By Bill Randles
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:4-8)
[A]nd of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. (Daniel 7:20-22)
We are all undergoing, whether we believe and acknowledge it or not, a tremendously intense level of spiritual warfare such as never seen before in history.
The Bible tells us that this intensive, high-level spiritual warfare would be one of the characteristics of the last days. The book of Revelation warns us that in the very last times, the Abyss, i.e. “the bottomless pit” will be opened and the earth will be inundated by a locust like Demon invasion, sent to torment all men. Paul warns us that in the last days demons will be teaching people doctrine and that those doctrines would even infiltrate the church, causing many to fall away.
God is allowing evil to come out into the open and to have a last Hurrah, a final opportunity to fully manifest itself, in the sight of all men, offering to fallen and deceived and Christ-rejecting mankind the kind of “world order” that Satan and his evil Spirits have long promised, as an option to the promise of the Kingdom of God.
This is truly (their) Hour, and the power of darkness.
Thus shall Satan be given temporary permission to “Make war” on the Saints,( The Holy People), and to overcome them . . . a seeming string of “victories” for we are told that the Dragon wears many crowns (Revelation 12:3), and we shall realize soon that all worldly power and influence is revealed to be at the service of the Beast, utterly turned over to it.
The Saints will have no worldly influence, they will be powerless to defend themselves when attacked in this world, and they will be impotent to set the record straight when they are lied about by the Synagogue of Satan. We must hold to the truth and patiently await the ultimate triumph of the Seed of the woman. In many cases, we will win by losing for we “love not our lives unto death.”
It is time for we who love and profess Jesus in this world to realize the spiritual warfare which wages about us, that we might engage properly. We need to see spiritually and to think from a spiritual perspective.
Our war isn’t against flesh and blood, and people are not our true enemies. We can pray for those who have set themselves against us and overcome any evil they do against us with good.
The adversary, Satan, is now operating against the church, using people, social systems, institutions, technology, to convey his Philosophy, empty Imaginations, vain reasonings, knowledge that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, right into our thinking. With modern technology, there has never been a better time for Satan to do this, for what better way to convey “Images” than through our tablets and smart phones?
A child of, let’s say, ten is frequently given a little handheld portal to all of the knowledge, entertainment, and teaching in the world! Frequently these things are handed over with little or no supervision. The technology represented by that “Smart Phone” exceeds the technology it took to land men on the moon! How are we going to supervise this opening into our child’s mind?
Who is going to be there to counter the Satanic propaganda, the lies, the false and distorted imagery, the anti-Christian narrative of current events, history and the lionization of vile people—at the same time as the frequent demonization of good people?
The War is on folks, and it is non-stop until the Messiah comes to crush the Serpents head! The Devil knows his time is short and that now is the time to seduce, cajole, and deceive as many people as possible away from God.
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. (Revelation 12:12)
(Photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission. Article used with permission from Bill Randles.)