15.Against whom are the saints wrestling?

Against rulers, against authorities, against the world rulers of the darkness of the present age, against the spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies.

Apparently the rebellion of angels against the rule of the Father included many angelic rulers and dignitaries of high rank. These intelligent and capable authorities and rulers were cast down from the Presence of God and bound in chains of darkness, losing all their brightness and glory.

The rebellious angels rule the world from their positions in the air above the surface of the earth. Their king, Satan, is termed "the prince [ruler] of the power [authority] of the air" (Ephesians 2:2).

Human life on the earth would be altogether different if it were not for the ceaseless activity of the wicked angels. What are their motives for deceiving people into sin and rebellion against God? Why did the Father allow them to infect mankind with the virus of sin and rebellion?

No doubt these ruling spirits are driven by their chains of darkness, the bondages of lust and self-will, to keep attempting to destroy the heirs of salvation. Wickedness begets wickedness. The human being who lusts or smokes or drinks alcohol is driven by these chains—sometimes against his own will.

Divine justice is perfect. Those who choose to sin become the slaves of the sins they have chosen. Our choices are so important! They determine our eternal destiny.

He who loves the works of Satan will be filled with the works of Satan and with the consequences of those works for eternity. He who loves God and the works of God will be filled with the works of God and with the consequences of those works for eternity.

Each human being chooses Heaven or Hell while he or she is alive on the earth. We decide whether we want to live among the righteous or among the wicked. God gives us what we choose.

Perhaps the Father permitted the evil angels to enter the garden of Eden so that mankind would have a choice. Adam and Eve had a choice. They and their descendants have been filled with the sin and rebellion they chose, and with the consequences of their sin and rebellion against God.

Each person chooses according to the desires of his or her heart. What is your choice, dear reader, Heaven or Hell? You may select and possess what you desire.

When you die physically you will go to live forever among the spirits whose companionship you enjoy. The doctrine that a person can love Hell, fellowship with Hell, cleave to Hell while on earth, and then go to Paradise when he dies because he has made a verbal assent to the Christian salvation, is unworthy of any human being to teach or to believe. Those who are so wretched as to believe such a lie will reap the consequences of their choice.

The great error of Christian thinking is the belief that we escape Hell and enter Paradise solely on the basis of a profession of belief in Christ. Those who imagine such a form of redemption are not thinking clearly.

Heaven and Hell are not distinguished primarily by the kind of environment they have but by the kind of people who are there. If we love God we belong with the people of God. The people of God finally will be dwelling in Paradise, for that is where they belong. Our placement is not the result of making a profession of Christ, except as that profession changes us into a godly person, a person who loves God and seeks to please Him.

It does us little good to call Jesus, Lord, Lord unless we do what He says. It is not calling Jesus Lord that builds our house on the rock, it is doing His will that creates the unmovable foundation.

If we do not love God we do not enjoy the company of the people who do love God. Therefore the hope of entering the company of such people on the basis of a statement of belief is faulty. The church members who love the world, who are self-centered, self-seeking, are easily judged for what they truly are by any spiritual person—in fact, by the whole world.

Why would a worldly believer want to enter Paradise? To escape the flames? The truth is, he brings the flames of Hell wherever he goes while the godly individual brings the Throne of God wherever he goes. The hypocrite is in Hell already, although it is not as yet manifest. The godly are in Paradise already, although it is not as yet manifest.

For a worldly Christian to enter Paradise would be to bring sin, discord, and self-seeking into Paradise. Paradise would turn into Hell. Conversely, for a servant of the Lord to enter Hell would be to bring the Throne of God into Hell.

The current Christian understanding of salvation is an invention of the minds of unspiritual people. It is a significant error in many respects. It is time now for the Lord’s holy remnant to cast from their thinking the glib, heartless form of salvation that rests on a verbal assent to certain "key" passages of the Scriptures, and to return to the God of Jacob, to the Consuming Fire of Israel. We of the twentieth century have been very badly deceived!

Let us cast off the current deception. Those who love and practice righteousness will live forever among the righteous. Those who love and practice wickedness will live forever among the wicked. Such is the way of Divine justice, of Kingdom reality.

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still (Revelation 22:11).

It appears to be true that the typical Christian believer is not oriented correctly toward Ephesians 6:12. Except for a relatively small number of Christians, the churches behave as though the Christian warfare is directed toward human beings who hold ideas different from ours. This is an error and has unfruitful consequences.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).

Our warfare is not against the errors of people or of human institutions or governments. All human government is evil to some extent.

Our enemy is not mankind or the failings of mankind. Our enemy, he against whom we wrestle constantly, consists of angels of high rank who at one time followed Satan in rebellion against the Father. These angels never were and never will be human beings. The fact that they work through human beings is beside the point.

If every sinner on the earth were slain, sin would continue as before in the spirit realm. The sin and rebellion is not originating with people but with wicked angelic rulers. Programs designed to promote human righteousness are doomed before they are set in motion. They are doomed because they will be wrecked by sinful humans who are deceived by angelic majesties. The wicked heavenly authorities do not want righteousness practiced in the earth! Human beings who practice wickedness are, for the most part, the unwitting dupes of angels who are far superior to them in wisdom and power.

Human beings who allow themselves to be duped by the fallen angels are heading toward a destiny so horrible as to be beyond description, just as is true of Judas.

It is Satan who informs people that God is too loving to create an eternal Hell. Satan will turn on his dupes the moment they die. Then it is too late for the human being. He has made the wrong choices and will suffer torment for eternity. This is what the Scriptures declare and they cannot be changed.

It is obvious to the thoughtful person that the manner in which a battle is fought depends to a great extent on the nature of the enemy.

If the enemy consists of bacteria, microscopes and drugs are used. If the enemy consists of wild animals, as in the case of pioneer life in the wilderness, rifles and traps are used. One would not use a microscope and penicillin when fighting wolves and bears, nor would a rifle be used against bacteria. The nature of the enemy determines the weapons and the strategies.

If our enemy were people we could use education, science, military weapons and strategies, and propaganda. Education, science, military weapons and strategies, propaganda, large groups of people, tremendous amounts of money are totally ineffective against fallen angels.

What weapons and tactics are effective in the war against fallen angels?

Prayer, the Scriptures, faith and trust in the Word of the Father, the body and blood of Christ, the willingness of the disciple to lay down his life so Christ may live in him, the power of the Holy Spirit, strict obedience to the Father’s will, a sanctified, pure, clean, holy personality. These are the weapons and tactics that are effective in the war against rebellious, fallen angels.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death (Revelation 12:11).

Hell has only one fear—the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father. The churches can, if they wish, devote time, money, talents, human competence and industry in vast amounts. But Hell continues to have no fear of human beings or what they can accomplish.

But when one person sets aside his or her own life so that Christ may come forth, Hell trembles! Trembles! Trembles!

Hell fears the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The fallen angels are terrified of God, not of the churches. When Christ is living in the members of the Body of Christ, Hell is greatly threatened.

Knowing this, we can understand why every strategy that can be conceived by the genius of Hellish rulers is employed to prevent the Christian people from surrendering their own lives and plans to the Lord. For when they do, Christ appears and brings forth His own Life and plans in the churches.

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