PART 6 INVISIBLE FORCES

6

Who Is in the Devil’s Army?

The book of Revelation tells us that the different names of the serpent that deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden are the Devil or Satan. However, his coup has failed. This supernatural creature had convinced one-third of the angels that were initially allegiant to God to follow him. What else can one say about him is that he must be a master influencer and manipulator.

Revelations 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Think of it: these angels were serving God, and somehow, they were persuaded that there was an alternate way to think about themselves, others, their heavenly purposes, and the God who created them. No longer would they operate in godly elements of character, implementing God’s directives and plans while enjoying His presence, but instead, they’d live contrary to such according to a nature that sins. Their new life would be consumed with self-deception, self-direction, self-satisfaction, and self-exaltation.

Now that we know some of the names of the fallen anointed cherub, questions remain to be answered.

Is the Devil an angel, albeit a high-ranking one?

In his army, is there a hierarchy?

Is there a rank associated with these enemy forces?

What are their purposes?

Please go to the book of Ephesians, and let’s find out.

           

Suggested Reading: Ephesians 6:10-16

12 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.       

The Apostle Paul considers every Christian as being engaged in warfare against numerous, powerful, and subtle foes, and that, therefore, they’d need much strength, courage, armor to put on, and divine skills to engage in spiritual combat against them. The Devil has a hierarchy of enemy forces who are against us. They’re referred to as the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, whose titles are described [as of] rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers.¹³

For we wrestle not (a personal individual struggle; hand to hand, foot to foot warfare) against flesh and blood (human beings) but against various forces of evil (principalities, powers, rulers, and spiritual wickedness). What more can be said about these adversaries? The Koine Greek language, the language in which most of the New Testament was written, can help us.

The word principalities (archas) mean the pre-eminent ones. They’re also known as beings of their kingdom’s first rank and order.

The word powers (exousias) refers to the demons of Satan in the lower atmosphere.¹⁴These enemy combatants operate in the air (atmosphere).

The word rulers (kosmokratoras)can mean world rulers of the darkness of this world. The word darkness pertains to natural feature domains. They have dominion over widely extended territories of geography, presiding over these regions of sin and ignorance¹⁵within which the earth abounds.Inside these confines, they rule over people.

What else could be said is that we’re against spiritual wickedness (of the evil powers viewed collectively that disguise falsehood in the garb of truth) in high places (in the atmosphere surrounding the earth).

This is pretty intense. Don’t you agree? We’ve learned that there are organized forces of evil on the earth and in the sky surrounding it that have an agenda. We’ll find out what this is all about in a later chapter.

Are there any other characteristics of these evil powers that we can find out through the study of Scripture where the exact words used to describe them are found? Believe it or not, there are quite a few Scriptures that refer to these forces of evil, such as Colossians 2:15, Romans 8:38, Ephesians 1:21, and 1 Corinthians 15:24. By doing a further study of these words contained in these verses, I could only find out a little bit more only about one of them, and that was the word powers (exousias). I found that this word could also refer to evil spirits or messengers sent on various errands.¹⁶

So, with these thoughts in mind, let’s look again and update our description of these soldiers of harm called principalities, powers, and rulers.

�-�Principalities (rulers): Beings of first rank and order.                                  

�-�Powers (authorities): Evil spirits or messengers sent on various errands¹⁷ in the atmosphere.

�-�Rulers of the darkness of this world: World rulers that rule over people and have dominion over widely extended territories of geography, presiding over these regions of sin and ignorance.¹⁸

Now that we know how these spiritual forces are described and their areas or spheres of influence, the next question we’ll try to answer is the following: Are all of these forces of evil called angels?

But before we do, as we were reminded earlier that the Devil is the great deceiver, I’d like to leave you with an article about one of the greatest stories of human deception ever known.

 

DISGRACED THERANOS FOUNDER ELIZABETH HOLMES’ PRISON SENTENCE SHORTENED BY 2 YEARS

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the blood-testing lab Theranos, appears to have had her prison sentence shortened by roughly two years, according to federal records. Holmes, 39, reported to a federal prison in Bryan, Texas, on May 30 to begin serving an 11-year, three-month sentence for her role in wire fraud at the now-defunct company. An update to her inmate details on the website of the Bureau of Prisons listed her expected release date as Dec. 29, 2032. That means she would be released about two years ahead of schedule.

A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that Holmes had a projected release date of Dec. 29, 2032. The spokesperson would not provide further comment because of “privacy, [safety,] and security reasons.” However, the spokesperson noted that every inmate can earn good conduct time, which is “projected in their projected release date,” while some inmates can be eligible for early release through other mechanisms. The projected release date appeared to line up with the Bureau of Prisons’ “good time chart,” which outlines how much good time credit inmates can earn depending on their sentences: …

Holmes was found guilty of four counts of wire fraud in January 2022.Nearly 20 years before, in 2003, she dropped out of Stanford University at 19 to launch Theranos, a company that sought to diagnose [various] medical conditions with just a pinprick of blood.

Theranos swiftly rose to prominence, becoming a darling of Silicon Valley and at one point being valued at more than $9 billion. The [company attracted] investments from high-profile moguls, including Rupert Murdoch, the Walton family [(heirs to the Walmart fortune),] and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Its board of directors [would include] former secretaries of [the state George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, two former U.S. senators’] and former Defense Secretary James Mattis.

However, Theranos’ claims about what it could do began to crumble under reports that its technology did not work as claimed [and could] deliver faulty results. By March 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Holmes and Theranos Chief Operating Officer Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani with securities fraud. In fall 2022, both Holmes and Balwani, who [were] also convicted, were sentenced. Experts said Balwani received a harsher sentence �" nearly 13 years in prison �" because of his experience running other businesses.¹⁹