Another mysterious sight appeared in the sky. There was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and a crown on each of his heads.

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, who fought back with his angels;

Jesus answered them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown.

She was given the two wings of a large eagle in order to fly to her place in the desert, where she will be taken care of for three and a half years, safe from the dragon's attack.

And then from his mouth the dragon poured out a flood of water after the woman, so that it would carry her away.

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent---that is, the Devil, or Satan---and chained him up for a thousand years.

Now the snake was the most cunning animal that the LORD God had made. The snake asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"

The snake replied, "That's not true; you will not die.

The LORD God asked the woman, "Why did you do this?" She replied, "The snake tricked me into eating it."

On that day the LORD will use his powerful and deadly sword to punish Leviathan, that wriggling, twisting dragon, and to kill the monster that lives in the sea.

Wolves and lambs will eat together; lions will eat straw, as cattle do, and snakes will no longer be dangerous. On Zion, my sacred hill, there will be nothing harmful or evil."

The rest of the human race, all those who had not been killed by these plagues, did not turn away from what they themselves had made. They did not stop worshiping demons, nor the idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk.

They are the spirits of demons that perform miracles. These three spirits go out to all the kings of the world, to bring them together for the battle on the great Day of Almighty God.

He cried out in a loud voice: "She has fallen! Great Babylon has fallen! She is now haunted by demons and unclean spirits; all kinds of filthy and hateful birds live in her.

Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil.

Then the Devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, the Holy City, set him on the highest point of the Temple,

Then the Devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness.

and the enemy who sowed the weeds is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvest workers are angels.

The seeds that fell along the path stand for those who hear; but the Devil comes and takes the message away from their hearts in order to keep them from believing and being saved.

You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father's desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies.

He must be mature in the faith, so that he will not swell up with pride and be condemned, as the Devil was.

He should be a man who is respected by the people outside the church, so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the Devil's trap.

Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death,

Whoever continues to sin belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the Devil had done.

Here is the clear difference between God's children and the Devil's children: those who do not do what is right or do not love others are not God's children.

Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the Devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

I know your troubles; I know that you are poor---but really you are rich! I know the evil things said against you by those who claim to be Jews but are not; they are a group that belongs to Satan!

I know where you live, there where Satan has his throne. You are true to me, and you did not abandon your faith in me even during the time when Antipas, my faithful witness, was killed there where Satan lives.

"But the rest of you in Thyatira have not followed this evil teaching; you have not learned what the others call 'the deep secrets of Satan.' I say to you that I will not put any other burden on you.

Listen! As for that group that belongs to Satan, those liars who claim that they are Jews but are not, I will make them come and bow down at your feet. They will all know that I love you.

Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel, so he made David decide to take a census.

When the day came for the heavenly beings to appear before the LORD, Satan was there among them.

"Did you notice my servant Job?" the LORD asked. "There is no one on earth as faithful and good as he is. He worships me and is careful not to do anything evil."

You have always protected him and his family and everything he owns. You bless everything he does, and you have given him enough cattle to fill the whole country.

"All right," the LORD said to Satan, "everything he has is in your power, but you must not hurt Job himself." So Satan left.

When the day came for the heavenly beings to appear before the LORD again, Satan was there among them.

Choose some corrupt judge to try my enemy, and let one of his own enemies accuse him.

In another vision the LORD showed me the High Priest Joshua standing before the angel of the LORD. And there beside Joshua stood Satan, ready to bring an accusation against him.

The angel of the LORD said to Satan, "May the LORD condemn you, Satan! May the LORD, who loves Jerusalem, condemn you. This man is like a stick snatched from the fire."

Then Jesus answered, "Go away, Satan! The scripture says, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him!' "

Now here is this descendant of Abraham whom Satan has kept in bonds for eighteen years; should she not be released on the Sabbath?"

Then Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples.

"Simon, Simon! Listen! Satan has received permission to test all of you, to separate the good from the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff.

Peter said to him, "Ananias, why did you let Satan take control of you and make you lie to the Holy Spirit by keeping part of the money you received for the property?

You are to open their eyes and turn them from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me they will have their sins forgiven and receive their place among God's chosen people.'

And God, our source of peace, will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

in order to keep Satan from getting the upper hand over us; for we know what his plans are.

Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light!

But to keep me from being puffed up with pride because of the many wonderful things I saw, I was given a painful physical ailment, which acts as Satan's messenger to beat me and keep me from being proud.

The Wicked One will come with the power of Satan and perform all kinds of false miracles and wonders,

And it deceived all the people living on earth by means of the miracles which it was allowed to perform in the presence of the first beast. The beast told them to build an image in honor of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived.

Never again will the light of a lamp be seen in you; no more will the voices of brides and grooms be heard in you. Your merchants were the most powerful in all the world, and with your false magic you deceived all the peoples of the world!"

The beast was taken prisoner, together with the false prophet who had performed miracles in his presence. (It was by those miracles that he had deceived those who had the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped the image of the beast.) The beast and the false prophet were both thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

The angel threw him into the abyss, locked it, and sealed it, so that he could not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were over. After that he must be set loose for a little while.

and he will go out to deceive the nations scattered over the whole world, that is, Gog and Magog. Satan will bring them all together for battle, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.

Then the Devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear; they will perform great miracles and wonders in order to deceive even God's chosen people, if possible.

For those who do such things are not serving Christ our Lord, but their own appetites. By their fine words and flattering speech they deceive innocent people.

I am afraid that your minds will be corrupted and that you will abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ---in the same way that Eve was deceived by the snake's clever lies.

Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent.

Do not let anyone deceive you in any way. For the Day will not come until the final Rebellion takes place and the Wicked One appears, who is destined to hell.

The Wicked One will come with the power of Satan and perform all kinds of false miracles and wonders,

And so God sends the power of error to work in them so that they believe what is false.

And it was not Adam who was deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and broke God's law.

and evil persons and impostors will keep on going from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves.

We know that we belong to God even though the whole world is under the rule of the Evil One.

Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet. I saw a star which had fallen down to the earth, and it was given the key to the abyss.

You were busy buying and selling, and this led you to violence and sin. So I forced you to leave my holy mountain, and the angel who guarded you drove you away from the sparkling gems.

Jesus answered them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown.

The LORD asked him, "What have you been doing?" Satan answered, "I have been walking here and there, roaming around the earth."

The LORD asked him, "Where have you been?" Satan answered, "I have been walking here and there, roaming around the earth."

King of Babylon, bright morning star, you have fallen from heaven! In the past you conquered nations, but now you have been thrown to the ground.

Wolves and lambs will eat together; lions will eat straw, as cattle do, and snakes will no longer be dangerous. On Zion, my sacred hill, there will be nothing harmful or evil."

I cannot talk with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me,

and they are wrong about judgment, because the ruler of this world has already been judged.

They do not believe, because their minds have been kept in the dark by the evil god of this world. He keeps them from seeing the light shining on them, the light that comes from the Good News about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.