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God, as the Creator of all living things, loves life. When He made human life, He looked over His creation and declared in Genesis 1:31 that it was "very good"! He ultimately desires to give eternal life in His Kingdom to those who seek Him. But, before that Kingdom comes, He also wants us to have full, productive, peaceful human lives. So why don't we have what God wants for us? Why is the world filled with violence, corruption and outright evil?
Scarcely a day passes without unequivocal evil marring the news headlines. Horrific images and stories from the Russia-Ukraine conflict have haunted us this year. Murders and sexual abuse ravage our cities. America is now regularly rattled and dumbfounded by the incomprehensible evil of school shootings, where some deranged individual guns down innocent children.
For those who believe in God and that the Bible is His inspired Word, we know the truth: Our world has serious spiritual problems that can only be rightly met with spiritual solutions, from the individual level right up to the global scale.
While these may seem like an impossibly broad range of issues -- with calculated war between nations on one hand and spontaneous homegrown violence on the other -- the same evil influence is behind it all. Satan the devil is referred to in Scripture as "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2). Jesus Christ called him "the ruler of this world" (John 14:30).
Do we believe the words of Christ -- that Satan is literally in charge of the world today? God is the supreme Ruler over all creation, including Satan, so in what sense can Satan be ruling the world at this time? And if this is so, when and how will Satan's reign of terror end?
In Ephesians 6:12, Paul's writings demonstrate his understanding of the workings of Satan and his demonic minions in the world around us, which continue to this day: "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits" (New Living Translation, emphasis added throughout).
This is not mere poetic imagery -- Paul's statements agree with Jesus' own words! It is critical to understand that dangerous demonic deception has wreaked havoc on human history -- and that the worst is yet to come. Satan's most significant work is actually happening all around us, in plain sight, in the mind of the average person. He "deceives the whole world" (Revelation 12:9).
Satan and his demons were originally angels submitted to God but who then rebelled. Satan's self-corruption and sin are described in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. God later allowed him to challenge our first human parents in the Garden of Eden, and they followed in his way. He now influences world leaders and governments like he influences all people -- primarily through deception and pressuring with temptation, and this can occur in broad strokes or a more targeted fashion.
When Satan is called "the prince of the power of the air" in Ephesians 2:2, it evokes the imagery of his attitude of selfishness and pride being broadcast, just like the multitude of radio, television, cell phone and internet signals that are invisibly transmitting messages through the air all around us today. These broad strokes result in people's disobedience to God's law, leading them down a path to many negative outcomes, such as addictions and self-destructive behavior, insatiable greed and lust and, for some, outrageous violence against others.
But for world leaders, Satan prepares more narrowly focused tactics to prey on their human weaknesses and steer them in the direction he wants, which is lawlessness, death and destruction. We catch a hint of this in Revelation 16:13-14, which describes "three unclean spirits . . . coming out of the mouth of the dragon [Satan] . . . For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty."
Many today want to blame the state and direction of the world on a conspiratorial group of elites, a shadow government or a secret society. But the real and ultimate conspiracy is spiritual, unseen and far worse and more powerful than they could imagine.
Satan's evil plot goes undetected because, most often, his deceptions work by having a false front that can convincingly appear to be good. As Paul wrote, "Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). All evil dictators in history have had their own devoted followers and their own side of the story. But the underlying reality these and many others have missed is that these rulers and their followers are actually pawns deceived by Satan into believing lies leading them to commit terrible crimes against humanity.
Lawlessness -- the way of Satan -- is steadily growing and overtaking daily life. It takes place when politicians and judges take bribes and show partiality. It happens when we see music, movies and TV shows overrun with profanity that border on being pornography -- which is itself also accepted as "normal" by most today! It takes place when marriage is no longer valued or respected, as witnessed to by a high divorce rate, a high rate of illegitimate births and the sanctioning of same-sex marriage.
The lawlessness Jesus Christ spoke of was, specifically, rebellion against God's holy and righteous law, which is openly mocked in today's world as being outdated, irrelevant, backwards and barbaric. People with no real understanding of the loving Creator twist His words, trying to make His laws appear ridiculous to "modern" and "enlightened" sensibilities -- but these sensibilities are really nothing more than the product of a warped, self-centered and hedonistic way of thinking!
Even among those who believe that the Bible is God's inspired Word, most disregard substantial parts of His law. Christ Himself prophesied of great religious deception, and we ought to pay attention! Jesus said: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matthew 7:21-23).
Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 that "in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power."
These characteristics are seeping into the fabric of every nation. God warns of this in Isaiah 10:1, saying, "What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws" (New International Version). It is by means of unfair laws that corrupt strongmen, such as Russia's Vladimir Putin, Turkey's Recep Erdogan, North Korea's Kim Jong Un and many others, have solidified themselves as dictators, subverting sound governing processes and wielding despotic power to silence, imprison or even kill their political opposition. Lest we think we are exempt, Western nations are not far behind this mark of corruption, with our own presidents, prime ministers and lawmakers routinely using political office for personal gain!
The Bible reveals that Satan's influence will come to an awful crescendo, growing much worse than any time in history just before the return of Christ.
Speaking of a final end-time global dictator, Revelation 13:2 states that "the dragon [Satan] gave him his power, his throne, and great authority." The result will be not only the total corruption of world leaders and the elite, but complete religious deception that will have the general public siding with Satan through the common bond of lawlessness. We can see from the moral decay all around us that this is already underway!
Bible prophecy reveals that conditions will grow so awful that human extinction will be the result without God's direct and sudden intervention (Matthew 24:21-22). Jesus Christ will have to return to earth to save us from destruction at our own hands! Only His return to establish the Kingdom of God on earth will save us from ourselves. At that time Satan will be removed and Jesus and His resurrected saints, all His faithful followers of this age, will reign on the earth.
This will be the greatest regime change in human history -- when "the saints of the Most High shall receive the Kingdom, and possess the Kingdom forever" (Daniel 7:18). It's the time when it will be announced that "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15, English Standard Version).
This can only be accomplished with Satan being completely deposed from his current position -- and that's exactly what God reveals will happen!
Revelation 20 is a key testimony to the future physical rule of Jesus Christ and the saints on earth. Verses 4-6 describe what many refer to as "the Millennium" -- a period of 1,000 years when Jesus and the saints will reign over the physical earth and all its people immediately after His return. But the chapter actually opens by dealing with the problem of Satan and his influence first!
Here we see God giving full victory over this enemy. A great angel comes down from heaven "having a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished" (Revelation 20:1-3).
What's truly amazing is that the binding of Satan was foretold in the ancient observance of God's annual Holy Days -- and it's still celebrated each year by faithful followers of God. Each year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest in Israel would confess the sins of the people over the head of a live goat and send it out alive into the wilderness.
The ceremony is found in detail in Leviticus 16. Unlike other animals utilized in the Old Covenant system, this goat was not slain in sacrifice because it did not represent the sacrificial death of Christ. Rather, picturing Satan, it was banished into the wilderness. The symbolic connection with Revelation 20:1-3 is clear, since Satan will be likewise banished into the bottomless pit.
The tragedies listed at the outset of this article are born out of the evil intent of the hearts of men spurred on through Satan's inciting deception and temptation -- and the only effective approach against this is to cut off evil from its source. That is why God will remove Satan from the world and human contact altogether during the Millennium, thus removing the originator of sin and temptation so that mankind can finally flourish under God's direction.
In 2022 the Day of Atonement is sunset Oct. 4 to sunset Oct. 5, and you can join in this annual observance by reverently refraining from work, fasting before God for those 24 hours and gathering during the day in a sacred assembly with others as God commands in Leviticus 23:27-32. Visit ucg.org/congregations to find a congregation near you to meet with in celebrating the coming victory over Satan and learning much more about the full meaning of the Day of Atonement, including how it uniquely reveals the work of Jesus Christ as our High Priest.
Satan's attacks, while unleashed on the mainstream to draw them away to his sinful attitude of pride, are also targeted and personal. Jesus told His disciple Peter, "Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you like wheat" (Luke 22:31). Likewise, Satan wants to turn every one of us away from God!
Peter was at that time tested on faithfulness to Christ and failed in the moment. However, through repentance, he was restored and set free from captivity to Satan's influence, eventually being granted the power of God's Holy Spirit to overcome temptation and sin. We can have access to that same power today -- and we desperately need it!
Later in Peter's ministry, God inspired him to write a personal warning to us: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Satan wants to devour you, just like he wanted to devour Peter.
But God also desires us -- not to devour us, but to save us from our sins and grant us eternal life with Him. James 4:7 exhorts: "Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
We do not have to wait for the return of Christ and the binding of Satan in the bottomless pit to be delivered from captivity. We can follow God's commands today, celebrating the Day of Atonement and all of His Holy Days and completely submitting ourselves to His will in our lives daily!
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