Two kingdoms one Earth

So what are these two kingdoms about and what does the bible tell us about them?  Jesus said in Matthew 12:26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?   So we know from Jesus that Satan has a kingdom.

Firstly we must recognise that they are not equal in power. God’s kingdom has angels and archangels who are sent to earth to minister God’s commands. So there is a heirarchy in Heaven where the throne of God is. Satan is a created being so Satan’s kingdom is an inferior kingdom and one in darkness. (often referred to as the kingdom of darkness). So where is Satan’s kingdom? Where is his throne? Again we have some information in the bible. In Rev 2:13-16 it states in verse 13 .. ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

This is in Pergamum which derives from the Greek “Per Gamos” (Mixed Marriage). It was in an ancient Greek city called Mysia.  Now for the purpose of this article what we need to focus on is that it was on this Earth.

Paul the apostle tells us in 2 Cor 12:2 that there are three heavens. In Genesis the Lord formed the heavens and the earth so the heavens were formed by the Lord. It remains an area of debate if the second heaven is the “air” above us or above the stratosphere or even a dimension but in essence there remain 3 heavens. We also see in Daniel 10, that there is opposition to God’s angelic messenger so although Daniels prayer got through to God, the angel that was sent with the reply had to battle a spiritual being called the prince of Persia to get to him. (Prince in this context means ruler).

This likely explains that the second heaven is between the heaven of God (God’s dwelling place) and the earth’s “heaven” – all that is above the earth and that one has to traverse through the second heaven to get to earth or vice versa.  This heaven is where the spiritual battles take place for the souls of mankind and the bible is clear to mention that spiritual princes (or rulers ) exist over kingdoms and Satan as the prince (or ruler) of this world – John 12:31. Note that Daniels prayers got through without hindrance, so should ours.

So where did Satan and these demons come from? Well the bible actually tells us that Satan (which means deceiver) was actually a cherub angel being called Lucifer (which means bearer of light) in God’s third heaven. He was actually good but suddenly wickedness was found in him and as a result he turned one third of God’s angels in heaven to follow him and (and thereby become demons) so God expelled them all to earth  where they are best thought of as squatters. In the process removing the title of Lucifer and giving him his current title of Satan. These squatters have decided to influence mankind towards evil and destruction, starting with Adam and Eve. So this is where Satan and his kingdom come from and there is a hierarchy of demons and spiritual beings in his kingdom just as there is in God’s kingdom. You see, Satan tries to counterfeit God all the time but can’t as he is a created being and inferior in power and in every way.

So I think some may wonder why God did not just destroy Satan and his demons when they rebelled in heaven rather than sending them to earth.  The bible gives us little clues but anything I say here will be supposition and not definitively biblical. If you want to know what I think you can ask the question at the bottom of this article.

In the fullness of time God will send Satan and his demons into the Lake of fire from which they will never return.

As for now, the squatters are influencing mankind into evil ways using temptation and sin as the primary method (there are others). So we all have sinned so are all vulnerable to his influence even when we become Christians and get taken out of his kingdom. As we shall see later unless we keep short accounts with God and confess our sins we will remain vulnerable to his attacks. There was a man called Job that lived many centuries before Christ was born and he was known as an upright man who shunned evil. In his specific case Satan needed permission from God to attack him. 

The only time Satan needs to go to God to get permission to attack someone is if they are protected by God because of their obedience to God they are in “that secret place” of psalm 91 just as Job was however if we have unrepented sin in our life or have broken God’s spiritual laws or dabbled in the occult and there are many ifs, then WE have given him permission (opened a door) through which he or his demons can launch an attack on us. This is one reason I believe why God says in Deuteronomy 18:9-12 “…..Let no one be found among you who …..engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.” It is also why we should keep short accounts with God. Do not be deceived, that you don’t have any gates open to the devil. For example, pride is very easy to miss in ourselves and we are not the best placed to see it.

Still think the devil has no hold over you? Jesus said in John 14:30 “I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me.” Some versions say “he has no hold over me”. Of course the devil has no hold over the sinless son of God. We, however are not sinless. The righteousness of Christ is for our salvation. We are not made perfect but are being made perfect. How far we are along that journey will determine how right we are in God’s sight and how much we are protected.

Now Satan is a squatter on the earth along with his fallen angels (now known as demons). His throne is typified by Pergammon but not limited to one place on the earth. Satan has to go to and fro and walk upon the earth so is not omnipresent or omnipotent. He focuses his attention on people of influence like kings and leaders and longs for them to trip up so that he can then attack them and thereby influence the “followers”. He has ways, tried and tested ways over centuries to cause that fall into sin. The lusts of the flesh and the pride of life are two but there are many others. A leader that is not accountable to anyone ( or says that they are but in reality fails to listen), is already compromised. When King David committed adultery God sent Nathan the prophet to show him his error. Fortunately David listened to Nathan. God uses His prophets to correct error then and now. That’s why it says in Ephesians 4:11-12 that God gave some to be prophets. If you do not believe there is such a gift as prophecy you are already compromised.

Please listen carefully, even if you think you have no unconfessed sins or failings that expose you to the devil attacks and you have a hedge about you like Job, Satan can still get at you through your loved ones. Its an old ploy and he used it against Job. What was it that Job’s wife said? “curse God and die” remember what Satan said to God “he will surely curse you to your face if you …” Do you see how much you need God’s protection? I plead with you to keep short accounts with God, repent and stay close to Jesus, continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit and do not grieve the Spirit of God, do not lose your “peace”. That “peace” is from the Holy Spirit to guide you. If you lose it you have gone wrong somewhere, so back track. Remember that the fruits of the Spirit are just that – fruits not manufactured abilities so love, joy, peace, faithfulness, forbearance, goodness, kindness, gentleness and self-control, you don’t get one of them without the others. I do understand and agree that people both Christians and non-Christians will exhibit these qualities in some degree or other as we are made in the image of God but what is specific to the Holy Spirit infilling is that these fruits will come altogether and automatically driving the believer into doing God’s work here on earth for His kingdom and not for selfish ambitions. As an example, gentleness will both protect you from evil and be evident in all aspects of your dealings with creatures or mankind. So if you can shout in anger at your wife or friend and then go to a church meeting and be gentle as pie to your fellow brothers and sisters, you do not have the fruit of gentleness in you which implies you are not full of the Holy Spirit. Some people are naturally gentle from the way they were brought up. For them the fruit that may present a problem is faithfulness. in this case they may waver in doing the right thing because of the fear of man. A brief example would be for them to be in a group of peers that are railing against their pastor and the gentle cannot bring themselves to say, “sorry but I refuse to be drawn into this sort of character assassination” for fear of rejection by the group. Another way of saying this is peer pressure or group think. However if the Holy Spirit is infilling such a believer then it becomes possible for them to stand up against their peers when they need to and not fear the consequences. Even though they have the fruit of gentleness – faithfulness takes over at that point. Again we see how being filled with Holy Spirit will produce all the fruits not just one in all believers no matter what they lack in the natural man or woman.

We are born into God’s Kingdom, thanks to Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross and through no deeds or righteousness of our own, therefore we have a responsibility while on this earth to ensure we do with our lives what God wants, because as we do that, together, the body of Christ on earth will be built up and God’s kingdom will become more evident in the world and the kingdom of darkness, Satan’s kingdom will be diminished. In this way Satan is restrained and he cannot do all he wants to do. This involves each believer in keeping close to God so they can hear His voice, in their heart or audibly, perhaps, at other times through circumstances and also through His prophets. If you have lost that you need to repent and turn to Jesus and earnestly ask Him to take you by the hand so that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit and get to know the Father in a deeper more personal way. You see, when you do get to know the Father, you will discover the reality of Jesus’s words “If you have seen me you have seen the Father” and ” I and the Father are one”.

We have, through the scriptures seen how Jesus treated sinful people and His own followers. We see that He showed love where others wanted blood. He had compassion on the crowds, ” sheep without a shepherd”. One of Satan’s ploy’s in the world is to get everyone to think that the evil he has done, has been done by God and therefore demonstrate to people (including Christians) that God is unloving, unjust, a tyrant and an Ogre. Some Christians inadvertently support Satan by blaming God for things like disasters just to appease their sense of injustice in the world and also because they believe God is all powerful and therefore could have stopped that evil. In their simplistic thinking this amounts to God allowing it to happen for some unknown “good” reason. They then set about trying to think what that “good” reason could be. This thinking leaves no room for the devil being culpable for anything as God has him on a long leash. They do this by misusing scripture (just as Satan did when tempting Jesus in the wilderness) and convincing themselves that God is just in doing these things because some higher good will come out of it. They guess at what that might be and even ask around for any news that might bolster that belief.

So Satan uses unbelievers that have dabbled in the occult as well as those controlled by sin (compromised Christians or otherwise) to do his bidding and unleash suffering onto the world such as wars, murders, mass destruction, earthquakes (many sparked off by underground nuclear testing) famines (caused by mans greed with food and wastage and by tampering with nature via global warming causing droughts and flooding) and pandemics (caused by mans tampering with nature, be it wet markets or virology labs). The kingdom of darkness wants death and destruction. If Satan can blame it on God that’s a bonus. In fact the way some think and talk, the devil is hardly mentioned. Satan and his hordes are happy with that as they want to remain hidden and unexposed. They can operate better that way. Jesus gave us authority over every evil spirit and Satan but we must first be submitted to God before we resist the devil. You are not submitted if you are in sin or grieving the Holy Spirit or disobedient.

Broken relationships are the hallmark of the devils work. The bible teaches us to live at peace with everyone as far as it depends on us. We can only make our step of peace towards someone, if they reject it we cant make them live at peace with us. If they are Christians then pray for them. God will deal with the troublemaker as this can cause deep seated problems in the Church. If they are not believers then pray for them to have their eyes opened to the truth of the Kingdom of God, that they may repent and confess Jesus as Lord and be saved. In that way someone is snatched from the kingdom of darkness and rescued from it into the Kingdom of God. Once saved they will be able through the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive and make peace with you.

Now I want to talk a bit about what’s called the deliverance ministry. The church has largely abandoned this area of ministry mainly because they fear making mistakes and labeling someone as “possessed”. They forget that Jesus and his disciples (not just the apostles) delivered people from the power of the devil and by so doing, healed that person, sometimes that healing was being put back in their right mind. If you need to proof from scripture that the Church should be doing this as part of its ministry on earth then read Ephesians Chapter 6 and the Gospels. This is a deep area that I am not experienced in but I will share something of what I know here. For more information please see my article The Deliverance Ministry which has resources for those that want to know more about receiving or practicing this ministry in their Church.

So recognising there are two kingdoms and that they are in opposition and that a war for peoples souls is taking place on the earth we move on to understand that even Christians that have been translated into God’s Kingdom need to be freed from (delivered from ) evil spirits that they have been afflicted with because of either their own past sin or sin passed down the family line or by dabbling in the occult or similar things or by being a victim of such practices (perhaps at a very early age). Everyone comes into contact with temptation while in this world but so did Jesus in the wilderness and other times. This does not mean that they are afflicted by demonic forces. This is the natural state while on this earth but if you find yourself repeatedly giving in to certain temptations then this may indicate you need to be set free from an afflicting evil spirit that has every intention from stopping you becoming effective in the Lord’s service. By effective I mean reaching your true potential and finding your place in the Kingdom of God whether that be administration or helps or prophecy or evangelism or teaching or any other part of the body of Christ. Notice, I didn’t mention aspiring to be a pastor or holding a leadership position in your church as that is a special calling of God. (If you are a leader that has been called by God – I am not talking about you. I am referring to the aspirations of some who see leadership as something to be grasped as the pinnacle of Christian being). Start by being faithful in the small things and God will take you on from there if He wants to.

The devil is very happy to see a Christian run ragged doing many things, going to meetings, involved in committees, running socials or teaching the bible or writing many books just as long as they don’t bring anyone out of his kingdom of darkness. Even prayer meetings can be tolerated if the prayers are not Holy Spirit led and the prayers do not set people free from his bondage or bring down strongholds in the heavenly places over their town or country. As long as there is no discernment in operation, mild bless so and so prayers and please heal so and so prayers will not cause as much damage to his kingdom as the prayer warrior who has discerned in the Spirit the main reason why someone is rejecting Christ or the main cause of the problems facing his or her Church or the main evil spirit that is holding sway over a town or city or country and taking down those strongholds in the power and name of Jesus so that blinded minds AND hearts can hear the voice of the Lord Jesus and be saved. This may require fasting and much prayer walking around the town and your particular church. Gathering for prayer is good and there may be sweet fellowship there and “nice” prayer is better than no prayer  but to effect change in the strongholds over your church town or country prayer needs to be Spirit led and discerning of strongholds over them and their town. A firefighter will tackle the source of the blaze before trying to put out the little fires started by the fallout or embers from the source. (First bind up the strong man).

If you are in a church ask yourself, how many people have been led to the Lord through it? Is everything working as it should? We are not all called to be evangelists like Billy Graham and lead thousands to Christ but we are all called to do the work of an evangelist which is witnessing to our friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues and perhaps strangers along the way. Always be ready to give an answer to those who ask you about the hope you have within you. If you need help in this ask Jesus to help you.

So let me ask, do you think Christians are out of the battle between the two kingdoms because they are in God’s kingdom? Of course not. In fact they become greater targets of Satan’s attacks and any open gates such as unconfessed sins will be exploited to the full. You can only stand by putting on the full armour of God and to do that you need to be taught, preferably by the Holy Spirit or another Christian that has learned how to do that. I have heard many sermons on putting on the armour of God in Ephesians 6 but very few actually teach anything of practical value as they focus on things like “know the word of God, its the sword of the spirit” this is fine, do study God’s word but also please teach on about how to use the sword of the Spirit for deliverance from evil or the attacks of the devil or his demons as this is not usually spelled out. Similarly I heard talks on how the helmet of salvation is important to protect ones head and if you don’t have that on then one blow to the head can take you out of the battle. Please tell me how that helps anyone understand what Paul was teaching about here? The helmet of salvation represents the assurance of salvation. Those who have never lost their assurance of salvation will not know what this is about but one of the first things Satan tries to do when he loses someone from his kingdom is to deceive them into thinking they are not really “saved”. Once the Christian wavers in this area, and there are reasons for that, that person is less effective for God as they lack conviction. One reason for this can be “feelings” the question may arise in ones mind that you don’t “feel” saved or that you don’t feel the same as you did yesterday. This particular individual is prone to this as they are a very “feeling” type of person. (There is another kind of person who is very intellectual who suffers the opposite problems). Now rather than go into a long sermon on what is the armour and how do you put on this armour, please see my article How to Put On The Armour of God

Let me just give you one more example. Take the questions that arise in ones mind, like doubts or fears, they are most likely from a “fiery dart” from the devil or one of his demons who specialise in that. How do you extinguish this fear or doubt? If he has fired this at a believer who has yet to understand from the word of God that faith can put out this fiery dart, how will this dear soul deal with it? We need to help each other. This brings me nicely to the point that one needs the whole armour of God and for a new believer that means being discipled by mature BUT Spirit filled Christians. They can make up for the lack of knowledge of the word of God and Spiritual discernment and faith required. In fact they should be well versed in the whole armour of God and see the particular need of this spiritual young-ling (physical age does not matter) and help them address their points of weakness. If faith, then how to strengthen their faith. If knowledge of the word then how to read the word.

You see, this battle is not to be fought on our own. Divide and conquer is a well known strategy of many commanders in battle. That’s why we were given gifts by Jesus when he conquered the evil forces arrayed against us and He even made a spectacle of them. (Ephesians 4:8). Jesus wants His body on earth to be built up by each member doing its part. If one member suffers we all suffer as we are all part of one body so these gifts help restore unity. I have noticed that those who are of no repute in the world’s eyes, janitors, cleaners, etc seem to be given the more wondrous gifts. See (1 Corinthians 12:24). Don’t reject your brother or sister, even if you disagree with them on some non gospel issue, as we all have a part to play in this battle. If your church has a problem – pray for it! If God tells you to leave – then leave graciously.

Finally in this battle for your soul, sickness can be inflicted on you by the devil. Some Christians I know do not give the devil much credence or thought. Thinking of him as a nuisance that God has on a long leash. The devil is happy about that as the less they recognise his effect on the world and their own lives the less they can do about it. They end up blaming God actively or passively for everything anyway. The most erring statements they make is that God has allowed this or that disaster. So lets come to a more biblical view.

Jesus came across people with illness and deformity, e.g leprosy or the woman bent double or the deaf and the blind or dumb and healed them mainly by casting out demons or evil spirits. In some cases the dead were raised. What we should note is the devil had afflicted many of these people and Jesus alludes in one case that the person should go and sin no more lest something worse happen to them.  Jesus is not saying that God inflicted this illness on them but that sin opened the door for the affliction. A  modern day example of this would be that a chain smoker gets lung cancer. Is that God’s fault? We wouldn’t say so.

The other thing to note about evil spirits is that if you do pray against them you are in much better position than if you don’t and you won’t if you don’t believe they exist.

There will be a final battle between God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom which is explored in Daniel, Zechariah, Habakkuk, Haggai, Isaiah and Revelation, resulting in the defeat and sacking of his kingdom to the lake of fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels says the word of God. Until then we fight the good fight, we finish our race, we keep the faith.