Satan is the King of this Earth

RV149-01

The Seventh Trumpet

The Cosmos

Blasphemy

That kind of a blasphemous remark chilled a lot of us, I'm sure, who were sitting in that vehicle. The sad part about this was that she did not mind using the name of the Son of God in a blasphemous curse word expression. Once he got back on the bus with the driver, she said, "Well, they charge us 40,000 zlotys for that, which was about 40 cents in American money. This was just an absolutely insane reaction to what was going to be a small sum, and, as she said, "We can afford that." Yet, she did not mind placing upon herself the sin of violating one of the moral laws of God about taking the name of God in vain.

I noticed that, throughout the Slavic world of Eastern Europe, there was a repeated use of two names in curse words. I was shocked by how often I heard of it. It was the name of Mary, who, to these Catholics, is practically deity; and, the name of Jesus. Frequently, people would become indignant about something and they would say, "Jesus, Mary." This was a curse word, and they meant it as a curse word. You wondered if they did not recoil down inside themselves to be willing to do a thing like that.

The Kingdom of Satan

Obscenity

The person who is bringing this suit is the artist named, David Wojnarowicz. He filed this suit against the American Family Association, which is conducted by a man you may have heard of – the Reverend Donald Wildmon. Wojnarowicz is asking for $1 million in damages. This artist has been diagnosed as AIDS symptomatic, indicating where he is morally coming from.

What is at issue here is: how far can you go in obscenity, and have it financed by the Treasury of the United States government – from the National Endowment for the Arts, the NEA? The judge ruled in favor of this man. What he is taking issue with is that, when the objection was raised, the NEA grant of $15,000 was rescinded. Very shortly thereafter, because of pressure from Congress, where the obscenity people have a great deal of support, the fund had to be returned. What the exhibition contained (to give you an idea of what they restored this grant to) was an expression of absolute, debased, suspended morals.

The article says, "The suspended grants included those to live performance artists who urinate on stage into a toilet that paints a picture of Jesus, and appears in the nude smeared with chocolate. All four artists have been recipients of several earlier NEA grants. Such mishandling of funds has made the NEA a lightning rod for everything perceived wrong with government funding in the arts. After years of watching one cultural institution after another succumb to nihilist anti-Christian values, public reaction reached the boiling point."

Even the average American, without much pretense of religious convictions, finds this kind of a display as art funded by taxpayers' money, something bordering on the absolutely insane. It has taken something like 50 years, Mr. Wildmon, points out, to reduce American culture to the sorry state in which it is today. The problem is that we no longer have a sense of biblical morality and thus of real aesthetic beauty. Please remember that we are talking about what is described as art. It is this kind of thing that is causing, and will be causing, the saints who are in heaven to really start rejoicing when they discover that Jesus is about ready to return, and take the kingdom of Satan back to the real king, Jesus Christ.

Another article illustrating the situation in American society today, from the "New American" magazine, August 13, 1990, is entitled "Calling Things by Their Right Names." It is a review of a book called Sex Education: The Final Plague. In this article, the author, in reviewing this book, says, "Here is an author who acknowledges the traditional concept of absolute right and wrong, and therefore, believes in calling things by the names they deserve. She resoundingly rejects situational ethics in all of its attendant and baleful flummery. So, she correctly identifies the present proliferation of sex education programs as a plague – the final plague, as she puts it, which, if unchecked, will continue to create moral chaos in our nation, and after a suitable period of anarchy, will lead inexorably to the building of, in the author's words, a new social order, and the construction of a new faith and code of human behavior."

This book is about the popular sex education program and the public schools. That is a program which is taught on a purely animalistic level, detached from any moral restraint, or any moral basis for this human act. The article says, "Children who are exposed to this gross perversion of education, experience a decreased capacity for academic pursuits, and a high degree of emotional retardation in developing compassionate feelings, which, in the end, pave the way for patterns of behavior dominated by sadism, masochism, and drug use.

"The study of Dr. Melvin Anchell summarizes by asserting that civilization itself depends on the curtailment of raw, sexual, and aggressive behavior. Obviously, sex education courses act to desensitize students to the intimate nature of sexual relationships, or relegating sex to an automatic bodily function in the same category as eating, breathing, and sleeping. Such are not recipes for the advancement, or even the bare maintenance, of civilization. Quite the contrary, they aim at the undermining and the destruction of civilization by the gradual transformation of generations of youth into sullen, depraved, egocentric savages. Little wonder that, while 50 years ago, parents worried about their children's involvement in such youthful problems as chewing gum and reading comic books, today they agonize over teenage drug addiction; pregnancy; violent crimes; murder; and, suicide."

Teenage Suicide

There is within every human being, by the divine creation of God, the image of God. The image of God screams out for fulfillment with that Creator God. When we deny that to people, and deny it to young people, what else can they be but the sorriest creatures who think that the greatest thing in life is to commit suicide?

This article adds this: "It takes patience and time to subvert a civilized modern society. The author details the step-by-step advances made to that purpose over the past several decades by the purveyors of this fetid scheme, and systematically explores its philosophical roots, history, and ultimate objectives. If by chance you have questions as to the progress made of late, just imagine the explosion of outrage that a Dr. Ruth Westheimer would have elicited had she attempted her befouling of the sanctity of the American home only 30 or 40 years ago. However, in many middle class homes, in these enlightened times, she is as acceptable and respectable as Ozzie and Harriet Nelson were almost two generations ago."

That's the issue. Most of us do not have to come in contact with the slimy results of Satan's world system. We don't have to come into contact with the results of heavy metal rock music. As Mr. Rouch put it, in one of his recent publications, "Rock artists are the scum balls of humanity." That's exactly what they are. They are the scum balls of humanity.

When I was in Prague, there was a great campaign going on to sell tickets for a great concert. The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger's was going to be there. Sadly enough, this was to raise funds for Czechoslovakian youth – to assist and to help them. This was being sponsored by Václav Havel, the president of Czechoslovakia. Something is wrong here to be promoting a scum ball like Mick Jagger, and a Rolling Stones' rock concert to raise funds to help youth of the country. This is what Satan does. He makes such fools of human beings in his kingdom.

Jesus is Coming

After the midpoint of the tribulation, the antichrist becomes a world ruler, so there is only one kingdom on this earth. The Bible is so very accurate because it does not say that Jesus will take over the kingdoms of this world, but the kingdom. It will only be one kingdom, ruled by one world government under the antichrist, Satan's man. The reign of Jesus Christ over the earth, when He does take over, will continue forever, from the millennium into the new earth. The kingdom of sinful humanity designed by Satan will thus become the kingdom of God the Father ruled by His Son, Jesus Christ.

The history of ruling authority on this earth is a sad one. As all of you know, the first man created by God (the first human being created by God) was a man named Adam. Adam once had authority over all the earth. Adam lost his authority to Satan. When God made this man, and gave him his wife, He placed them in charge of the whole earth. As long as Adam was obedient to God's law relative to eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Satan could have no influence on this earth. When Adam chose to disobey the law of God, he immediately lost his ruling authority over this earth to Satan. Satan this has become the ruler of this earth. It is amazing how many Christian people do not like to recognize that the world through which they move is owned by the devil, and that the world in which they live and function is one that is constructed by Satan. That's why you can't watch television to get your ideals and values. That's why you can't listen to other people (and unsaved people especially) to get a perspective on what to do with your life. That's why you cannot look to agencies of government, or education, or even religion to find purpose and direction in life. It's all geared to Satan's objectives because he owns the system.

John 12:31: "Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world shall be cast out" (that is referring to Satan).

John 14:30: "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of this world is coming (Satan), and he has nothing in Me. Satan is the ruler of this world. Remember that Satan creates the fun of this world.

We saw a sad sight on our trip in Eastern Europe when we were in Warsaw. A man was sitting in front of a large department store, such as they have in those countries. He was looking down, and his hands were shaking, as he put them up to his mouth and around his face. On him was a sign in three or four different languages: "I am dying of AIDS. Please help me." I mean that there are hundreds of people walking up and down the sidewalk, going in the department store, looking at this man. I couldn't help thinking: "What a grand example of one who has followed Satan's fun system in this world."

Because we live in such a sophisticated country, we fail to see the grossness of the vileness of the structure that Satan has created upon this earth. When you get a real perspective, you will understand why these people (these believers) in heaven break out with such joyous acclaim and rejoicing that Jesus is about ready to come down and take over Satan's kingdom from Satan's man, the antichrist.

Satan

What a great position to have: prophet; priest; and, king of the living Creator God, over all the created, angelic beings. In all three roles, Satan was willingly subject to God's will, and the Bible tells us that he was perfect in all his ways. You must remember that this was, at one time, a very obedient servant of the Most High God.

The Fall of Satan

So, Ezekiel 28:15 says, "You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you." This angel brought sin into the universe for the first time.

Isaiah 14:14 also gives us the ambition that arose in the mind of Satan: "He said, 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.'" He wanted to substitute for God. He want to remove God, and substitute himself for God's royal authority. Well, a conspiracy with the angels failed, as obviously it would. Satan was now a sinful creature, and he lost his position as the archangel, and as God's prophet, priest, and king. He was no longer in charge of the universe. He was no longer in charge of the angels. He was, as a matter of fact, in very serious trouble because he was now irrevocably, without appeal, condemned to spend eternity in suffering in a special place that God then proceeded to create for him and the angels who had joined Satan – a place called the lake of fire.

Matthew 25:41 speaks of this: "Then He will also say to those on his left (speaking to human beings who are unbelievers), 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels." There is a place that is prepared for Satan and for human beings who choose to join him in rebellion against God.

This is also referred to in Revelation 20:10: "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever." This verse tells us something very important. That is that the suffering never ceases. You never run out of the suffering. It lasts forever.

When Satan was told this, we have a pretty good inkling that his reaction was very indignant: "You're going to send us to a place like that, because of this sincere mistake we made? Are you not even going to discuss this with us? Are you not going to give us some kind of out? Are you not going to do anything about it? That's unfair!" Satan challenged the righteousness of God; Satan challenged the integrity of God; and, Satan challenged the justice of God: "You're not fair to treat us like that for this sincere mistake that we have made."

Satan is Enraged at God

The Creation of Man

God also said, "Just don't do one thing: Don't eat of this tree in the center of the garden here. I call it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is my testing point of your obedience, because this will demonstrate My justice toward you. If you obey Me, and you do not eat of that tree, this wonderful lifestyle is going to go on forever. That's the fair thing to do. If you play square with Me, My justice requires that I play square with you. But if you eat of this tree, you will die instantly, spiritually, and you will suffer later a second death physically, and you will have suffered separation from Me. I will have to separate you from Myself forever because I'm a just God. If you do that, I have no alternative but to bring this kind of judgment against you. And I'll put you in the lake of fire forever."

So, He turned them loose in the garden. All they had to do now was to be obedient to the gracious God who had provided all this. The pattern of justice would be identical to that given Satan and his demon angels. They too had rules. They chose to break them. God's justice acted accordingly.

So, the positive or negative response of Adam to God's commandment would enable God, in one way or another, to demonstrate His justice and His integrity before all the angelic hosts. In this way, the accusation of Satan, that God was unjust in His treatment of them, would be settled.

Well, Satan observed all this with a great deal of interest, as you can imagine. He saw the creation of Adam. He saw the bringing on of Eve, and he noted that Adam had complete authority over this whole earthly creation. Satan reacted with a plan to spoil God's gracious provision for the man, and to make himself the king of the earth. He felt that this would really burn up God – if he could take authority over the earth from the man and his wife.

A Single Kingdom on Earth

The God of this World is Satan

The antichrist is going to be the last human ruler in Satan's kingdom here on this earth. Satan's dominion explains why, throughout history, the ministries of biblical churches have been under attack by political authorities; religious authorities; and, academic authorities. All of the elements that Satan has put together are in opposition to biblical ministries. Why? Because there's one person behind all these nations; namely Satan, and they seek to silence those ministries when they can. This is what the Nazis did. When the Nazis took over, they immediately mad plans to silence (in a systematic way) all of the Christian churches and all of the Christian leaders.

Satan's Defeat

This defeat and removal of Satan from ruling on this earth was referred to in the Old Testament by the prophet Daniel in Daniel 9:24. Daniel says, "70 weeks have been decreed for your people;" that is, 70 weeks of years. Each week is a year: "For the completion of God's ministry in dealing with the Jewish people. And your holy city, Jerusalem: to finish the transgression, to terminate the sin that was brought into the world by Satan, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most high place."

Notice that there is a comma after the word "iniquity: "to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity." This marks the First Coming of Jesus Christ, when he came to provide salvation, and to begin the building of his church. After the comma, following "iniquity," is a description of what comes at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, when He comes to bring in everlasting righteousness; to seal up the vision (that is, all the prophecy of God); and, to anoint the most high place to finally bring Jerusalem back to the place of the leading nation of the world.

This, in Daniel, is being referred to in Revelation 11:15 that we're looking at now. The coming of Christ to rule over the kingdom of this earth forever and ever is what Daniel was referring to. One worldwide kingdom of the antichrist will become the worldwide kingdom of Jesus Christ, the beneficent dictator of a theocratic kingdom.

Forever

The Lord Jesus will rule over the kingdom of this earth forever and ever in fulfillment of Daniel 2:44. At that point, Christ will fulfill the prophecy of government authority that Isaiah 9:6-7 referred to. So, what's going to happen, and why these people in heaven are rejoicing, is that: God wins when Christ returns at the Second Coming; we believers win; and, Satan, his demons, and the unbelievers lose. The Millennial Kingdom will be a world society organized in national entities, but all under the one authority of the King Jesus in Jerusalem.

Then, nations are going to have to do things the right way. We're not going to have the kind of stuff that I read to you earlier from those articles. Nations are no longer going to be able to ignore Bible doctrines like they can today.

Ted Turner

The article says, "Ted Turner explained how he was raised in an extremely religious environment, including six years at a Christian prep school: 'Bible training; daily chapel services; and, regular meetings with evangelists, with no other influence in my life at that time. And the way it was pounded into us so much, I think I was saved seven or eight times,' Turner joked. The young Turner actually even considered missionary work. But then his younger sister got ill. Ted says that he: 'Prayed and prayed. Five long, painful years later, she died. I couldn't understand why this loving God, that I had been taught about for so long, would allow someone to suffer so – someone small, and someone who hadn't done anything wrong.' He told the humanists, 'I prayed and nothing happened, of course.'"

"This was Turner's Damascus Road experience in reverse. 'I thought about it, and said to myself, 'I'm not sure if I want any part of this,' he recalled. If God is love, and He is all powerful, why does he allow these things to happen? This interpretation that it's just His will – I just can't get enthusiastic about that. I began to lose my faith, and the more I lost it, the better I felt.'"

Here is a man, a classic apostate example – someone with the opportunity of enlightenment, but for some reason has missed the fact that there is one ruler in this world: Satan; and, that Satan's system of rule has brought cursing, suffering, pain, death, and the most loathsome, horrible kinds of human experiences. I'm surprised that he is not smart enough to understand that God is not the one who has caused this child to die, but it is the consequences of sin which was injected into the human stream at the Garden of Eden, so that there is no hope for any of us except a cemetery someplace along the line. It doesn't matter what your age is. That destiny of doom is upon us because of what happened in the Garden of Eden. When Adam sinned, we all shared in his moral guilt by being born in his image.

Turner is a powerful voice on TV. He has powerful influence, and this is the kind of influence he is putting out against the Lord Jesus Christ – calling Christians the losers. I wonder what he's going to think when the Lord returns. Is it any wonder that John hears the people in heaven murmuring with excitement and joy, because they're fed up with being the garbage of humanity and the dog's tail? They want to see the Lord elevated; they want to see the Lord honored; and, they want to demonstrate that the Christians were the winners, not the losers.

The article goes on to say, "'If you really accept the Bible for what it says,' Turner says, 'The New Testament, at any rate, the way it is generally interpreted by most people who believe it, then everybody's going to hell,' he said. Turner said he is disgusted by the concept of original sin. 'It starts out that we're all horrible,' Turner said.' We're all born in sin. We're rotten. We're no good. I think that basically we are good, and it makes people feel bad when you tell little kids that they're basically bad.'

"Then Turner got really nasty – attacking the message of Christ and those who believe it: 'He had to come down here and suffer and die on the cross. So, with His blood, our sins would be washed away,' Turner said. 'Weird man – I'm telling you. Nobody has to die on the cross and have a blood sacrifice the way these ancient religions did down there in the pyramids in Mexico, where they cut the virgins hearts out.'"

So, here, interestingly enough, this man Turner is a sincere devotee and follower of the god who rules the world (Satan), and he has no hesitancy in putting his finger on the very thing that makes the difference between hell and heaven, the blood of Christ – the substitutionary vicarious payment for the sins of the world, without which there is no hope. Ted Turner someday is going to discover the terrible, terrible mistake he has made. Christians are not the losers. They're the only winners in all of humanity. You need to remember that. It is pretty hard to stand alone, and to be the brunt of the antagonism of the world. But just remember the sorrow that they will have forever over against the unimaginable joy that will be yours.

The eternal face of God's kingdom is described in 1 Corinthians 15:24-28. Here is the final objective. Paul says, "And then comes the end, when He (Jesus) delivers up the Kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and authority and power (all other competing authorities on earth). For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death, for He has put all things in subjection under His feet." But when he says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He has accepted who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all." The objective is the supreme elevation of God the Father as the supreme authority in the universe.

Even as the tribulation earth worships the antichrist, Revelation 11:15 announces to us the imminent reign of Jesus Christ over that earth. Heaven is getting ready to hold its own victory party, as its candidate for political world-rule, Jesus Christ, wins out over that loser antichrist, and all of his Ted Turner associates. There's going to be a big, big political victory party when Jesus returns. I can guarantee it, because our candidate, the Lord Jesus, is going to win. He's going to become the ruler of this earth, and Satan is going to be turned out. Yes, he's the incumbent. It's tough to put an incumbent out of office, but he is doomed. He is on his way out. When that happens, you and I will rejoice that that part of the Lord's Prayer has been fulfilled, which was uttered in Matthew 6:10: "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Is that indeed not going to be a great day – when the kingdom of this world, now held by Satan, becomes the kingdom of our Heavenly Father and of His ruling Son, Jesus Christ? And the will of God, as it is done gladly and happily in heaven will become the commonplace experience of everyone on the face of the earth.

It's going to be a strange world, isn't it, to think that the millennium begins with everybody born-again? There will not be one unsaved person. Gradually, the contamination filters in, because the people who bear children bear them with the same sin natures that Turner assures us does not exist in human beings. Eventually, we have contingents of children born who will not subject themselves to the ruling authority of Jesus Christ. At the end, they do rally to Satan. But the time is coming when that final rebellion will be put down. Then, forever, our Lord will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and all of you, as His bride, will have a part in that authority. What part in that heirship authority you have will be determined by the life you lived compatible to His moral laws and to a life of service. Never forget that royalty only gets you into the family. Service gets you the prerogatives and the enjoyment of your royal position.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1989

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