Paul
recognized that Jesus died to save human beings and that we are not engaged in
warfare against anyone in the created earth who is either man or woman, but our
battle is against the lesser gods (Elohim) that ruled the earth.
There was a divine
council of the sons of God that were placed by Yahweh upon the earth to rule
and judge rightly over the affairs of humankind. This counsel consisted of
kings, rulers, and princes, all of which are from a hierarchical system that
was chosen to fill the gap until humanity would once again establish their
rightful rule once again on the earth.
These “sons of God” rebelled and became haughty,
thinking that they could easily defy Yahweh’s eternal purposes of humankind being the
rulers of the earth when they could do it themselves.
Asaph wrote psalms 82, and it contains a description of
the rebellion of these sons of God and their inability to rule justly and to
demonstrate Godly character.
“God takes his place in his own assembly. He pronounces judgment among
the gods:
“How long are you going to judge unfairly? How long are you going to
side with wicked people?” Selah
Defend weak people and orphans. Protect the rights of the oppressed
and the poor. Rescue weak and needy people. Help them escape the power of
wicked people. Wicked people do not know or understand anything. As they walk
around in the dark, all the foundations of the earth shake. I said, “You are
gods. You are all sons of the Most High. You will certainly die like humans and
fall like any prince.” Arise, O God! Judge the earth, because all the nations
belong to you.”
Psalms 82:1-8 (GW)
This is what Paul was referring to in Ephesians 6:12-13.
These rebellious sons of God still exist today, and they are seeking to undo
the rule of humankind on the earth at any cost. They want the power to control
and to destroy anything that stands in their way. They work with humankind in
ways to influence their mind and thoughts with the means of destroying themselves.
These “demon-gods” or “principalities” are very strong and focus on technology and
information based on crushing and dismantling anything built upon the knowledge
of our God and His rule and reign through His people on the earth.
They attack
families, and especially the minds of individuals, to draw and corrupt their
identities away from a God-centered design. They have found it is easier to go
after the mind in small ways to corrupt little by little over time to reach a
place of denial of God’s ways.
They attack Churches and anyone who stands for a
conservative ideal to disprove or discredit them that following God’s design
may seem laughable and out of touch with reality. Recently the attacks against
Churches have been physically hostile with armed assault.
Paul declares that our only defense against these
entities is putting on the full armor of our God. These weapons are more
excellent than the tactics of these demon-gods for God's weapons are based
truth.
Paul uses God’s armor as a metaphor to get across that we must be in
Christ completely to be victorious.
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around
your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet
fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to
all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the
flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Ephesians 6:14-18 (NIV)
In effect what Paul is saying to withstand the onslaught
of these “demon-gods” or “principalities” we know five things concerning the
armor of God:
- The truth of our God’s love for us and what we were created for, which is to rule and reign with Christ that is our identity; we are royal sons and daughters of the one true king.
- We must stand in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, not our own, for He is the only truly righteous one who has right standing before God the Father. We stand because He stands.
- We have the testimony of what our God has done through the victory of Jesus and how He has overcome sin and death.
- We do not go forward by sight; we go forward by faith. Faith is trusting in what we know to be the truth and trusting our God for the victorious outcome that will give Him glory.
- We need His salvation which is His protection over our mind so we can confront slanderer directly without his deception tricking us.
- We need the Holy Spirit to speak with us to direct us, guide us, and protect us.
I know it’s weird that we were left with a world that is
so messed up both naturally and spiritually, but that is where we are called to
be overcomers, and it is like Paul says, “for you are destined for all things and will rise
victorious.”
I truly believe
that! Do you?
Be Blessed!
Stephen Barnett
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