in the context of the church. It’s a very significant fact. Turn now to 2 Timothy for a moment. chapter 3. Paul is talking about people who oppose the gospel. And he says in verse eight: Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses... Jannes and Jambres were the names of the Egyptian magicians. ...as they resisted Moses so do these false teachers also resist the truth men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith. But they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all as theirs also was. That is, the folly of Jannes and Jambres.
Paul is writing here about the last times. He’s saying in the last times the practitioners of the occult will resist the representatives of the gospel in exactly the same way as the magicians of Egypt resisted Moses. What I want to tell you is this: the ultimate battle is not going to be a battle of theology; it’s going to be a battle of power. Paul said the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Then a little further on in the same third chapter of 2 Timothy, verse 13, again speaking about the closing period of this age, Paul said: But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. All the translations use some phrase like impostors. But the truth of the matter is they couldn’t believe that Paul meant what he said. Because, the word that Paul used, means: a chanter. And it was always used of practitioners of the occult, who used chanting to invoke evil spirits.
So what Paul is saying is that as this age draws to the close, evil men and practitioners of the occult, will wax worse and worse. In other words, there’s going to be a steady, dramatic increase of the satanic occult. And the ultimate conflict is going to be like the conflict between Moses and the Egyptian magicians. It’s not a question of which book can you quote, it’s a question of who has the most powerful snake. And we need to bear in mind, that’s where we’re going to be challenged. Sometimes my ministry is challenged, amazing though it may seem, and I’ve learned not to fret. You know, it isn’t our arguments that are going to be decisive, it’s God’s attestation. So I say: Okay, if somebody challenges, let’s throw down our rods and may the best snake win! I mean if I’ve got a loser, I don’t want to hold onto it.