Puppets of the Principalities and Powers

The Cosmic Drama Behind the World of Politics — aka “The Great Reset”

© 2020, John Freeman
6/21/2020

Back to Chapter 1

Chapter Two

Principalities and Powers

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

Throughout the Bible we are given glimpses into the heavenly places and hints of a Cosmic Drama playing out unseen to our eyes. In Ephesians 6:12 Paul gives us one of the wider windows through which we can see into the hidden heavenly realm. This verse is given to us as an explanation as to why we need the whole armor of God described in Ephesians 6:13-20. We’re told that our battle is ultimately not against our fellow man but, against principalities and powers in the heavenly realm.

The book of Job, in the Old Testament, also provides us with another window into the hidden realm. In the opening verses of Job we are given insight into Satan’s activities here on earth.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Job 1:6

We see in this verse that Satan roams to and fro on the earth. What is his purpose as he roams the earth? 1 Peter 5:8 tells us that “your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”.

In Job’s case we are shown that Satan is the accuser. In Job 1:8, God describes Job saying “there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil”. Satan counters that God has placed a hedge of protection around Job, blessed his work and prospered him. Satan argues that the reason Job is upright and fears God is because of God’s protection and blessing.  Satan challenges God to remove all that Job has and contends that as a result Job, would curse God to His face. And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. Job 1:12”.  Note the Lord’s use of the word “power” in this verse. God acknowledges that Satan has at least limited powers. We are going to explore what powers Satan has and how he is able to exercise those power.

In the verses that follow we begin to get a picture of how powerful Satan is. To quote R. C. Sproul in his book “Unseen Realities Heaven, Hell, Angles and Demons”, “the scriptures portray Satan as incredible strong. He’s no match for God. He is not omnipotent. But, he is potent, and he is more potent than we are.” Let’s take a look at what powers Satan used against Job.

  • Satan begins his assault on Job in verse 13 to 15, by inciting the Sabeans to raid the older brother’s house stealing 1,000 oxen, 500 donkeys and slaughtering the servants. We see that Satan is able to influence and control godless people and leaders.
  • Satan apparently is able to control the lightning because verse 16 states, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
  • Next he incites the Chaldeans to attack stealing all the camels and killing the servants in verse 17, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” Again he influences and controls godless people.
  • In verses 18 and 19 Satan again takes control of the natural forces and causes a great wind. While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

Satan’s assault came through human and “natural” forces. In each case God “permitted” Satan to utilize these powers to accomplish his purpose. I have studied the book of Job off and on for 40 years and have pondered many times over why God allowed Satan to attack Job. During Satan’s attack on Job, his 10 children and many servants were killed, which I find troubling. While God protects Job, his children were not. We are left with no explanation. Were the children not righteous as Job is?  All I have been able to discern is that God was testing Job by allowing Satan to oppress him. In the end, Job passes the test and God rewards him with twice what he had at the start.

In today’s world, when we hear of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and etc., we say that it was “An Act of God”. The Bible records the flood of Noah, where God wipes out the entire world’s population other than Noah and his family. He sent the angel of death to kill the first born in the last plague in Egypt. These two examples are obviously acts of God’s judgment over evil. Many times the Israelite’s were told by God to kill all of the inhabitants as they entered the Promised Land. In those cases He uses man to execute judgment.

I have long struggled with the idea that God causes all of these kinds of events that many times kills tens of thousands of people. For example, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 228,000 people really tested my faith. I simply could not comprehend how a loving God could wipe out that may people, many of which were Christians. I have trouble accepting that such events are “acts of God”, Jehovah God, the creator of the Universe. While we believe that Jehovah God is sovereign over the earth and universe, it would seem evident that He allows for an agent of evil, we know as Satan, to have some limited power in this earthly realm. As we continue we are going to explore how Satan was able to attain his powers.

As I write this, the entire world is under assault by the Covid-19 pandemic. To date we have seen over 8 million cases and the global death toll is approaching 500,000 with no end in sight. The true source of this virus is not well understood. Some believe it is a mutated virus from bats. This begs to question if satanic powers have the ability to alter genetic code? What are the sources of all diseases from the common cold, to SARS, Ebola and all the diseases that plague mankind? Has Satan got the ability to manipulate DNA such that previously, harmless to humans diseases, suddenly becomes capable of infecting humans.

Others contend that it was man made, manufactured through genetic manipulation in Chinese labs operated by the Chinese Communist Party, quite possibly for use as a biological weapon. The Chinese Communist Party, being one of the most evil regimes on the face of the earth, is obviously a major puppet of Satan. Did Satan use his puppets in the Chinese Communist Party to create the Covid-19 virus causing this latest pandemic? I personally am of the opinion that this is exactly what occurred because, as I have read about Covid-19, the amount of alteration of its genetic code to make this bat born virus contagious to humans is too complex to have occurred in nature. Papers published by a Chinese Geneticist from 2009 to 2017 document how she was working on understanding how to make bat virus capable of infecting humans proves that this lab was working on this kind of research.

All I have been able to conclude is somehow within God’s grand design, He allows or permits Satan to cause these kind of natural disasters and influence man to commit evil acts as part of the Cosmic Drama that we mere humans are not allowed to see. As in Job’s case, it seems that God tests each and every one of us to some degree. We also see this with Abraham when he was told to sacrifice Isaac. For believers, this testing is not for God, because He knows all. Rather, it is for each and every one of us, individually, to help us prove our faith in Him is real.

The Fall of Man Entails Far More Than we Realize.

One of the things that impresses me the most about God is the extent and effort He went to in the creation of the Earth and Cosmos. I have long been fascinated with the creation story. As I contemplate the amazing intelligence God exhibits and the effort He went through to create everything, that contemplation literally forces me to bow before Him in worship. To consider that all He did was to create a physical home for mankind to live in fellowship with Him is so mind boggling.

To start we need to ask and answer the question, what was God’s intended plan for man’s role in the creation? In Genesis 1:26-28 it says, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Verse 26 states that God said “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our Likeness”.  In Luke 3:38, the genealogy of Jesus concludes with “Adam, son of God”. We see Adam, the first man referred to as son of God. Earlier, in Job 1 we saw an interesting statement. “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” We note that the heavenly angels, including Satan, also are referred to as “sons of God”.

So it seems that we are to conclude that, the heavenly spiritual beings, and earth bound mankind, are both considered “sons of God”. We will come back to the heavenly “sons of God” later. Let’s first explore man’s role as “sons of God”.

The unique characteristic of man is that he is created in God’s image and likeness.  Thus, mankind is God’s image bearer here on earth. The fact that mankind bears God’s image must not be overlooked. Bearing God’s image carries with it huge responsibility and significance placed on mankind. Now we will explore what God’s plan was and is for his earthly image bearers, to rule and have dominion, under His oversight, over His earthly creation.

In Genesis 1:26 God proclaims:

  • Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
  • “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Three key words appear in these verses, fill, dominion and subdue. God effectively handed over dominion of the earth to Adam and Eve. Adam named the animals, tended the garden. His job description was to rule over God’s creation here on earth. One wonders if Adam had an understanding of that role or the levity of that fact. He held in his hands the destiny of human kind and the deed (dominion over) to all the earth. At the fall, it seems that dominion over the earth was handed over to Satan. We see several examples of this in scripture.

          Satan Usurped the Realm of Adam’s Authority.

As a result of Adam’s disobedience of God’s command not to eat from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”, Satan was able to steal dominion over the earth from Adam. The result has been far reaching right up to today. Here are some examples that support the idea that Satan holds dominion over the earth.

One of the most convincing is Satan’s temptation of Jesus:
Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve. Matthew 4:8-10

Satan describes the earth and says he will give it to Jesus (essentially claiming ownership/dominion) if Jesus would fall down and worship him. Jesus’ response is that you should worship the Lord your God and Him only.  Note that Jesus makes no argument about Satan’s apparent claim of ownership/dominion.

The verse in Ephesians 6:12 cited at the beginning of this chapter is one of the key verses.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

We are told that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age and spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. What we see in this verse is that Satan’s kingdom is divided up into hierarchies over which he is the supreme ruler over his minions. Much like the pyramid organizational chart of a corporation’s management, there are overseers that manage subordinate managers and groups.

We see evidence of a similar hierarchy in God’s heavenly kingdom in Daniel 10:13. In prior verses, Daniel had prayed for knowledge of what was to come with his people. He had waited 21 days and still no answer to his prayer. On the 22nd day he sees a vision in which an angel comes with the answer to his prayer. Daniel is told:

“Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.” Daniel 10:12-14.

So we see that the angel was dispatched the first day that Daniel prayed. However, the angle tells Daniel that he (the angel) had been delayed twenty-one days by the prince of the kingdom of Persia. Furthermore, we are told that Michael, one of God’s chief princes came to help the angel. Just who are these “princes”? Apparently, the prince of the kingdom of Persia is one of Satan’s minions, a fallen angel, from Satan’s realm, that prevented God’s messenger angel from coming to Daniel. Daniel is told that Michael from God’s kingdom comes to the messenger angel’s aid and helps him get past this of the kingdom of Persia. From this we can discern that within both God’s and Satan’s realms the angelic “sons of God” are organized by rank and, as in the case of the Prince of the kingdom of Persia, rule over regions of the earth.

So let’s consider who this “prince of the kingdom of Persia” is?

  • Daniel is in exile in Persia. He is praying to God asking for understanding of a vision he had.
  • As soon as the prayer left his lips, God dispatches a messenger angel to take the interpretation of the vision to Daniel.
  • The messenger angel is detained by this “prince of the kingdom of Persia”.
  • Rewording the statement to, “prince” over the kingdom of Persia, may make more sense. Remember, we are dealing in the unseen spiritual world. This prince is one of Satan’s high ranking “princes” that is apparently assigned to rule over the kingdom of Persia.
  • We are told the messenger angel is unable to overcome until “Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me”. Note that Michael is one of the “chief princes” of God’s kingdom. So we see that God has princes in His kingdom also and furthermore, Michael is a chief prince. We get a picture that as chief prince Michael rules over a vast portion of God’s kingdom.

We begin to develop a picture here of the idea that, in Satan’s realm (if we could see into it with our human eyes) various princes are appointed to rule over certain areas of the earth. We get a picture of regions, cities, empires over the surface of the earth each having a ruling prince ruling over them.

The last two verses of Daniel 10, verses 20 and 21 provide further support of this concept.

Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince. Daniel 10:20-21

After the angel has delivered the message to Daniel, he informs Daniel that he must return to fight with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. The angel goes on to state when he goes forth, that the prince of Greece will come. We see here that there is apparently another one of Satan’s princes that rules over Greece. We know from history that Greece will eventually overthrow Persia.

Verse 21 contains an interesting comment. “No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.” On his own, it seems that this messenger angel is unable to overcome these demonic princes. It is only with the help of Michael that they overcome the demonic prince of the kingdom of Persia.

Far more intriguing is the last three words in verse 21! What does he mean by the phrase “Michael your prince”? Daniel is a descendant of Israel, God’s chosen people. I get the impression in God’s kingdom, that Michael is the prince over Israel. As we noted earlier, Michael is one of the “chief princes” of God’s kingdom.

Some writers have noted that God’s Heavenly kingdom is organized with a hierarchy with various angels having various levels of power. It is further noted that Satan before his fall, appears to have sat second in charge under God, over His kingdom. Scripture describes three great “angel princes” (archangels) in God’s kingdom prior to Satan’s fall with Lucifer (who became Satan) possibly ranking the highest.

  • Lucifer, called the “Shining One” — Isaiah 14:12. Called “the anointed cherub” — Ezekiel 28: 14, which leads some scholars to speculate he ranked highest.
    • The name Lucifer (which is of Latin origin) is only used this one time in Isaiah 14:12 in reference to Satan. He is referred to as the devil, “ancient Serpent”, “serpent of old”  (Revelation 12:9), “dragon” in Revelation 12:9 and 20:2, “Beelzebub” and “Beelzebul” (Matthew 12:27), “Belial” (2 Corinthians 6:15), and “tempter” (Matthew 4:3). He is also referred to as the “god of this world/age” (2 Corinthians 4:4), “prince of this world” (John 12:31), and “father of lies” (John 8:44).
  • Gabriel, called “God is Mighty”—Daniel 8:16; 9:21: Luke 1:26
  • Michael, called “Who is like God” – Dan 10:13, 21: 12:1: Jude 9: Rev. 12:7
  • Only two angels are given names in the Bible. Gabriel and Michael with the latter being designated as an “archangel”.

It should come as no surprise that after Satan’s fall that he would also organize his followers with the same hierarchical structure. Remember that Satan has no power to create. That is God’s unique ability. Satan can only copy or emulate God’s grand design.

After Satan’s fall it seems that Gabriel is elevated to the number one position.

God’s Families
Earlier, we briefly mentioned the heavenly (spiritual) “sons of God” and the earthly physical “sons of God”. We are going take a step back to the beginning and look deeper into the origin of these “sons of God”. There are literally tons of books written speculating on the exact order in which God created His Kingdom.

  • Most all will teach that the angels were created before man.
  • The majority of Bible scholars teach that angels were created before the earth and the universe.
  • Others believe that angels were created sometime during the creation of the earth, inside of the “Six Days” of creation but before man.
  • Lastly, God created man.

God’s Heavenly Realm (Family) — We will see these beings referred to as “sons of God” many times in the Bible.

  • We are given no idea how many angels God created but most scholars believe they number in the multiples of billions.
  • These beings are all created so they have a beginning.
  • We are told that they will live eternally.
  • They have a free will just like man.
  • Within the ranks of these heavenly “sons of God” we see archangels and angels suggesting levels of rank and or power.
  • With these ranks and powers archangels are seen to have higher levels of responsibility or areas of jurisdiction.
  • We begin to develop a picture of a Heavenly Council through which God oversees His Heavenly realm.
  • As we discussed a few paragraphs back, we noted that Lucifer, who became Satan, held the highest rank.
  • The great heavenly rift.
    • Lucifer’s sin of pride resulted in his being cast out of heaven. Isaiah 14:12-15
      • He wanted to be God and take over the universe.
    • With him we are told he took a third of the angels. Revelation 12:4
    • The Bible doesn’t reveal exactly when he fell.
      • Some scholars believe it was long before the creation of the physical universe.
      • Other scholars theorize the fall came sometime during the “six days” of creation.
      • Another dominant view is that Satan fell sometime after the sixth day, but before the temptation.
        • This view is supported by Genesis 1:31-2:1 “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” If everything was good at the end of the sixth day, the theory is that Satan could not have fallen yet.
      • Yet another small group believes that his fall happened at the moment Adam fell to his temptation.
    • Result is Satan and his fallen angels became enemies of God seeking to destroy God’s creation. Especially mankind.

God’s Earthly Realm (Family) — At the end of the “Six Days” God creates man. Earlier, we discussed that God effectively handed over dominion of the earth to Adam and Eve. They are instructed to be fruitful and multiply. Adam is placed over the physical Earthly realm.

 “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28.

It is evident that God’s plan was and ultimately will be for man to rule, have dominion, over the Earthly realm. But we find that in the third chapter of Genesis man succumbs to Satan’s temptation and falls.

  • God told Adam that if they ate of the tree they would surely die. This death was in three stages:
    • Instant spiritual death — Genesis 2:17. “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
    • Physical Death — Genesis 5:5, “So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.”
    • Eternal Separation from God – Revelation 20:14-15. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
  • In 2 Corinthians 10 we are told we do not war against flesh but rather strongholds. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
  • Through Adam, all of us, his decedents have inherited Adam’s nature, sons of disobedience, commonly known as Original Sin or Sin Nature. And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. Ephesians 2:1-3

This results in Adam’s fall and a curse is put on all of his descendants. Furthermore, as we discussed earlier, because of the fall Adam relinquished his dominion over the Earth to Satan. As descendants of Adam we live under the influence of an evil impostor dictator, Satan that is doing everything within his power to keep us separated from God. Thankfully, God had a plan of redemption from before He started His creation. That plan was through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus, He would restore mankind to our rightful place of holding dominion over the earth.  He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. Revelation 21:6-7

Revelation 22 describes Eden restored. Those whose name is found in the Lamb’s Book of Life will reside with God forever. For those of us that have trusted in Jesus have that great hope that we will one day reign with Him on the New Earth.

Satan’s Counterfeit Family – Satan is a created being, unable to create, only copy. He is a counterfeiter that at best emulates God’s design. It is not surprising then that we see his evil kingdom of darkness structured much the same as God’s heavenly kingdom with demons with varying levels of power and rank. Satan rules over this kingdom of fallen angels.

  • Satan rules over this kingdom of fallen angels known as demons.
  • As noted earlier, it is believed that as many as a third of the angels followed Satan at the fall. This is vaguely hinted at in Revelation 12:3-4 “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.”  Being that there were estimates that God originally created “billions” of angels, that means that Satan control many hundreds of millions of demons.
  • As we saw earlier in Daniel 10 there are glimpses of two members of Satan’s army revealed as prince of Persia and prince of Greece. Scripture gives these two demons the title of prince so one can assume they are of fairly high rank.
  • In Matthew 17:14-21 we see evidence of some demons being more powerful than others. In Jesus’ absence, the disciples had been trying to cast a demon from a boy. They had been unsuccessful. The boy’s father pleads with Jesus to cast the demon out of the boy which he does. Later the disciples privately asked Jesus why they had not been able to cast the demon out. We know from other scriptures that the 72 came back excited that even the demons obeyed them when the disciples cast the out. They were puzzled as to why they could cast this particular one out. Jesus’ response seems to indicate that some demons are stronger and thus more difficult to cast out.  “So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:20-21. Verse 21 would indicate that the particular demon, being more powerful required prayer and fasting.
  • In Ephesians 6:12 we read that we “wrestle against Principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”.
  • At this point it is important to note that with exception of the verses noted above, the Bible is virtually silent in regards to Satan’s kingdom here on Earth. Revelation reveals a war going on the heavenly realm that we cannot see.  We can only speculate how Satan’s army is organized.
  • C.S. Lewis in his book the “Screwtape Letters” gives us a fictional look into the world of Darkness. We are told of a senior demon instructing a subordinate demon on the methods of deceiving mankind. How accurately Lewis portraits the demonic realm we don’t know.

There are a handful of Christian scholars that have written on this topic. Many of them lay at the fringes of Biblical thinking. Many have taken great liberties in their interpretations of how the satanic realm functions. Many have used non-Biblical writings from Jewish Greek Septuagint, the book of Enoch and the Apocrypha to support their theories. These writings are generally not recognized by Christian scholars as being inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, and authoritative Word of God. I want to tread very carefully to not make the Bible say things it doesn’t. Our goal is to look behind the curtain of the Great Cosmic Drama to try to understand the enemy we face.

The Principalities are the upper ranked demons governing and ruling over other Principalities and Powers. The Powers could be viewed as Generals commanding the ground troops carrying out the directives from the higher ranked Principalities.

In the next chapter we are going to explore how these Principalities and Powers attempt to maintain dominion over the earth and mankind.

Goto Chapter 3