When I read some of the books and articles that are being published about spiritual warfare, I am astounded by some of the ideas and speculations about the enemy and the utter naivety about what we are to be doing. This mainly arises from the fact that we don't understand God's purpose or plan. At any time that the Lord desires the Enemy could be bound and cast into the Lake of Fire. At the end of Revelation an angel does that. It didn't take the Lord, Himself, or a great company to do it but only a single angel. That means that the way or the methods that God is using to bring to completion His plans and purposes are important to Him. If we don't understand this we are useless in spiritual warfare regardless of how much we yell at the Devil.

Spiritual warfare is a conflict of Kingdoms. In Eternity Past there was the Eternal Kingdom of the Father. The government of God extended throughout all of creation, which included all of heaven and earth. At some point in Eternity Past, a created being, the one we call Lucifer, rose in rebellion against the Kingdom of Heaven and against its Ruler. Lucifer desired to ascend to the throne of the Kingdom and be as God, Himself. [I personally believe that the throne that he aspired to was the throne of the Son.] In the ensuring struggle Lucifer failed to accomplish this goal; however, out of the conflict, Lucifer tried to establish his own throne and the kingdom of darkness was born. We are now in the middle of the conflict between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of God. Until we see that, we are soldiers without purpose, without a mission.

This book will deal with spiritual warfare from a Kingdom perspective. We will take a detailed look at the establishment of the kingdom of darkness and how it operates. One of the necessary criteria for successful warfare is “intelligence” or “G2” about the enemy, his strengths, weaknesses, resources, plans, and strategy.

The Order and Structure

Our God is not a god of chaos but of order. All that God does is structured and ordered according to His own intentions. When God created the heavens and the earth, everything created was structured and ordered to fulfill the purpose for which they were created. This includes both the things that we see, the visible, and the things that we don't see, the invisible.

(13) For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

(16) For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.

We will come back to these four points later in the study, but, right now, lets look at the way that things have been ordered. We see, first, that “in Him all things hold together”. The Word, which is the pre-incarnate Son, was the instrument through which all things came into being and through whom all things are held together.

(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

(3) All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

The Word as the creative instrument enforces order onto chaos and maintains the structure as God intended. His creation is divided in two ways:

We live in a universe created by God as our habitat. It is physical and visible. The angels and other spiritual created beings live in the heavens as their habitat and it and its occupants are invisible to us.

We and our habitat are created as a lower form of creation than the heavens and its occupants.

(5) Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!

(5) For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.

NOTE: The NASB translates the Hebrew word, elohiym, as God; however, it is plural and in this context should translate as angels, which is what the KJV says. This is consistent with the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Definitions: 'ĕlôhîym: 1) (plural) 1a) rulers, judges. 1b) divine ones, 1c) angels, 1d) gods.

Based on this, we can conclude that we and our habitat are a lower order than the angels and their habitat. However, God has a plan and purpose for us that exceeds anything relating to the angels.

Then, in verse 16 of Colossians one, we get a glimpse of how things were structured when all things were created and this includes things that are visible to us and things that are invisible. We live in the visible or physical dimension (reality) but there is also an invisible, spiritual dimension (reality) that is just as real. Just as there is structure, order, and physical rules (laws) that make up the visible, there is also structure, order, and spiritual rules (laws) that make up the invisible.

From our viewpoint, we know that “the heavens” are invisible to us. We only see the physical sky, which we call “heaven”. Apparently there are a total of three heavens. Paul speaks of a man that was “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). If our physical sky is the first heaven, then there are two heavens that are invisible to us.

(6) "You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.

The implication of this verse is that the “heaven of heavens” is the abode or throne room of God and would appear to correspond to what Paul referred to as the “third heaven”. That leaves a “second heaven” or mid-heaven, about which we know very little.

We have the “highest heaven”, which is the throne room of God and the habitat of His created angelic host and we have the “lowest heaven”, which is the physical sky that we see. This fits with the idea that man was created “a little lower than the angels” (Psalm 8:5), for even our habitat was created lower than the habitat of the angels.

So, what's in the middle heaven? When God created “the things invisible” (Col.1:16), he created levels of spiritual responsibility that the Scriptures call “thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities”. I believe that these occupy the second and third heavens. Thrones and dominions (literally, lordships), I believe to be part of the third heavens because Jesus was given a throne and made Lord by God the Father (Rev. 3:21; Acts 2:36). If this is true, then that leaves rulers and authorities (KJV = principalities and powers) to occupy the second heaven.

When the Lord created all things, He created all things in heaven and all things in the earth. He created all things that are visible and He created all things that are invisible. These include:

There is an implication of government structure and of realms of responsibility in this list. I believe this to be the way that everything in the invisible realm is ordered and that the visible realm is under the jurisdiction of this governmental structure. Let's look at these four levels of government.

Thrones

The meaning of “thrones” is rather straight-forward. It means the “seat of the ruler or potentate”. This is one of the invisible things that we need to understand. God has a throne room were He is seated on His throne.

(4) The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD'S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

(19) The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.

(10) and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

(11) And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

While the throne of God is the highest, He has established other thrones besides His to govern His creation.

(28) And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

(4) Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

(21) 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

It would appear that the throne level of government is the highest level and it is from this level that the Lord rules His Kingdom from His throne. There is also a promise to those who overcome to actually sit with Jesus upon His throne.

Jesus told His disciples that in the future they would sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes. It also appears that in the past some thrones had been established for some of the angels, one of which was Lucifer.

(12) "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

(13) For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;

(14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'

Lucifer had a throne from which he apparently governed some of the creation for God. (It is my opinion that he governed a part of creation that included the earth prior to Adam.) However, he wasn't satisfied with who he was (identity) nor where he was (placement) nor what he was doing (function). [Dissatisfaction is still one of his tools that he uses against us today by attacking our identity, placement and function in the plan of God.] He desired to actually move his throne to the “mount of the congregation”, which, as I understand it, means that he wanted to move into the throne room of God. (It is my opinion that he wanted to take the position of God, the Son). Pride was the root of this rebellion against the established order of God and the result was that Lucifer became Satan, an outlaw to the laws of God.

While Satan has failed in his attempt to be God, he wants to act like God. But since he is a created being (although very powerful) he is unable to do do what God does so he parodies God's ways in order to appear as God. An example of this is the fact that Satan will give his power, throne, and authority to his false messiah, the Antichrist, in a parody of the manner in which the Father gave His throne, power and authority to Jesus.

(2) And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

When Lucifer attempted to exalt his throne, he lead a major rebellion in the heavens that included a third of the angelic hosts (Rev.12:4). He established a “domain of darkness”, a false kingdom operating by illegitimate authority that is in opposition to God and the Kingdom of His dear Son.

Dominions

The word translated as “dominion” is the Greek kuriotēs (Strong's number: G2963) and the meaning according to Thayer's Greek Definitions is 1) dominion, power, lordship; 2) one who possesses dominion. Its root is the word that is normally translated as “lord” or “master”.

So, the “dominion” level is the realm of “lordships”. Apparently, there are a number of “lordships” that govern the spiritual realm. That is why Jesus is called “Lord of lords”. While I had always thought of “lords” as earthly rulers, it makes more sense to think in terms of the spiritual rulers. Jesus as King of kings is the highest throne and as Lord of lords, He is the highest Lord that He might have pre-immanence in all things.

(20) which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

(21) far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

As the resurrected, glorified Son seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus is now not only above, but far above, all other levels of governmental structure.

Rulers

This is the Greek word, archē. The King James version usually translates this as “principality”; whereas, the New American Standard translates it as “rulers”. Strong's Concordance says that one of its primary meanings is “chief”. So, under the Lordship or Dominion level we have the rulers or chiefs that are the principalities that oversee creation. This is important to understand because it is at this level that we as the people of God become involved.

(12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Apparently, according to this Scripture, some of the rulers (chiefs, principalities) rose in rebellion with Lucifer. When Lucifer (now Satan) set up his kingdom (the domain of darkness, Col. 1:13) those of the Rulers that followed him (some of the fallen angels) transferred allegiance from the Lord God to Satan and set themselves to further his goals against God. As we follow Jesus, these Rulers become our direct enemy just as they are the enemy of God. We wrestle or struggle against them to thwart their purposes, which are against the purposes of the Kingdom of God.

Since Rulers are the highest level with which we contend, then we can surmise that, other than Satan, himself, the “Throne” or “Dominion” level was free from those who participated in Satan's rebellion. However, from the “Ruler” level downward there appears to be spiritual wickedness and rebellion that opposes the Lord God.

We have an example of this in the book of Daniel. After 21 days of fasting and seeking God, Daniel is visited by an angel with his answer from the Lord.

(12) Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.

(13) "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

There is a lot in these verses that gives us insight into the invisible things. The angel was given Daniel's answer to his prayer on the first day that he prayed. However, in bringing the answer to Daniel, the angel had to pass through the area ruled by the “prince (chief) of the kingdom of Persia”, who was also some type of invisible, angelic being. [We know that this was an angelic being because no man could have withstood a messenger angel for 21 days.] This chief of Persia was strong enough to stand against the messenger angel for 21 days and would have withstood him longer had not Michael, a chief Prince (that is, of the angels), helped the messenger angel, allowing him to get through to Daniel.

The messenger angel finishes telling Daniel the Lord's message and then gives us another glimpse into the invisible.

(20) Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.

(21) "However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.

It appears that even though the message had been delivered, the messenger angel would still contend with the “prince of Persia” on his return to the heavens. Notice, also, that another “prince” or chief of Greece was coming to fight against God's angels and that the only help the messenger angel had was Michael, “your prince”. [Since Daniel was a Hebrew, it would appear that “your prince” means that Michael was responsible to God as a Ruler, chief, prince of the Hebrews.]

It is interesting to note that in history the Persian Empire was conquered by Greece shortly after Daniel's time. Is it possible that the angelic struggles created by Daniel's prayers weakened the power of the “prince of Persia” to the point that it was “consolidated” into the “prince of Greece's” domain? We can only speculate, but it sure seems like a possibility to me.

Authorities

The word translated as authorities is “exousia” and is sometimes translated as “power” and sometimes “authority”. Its meaning is “the authority to act”; i.e., the right or privilege to do something. In some cases, it means “jurisdiction”. Putting this together, we can say that “authorities” are the realms of jurisdiction of the Rulers where they have the right to do things.

The same word is used to describe the realm of authority for Satan in Ephesians where it is translated as “power”.

(2) in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

So, we can say that the Rulers (KJV=Principalities) have realms of jurisdiction (KJV=powers) that are functional in our visible, earthly realm even though they are located in the heavens and are themselves invisible.

Our struggle is not against the visible; i.e., flesh and blood, people; but against the invisible; i.e., rulers and the realms of their jurisdiction, which include the world forces of darkness and spiritual wickedness located in the heavens. (Places is italicized in the scripture, meaning that it is not in the original but was added by the translators).

We now know that this is the created structure of the invisible realm and we live with the invisible functions of the heavenlies and their jurisdictions on the earth on a daily basis.

New Testament Changes

Our look at Daniel was from the Old Testament vantage point. Have things changed in the New Testament? The answer is both yes and no. The created structure of the invisible things have not changed; however, their functions and abilities have been modified. Colossians chapter two gives a number of things that were accomplished for us by the resurrection and ascension of Christ. One of the things mentioned involves the invisible realm and the triumph of Jesus over the rulers and authorities.

(15) When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Notice that the rulers and authorities were disarmed not removed. Apparently, they still function in their created capacity, just not with their full abilities. What does that mean to us? Let's consider that for a moment.

When God created all of the beings that inhabit the heavens, He created all that were needed to do all that He intended for them to do. Each created being had a specific purpose and function with all of the necessary ability to properly do his work. There was not an excess of creatures, nor was there a lack for the work. In other words, there were not too many nor too few for the jobs that needed doing.

Since angels, apparently, don't marry and reproduce (Matthew 22:30), God created the exact number to fulfill all of the work that was needed. This is important because in Revelation chapter 12 we have the story of the war in the heavens with the result that the Devil and his angels (a third of all of the angels) were cast into the earth. If a third of all of the angels are following Satan, what happened to the original job functions for which they were created? It would follow that those functions were either vacated or else the fallen angels continued in them but with perverted allegiance. It would seem to me that few if any positions were vacated since the work was important enough that a being was designed and created by God to fulfill it.

If this is true, then the Rulers and authorities are functioning without any allegiance to God and are at cross purposes to His plans. Jesus disarmed them to limit their ability to do harm to the purposes of God. However, they are still powerful enough without their weapons that we still need the armor of God to protect ourselves (Ephesians 6:13).

If they are disarmed, what weapons do they have to use against us? Their primary weapon is deception. They deceive men into placing themselves in a place of disobedience, even to becoming fully lawless. They have developed the world systems in such a way that the world provides enticement and deception by empowering our fleshly desires in three areas.

(16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Years ago Pogo said in a comic strip, “We has (sic) met the enemy and he is us.” We become our own enemy when we allow our flesh to be enticed by the world. It causes us to come under the authority of the Principalities and Powers. We are in the world but not of the world.

(15) "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

We are set apart from the world by His Word and kept from the evil one by His power. When we yield to the temptation of the world, we place ourselves back under the ruler of this world (John 8:34). We were under this ruler prior to knowing Jesus and were lost to the purposes of God. If we walk in disobedience, we allow the spirit of the prince of the power of the air to work in us again and we become slaves of sin.

(2) in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

(3) Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

The “course of this world”, “the prince of the power of the air”, and “the lusts of our flesh . . . desires of the flesh and of the mind” are all linked in this set of scriptures. As we walk in the way of the world with a spirit of lawlessness working in us, it gives authority to the enemy in our life.

Jesus had nothing in Him that was of the world; therefore, the ruler of the world had no authority over Him.

(30) "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;

The result of Jesus living His life by only doing what He saw the Father doing eliminated any hold of the world system over Jesus. The “ruler of the world” only rules what is of the world.

(31) "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

Jesus' death and resurrection brought judgment on the world and on the ruler of the world. For this purpose Jesus came into the world.

Our Position

We, too, are no longer a part of the world. We belong to the Lord and have become citizens of His Kingdom. We are ambassadors of His Kingdom while we walk this earth (2 Cor. 5:20) and are not subject to the prince of this world because we are being led by the Spirit of God and function as one of His sons (Rom 8:14). That is why we are to pray for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done.

By deception and trickery the enemy entangles us again in the affairs of the world; thereby, gaining power over us. So we see that our struggle against the rulers and authorities begins with our struggle with the flesh. It was on the cross with Jesus that our flesh died and we became dead to the world.

(14) But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

This is what empowers us to be free from the world and the ruler of the world—the word of the cross.

(18) For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

It does no good to preach the cross to the lost. Its power is not for them. They need the word of atonement—the blood of Jesus. The cross is for those who believe, who are being saved. It is through the cross that we are set free from the desires of the flesh and it is the cross that breaks our ties to the world.

The Church has become weakened and worldly because we have stopped teaching the Word of the Cross. Without its application to our lives, we live under the world system and its ruler. It is possible to walk as a professed Christian and yet be an enemy of the cross of Christ.

(18) For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,

(19) whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

(20) For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

If we desire to be overcomers, we must make our death on the cross with Jesus real in our daily lives. That is the only way that we are set free from the control of the rebellious Rulers and authorities. We are dead to the flesh and alive to Christ.

Our Weapons

In our struggle with Rulers and authorities, we have only one offensive weapon—the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). This is not the logos but the rhema word of God—the right word at the right time in the right place. As such, it must be spoken to the heavenlies to be effective. That is one of the reasons that, on an individual basis, we must confess Christ before men (Luke 12:8; Rom. 10:9).

Struggling with Rulers and authorities is also a corporate function that requires the proclamation of the Word of God to the heavenlies. This, in some manner, has a spiritual effect that weakens the ability of the Rulers and authorities to resist the purposes of God. Either that or it empowers the angels of God to enforce His will on the Rulers and authorities. (For more on this see the teaching lesson: “Proclamations and Prayers”, available on the website.)

Our enemies are not visible, so our weapons are not visible; but, they are powerful enough to destroy enemy strongholds and fortresses.

(4) for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

The next verse tells us that the invisible battlefield is in the area of our mind.

(5) We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

The word for “speculations” also means “reasonings”, “imaginations”, “computations” or calculations. All of these are in the mental arena. Our thoughts become our enemies as they are empowered by the worldly processes and must be taken captive and brought into obedience to the Lord Jesus.

Only the Word of God can deal with this because it is the only thing powerful enough to expose, discern, and judge our thought processes. It is the Word that reveals our intentions and judges whether they are of the flesh or of the spirit.

(12) For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Actually, it is the “things invisible” that impact us more than that which is visible. We must walk by faith with the eyes of the spirit in order to navigate the invisible realm.

As we have seen the kingdom of darkness is ruled by Satan and is in opposition to the Kingdom of God. How did the kingdom of darkness come to exist?

Keep these three areas in mind as we proceed with this study. We all are seeking to understand the things of God. I am not trying to present this study as the final word on anything, but, simply as a place that I have come to in my own understanding. Search the Scriptures yourself and let the Spirit of God enlighten your own mind.

Kingdom of Darkness Defined

Darkness is contrasted with light. Our God is light and in Him is no darkness at all (I John 1:5). At one point, Lucifer, the being who became Satan, was a functional part of the creation of God, operating in the light as an Angel of light himself. When he rebelled, he no longer functioned as an operative of the light, but instead became one who was cut off from the Light of God and functioned in darkness. (This is a spiritual designation of darkness, not a natural darkness.)

The kingdom of darkness is synonymous with the dominion of Satan as shown by this verse:

(18) to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'

This domain of darkness includes world forces that are under the dominion of Satan. It is these world forces that control the World Systems.

We who follow Jesus are no longer under the dominion of darkness because the Father has rescued us and moved us into the Kingdom of His own Son.

(13) For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

This process changed our very nature: we were formerly darkness (spiritual darkness), but now are light.

Beginning of the Kingdom of Darkness

The kingdom of darkness began in the heart of Lucifer, a powerful archangel of God who functioned in an important role in the creation of God. Prior to the revelation of unrighteousness in his heart, he had rulership or oversight of part of the creation of God and had specific job functions in God's economy.

(12) "Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

(13) "You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. [Notice that he was in a mineral garden not the garden of vegetation that was overseen by Adam in Genesis.]

(14) "You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.

(15) "You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you.

(16) "By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire.

(17) "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.

(18) "By the multitude of your iniquities, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you.

Obviously, the words of these scriptures speak of someone greater than the physical King of Tyre. They speak of the power behind the King and the Spiritual forces that empower him. With this we have a glimpse into the fall of Lucifer. Several characteristics are revealed:

There is no hint in these scriptures concerning time. Apparently, this was before the creation of our space-time continuum, in other words, in eternity past. Time, itself, was created by God when He created our universe. It has no application to the invisible things outside of our universe. [Einstein showed that time is integrally related to our physical universe when he linked time, mass and speed together with his theory of relativity.]

Let's add to these another scripture that also gives us a glimpse into the fall of Lucifer.

(12) "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!

(13) "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.

(14) 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'

These scriptures list a series of five “I wills” that Lucifer purposed in his heart. I am going to list these in a different order to show an important point.

When listed like this, what is the starting point from which he will ascend? It would appear to me that the starting point would be under the clouds since the first place he would ascend to is “above the heights of the clouds”. The only thing under the clouds would be the earth. This implies to me that prior to his fall, Lucifer had oversight of some portion of God's creation and that the earth was central to the area that he oversaw. Could it be possible that his sanctuary that he defiled was spiritually linked to or a part of the earth? Revelation 2:12-13 it says that the angel of the church of Pergamum dwelt in the place of Satan's throne. Could this be a reference to the location of Satan's throne prior to his fall?

We don't have definitive answers to these questions but it seems to me that we can infer that prior to Lucifer's fall he ruled some portion of the universe for God and performed functions associated with the purpose for which he was created. The earth existed prior to his fall and was most likely the base of operations from which Lucifer exercised dominion for God. He defiled his sanctuary by operating a whispering smear campaign against the Lord that seduced a third of God's angels that are now referred to as Satan's angels (Rev. 12:7-9).

The question is, how did God deal with Lucifer and the situation he created? We know that God instigated decisive action in eternity past that is still being consummated in our space-time continuum with final disposition in eternity future.

In the Beginning

As we said earlier, the bible is primarily a history of Adam and his descendants, God's purpose for them and the fulfillment of that purpose. We have already seen that Lucifer was a part of the angelic creation that preceded Adam. With this understanding let's look at the first two verses of Genesis.

(2) The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

How you understand what is said in these two verses will impact how you interpret many verses that relate to the kingdom of darkness.

There are number of possible interpretations of these two verses, but only two that are widely endorsed concern us here. They are commonly called: 1) the Geologic interpretation; and 2) the Catastrophic interpretation.

The Geologic interpretation has taken the stance that verse one is the introductory statement of what God comprehensively did, “created the heavens and the earth”, and the remainder of the chapter are the details of how He did it. In other words, verse one gives us the fact of creation and the rest of the chapter gives us the process. This has been a popular view, especially since the “scientific principle” has become embedded in our culture. This view allows a broader interpretation of the seven days than twenty-four hour periods (if one so desires); thereby, trying to reconcile a science and Bible time frame for creation.

The Catastrophic interpretation says that verse one is a statement of fact and is all that Genesis has to say about the creation of the heavens and the earth. Then verse two describes the condition of the earth after a catastrophe that occurred between verse one and two while the rest of the chapter details the re-establishing of order and function by God (He told Adam to be fruitful, multiply and re-plenish the earth, which is exactly the same thing that He told Noah. Replenish means to re-populate.). This is also referred to as the “gap theory” since, in this interpretation, there is an unknown amount of time or gap between verse one and verse two of Genesis.

an alternate version is “but the earth became without form and void ...”

While one may object to the interpretation, one translation (as a translation) is as acceptable as the other. As a matter of fact, I prefer the “became” version. The Hebrew word in the original is translated “became” 66 times and “become” 67 times in the King James Bible. If this is accepted, then there were six days of re-creation to make the earth a habitable place for man.

Now, let's look at the words that are translated “without from and void”: tohu va-bohu. These words together, as a phrase, are only used three times in the Bible: Genesis 1:2; Isaiah 34:11; Jeremiah 4:23. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah used the phrase to describe the results of the severe judgment of God. It would seem reasonable to assume that this is also the case in Genesis, the only other occurrence of the phrase.

The individual words, tohu and bohu, are used separately to describe scenes of emptiness, wilderness, and desolation in the Scriptures, usually as a consequence of God's judgment. (You can look these up in your concordance).

Deu 32:10 "He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; . . .”

1Sa 12:21 "You must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile.

Isa 34:11 “. . . And He will stretch over it the line of desolation And the plumb line of emptiness.”

Isa 41:29 "Behold, all of them are false; Their works are worthless, Their molten images are wind and emptiness.”

Isa 34:11 “. . . And He will stretch over it the line of desolation And the plumb line of emptiness.”

Jer 4:23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; And to the heavens, and they had no light.

It would seem reasonable to infer then that the earth wasn't created in a condition of desolation, emptiness and waste but through some catastrophic occurrence became that way. As a matter of fact, there is a scripture which seems to support this conclusion.

(18) For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), "I am the LORD, and there is none else.

The word that the New American Standard Bible translates as “waste place” is tohu. This verse specifically states that God did not create the world tohu but to be inhabited. Our God is very efficient. He does not do things without purpose. For Him to create a world means that He intended it to be inhabited. This further supports the idea that Genesis 1:2 should be translated as “the earth became tohu va-bohu.

There is also a hint in the Scriptures of prior inhabitants of the earth before man was created. Jeremiah pulls the curtain back slightly so that we can get a glimpse.

(23) I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; And to the heavens, and they had no light.

(24) I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, And all the hills moved to and fro.

(25) I looked, and behold, there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled.

(26) I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were pulled down Before the LORD, before His fierce anger.

(27) For thus says the LORD, "The whole land shall be a desolation, Yet I will not execute a complete destruction.

(28) "For this the earth shall mourn And the heavens above be dark, Because I have spoken, I have purposed, And I will not change My mind, nor will I turn from it."

Jeremiah speaks of a time when the earth was “formless and void”, tohu va-bohu, and there was no light. According to the way that I understand the Scriptures, these conditions will never exist in the future; therefore, he has to be speaking of the time of Genesis 1:2. Notice that the mountains and hills were completely unstable, shaking and moving. Notice too that there was no man, yet there were cities that had been pulled down, fruitful land had become wilderness, the entire land was desolate and the birds were gone. These are descriptions of a inhabited world, a world without man, that had become un-inhabited by destruction and desolation. But, notice that while He would make the whole land desolate, He would not “execute a complete destruction”.

If this is true, then what happened between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2? Since tohu va-bohu relates to the judgment of God, then it would seem that a major judgment of God occurred. The conclusion would be that it was during this period that Lucifer rebelled and his domain, which included the earth, was devastated by the judgment of God.

We sometimes think of Lucifer's rebellion as a quick thing: that one day he thought about it and the next day did it. However, that is not the case. Consider the verses about his trade and merchandise (Eze. 28:16-18), which relate to whispering, gossip, and innuendo. To develop and instigate the smear campaign against God took time and subtlety. It may even have taken considerable time since a third of God's angels fell for it (Rev. 12:4; 7-9).

To help us put this together, let's recap some of the facts dealing with Lucifer's rebellion:

When Judgment Fell

Lucifer functioned as an angel of light and his domain was filled with the light of God as mentioned earlier. His sin removed him and his domain from the light of God leaving it in spiritual darkness. Some of the result of God's judgment also resulted in Lucifer's domain being plunged into natural darkness. As described in Genesis 1:2, the world and its surrounding space was all darkness, not even starlight was available and there was nothing that Lucifer could do about it. It took the Spirit of God to establish light again.

Scientists now tell us that at some time in the far past the earth suffered a devastating catastrophe that included the reversing of the magnetic poles. That is, the north and south poles switched places. This would have caused the complete upheaval of the entire surface of the planet, completely destroying everything and killing every creature. This could even have resulted in the axis tilt that we have today. It would account for Jeremiah's description of unstable, shaking mountains and hills.

Results of Judgment

What happened to the created beings that inhabited the domain of Lucifer? First, we need to recognize that there would be two categories of these: 1) the angelic beings that inhabit the invisible, spiritual creation; and 2) any beings that inhabited the physical, natural creation.

The Angelic Beings

Lucifer, which means shining one or light bearer, becomes Satan, which means opposer, accuser, slanderer, etc. All of those angelic beings who followed him now become fallen angels also in opposition to God. They, along with Satan, now constitute the leadership of the kingdom of darkness. They become the ones that we struggle against as we walk with the Lord and seek to fulfill His purpose.

One thing is clear: angelic beings, though fallen, are still angelic beings and as such reside in the habitat of angelic beings, that is, the heavens. If that is the case, then fallen angels are not demons, since demons do not inhabit the heavens. Also, we are told that we wrestle against the “principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places”, Wrestling is not casting out as we do with demons, further illustrating the difference between fallen angles and demons.

The Demons

If demons are not fallen angels, then what are they? First let's look at some of their characteristics.

It is my opinion that the demons are the dis-embodied spirits of the natural created beings that occupied the domain of Lucifer that rose in rebellion with him. When judgment came, their habitat and bodies were destroyed. Because they once had bodies, they desire a body more than anything.

The demons have become the foot soldiers of the kingdom of darkness under the direction of the fallen angels who are serving Satan and his goals. As we encounter the work of demons, we are directed to cast them out. This implies that all of the work of demons is from within people. Without a body, it would appear that they are powerless.

However, fallen angels are another matter. We are never instructed to cast out a fallen angel. One reason may be that they don't occupy a human body since they have their own body (a body appropriate to their abode). Another is that the realm of their work is in the heavenlies. We struggle against them in order to see the will of the Lord done in earth as it is in heaven.

Headquarters for Kingdom of Darkness

The Scriptures tell us that the principalities and powers that we wrestle against are in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). The word is plural, implying more than one “heaven”. The Old Testament refers to the throne room of God as the “heaven of heavens” (Neh.9:6). There are also references to “heaven and the highest heavens”: Deu. 10:14; 1Ki. 8:27; Psa. 115:16; Psa. 148:4. Paul said that he knew a man that was caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2). We must conclude then that there are at least three heavens with the highest being the “heaven of heavens” or the throne room of God.

Since there is a “third heaven” there must also be a first and second heaven. The first heaven is probably the physical heaven that we see when we look upward. The third heaven we have already identified as the throne room of God. That leaves us with the “second heaven” or middle heaven as un-identified. Let's see if we can reach any conclusions about it.

(18) And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

Based on our previous discussion, we can conclude that the heaven from which Satan fell was the “heaven of heavens”, i.e., the throne room of God. This probably occurred when God's judgment fell on Satan's rebellion. The real question is, “Where did he fall to?”

He didn't fall to earth because that doesn't happen until the twelfth chapter of Revelation.

(9) And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Revelation tells us the actions of Satan after he is thrown down to the earth and they are quite dramatic and seem to be a prelude to the close of this age. So, where is Satan now?

I believe that when Jesus saw him as lightning fall from heaven, He was referring to the ousting of Lucifer from the throne room of God, the “heaven of heavens”. Satan then took up residence in the “middle or second heaven” where he began to establish the headquarters for the Kingdom of Darkness. The fallen angels that occupied the now fallen principalities of the heavenlies began to function in a manner that furthered the purposes and strategies of Satan rather than those of our Lord.

What about Hell?

There is a popular belief that the Devil is in Hell and is currently ruling over the demons who are also headquartered in Hell. This is totally untrue. We have this idea because of the pagan beliefs that came into the Church during and after the time of Constantine, when the visible Church became a political entity and a way of unifying conquered nations. The so-called church received any and all without the need of a new birth and pagan beliefs were introduced under a thinly disguised Christian veil. These pagan beliefs included an underworld of the dead who were continually tortured by demons who were ruled by the Devil as the King of the demons. Today, this concept is heavily exploited by Hollywood and has become the defacto “truth” for many. However, it is not in accord with the Scriptures and is, therefore, a deception. According to the Scriptures, the Devil is not in Hell, has never been in Hell, and will never be in Hell.

To explore what the Scriptures say, let's first look at the original words and how they are translated. Our English word, hell, is from the Anglo-Saxon, hel or helle, and means “a hidden place”. Its root is the Anglo-Saxon word helan, to hide. Now, we should add to its meaning the attributes of the words that are used in the Scriptures and eliminate from our minds the traditions and pagan concepts that have become attached to it.

In the New Testament there are two Greek words that are translated with out English word, hell. They are geena or gehenna and hades. (Actually, there is a third one, tartaroo or tartarus, which is only used once in 2 Peter 2:4. This will be discussed later in this teaching series.)

The Greek word hades is equal to the Hebrew word sheol. How do we know this? The Holy Spirit used the Greek word, hades, in Acts 2:27 and 31, which is a quote from Psalm 16:10 where the Hebrew word, sheol, is used. This tells us that we should not understand hades with any of the Greek traditions attached, but should understand it as meaning the same things that sheol meant to the Hebrews.

In the King James bible sheol appears 65 times and is translated “hell” 30 times, “grave” 31 times, “graves” 1 time, and “pit” 3 times (the NASB doesn't translate it at all, it is simply rendered as sheol at each occurrence). We don't have an English word that truly fits the meaning of sheol even though in the KJV “grave” is the most prevalent. When we say “grave” we mean the burial place of the body. The Hebrew meaning is closer to “the state of death” and doesn't relate to the physical body. The Hebrew word for grave that corresponds to our English word for grave is “keber, or bor”, which means “a grave”.

My understanding of the way the Hebrews understood this is that the body went to a grave (kebor) and the non-physical part of us went to sheol. This would indicate that sheol had two compartments: a place for the wicked and a place for the righteous. This is borne out by Jesus when He told of the rich man and the beggar. (Notice that Jesus did not refer to this as a parable but as actual fact.)

(22) "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.

(23) "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.

(24) "And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'

(25) "But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.

(26) 'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.'

From this we can see that there are two compartments. One is referred to as Abraham's bosom and the other as simple hades. The poor man in Abraham's bosom (also called paradise) was enjoying comfort while the rich man in hades was being tormented, apparently by fire. These two areas were separated by a chasm so that neither side could cross over; however, the ones being tormented could see across the chasm to the paradise side. (This would further add to the torment.)

It would appear then that, prior to the resurrection of Jesus, the righteous and the wicked both went to the same location, that is, sheol, hades, hell. However, they had separate compartments or habitats with different environments. With the resurrection of Jesus, this all changed.

The Scriptures tell us that before Jesus ascended He first descended into the lower parts of the earth, that is, to sheol, hades, hell (Eph. 4:9). Jesus had told the thief that was on one of the other crosses that He would see him in paradise that day. When Jesus arose from the dead, He lead a host of captives (Eph. 4:8). These were the Old Testament saints, the righteous, that were awaiting Christ in the paradise side of sheol. How do we know this? As always, we only know what the Word reveals.

(52) The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

(53) and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Some, not all, of the Old Testament righteous were resurrected after Jesus and actually walked around Jerusalem in their resurrection bodies. We can conclude that when Jesus arose and ascended to the Father that He lead the captives (those held in the paradise side of sheol) with Him and allowed some to stop off and see Jerusalem on the way to the Father (these were part of the first fruits or wave offering of the resurrection harvest).

Since the resurrection of Jesus, the paradise side of sheol or hades is empty and will remain so. However, the torment side of hades is still active and is still a receptacle for the unrighteous awaiting Judgment Day. Now, the righteous in Jesus are immediately translated to the presence of Jesus upon their death (2 Cor. 5:6-8).

Who runs Hell?

(8) I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

It is not clear from this verse whether or not Hades is on a separate horse or on the same horse that Death is riding. Regardless, these two are represented as actual beings. It would be assumed then that their domain would match their names.

There will come a time when these two beings will have to give up all that is in their domain.

(13) And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

One would think that death and Hades would cover all of the dead, but, notice that there are three areas that give up the dead: the sea, death, and Hades. (We will discuss the sea in a future teaching.)

These two beings, death and Hades, are not righteous spiritual beings but rather followers of Satan.

(14) Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

After giving up the dead in their domain these two beings are then thrown into the lake of fire. This reveals them to be fallen angelic beings because God would not throw His righteous angels into the lake of fire.

When Jesus was resurrected, He took the keys to the domains of both death and Hades.

(18) and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

If Adam had not sinned then death and Hades would not have any dominion over us. But because of sin, death comes for men and delivers their souls to Hades. Now through Jesus this has changed.

(51) "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death."

I believe that Jesus was saying that those that belonged to Him would never see the spiritual entity called death because he (death) no longer has the right to deliver a believer to Hades. Our souls are immediately in the presence of the Lord when we die.

So, who runs hell? This may surprise you, but the bottom line is Jesus, because He has the keys. However, death and Hades (Hell) are allowed to continue their work until the end of days; but their work only applies to the unrighteous. This should be a great comfort to those of us who keep the words of Jesus.

It appears to me that the only occupants of sheol, hades, hell are the souls of men who are awaiting judgment. There appears to be a different place reserved for fallen angels and demons. This place is possibly a lower compartment of sheol but I think that it is different.

The Abyss

The Greek word “tartaroo” is only used once in the Scriptures and that is in 2 Peter 2:4 where is it translated as “hell”. However, it comes from the word, tartaros, which, according to Strong/Thayer means “the deepest abyss of hell”. It appears to have a different function from the “hell” that we discussed above Some consider Tartaros to be a deeper part of hell and some consider it a different place. I think that Peter was using it to mean “the abyss” or “bottomless pit”.

The normal word for “abyss” is “abussos” and means bottomless, depthless abyss or pit. The King James Bible normally translates it as “bottomless pit” while the New American Standard Bible simply uses “abyss”. So, it would make sense for Peter to use the common Greek word for “deepest abyss of hell” to mean the abyss as opposed to hades.

Since the abyss appears to be distinct from hades or hell, who occupies it? There appears to be a number of types of creatures but it doesn't appear that any of them are human.

One type of occupant for which the abyss was designed is apparently demons as revealed in Jesus' encounter with the Gadarene demoniac.

(30) And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him.

The demons recognized that they should be in the abyss. They didn't want to be there and were begging Jesus not to send them there. For the sake of the man, Jesus allowed the demons to enter a herd of pigs, who immediately ran off a cliff and were drowned in the sea.

In Revelation chapter nine, a fallen angel (a star fallen from heaven to earth) is given the key to the “bottomless pit”, literally, “the abyss”. He opens the abyss and creatures are released. These are demonic in appearance and as plenteous as a swarm of locusts and they torment men.

(11) They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.

The creatures of the abyss have a king over them who is a fallen angel and he is important enough that his name is recorded and it means “destroyer”. Since he is a king over the creatures, he apparently is confined in the abyss along with them and can't get out until the angel with the key unlocks it.

In Revelation 11:7 it says that “the beast that comes up out of the abyss” will make war, overcome and kill the two witnesses. Could this be the angel of the abyss mentioned above?

NOTE: This is not the place to discuss it, but, there are three “beasts” mentioned in Revelation and there is spiritual significance to each:

When the millennial kingdom is set up, Satan, himself, will become a resident prisoner of the abyss for a thousand years and then he will be released for a short time.

(1) Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

(2) And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

(3) and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

So, we see that the abyss contains an assortment of creatures, which eventually include the Devil. There appear to be a number of fallen angels amongst the abyss prisoners also. Besides the angel king mentioned above, Peter says that there are others.

(4) For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;

Peter says that there are angels that God has committed (imprisoned) in pits of darkness where they wait for judgment.

Angels that Sinned

Peter says in the scripture above that God has imprisoned the angels that sinned in the abyss. Yet, we know that not all fallen angels are imprisoned because we struggle against them.

(7) And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,

(8) and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

Since not all fallen angels are imprisoned, then the “angels that sinned” must refer to something more than rebellion. God is no respecter of persons. If the sin of the “angels that sinned” was only rebellion then all fallen angels would be imprisoned in the abyss. Since not all are, what type of sin did these angels commit that caused them to be imprisoned by God? Jude sheds some light on the subject.

(6) And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,

(7) just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

Verse 6 tells us that the angels who are bound in darkness waiting on judgment did two things that caused them to be imprisoned.

The word for “domain” is the word for chief ruler, principality, power. The word for “abode” means habitat or habitation and is the same word used by Paul in 2 Cor. 5:2 referring to our resurrection or glorified bodies. So, when Jude says that they didn't keep their own domain but left their proper abode, he is saying that these angels left their heavenly principality (domain) and abandoned their spiritual habitats or bodies; in other words, they moved from the heavenly realm to the earthly. Why did they do this?

Verse 7 tells us what they did when they left their domain and proper abode. They committed a sin similar to Sodom and Gomorrah: gross immorality with “strange flesh”. Strange means different or other. So, these angels committed gross sexual sin that was outside the parameters that God had established. It was perverted. Since Jesus said that the angels don't marry; ie, engage in sexual relations with their spiritual bodies (we will be like them in our glorified bodies), they had to abandon their spiritual bodies and assume earthly bodies in order to engage in sexual perversion. (The Scriptures record a number of times where good angels appear to us in earthly bodies but they don't “abandon” their heavenly bodies.) When did this occur?

(1) Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,

(2) that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

There have been commentators of all sorts who have twisted and pounded these scriptures into some theory of their own to avoid believing the plain meaning of these verses. Men (the word is “adam”) increased on earth and produced some beautiful daughters. The sons of God (in the Old Testament this is always angels, an example is Job 1:6) saw the beautiful daughters of men and took them as wives, which means that they had sexual relations with them. This is exactly what Jude is talking about and is a violation of God's command that everything should reproduce “according to its own kind”.

The Scriptures tell us the outcome of this most unholy union of fallen angels and women.

(4) The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

This verse clearly tells us that the children that came from the union of the sons of God (angels) and the daughters of men (women) were the Nephilim (KJV “giants”). These were the mighty men of old. I think that this is the source of most mythology of the various cultures like Greece and Rome. The “gods” in the myths are the fallen angels who are always quarreling among themselves and having children with women who become mighty men such as Hercules.

The Nephilim hybrids were produced on two different occasions. The first is “in those days”, which means prior to Noah's flood and the second is “and also afterward”, meaning after the flood. We know this to be true because the Promised Land was inhabited by the Nephilim.

(33) "There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

Because the Nephilim were hybrids, they were an affront to God. That is one of the reasons that the Children of Israel were to utterly destroy the inhabitants of the Promised Land (Deut. 7:1-2).

(10) (The Emim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.

(11) Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

The various races of the Nephilim had tribal names such as the Anakim, which were the sons of Anak and the Rephaim among others. (In Hebrew, the way to make a word plural is to add “im” to the end.)

The Rephaim are mentioned a number of times as giants. But, the bible translators were not consistent when they translated “rapha”. In the King James, it is variously rendered “giant”, “giants”, “dead” and “deceased”. It would have been better, I think, to have left it as a proper name, Rapha. If you do that, there is an interesting verse in Isaiah.

(14) The dead will not live, the departed spirits [Rapha] will not rise; Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And You have wiped out all remembrance of them.

The Rapha will not rise, that is, there is no resurrection for them; they will not live. Why? Because they are of the Nephilim and are hybrids, not men. God has destroyed them and has wiped away all remembrance of them.

I know this sounds like something out of a Hollywood movie, but the Word contains these references for a reason. This particular type of wickedness was rampant prior to the flood, in Noah's days, and, I believe, will be again before the Lord's return. (Its not by accident that Hollywood produces many movies depicting women having the offspring of angels or demons.) This is what Jesus said about that.

(26) "And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:

When we read these words of Jesus, we usually just consider general wickedness; but, in Noah's days it was even worse than we can imagine, even to the point of intercourse between fallen angels and women.

(5) Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

In Romans 1:18-32 we have a description of their decadence; but, one interesting thing is that “...though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God...” (verse 21). If they knew God, how could they become so wicked?

The Fall of Man

Sometimes we need a broader picture of God's intents and purposes for man. When man was created, he was given a directive by God.

(27) God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

(28) God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

The Hebrew word for “subdue” means “to bring into subjugation”. The implication of this is that the world needed to be subdued.

(8) The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.

Since God planted a garden, the implication is that the rest of the world was not garden-like. However, it was in the garden that God placed man.

(15) Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

We can see in this the reason that God planted the garden. It was a “training ground” for man. God put Adam in the garden, gave him work to do, and one commandment to obey. The nature of the work was such that, had he learned obedience, he would have been prepared to “subdue and rule” the world and the creatures on it. However, he was not obedient and in his fallen state he was incapable of accomplishing the purposes of God.

When the enemy deceived Eve and she gave the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil to Adam, the Devil prevented Adam from fulfilling the purpose for which he was created. Adam through sin became incapable of fulfilling God's purpose. There was a danger that Adam, in his fallen state, might partake of the Tree of Life, which would be a disaster. God took immediate steps to prevent this.

(22) Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"--

(23) therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

(24) So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

Through Jesus, we again have access to the Tree of Life for it is in Him. It is in Jesus that we are now capable (through Him) to fulfill the purpose of God for man. The question is, how many of God's people understand what His purpose is for man?

The First Prophecy

When God confronted Adam and Eve about their disobedience, He pronounced judgment on their actions and the result was that the ground was cursed and the serpent was cursed. The consequences included pain in childbirth for the woman, laborious work to make a living from the cursed ground for the man, and crawling on its belly, eating dust for the serpent. [When God judged sin the result was a curse. Only Jesus can remove the curse from God's judgment because the Scriptures tell us that He became a curse for us in order to redeem us from the curse (Gal. 3:13).] However, in the middle of these curses, God speaks the first prophecy.

(15) And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."

This speaks prophetically of Jesus as the seed of the woman and, while the serpent strikes His heel, Jesus will crush the serpent's head. Now consider for a moment that our enemy doesn't have full knowledge of the intents and purposes of God any more than the other angels do. These things are mysteries that the angels desire to know more about (1 Peter 1:12). So, there are things that relate to God's purpose for man that the Devil doesn't know unless they are spoken. This prophecy becomes the first word of God's unfolding plan. Now, the enemy understands that the seed of the woman is his nemesis and, from his viewpoint, must be stopped. The devil realizes that he must corrupt the seed of the woman either physically, spiritually, or both.

The First Attempt

When Eve gave birth to Cain, she thought that he was the promised seed that God had said would come.

(1) Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD."

The next verse says that she also gave birth to Abel. There are some who believe that Cain and Abel were twins with Cain being born first. Others believe that a number of daughters were born between Cain and Abel. I, personally, am one that believes that they were twins. The next verse begins with “again” in the NASB. This word in the original means “added to”, “continue”, “proceed”. I think that after the birth of Cain, Eve proceeded or continued and gave birth to Abel. Regardless, with the birth of Cain and Eve's declaration, the enemy was put on high alert.

So, in an attempt to stop the promised seed, the enemy of our souls proceeded to stir up murder in Cain so that he killed Abel, his brother. The enemy thought that he had achieved his goals. If Cain was the promised seed, his heart was now corrupted by murder. If Abel happened to be the seed, he was physically dead. From the Devil's viewpoint, the problem was solved. Of course, the Devil, like Eve, had no concept of the time line of God for the bringing forth of the promised seed.

Cain, under the curse of God, became the father of heathendom. [Interestingly, his descendants created what we would call civilization—dwellings, farming and livestock, metal working, implements, cities, etc.] This was a heathendom that knew that God was real, but they wanted nothing to do with Him. Cain, I am sure, told his kids and grandkids about what had happened to him and what God had done to him. People lived long enough that I am sure that Adam and Eve told stories about their time in the Garden of Eden. So, all that were born during this time had first hand accounts about the works of God. They obviously knew God; they just didn't honor Him as God.

(21) For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

We have already seen in our previous issues in this Spiritual War Series that the fallen angels were running amok during this time and were even taking wives of women with the resulting offspring being called Nephilim (Gen. 6:1-4). These fallen angels were apparently passing themselves off as gods. They and the Nephilim are probably the basis for many of the various mythologies, especially those of Greece and Rome.

(23) and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Since they didn't honor God, they accepted the false gods, probably because of a promise of power and knowledge. (Satan had promised Adam and Eve that they would be as gods). Notice in the verse above the downward progression: from the incorruptible God to images of man, then birds, then four-footed animals, and finally crawling creatures [once a depraved path is chosen, it continues downward becoming ever more depraved].

It was the enemy's goal to prevent the coming of the promised seed. He had a two-fold strategy to accomplish this. The first was the moral corruption of man—to create such depravity that it would be impossible for God to bring forth the one that would crush his head. It is recorded that he apparently accomplished this goal.

(5) Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The second goal of our enemy was the physical corruption of man's bloodline. He attempted to accomplish this through the sexual interaction of the fallen angels and women producing the Nephilim—a hybrid race that was not in God's intention. If he could corrupt man genetically, then it would be impossible for the “seed of the woman” to come forth. In light of this, it is interesting to note how Noah is described in the Scriptures.

(9) These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.

The Hebrew word (tâmîym) that is translated as “blameless” means “without defect” and is the same word that is used to describe the animal sacrifices in Leviticus. This verse is but one example of its usage:

(3) 'If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.

In the original both “blameless” in Gen. 6:9 and “without defect” in Lev. 1:3 are the same word and it points to physical purity or perfection. In the King James Bible, as a description of the animal sacrifices, it is translated as “spotless and without blemish”.

Apparently, if these scriptures are read honestly, the enemy almost accomplished the second goal. It seems possible to me that Noah may have been the only one left whose bloodline wasn't tainted by the Nephilim corruption.

[Of course, in these thoughts that I have presented, I am giving my opinion and understanding of the scriptures. You can still go to heaven without believing any of this.]

The Shortcomings of the Devil

Before we proceed with this study on the Kingdom of Darkness, let's clarify some things about the Devil and dump some of the false ideas that we have taken in through our traditions, cultural heritage, literature, false doctrines and false teachings.

We have given too much power to the enemy. In some ways, he has tricked us into believing that his defeat is questionable. This type of thinking is one of the strongholds or fortresses that the Scriptures mention that need to be torn down in our minds (2 Cor. 10:3-5). It is important that we understand the limitations of the Devil because they effect the nature and structure of the Kingdom of Darkness.

Re-emergence of Kingdom of Darkness

The population of the earth was severely reduced by the flood. After the flood, the population count was eight: Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives.

(18) Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan.

Just as Devil worked through Cain to begin to establish heathendom, he now began to work through Ham. We don't know how much exposure the sons of Noah had to the wickedness that was around them before the flood, but, I am sure, there was at least some. Apparently, some of it found lodging in Ham's heart.

Noah planted a vineyard and eventually produced wine and enjoyed it too much and became drunk.

(21) He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.

This means that Noah probably passed out and in the process was left with his privates exposed. Ham dishonored his father by jesting about this with his two brothers who reacted quite differently than Ham did.

(22) Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

(23) But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness.

The result of Ham's actions produced a curse on his son, Canaan, and his descendants. Now, it is hard for us to wrap our mind about this because the curse seems drastically disproportionate to the fact that Ham saw his father's privates. It doesn't seem fair, does it? Well, it seems that it is possible that there is more to the story.

(24) When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.

This suggests that more occurred than simply seeing Noah's privates. Upon waking up, Noah knew what Ham had done to him. How did he know? The other two sons had covered him so that when he awoke everything would seem to be normal. If Ham had only viewed Noah's nakedness, Noah would have no way of knowing. However, the verse says that Noah knew what his son had done to him. Obviously, more than looking had occurred. I would suggest that Ham performed some unnatural sex act with Noah while Noah was passed out and then told his brothers about it.

This is a supposition; we don't know this to be a fact. All we know is that something was done to Noah. To me there is a big difference between something being done to you while you are passed out and someone seeing you naked while you are passed out. The potency of the patriarchal curse that resulted from this incident lends credibility to the idea that it was a lot more serious that seeing Noah naked.

(9) He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD."

(10) The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

When it says that Nimrod was a mighty hunter, in the original the implication is that he was a hunter of men.

In Roman 1:18-32 we have a description of the moral condition of the people. They knew that God existed, they knew about His actions (especially as it related to the flood) and yet they refused to acknowledge Him and instead exalted themselves as God.

As we have seen previously, the fallen angels were consorting with women and setting themselves up as gods. The flood wiped out all that had been done by them, including their offspring. Now, after the flood, the enemy began to assert himself again through the lineage of Ham. Satan needed to recreate the moral depravity that was prior to the flood and prevent it from being destroyed again. The enemy's goals had not changed. He wanted to prevent the coming of the promised seed and he wanted to consolidate and preserve his kingdom of wickedness. Nimrod was his choice to do this.

Just as God's intention is to sum all things up in one, Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:10), the enemy desires to bring all things under his man, the man of lawlessness—the one that we call the Antichrist. Nimrod was Satan's first attempt to bring the Antichrist into position. He has made many more attempts through the centuries for it is just as John has said, “...even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18)

Satan doesn't know the times and seasons that are in the timeline of God. He can only attempt his plans when it seems right to him. God ultimately allows or disallows the enemy's plans according to His purposes and His timeline.

It appears that the fallen angels had revealed forbidden knowledge to men prior to the flood. The type of knowledge that would allow man to live and act like a god. This was in keeping with the promise of the serpent to Eve, “you will be like god, knowing good and evil.” Since the flood destroyed everything, Satan had to re-establish this with Nimrod and his kingdom and provide a method of preservation for the future.

The Tower of Babel

(4) They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."

After I came to know the Lord and began reading the Bible, this verse about the tower of Babel always bothered me. It just didn't make sense, especially when you consider God's reaction to what the people were doing.

(5) The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

(6) The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.

God responded as if they could actually build a tower that would reach into heaven and by doing what they were doing, they would be able to do anything else that they decided to do. Doesn't seem reasonable, does it?

We know that it is physically impossible to build a tower that will reach into heaven. First, the base would have to be too big; second, the materials aren't strong enough; third, you run out of oxygen before you get high enough. So, why did this upset God? Let's examine this in the light of what we have been discussing.

We need to look at the intent of the people. These are their intentions as stated above in Genesis 11 verse 4:

There was something about these three intentions of the people that caused violent reaction in Heaven.

The City: this is the beginning of Babylon. The Scriptures give us a “Tale of Two Cities”. In the physical it is Jerusalem and Babylon; in the spiritual it is New Jerusalem and Mystery Babylon. You can follow this “tale” from Genesis to Revelation for Babylon is the “capital” of the kingdom of darkness and Jerusalem is the “capital” of the Kingdom of God (physical Jerusalem during the Millennium Kingdom and spiritual Jerusalem for the current mystical form of the the Kingdom of God).

The Tower: notice that in the verse the words “will reach” are in italics. This means that these were added by the translators and there is no corresponding word in the original. Of course, when translators add words to help make sentences or meanings clearer, they add according to their own understanding of the meaning, which may not always be a correct interpretation. The original Hebrew could be rendered as “a top like the heavens”. In other words, with a “top inscribed with the heavens”. If this is correct, then it makes sense that the tower had a top with the Zodiac or astrological signs inscribed upon it. This is part of the forbidden knowledge that they desired to be preserved for the future and this is what upset God. If they preserved forbidden knowledge for future generations, this understanding would allow them to do anything they desired apart from God. It would establish man independent of God and allow him to function as “a little god” just as the Devil had promised Eve.

The Name: this is a reputation, a memorial, an honored position. This name would be apart from God and would exalt man and his achievements.

These are the things that upset God and caused Him to bring judgment on the situation.

The Purpose of the Tower

There were certain conditions with the people of that time that have never existed since.

Of course the whole earth used the same language. From Adam through the Flood the same language was spoken. Communication was clear. However, this verse says they also used “the same words”. That sounds redundant, doesn't it? If they used the same language then certainly they used the same words. Maybe something else is meant by the second phrase. The original words could be translated as “the same purpose”, “in one accord”, or “the same intent”. I think that this would be better translated as “the same language and the same intent or purpose”.

If that is the case, then their intent was not towards the purposes of God but rather toward the establishing of a reputation or memorial for themselves. We also saw that the top of the tower was important to them because it was meant to preserve forbidden knowledge that had been received from the fallen angels so that something like the flood would not destroy it if it occurred again.

As we said earlier, the words “will reach” are in italics which mean that they are not in the original but we added by the translators to help the sentence make sense. Leaving these out, we have “top into heaven”. An alternate translation for this is “top like the heavens” or “top inscribed with the heavens”. This would indicate that the astrological signs or zodiac were inscribed on the top of the tower. This has been historically verified.

Quoting Lt. Gen. Chesney as told to Dean Goode, “About 5 miles SW of Hillah, the most remarkable of all the ruins, the Birs Nimroud of the Arabs, rises to a height of 153 feet above the plain from a base covering . . . almost four acres. It was constructed of kiln-dried bricks in seven stages to correspond with the planets to which they were dedicated: the lowermost black, the colour of Saturn; the next orange, for Jupiter; the third, red for Mars; and so on. These stages were surmounted by a lofty tower, on the summit of which . . . were the signs of the Zodiac and other astrological figures, thus having (as it should have been translated) 'a representation of the heavens', instead of 'a top which reached unto heaven'.” [Chesney allowed Goode to copy the passage from his private MS. Goode quotes it in his Warburtonian Lectures, 2^nd edition, note 1 to Sermon IV page 170-1]

Why is that important? We think of the astrology of today and laugh at the ignorance of the people who believe it. However, what we have today in terms of astrology is only a weak remnant of the forbidden knowledge available to the ancients through the fallen angels.

Astrology

(10) "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,

(11) or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

(12) "For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you.

Astrology would be included in the list above under “one who interprets omens” or as the King James Bible says “observer of times”. From the verses above we can conclude that seeking after knowledge in any form apart from God is detestable to the Lord.

With that said let us look at the scriptures and how the enemy has used things established by God to corrupt mankind. There is an interesting verse in Genesis.

(14) Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;

When God created the stars He had specific reasons for doing so and this verse gives us four of those reasons:

These reasons are all straightforward except the one “for signs” and possibly “for seasons”. The word translated as “seasons” means “an appointed time”. In the KJV, it occurs 240 times, but only 3 times is it rendered “seasons”. So we have the stars set for signs and for appointed times.

One of the purposes of the creation of the stars was “for signs”. Signs of what? We have a hint of the purpose of the signs when we read about the “Star of Bethlehem” and how the Eastern magicians (the Magi) interpreted its meaning and followed it looking for the King whose sign it was (Matt. 2:1-2). We can conclude then that the stars were established as signs relating to the coming of “the seed of the woman”, the Messiah, and in them we have a revelation of “appointed times”. (Jesus was born at an appointed time; i.e., in the fullness of time.)

This was established by God in Genesis, but would have no meaning to us if it was not communicated to Adam after the fall. I submit that the signs of the Zodiac were revealed to Adam by God and that the twelve symbols tell the story of the coming Messiah. These were visible in the night sky for all to see and it could have been this understanding that was the basis for the preaching of Enoch. However, I believe God's revelation was limited to Messiah's story and it was the fallen angels who perverted this to reveal forbidden knowledge of the signs and appointed times to fallen man and that the Tower of Babel was to memorialize this information.

Now, let me explain what I just said and the reasons for it. This will resolve a number of problems that present themselves otherwise.

The Zodiac

To me, when you look at the stars, the twelve signs of the zodiac are not obvious. It takes some imagination to connect the stars that make up these signs. Yet, these same star symbols are seen in all major cultures of the world, including both the old and new world continents. How did this come to be? It would seem to me that these zodiac signs pre-date the tower of Babel.

It was at Babel that God's judgment scattered the people according to their new languages and, it would appear, that God also caused the continents to be separated.

(25) And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.

“Peleg”, in Hebrew means “to cleave asunder”; apparently, Peleg was named for the event that occurred when the earth was divided. What does it mean about the “earth divided”?

(9) And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

If all of the water was gathered together in one place, then all of the land would be in one place also. We can conclude that, at one time, the land formed one continent surrounded by water. When the earth was divided, God split the one continent asunder into several land masses.

The geologists of today believe that there was once one land mass and the continents have been drifting apart (continental drift) ever since this land mass was split apart. If this occurred at the time of the judgment of the tower of Babel, when the various language groups separated and went in different directions, the land also began to separate into the various continents containing the various language groups. The people carried with them their understanding of the forbidden knowledge including the signs of the Zodiac and other forbidden knowledge, which the Tower of Babel was intended to preserve.

Where did the Zodiac names come from? Adam named the animals but the Scriptures tell us that God named the stars.

(26) Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.

Job gets more explicit as it relates to the constellations and those that make up the Zodiac. I think that this definitely relates back to Genesis when God made the stars for “signs and seasons”.

(32) "Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites?

(33) "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or fix their rule over the earth?

The Hebrew word that is translated “constellation” in this passage is “mazzârâh”. This is the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary definition:

If God established the “mazzaroth”, the constellations of the Zodiac, as signs that tell of the coming of the “seed of the woman” (as we concluded earlier), then they are the testimony written in the heavens so that, even before written language, men are without excuse. Look at what the Psalmist says about the stars.

(1) The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

(4) Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun,

(18) But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; "THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD."

This is in the context of hearing the Good News, the Gospel. The voice of the stars has spoken of the One in whom we should believe.

One of the peculiarities of the Zodiac is that the 12 signs and their order are the same in virtually all civilizations, even those older than the Babylonian empire. This is true even though few, if any, of the stars actually look like what they are supposed to represent.

However, one important fact emerges. Many star and constellation names in a variety of languages around the world have a similar meaning. For example, one constellation was known as Virgo to the Romans, Bethulah to the Hebrews, Parthenos to the Greeks, and Kanya to the Indians, but all mean "VIRGIN". Linguistically, this strongly implies there was a common origin for the names.

The Zodiac is a circle, so, if it is to tell the story of the Messiah, one must know where to begin within the circle. Archaeological digs have discovered some zodiac symbols with a small sphynx inserted between the lion (Leo) and the virgin (Virgo). This could be the marker for the beginning and end of the story told in the signs. Possibly, the Sphynx is meant as a reminder of this since it has the face of a woman and the body of a lion. To me, this makes a lot of sense

However, as I have said previously in this study, you don't have to believe any of this. I am only sharing my understanding of the Scriptures in these areas. It does put a different perspective on the work of the Enemy and how he does some things in fallen man. If the fallen angels revealed further knowledge (forbidden by God) to men, it would be a small step from seeing the Zodiac as the story of One Man to seeing the stars as able to tell the stories of all men, even causing them to become idols of worship.

Understanding the Zodiac in this manner resolves the problem of previous civilizations and religions having so many basic similarities in their picture of creation, the fall, the savior, and other aspects of Christian belief. Since we know that nothing of the Father and Jesus, the Son was taken from pagan beliefs and myths, we now know that the reverse is true. Pagan myths arose from prophetic signs revealed in the stars that spoke of the coming Messiah. Their understanding was the perversion of the story of the coming Savior. This is foundational to the origin of heathendom and establishing of the kingdom of darkness.

The Enemy's Strategy Develops

God had promised in Genesis that the “seed of the woman” would crush Satan's head. As we have said, Satan isn't omnipotent and only knows the plans of God as they are promised and revealed. With God's word in Genesis, the enemy knew that a Messiah was to come from the woman. His first strategy was to attempt to prevent the coming of the Messiah.

Since God's word only said the “seed of the woman”, Satan had no further specifics, so his strategy was rather straightforward—corrupt all mankind, either physically or morally, to the the point that it would be impossible for the “seed of the woman” to be brought forth. He came within eight souls of accomplishing this goal. However, God saved Noah and his family and the enemy had to begin again.

After the flood, Satan found his champion in Nimrod. Babylon was established by him and was dedicated to false gods (fallen angels and demons). Through its “mystery” religion, the enemy tries to corrupt mankind by fulfilling his promise to Eve—that we would be as gods. It is here that the first full blown religion is established that is fully opposed to God and man is touted as a “little god” who can, through the Babylonian mysteries and forbidden knowledge, come to make his own decisions of good and evil and manipulate his own destiny. Knowledge becomes the way of salvation and not repentance.

However, the Babylonian rise of heathendom was struck a mighty blow when God confused the language and split the continents apart. In the seasons of God, it was not yet time for Babylon's power. When it is time, we see it come to fullness in Revelation.

When God's choice of Abraham reveals that the promised seed will come through his lineage, the enemy immediately begins to set things in motion to prevent this. Part of God's promise includes a land, so, the enemy begins to occupy the land ahead of Abraham by again (as he did prior to the flood) causing fallen angels to produce offspring with the daughters of men and filling the promised land with giants. By the time that the descendants of Abraham reached the land that God had promised and given, they had to face the giants.

(32) So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.

(33) "There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

This is an example of the Nephilim that occurred after the flood. The first outbreak of this type is prior to the flood and is recorded in Genesis.

The enemy operates under the premise, “if it ain't broke, don't fix it”. The Nephilim (giants in KJV) outbreak almost succeeded before the flood, why not try it again? Only this time, Satan didn't need to go after all mankind, only the lineage of Abraham. Either corrupting or destroying it would prevent the coming of the Messiah. So, he made sure that the promised land was filled with the Nephilim. After all, how could normal people expect to defeat a hybrid race made up of those who are almost twice normal size and with strength that matches their stature?

It was because of the hybrid nature of the inhabitants of the promised land that God did not show any mercy but commanded that all be destroyed.

(1) "Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven,

(2) a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?'

(3) "Know therefore today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has spoken to you.

After the children of Israel occupied the land, the enemy attempted to corrupt them by causing them to be disobedient to the commands of the Lord and leading them astray to worship false gods.

After the lineage of the Messiah was narrowed down to the line of David, the enemy focuses his attention on him and his descendants. The enemy's success reaches the point that there is only one descendant of David left alive—Joash.

(1) When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring.

(2) But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king's sons who were being put to death, and placed him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death.

(3) So he was hidden with her in the house of the LORD six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.

Athaliah, as wife of Joram and mother of Ahaziah, was responsible for both the internal and external policy of the Jewish kingdom. She was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and helped establish the worship of Baal in Judea (2 Kings 8:18, 26, 27). Jehu's revolution isolated her and and the death of Ahaziah removed her legal status in Judea. However, she was probably the chief authority at Jerusalem. She used this authority to command the immediate destruction of all of the family of David and then seized the throne. Only Joash, who was a year old, survived the purge. He was hidden for six years in the high priest's house, a part of the outer court of the temple. (These facts taken from Kell and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

God's promise to Abraham and then to David is contained now in only one life, that of Joash. Had the enemy succeeded in killing Joash, then God's promise would have been voided. Each promise of God from Eve to Abraham to David narrowed the lineage of the “seed of the woman” and the enemy put all he had into stopping the fulfillment of the word of God. However, our God is faithful to His word and He uses faithful people to bring about its fruition—people such as Jehosheba, the priest and the baby's nurse.

We should learn from this. As we go about our daily activities, we need to be faithful to the word of the Lord. We may not know how important our actions are until we reach eternity. I am sure the Jehosheba didn't realize how crucial her actions were in stealing away Joash, but the very integrity of the word of our God hung in the balance.

The Messiah

We see another example of Satan's strategy at the time that Jesus comes into the world. The Star of Bethlehem was the sign of His birth and this was recognized by some Magi (these are eastern magicians, astrologers; not the “wise men” that we use for our manger scenes) and they made a journey to pay homage to a new king (they did not see Him as the Son of God, but, simply as a great earthly king).

(1) Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,

(2) "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."

NOTE: These Magi are not followers of the Lord God. The basis of their religion is rooted in Babylon and the Babylonian mysteries. Their inquiry of Herod about where is he who is born the King of the Jews provided an opportunity for the tools of the enemy to attempt to destroy Jesus.

(3) When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

(4) Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

(5) They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:

(6) 'AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.'"

(7) Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.

(8) And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him."

Their inquiry caused Herod to search out where the Messiah was to be born and provided him the approximate time frame based on the appearing of the star.

God intervenes to protect Jesus from the enemy's coming attempts to destroy Him.

(12) And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

(13) Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."

(14) So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.

(16) Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.

Satan's efforts are manifested through Herod who kills all male children two years old and younger in Bethlehem.

[Notice that our manger scenes are incorrect. The Magi were not present at the stable but later at the house (Matt. 2:11). They had to travel from the East after seeing the Star and therefore, were not present just after His birth.]

A Change in Strategy

Since Satan failed to prevent the coming of the “seed of the woman”, his only option is to prevent the Messiah from accomplishing His purpose. Jesus' stated purpose was “to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His purpose” (John 4:34). If Satan could cause Jesus to be disobedient or to fail in His purpose then he would succeed in preventing the effective work of the Messiah. We have the record of Satan's direct attack on Jesus in these areas recorded in Matthew chapter four, the first eleven verses. Jesus was led (literally, driven) by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. However, Jesus overcame the temptations offered by the enemy. Jesus refused to do anything for Himself (turn stones to bread); refused to do anything of Himself (jump off the pinnacle); refused to do anything in Himself (worship the enemy).

With His death and resurrection, Jesus fulfilled all that the Father desired and made a way of reconciliation with God. With the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the multi-membered Body of Christ began to function in the earth. Through the Holy Spirit, the Church is to continue to fulfill the Lord's purpose. The enemy's strategy is to hinder and, if possible, prevent this from happening.

The Lord, in His wisdom, has provided all that we need to accomplish the corporate goals of God. Ephesians chapter four tells us of the gifts of Jesus, the five-fold ministry. The outcome of their functioning is given in verse 14:

(14) As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

As stated in this verse, we see our condition before the work of the five-fold ministry is accomplished. In this we can see the strategy of the enemy.

You can examine your life to see if any of Satan's strategies are operating. Are there hindrances to you growing up spiritually? Is your life, especially your emotions, unstable? Do you seem to fall prey to, so called, spiritual leaders who drain you of life and abort God's call for you? If so, then you are being manipulated by one of Satan's strategies. Search out those you are functioning in the callings of the five-fold ministry and receive their help to rid your life of these hindrances from our Enemy.

Since the Devil was unable to prevent the coming of the “seed of the woman” and he was unable to corrupt Him in any way, he turned his attention to preventing the Kingdom of God from finding expression in the earth. The spirit of disobedience is working in the earth to produce the Enemy's Man of Lawlessness. This is set in direct opposition to the Kingdom of God.

Definition

First, we should define what is meant by the Kingdom of God. We don't have kings in America so the idea of a kingdom is a little vague in most peoples' minds. A kingdom is where a king rules over a geographical territory and the population that resides in that territory. Another way of saying it is that a kingdom is a country that is governed by a king. So, we can say that the Kingdom of God is the government of God as it relates to His people, where Jesus rules as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Historical Perspective

The Hebrews equated the Kingdom of God with the Kingdom of Israel. They couldn't see that the Messiah was applicable to more than Israel, nor that the Kingdom of God was also bigger than Israel. Even the disciples continually asked Jesus if He would now restore the kingdom to Israel.

At one time, God had directly governed Israel through the prophets and judges of the Old Testament. Under God, the government of Israel was completely and dramatically different than the governments of the heathen nations that surrounded them. However, there came a time when Israel was not satisfied with this arrangement, but wanted to be more like the nations around them and have a visible king that could be seen and would represent them in battle and other occasions of royal pomp and circumstance.

(6) But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD.

(7) The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.

But even in their rejection of Him, He had a plan that had already been established. Isaiah spoke of the coming future King.

(6) For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

(7) There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.

The coming child, who has Prince of Peace as one of His names, will have the government on His shoulders. He will sit on the throne of David and over his kingdom. The kingdom will be established and upheld with justice and righteousness. The major characteristic of His government is peace and His rule and His peace will continually increase. This is one fantastic promise of the coming of the Kingdom of God, where Jesus rules as King in justice and righteousness, where the atmosphere is peace.

The Time of the Messiah

Since the child, the son that was given is Jesus and He, as King, is necessary for the Kingdom to function, when and where is the Kingdom of God? Is it something that we can see now or is it all still in the future?

John the Baptist, who was the one to prepare the way for Jesus, preached a simple message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2)

[NOTE: Some have tried to make a distinction between “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God”; but, in the Scriptures, there is no distinction. Matthew, a Hebrew, writing to Hebrews used “heaven” instead of “God” because of their reluctance to use God's name, lest they use it in vain. Scripture references describing the same events between the four Gospels refer to the “kingdom of God” where Matthew refers to the “kingdom of heaven”.]

The declaration of the Kingdom of God was continued by Jesus and He continued to speak of the kingdom repeatedly as He was “about the Father's business”. His first public sermon began with “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) Mark's version of this is even plainer.

(14) Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,

(15) and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

Mark is linking the “gospel of God” with the Kingdom. This is important because we, in our evangelism and Church services, have un-linked the gospel and the Kingdom making them to appear to be unrelated. However, this is not what Jesus did.

(23) Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

(35) Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

(14) "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Notice that with the gospel of the Kingdom goes healing and deliverance. These are demonstrations of the validity of the Kingdom of God and the fact that the King has overcome all of the power of the enemy and has been given all authority in heaven and in earth. The Church has lost much of her demonstrations of power because she has stopped preaching the gospel of the Kingdom.

Transition

Jesus after continuing with John's message made an interesting statement revealing the transition between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

(16) "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

John was the transition point in God's message. Until John, all of the Word of God and His requirements were contained in the Law and Prophets. Since John, the Word of God and His requirements are contained in the gospel of the Kingdom.

(11) "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

(12) "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.

Not only was John the transition point in the message of God, he was the greatest of men under the Law and Prophets. Even so, the one who is the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than John! That means that John was not considered a citizen of the Kingdom! (This may mess up your theology a little, but we will show why this is true a little later.) But from John's time forward those who were violent about the government of God were pressing into the Kingdom, taking it by force. This tells us then that Jesus brought the Kingdom into the earth through the proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom.

As Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God, the Pharisees asked Him the obvious question.

(20) Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed;

(21) nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst."

What does Jesus' answer mean? He is saying that the Kingdom is not coming visually (Greek word means ocular-evidence) so, don't go looking here and there because the Kingdom is already “in your midst” or “among you”. Where the King is, there is the Kingdom!

The Mystery of the Kingdom

There is a mystery associated with the Kingdom. While the gospel of the Kingdom is proclaimed, not all aspects of the Kingdom are revealed clearly. Jesus repeatedly said “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”. He spoke about the Kingdom in parables and gave this explanation to his disciples.

(11) And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,

(12) so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN."

Those who follow Jesus as King can know the mysteries of the Kingdom but others can't see them. The Kingdom is “hidden” in plain sight. Notice that one of the reasons for this is to prevent some from returning and being forgiven. (This may mess up some more of your theology or at least grate on your “free will” bone.) We all need a good dose of the sovereignty of God. This is the explanation of Jesus.

(44) "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

(45) "It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

[NOTE: This is why it is important to come under the government of the King so that we don't waste our time and God's resources on those who are NOT being drawn by Him.]

Jesus said this in Mark right after telling what we call the parable of the sower. The disciples asked Him the meaning of the parable. He spoke of the mystery of the Kingdom as shown above and then He said this:

(13) And He *said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?

The parable of the sower is basic to understanding the other parables about the Kingdom. It is important that we have “ears to hear” what Jesus was saying.

(19) "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.

(20) "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

(21) yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

(22) "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

(23) "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

Let's put Jesus' explanation of the parable of the sower in Matthew in a table format so that we can compare (remember, this is dealing with the word of the Kingdom not salvation as it is preached today).

This parable is about the type of ground, which is us. The seed is the Word of the Kingdom, which is sown into our hearts. The two extremes are roadside and good ground. The roadside ground is a waste of seed; the Kingdom word is not understood; the enemy steals it and it is not thought about again. The good ground produces fruit at varying levels depending on how fertile it was. Each of these extremes are 25% of the type of ground available. The real issue is the other 50%, the types of ground that are in the middle and produce nothing even though the word of the Kingdom was received.

I submit that in our hearts we each have all four types of ground. It is important that we cultivate and prepare the ground in the various areas of our heart in every way to receive the word of the Kingdom.

These two middle types of ground show us the problems that we face both internally and externally. The stony ground tells us that the word of the Kingdom will bring affliction and persecution. These are external reactions to our receiving the Kingdom word. It produces a conflict externally with those who walk in worldly understanding and not under the government of God. The thorny ground tell us that the word of the Kingdom is in conflict with our old natures, our desires, and the way of the world. When the word of the Kingdom comes to us, we have to be prepared to deal with the problems that this will present externally in our relationships and internally with our own nature.

This is the basic understanding that we need from the parable of the sower in order to understand the other parables. The word of the Kingdom is the rock that crushes all other kingdoms, even our own. A Kingdom word is in conflict with the world and with our old nature. We become overcomers when we allow the word of the Kingdom to produce fruit in our lives as it overcomes in these two arenas of conflict.

The last few paragraphs describe the essence of Spiritual War—conflict with the world and conflict with our old nature. The Devil is a defeated enemy. Jesus did that. However, the Devil operates in both of these conflict arenas empowering them against us.

The Kingdom Comes

As we have seen, John the Baptist came preparing the way for Jesus by preaching “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2) and Jesus began His public ministry with the same message (Matt. 4:17). Jesus spoke more about the Kingdom that He did any other subject including the new birth; however, He spoke in mystery form with parables so that only those who could see and hear spiritual Truth would understand (Mat. 13:10-17).

The Jews thought that the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Israel were the same and they expected the Messiah to restore the Kingdom to Israel. They expected Messiah to free them from Roman control and re-establish the throne of David with Messiah reigning. However, Jesus kept explaining to them about the Kingdom of God and that their expectations were not reality.

The question of when the Kingdom of God was coming was central to all of their thoughts, including those of the pharisees (Luke 17:20). Jesus answered this plainly when He said this in Mark:

(1) And Jesus was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power."

To determine when this occurs, we have to take these words of Jesus about the Kingdom and add to them the definition of the Kingdom given to us by Paul.

(17) for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

He tells us that the location of the Kingdom in its current form is in the Holy Spirit and that its characteristics are righteousness, peace and joy.

In the first part of the first chapter of Acts, the Scriptures tell us that Jesus appeared to the disciples over a period of 40 days after His resurrection and that He was speaking to them things concerning the Kingdom of God. He told them to wait until they received the promise of the Father because the Holy Spirit was coming on them with power. We know, of course, that this occurred on the day of Pentecost and is detailed in the second chapter of Acts.

I submit to you that this was the coming of the Kingdom in power since the Kingdom is in the Holy Spirit. After the day of Pentecost, look at how the Kingdom is mentioned in the book of Acts.

(12) But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

(21) After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,

(22) strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."

(8) And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

(23) When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.

The message of the book of Acts dealt with the Kingdom of God. Reading these verses suggests that our current evangelistic efforts leave out one of the primary points of the Gospel, the Kingdom of God with Jesus as King.

Adjustments

If what is listed above is true, and I believe that it is, then there are some serious adjustments that we need to make in our thinking and in our doctrine. One of those adjustments is the need to separate the concepts of Church and Kingdom. They are not the same. The Scriptures refer to us in two different ways.

(19) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,

We are “fellow citizens” in the Kingdom and we are members of “God's household”. When we are born again, we are born into the Family of God and, by that birth, we become a citizen of the Kingdom of God. There are differences between the rules and requirements of a citizen and those of a family member. These two areas have a very different focus. We “grow up” in the family; but, we “go to work” in the Kingdom.

The values and standards of the family become the basic building blocks of a good citizen. Any government or society is only as good as the families that are its components.

These two areas also comprise different types of work. With the family, we do “chores” such as taking out the garbage, mowing the lawn, or doing the dishes. The nature of the chores are things that are necessary to maintain an orderly family environment. However, when we “go to work” we go out into society and do work that produces a benefit to the society. We become a productive citizen when we produce more than we consume.

Most of the type of work that we do in society is not done alone but in conjunction with other workers. The nature of this work is quite different from our chores at home.

By confusing Church and Kingdom we have also confused the nature of our work. Much of the work done by the Church is not Kingdom work but rather “chores” to maintain the family and its facilities. We have done very little “real” work, which is done “in the field” and not in the family household.

Another area of thinking that may require adjustments is our understanding of end time events. For example, we have all heard teaching about a revived Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Antichrist that is destroyed by the return of Jesus and the setting up of the Millennium Kingdom. The basis for this teaching is the interpretation in Daniel of the king's dream of the giant statue with the head of gold and the feet of iron and clay.

(32) "The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze,

(34) "You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.

(35) "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Daniel then interpreted the dream by the understanding of the Lord to declare what was to be in the future.

(39) "After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.

(40) "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.

(41) "In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay.

(42) "As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.

(43) "And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.

(44) "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.

(45) "Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy."

In light of the earlier Scriptures in this lesson, the Kingdom of God as the rock cut out from the mountain without hands struck the Roman Empire on the Day of Pentecost. We know from previous Scriptures that, once established, the Kingdom of God continues to increase and is established forever. Historically, this is true. It was Christianity that was the downfall of the Roman Empire. The Kingdom of God has crushed all other kingdoms—the kingdoms of the world have become the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ.

Based on this, there is no need to conjure up a Revived Roman Empire during the last days. The King's dream has already been fulfilled. Consider for a moment. If you remove the need of a Roman Empire during the last days, what does that do to your understanding of the end times prophecy that you have been taught? Maybe we need to take a fresh look and ask the Lord to open our eyes and ears to the Holy Spirit.

GROUND	CONDITION	PROBLEM	RESULT
Roadside	Unprepared, hard and packed down Hears the word but doesn't understand it.	The Enemy steals the word away	Nothing, no change
Rocky	Received with joy but no room for roots	Persecution and affliction arise because of word	Temporary, fall away immediately
Thorny	Heard the word, ears to hear	Worries of the word, deceitfulness of wealth, desires for other things (Mark 4:19)	Unfruitful, word choked
Good	Heard the word and understands it		Fruitful increase 30, 60, 100 times