As we go along in this topic, I can almost guarantee that this rabbit trail will go quite deep into material that will be of Theological value. In addition to revelation from the scriptures, the practical insights from my own and other people’s experience has equipped me to walk the fine balance between a “normal” earthly life yet endued with a powerful supernatural dynamic. For example, I could be deep in prayer one moment in what I consider to be Holy Spirit led intercessory prayer for the nations of the world. The type of praying that involves putting spiritual forces of darkness in their place, and praying for truth to prevail in the courts, and houses of parliament and congress of governments around the world. I would consider that kind of prayer to have the effect that could change the course and direction of the future of nations. The next moment I find myself taking out the trash and cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. How not to get confused, but have peace of mind with a divine sense of balance between those two seemingly opposites comes by understanding they are not opposite extremes at all. It does not matter how spiritual you are, or how anointed one is, you still need to excel well in performing daily menial tasks with a sense of joy and meaningfulness.
Lately, we have progressed into an intense situation in our world. We want to believe that everything is normal during the moments we can escape from being reminded of lock-downs, threats of viruses and variant viruses, further restrictions, no holidays, working from home, and when can I see my friends and family again? Christians around the world know that there is a spiritual dynamic behind all that we see progress around us in the natural world. Christians who come from a Charismatic background understand that to one degree or another there is a devil with spiritual forces of darkness and there are heavenly angelic armies active in a spiritual dimension we cannot see with our physical eyes.
As believers we must now understand that once upon a time a huge war was waged in the heavens. That war is over. It was finalized when the Kingdom of God was established on Earth at the great Parousia (The Coming of Christ) 70 A.D. Notice I said, that a war “was” waged in the heavens, as in past tense. I have heard so many preachers talk about spiritual warfare and state that we “are” (present tense, currently) in the middle of a spiritual war, and in this war, we must know how to deal with the enemy.
Note: There are many people, including Christians who will not accept or do not want to know anything of the existence of Satan and evil spirits. They would rather believe that ignorance is bliss and prefer to live with their heads in the sand hoping that they will never have to face the truth. To this day no one is exactly sure who quoted this, but it is nevertheless true,
“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he does not exist”.
However, this material is for people who are keen on taking their stands and want to take the church in this world to the next level.
Statement #1
As long as Christians believe we are still (currently, present tense) in a spiritual war from the paradigm of, they must attack and wage war against the devil and demons everywhere, those Christians will grow weak and tired. They are attempting to engage a phantom spiritual war from the default setting of a need to try and defeat Satan. This must be clarified. We are no longer at war. The war was fought. Christ won. We are an occupying force. We have taken possession of Christ’s winnings. The paradox is that the devil might be at war with us. However, in all his attacks we must simply hold our positions.
Revelation 12:17 King James Version (KJV)
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
We are not literally an army of soldiers for Christ. The analogy is often made in scripture, to teach us that we must sometimes develop the self-discipline of a commando warrior, but we are not to see ourselves as soldiers. We are a family in Christ. Love and relationships based on our oneness in Christ is the reality of what we are about. However, it is the devil and his spirits who seek to attack people, especially those who hold the commandments of Jesus (to love one another as He loved us, John 13:34) and the testimony of Jesus (the believe that Christ the Son of God is our life, righteousness, sanctification and redemption).
1 Peter 5: 8 King James Version (KJV)
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Do you see that the word “may” implies that there are some whom the devil may attack and then those whom he may not attack? This is not necessarily a decision for God to make. This is mainly down to the Lord’s occupying force, which is us.
We are not at war with the devil, we are an occupying force, but the devil is at war with us. We are on the side of the One who won that war a long time ago. That is why we are more than conquerors.
We must just stand our ground. We are not on the offensive trying to take back what the devil stole. We already possess our redemption in Christ and everything that comes along with that.
The only way the devil attacks is through deception. We do not literally go out and do some Kung Fu on the devil. Any attack Satan presents is always based on a lie. We are to stand our ground by holding on to the truth and maintain our stands firmly rooted and grounded in our position in Christ.
Statement #2
Christians who believe that by committing sin, they give Satan the right to attack them, are caught in the performance trap of self-righteousness and will always be easy prey for the devil.
First, the devil has no right. Ever. Having a “Right” is a kind of delegated authority. All authority comes from God. Before the creation of man God gave the right to rule the Earth to Lucifer, but it was taken from him at his fall. At the creation of man God delegated His authority to have dominion over the Earth to humanity instead. That is why Satan is hugely envious of man. Whether a person sins or not is technically irrelevant. That does not give Satan a right to attack. What can happen is that by living a reckless lifestyle peoples own conscience begins to accuse them. For believers, a guilty conscience robs them of their confidence in their relationship with God. By their own self-loathing and self-condemnatory attitude people use their own God-given authority to exercise dominion in the Earth by giving opportunity to the devil to attack them. Satan does not have authority; he looks for an opportunity. He is an opportunist. A burglar does not have authority or right to enter a building to steal. No, somebody forgot to turn on the alarm, of left the back door open. The burglar only makes use of the opportunity that presents itself.
If you believe that because you sinned, your fellowship or union with God is broken and now you have become an open target for the devil, that mindset will drive anyone into stress.
The following mentality has sadly been mistaken for the Gospel; Commit sin, feel guilty, fellowship is broken with God, the devil now has a right to attack, the Christian is powerless to break free, quickly confesses sin, feels forgiven, until they commit a sin again, and the cycle perpetuates. Many Christians have made themselves an open target for the devil that way, to keep them going in circles.
The truly Good News is however, that God will never reject you or break union with you, even if you sin. This almost sounds like heresy with a permission and licence to go ahead and sin. No, the opposite is true. This is the real message of Grace, which empowers us to have victory over sin by not committing it in the first place. But if we do yield to temptation then we know how to get back on our feet quickly. You will spend less time feeling condemned and regain your confidence in your relationship with God fast. The real Gospel truth will establish your heart and mind and condition your conscience in the fact that Christ is your righteousness, not your performance, or lifestyle, or your good and or bad behavior. Having your heart and mind established in Christ as your righteousness will make it next to impossible to live a reckless lifestyle. When you make a mistake or you know you did wrong, you still know the devil has no right whatsoever to attack you.
Statement #3
Christ came first announcing that the Kingdom of God was near. He taught the disciples to pray,..
Matthew 6:9-10 King James Version (KJV)
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
The word Kingdom comes from the Greek word: Basilea and means, royal power, dominion, rule, or the right or authority to rule.
Everyday millions of Christians around the world still pray the Lord’s prayer not realizing that “the Lord’s prayer” was something to pray for the first century Christians only. They were to pray that prayer from the time of Christ’s ministry throughout the time He was in heaven until He returned in judgment on Jerusalem and Judea and the apostate Jews who rejected the arriving of Messianic Age.
By the time Christ returned between 67 and 70 A.D. He established the Kingdom of God (God’s right to rule) on Earth. God always had the right to rule the Earth, but since He gave man dominion to rule the Earth, even God had to work through the Covenants He set up with man.
Let us put that in perspective. The Age of the Old Sinaitic Covenant was abolished in 70 A.D. and Christ’s eternal New Covenant was now fully ratified with His Kingly right to rule on Earth as a man implementing His Fathers authority. Even though Christ is the second person of the Godhead, He had to live on Earth as a man. He performed His ministry and miracles as a man anointed with the Holy Spirit and power. He went to the cross and died as a man. He ascended into heaven and appeared before the Ancient of Days, representing all of humanity as a man. He was crowned King of Kings as a man in fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. Christ now rules Heaven and Earth as a man, even though He is God. As King of the Universe Christ now presides over His kingly duties on behalf of all His subjects in heaven and on earth. You might say, “why then doesn’t He just wipe out the wicked?” That’s because the rod of iron is not representative of a totalitarian government style. He rules His kingdom in accordance with the New Covenant of Grace and Peace.
Although people who do not believe the Gospel, whether they are practitioners of any said religion or a self proclaimed atheist, the fact remains that Christ is their King and they are subjects in His kingdom. As the Great High Priest Christ also stands as assurance upholding New Covenant and so represents all of humanity as redeemed and righteous before the Father. You see, the devil does not have right i.e. authority over any of Christ’s subjects in His kingdom. When Christians say that the sinners give Satan the right to attack them they are so wrong. The devil has no right over the sinner! He only grabs what opportunity is given him.
When Christ said all authority in heaven and earth is given unto me (Mt 28:18) he sent His disciples out as His ambassadors. An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment.
When Christ sent those disciples out to preach the Gospel to the twelve tribes of Israel spread out throughout the Roman Empire, and then ultimately also to the Gentiles, He did not give each of them their own authority. He gave them all access to His authority as His representatives on earth. As believers, you and me are equally ambassadors of His Kingly right to rule. When we believe and act on His word, by faith we access His authority. When you decree a matter, according to His word, it is as though Christ Himself decrees the matter, because it is His word, and His authority. With regards to the Lord’s prayer, we do not need to ask that the Kingdom – the Kingly right and authority to rule, will come. Its already here. Christians who believe the Kingdom of God is still to come in the future have put themselves in a spiritually weak position, unable to deal effectively with attacks and influence of the devil.
God gave dominion to man to rule the earth, but man has consistently used their own God-given dominion to allow and permit opportunity to the devil to wreak havoc on the earth. God Himself became a man, God incarnated, a perfect man, yet God, but as a man Christ used His God-given dominion, to set up the eternal New Covenant. In doing so, in His death He represented every human being in Himself and thereby disarmed Satan of any opportunity to present accusations to man’s conscience for their sins, to cause them to loose their confidence before God. Unless an individual believes Satan’s lies and gives him that opportunity of course.
Colossians 2:13 King James Version (KJV)
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled (disarmed) principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
This is why I can say that the Kingdom of God is here on earth because it is spiritual. It is His kingly right to rule and to exercise authority. It is not a physical kingdom with a physical palace and a throne.
Statement #4
Christ’s throne is in heaven at the right hand of God. His right and authority to rule is expressed through us His followers and ambassadors on earth. We are ambassadors of His kingly rule, and position-ally we are placed in Christ and seated with Him at the right hand of the Father. Our position in Christ now in this New Covenant is supreme above all other celestial beings.
Ephesians 1:19-23 King James Version (KJV)
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
and
Ephesians 2:5-6 King James Version (KJV)
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Our supreme position in Christ is a reality, which becomes a crucial revelation if a believer is going to take their stands against the onslaughts of the forces of darkness. Some preachers in their desperate attempt to teach this truth have at times got some of the scriptures mixed up. For example:
Psalm 8:5 King James Version (KJV)
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
The word “Angels” here is the Hebrew word “Elohim”, which can be a reference to God, gods, rulers, judges and angels. Some preachers have claimed the word Elohim here to be referring to God. However, the book of Hebrews puts this into context. Remember, all Old Testament scriptures are to be interpreted through the lens of the New Testament.
Hebrews 2:5-9 King James Version (KJV)
5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. 6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? 7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: 8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
The book of Hebrews is full of comparisons between Jesus, His Ministry, the New Covenant in contrast to Angels, the Levitical Priesthood, and the Old Sinaitic Covenant. Chapters 1 and 2 present a comparison between the supremacy of Christ as opposed to Angelic beings. Angels were highly referred in ancient Jewish beliefs. This point is made by the author of Hebrews regarding the superior glory of Christ as opposed to that of Angels. We see that Hebrews 2:5 and 9 uses the word “Angels”, which is translated from the Greek “Angelos” and is not referring to the Elohim potentially meaning God. In that case the Greek word there would have been Theos. Contrary to popular belief I do not think this was a mistake. Before the resurrection of Christ man was a little lower than the celestial beings position-ally. Even Christ who came in the form and likeness of man temporarily took on the position that was a little lower than the Angels. Man’s position was inferior to both the Holy Angels of God as well as Satan and his fallen angels, yet Christ operated perfectly from within the Old Testament Covenants. The Old Testament Covenants (The Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Sinaitic and Davidic Covenants) were set up by God with man to provide a certain level of protection and assurance of certain provisions, but it was not yet perfect until Christ came and finished his mission to establish the New Covenant.
It was not until Christ ascended into heaven that He secured our position with Him at the right hand of God the Father. To sit at the right hand of an earthly king was a place of honour, denoting special trust, authority from, and relationship with the King. If you were to sit at the right hand of the King, it meant that you could act with his authority. Those who came to you would treat you with respect and obedience, as if you were the King yourself. Woo,..we are in Christ sat at the right hand of God.
In this New Covenant we are no longer a little lower than the Angels. Christ raised humanity to the highest level at the right hand of God. We are in Christ now positioned far above all Angelic beings. Far above the Angels in heaven, and far above Satan and all evil spirits. Someone once said to me “how can you say that we are now in superior position to the Angels?” I asked that person, “do you believe Christ is in superior position to the Angels”, they answered “yes”. I said: “Well, we are in Christ”. Boom!
Luke 10 King James Version (KJV)
19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
Notice here that when you deal with the devil and evil spirits of any kind in the way that Christ and His word teaches us, nothing shall by any means hurt you!
As a side issue,
I have come to believe that, Psalms 8, although quoted by King David and encapsulated with praises unto God and inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Lord provides us here with a revelation of what Satan said at some point in time because of his envy of man. The devil could see God’s love and compassion and interest in man, and so the devil allowed himself to be ignited with violent envy and hatred for man.
Ezekiel 28 King James Version (KJV)
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;
And
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
It appears these verses are speaking of Lucifer before his fall. He was an Archangel, an anointed Cherub in the garden of Eden. He oversaw the Earth, before God created man. Lucifer was the supreme and brightest and most gifted of angelic beings. He would have direct access to God in heaven and take care of Earth until he instigated a rebellion. Because of his pride to try and prove God wrong he was cast out from his position. From that moment he looses his position as ruler of Earth. He immediately lost God’s delegated authority. Then God created Adam and Eve and gives them the responsibility to exercise dominion over the Earth. This act of God and his love for man so inflamed Lucifer, whose name had now become Satan or the Devil, that he says;
Psalm 8: 4-6 King James Version (KJV)
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
When Jesus said to His disciples,..
18 …, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Luke 10 King James Version (KJV)
I believe Christ was referring to Himself having witnessed that event in heaven as the pre-incarnate Christ, thousands of years before He told His disciples of this incident. Before Satan fell from heaven, he was Lucifer. The reason most people mentally picture the Devil as a hideous, scary looking beast, looking like some abominable creature is because artists, books, movies have caricatured him that way. In doing this they did humanity (probably because the Devil himself gave them those ideas), a great disservice.
It was 1992 when I used to travel by train from the rural town of Naarden to Amsterdam to get to work. One day on my way back home I was sat in the train looking out through the window at the farmlands quickly passing. Suddenly I had a mini vision. There are different types of divine visions God can give us. There are those that we can see internally, with our minds eye. Then there are those that appear in front of us like a moving image and then there are the ones where similar to the Apostle John, when he received his Revelation, we enter a trance like state and are fully caught up in the vision or even transported into the spiritual realm. These visions allow us to see into the spiritual realm or at least obtain a message, a revelation, or an insight. As I was sat in that train, I saw a vision out in front of me. I suddenly saw a huge angel suspended over the farmland. He was something like 10 foot tall and he had massive wings. He looked very impressive, bright, and beautiful with many colorful light beams radiating from him. As those beams of light and colors came towards me, they carried a vibe that gave me a wonderfully good feeling. I thought “oh man God sent an angel to give me some sort of message, this is good”. The very moment I thought that, I instantly heard the Holy Spirit from within speak inside my heart. I can only describe it as a still small voice, saying; “that’s not a good angel, that’s the devil”. It took me about a second before it dawned on me what the Holy Spirit said and immediately the light beams emanating from the angelic being darkened in color. What was more significant was that the good feelings I had instantly changed from good to an awareness of the presence of a terrible evil. That angel did not change much in its outward appearance, but he was no longer beautiful. He knew his cover was blown, and he looked at me with the look of disdain and then immediately disappeared. I learned an important lesson through that vision. Our religious culture and society tried to teach us many myths about the devil. Those myths are designed to keep people in fear and ignorance and even many Christians have fallen for that trap.
Statement #5
The devil does not look like an ugly beast with fangs and claws. Maybe he can shapeshift into something ugly and scary like that, I don’t know, but he was originally the highest and most supreme creation of God. He was the brightest and most beautiful of the celestial beings and the most gifted.
Ezekiel provides us with a description of Satan, specifically of when he was still Lucifer.
His description does not strike me as someone who looks like an ugly scary monster. Lucifer was so named because he was the brightest and most intelligent of all God’s creatures.
His name Lucifer means: “Light bearer, Shining one, Morning star”.
His name Satan means: adversary
His name Devil from the Greek word Diabolos is slanderer or accuser.
He has abilities and capabilities beyond the understanding of the human mind. He uses these for selfish and evil purposes.
Ezekiel 28 King James Version (KJV)
13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
I want to carefully propose an idea, which I extract from scripture. My theory is that all Angelic beings were created with a certain amount of glory and gifts. If God rules the universe on the basis that lesser beings, whether Angels or humans can be taught to know Him, love Him, and to have the opportunity to serve Him voluntarily for all eternity out of love and respect for Him, then the concept seems plausible that Lucifer challenged God’s Right to exercise supreme authority over all the Universe on the grounds that God’s way was weak and impractical. Lucifer’s ideology was based on the premise that might and ability deserves the right to rule, and rule must be totalitarian.
Most theologians believe that one-third of the highest and brightest of the heavenly angels joined Lucifer in rebellion against God. And so, Lucifer and his angels fell from their lofty positions, and Lucifer came to be named Satan or the Devil. (Revelation 12:4) Lucifer founded the totalitarian principle that beings of vastly superior intelligence have the right to rule the less gifted.
This Luciferian philosophy has translated itself in our societies throughout the ages and generations. Throughout history wars and revolutions have been forced upon the masses. Wars have been the way how warmongers, and evil dictators inspired by Satan intended to make those they plot to subjugate destroy their own forms of government and religion so they can be enslaved under a Luciferian dictatorship. The only way to prevent them carrying out this diabolical plan through to its logical conclusion is to re-fuse to become involved in any more wars and revolutions under any circumstances. The sixth commandment “thou shalt not kill” should really be translated as “Thou shalt not murder”, which specifies the criminal act of killing. God did not qualify this command by excluding killing on a mass scale, i.e., wars and revolutions.
Mark 10 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt hurt no man. Honor thy father and mother.
I love how the Geneva Bible renders this verse. The KJV misses the bit where it says, Thou shalt hurt no man. The point is that there is no justification for war or violence used on fellow man. It is Satan’s way of enforcing his agenda to ultimately implement a totalitarian slave society, where he can prove his point to God that only control, and power can rule the universe, not love.
God intended for man to protect his own life against an aggressor, and to protect his wife and family and his home. But extending this inalienable right of the natural law of self-defense to national and international levels is undoubtedly a Luciferian mindset. (this is certainly a point of debate when it comes to protecting a nation from invasion of another hostile nation) To what degree does our modern-day style of leadership in governments and nations around the world, in large corporations, companies and organisation carry the characteristics of a top down – hierarchical, sometimes even all-out tyrannical environment?
Jesus said it shall no be so among you. (Matthew 20:26)
Many a conqueror in history attempted to achieve world domination and have ultimately failed.
Yet, never has our world been in the position where it leant the technological capability and power that could assist man’s lust for control and world domination operating as a medium for Satan and his forces of darkness, until now. I propose that is exactly what the devil has been doing for an exceptionally long time. He has been carefully planning, experimenting, and working towards getting his mignons in place to execute his plans and agendas on a global scale. Remember Satan presents his ideas as something good. Sometimes even really good. It will seem attractive, persuasive and have the appearance of something benevolent. Once you see through the beautiful side of evil you can exercise God’s authority in Christ over it.
Therefore, it is the time now for the Church, maybe to get a kick in the backside, (figure of speech) and realize they need to be thoroughly educated and thereby equipped to halt the works of evil in our world.
This topic is somewhat extensive as you can probably tell. I do aim to discuss Revelation 20:10 more in depth in the coming articles, but everything shared so far is laying the groundwork for a powerful and necessary equipping that could help many to effectively pray for their nation, government and our world.
I will also provide a more complete view from Rob Bell’s presentation on the „binding and Loosing“ principle, from his book „Velvet Elvis“, and many more ideas that may provide a powerful revelation of our glorious place in Christ and the already completed defeat of the devil.