In Galatians 1:13, the Apostle Paul writes, “For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.” Although Paul has insisted in the previous verses (Galatians 1:11-12) that “the gospel” he preached was of divine origin, he refers to his former religion as manmade—“the Jews’ religion.” All manmade religions share a common denominator. All are persecutors of “the church of God.” Like Paul prior to his conversion, all adherents of manmade religions have a deep-seated hostility toward Christianity. That their animosity toward Christianity is “beyond measure” is proven by their all-out-attempt to root out and destroy (waste) the Christian church.  

As proof of Paul’s former inestimable enmity toward “the church of God,” consider the following: [1] He “consented” to the murder of Stephen (Acts 8:1) [2] He then went on to“make havoc of the church” (Acts 8:3) [3] He breathed out “threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1) [4] He “persecuted” Christians“unto the death, binding and delivering into prison both men and women” (Acts 22:4) [5] He did “many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth”; such as, shutting the saints “up in prison,” voting for their executions, punishing them “often in every synagogue,” compelling “them to blaspheme” and “being exceedingly mad against them, he even pursued them “unto foreign cities” (Acts 26:9-11) [6] His reputation for doing “evil” to the “saints” was growing far and wide (Acts 9:13) [7] And he was even on his way to Damascus with orders from “the chief priests” to “bind all” that called on Christ’s “name” and to bring them “unto Jerusalem for punishment” when he was converted (Acts 9:14; 22:5).

The first Messianic prophecy in the Bible is found in Genesis 3:15, where God promises“enmity between [the serpent] and the woman, and between [the serpent’s] seed and [the woman’s] seed.” Though the serpent will “bruise [the] heel” of the woman’s seed, the woman’s seed will deliver a fatal head wound to the serpent! The seed of the woman is obviously the virgin born Son of God. The serpent is Satan. It was on the cross that Satan bruised Christ’s heel and that Christ deliver to Satan a fatal blow. This pivotal verse of Scripture serves as the opening salvo in the battle of the ages.

The Old Testament may be understood as Satan’s attempts to keep the promised seed from coming. The Gospels may be understood as Satan’s attempts to destroy the promised seed before the promised seed could destroy him. The rest of the New Testament may be understood as Satan’s attempts to keep the promised seed from coming again by trying to destroy “the church of God,” for which Christ is returning.

That Paul’s inestimable enmity toward “the church of God” prior to his conversion was Satanically inspired and that he was at that time numbered among the serpent’s seed (the children of the devil) is made unmistakable by our Lord’s confrontation with Paul’s former cohorts in John 8:31-59. Here, Christ clearly designates them as the children of the devil(v. 44) and offers as proof their murderous intent toward Him (vs. 40, 44, 59). 

Though today’s Christians appear for the most part to be totally oblivious to it, the adherents to modern, manmade religions have no less enmity toward “the church of God” than Paul did before his conversion, nor are they any less murderous in their intent. In spite of this, today’s naive church continues its attempts to appease its antagonists while the spirit of antichrist rises to floodtide in our world (1 John 2:18; 4:1-6)!