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The Six Powers of Satan and How to Overcome Them: Part 2

The Six Powers of Satan and How to Overcome Them: Part 2

The Power of Imposed Law (the power of the state)

In this six-part series, we are exploring the six powers of Satan and how to overcome them. These six powers of Satan are:

  • Lies—he is the father of lies
  • The kingdoms of the world with their imposed law with coercive enforcement—he is the prince of this world
  • Worldly economics—mammon, the false god of money, buying, selling, and owning
  • Accusations—he is the “satan,” the accuser
  • Temptation and division—he is the devil, the ancient serpent who tempts and divides
  • Death and destruction—he is the destroyer whose powers result in death

In part one of our series, we examined the power of lies—how lies that are believed break the circle of love and trust and result in fear and selfishness, and how every human born after Adam’s sin is born infected with fear and selfishness.

This fear-driven, me-first survival instinct is the energizing motivator of the dark-side, and all of Satan’s various powers are used to increase fear and inflame selfishness, which gives him greater control over people—ultimately destroying love and the fruits of the Spirit out of the hearts of those who turn to self and practice selfish methods to cope with the fear.

Here in part two, we examine Satan’s second power, which is the power of imposed law and coercive enforcement—the power of worldly government. This is why Satan is known as the prince of this world; all the governments of the world throughout all history have embraced his view of law and his view of justice, which is making up rules and enforcing them with the infliction of punishment.

The Power of Imposed Law

Satan’s kingdom is external—people using force, might, power over others to control, dominate, and compel compliance. But Jesus said that “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Jesus’ kingdom is internal; it is the kingdom of love, truth, freedom, the design protocols for life that our Creator God writes on our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8:10) to transform the character.

God’s laws are not made-up rules to be enforced externally. God is Creator, and His laws are the laws upon which reality operates, upon which life is constructed to function, and God’s works to restore people back to life, to harmony with His design. This can never happen by the use of Satan’s methods, by the use of man-made laws, by coercive enforcement, by inflicted punishment.

This is why Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews” (John 18:36 NIV84). Notice the difference: Satan’s agents used force, legal authority, the power of the state to arrest Jesus, put Him on trial, find Him legally guilty of breaking their made-up laws, sentence Him to death, beat Him, mock Him, and kill Him. But Jesus said that is not how His kingdom operates; if it were, His followers would fight.

Jesus did not dispute Satan’s claim to being the ruler of all the kingdoms of this world. Why? Because every earthly government operates upon made-up imposed rules and laws that require judicial oversight and external enforcement through the infliction of punishment.

The rule of law with externally imposed punishment—the kingdoms of this world—is Satan’s second power.

Satan combines his first two powers, lies and the rule of law, so effectively that, essentially, the entire world believes that God’s government in heaven operates like human governments on Earth. This is why the Bible uses the symbol of Babylon to represent the queen of Satan’s domain, the Mother of Harlots, the progenitor of those who are unfaithful to God yet claim to be representing Him.

Why is Babylon chosen as the queenly symbol of Satan’s domain? Because of all the nations that assailed Israel in Old Testament times, Babylon was the first with a formal legal code, the Code of Hammurabi. (I recently wrote the blog Babylon, the Mother of Harlots—It’s Time to Come Out! where I describe this in detail.)

Let’s now explore further the idea of imposed law, made-up rules, placed upon a people and coercively enforced through external punishments as being Satan’s invention for rulership; it is his method of governing. God is the Creator of reality, and His laws are the laws built into the fabric of the cosmos itself and upon which life and health are constructed to operate.

These design laws are many, and if you haven’t read my blog about them, I encourage you to do so. These design protocols include the laws of physics, gravity, the laws of health, and the moral laws. Whenever someone violates a design law, they damage themselves and, without remedy, the violation will eventually result in death.

If a person jumps into a lake with weights tied to their feet, they violate the law of respiration, and without intervention, the result is death. All of God’s laws work in this manner. When Adam sinned, he left the safety of God’s laws of life; he corrupted himself and began to die and, without God’s intervention, he and all humans would die of unremedied sin (fear and selfishness).

Therefore, God sent Jesus to reveal the truth about God, which destroys the lies infecting our minds and wins us back to trust. Furthermore, Jesus also came and took up humanity broken, damaged by sin and infected with fear and selfishness; as a human being, He was tempted in every way just as we are, yet He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). With a human brain, human mind, and human abilities, Jesus overcame fear and selfishness and loved perfectly, even when faced with death on the cross. In doing so, He restored God’s design principles for life back into the human species and, thus, He became the second Adam, the second head of humanity, the connecting link to God’s kingdom, which doesn’t operate upon imposed rules and imposed punishment but on design law.

But those who accept the wine of Babylon, the lies about God—that His laws function like human laws, imposed rules that require imposed punishments—distort all Christ came and achieved, and they continue to spread the lie that God’s law functions like human law. This obstructs God’s healing of hearts and minds.

Why? Drunk on its wine, Babylon-inspired Christianity teaches the lie that sin in our hearts and minds isn’t the actual problem from which we need to be saved; rather, it is the punishment that God is legally required to inflict upon us that we need to be saved from—what many call His “wrath.” Rather than teaching what John the Baptist taught, that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), mainstream Christianity has been falsely teaching that Jesus came to take away the inflicted punishment from God for sin.

This prevents God’s love from healing our hearts! By embracing the false rule-of-law view of justice, millions have been duped into turning away from loving people, what Jesus and the apostles taught, and, instead, are investing their energy in seeking “justice” through human governments and human law to impose their morality and coerce others to embrace it.

Satan exploits us with fear, which leads to selfishness—the desire to comfort ourselves at the expense of others. It is this fear that drives people to make up rules and use power to force others to comply with those rules. Whether the rules are through actual governments or merely the rules of the hood, it is the same dynamic: fear driving people to make rules in order to have power over others and to make themselves feel powerful and safe.

It is our fear of being robbed, being cheated, being abused, being exploited in some form or fashion that leads us to make up rules (laws) that we demand others live by. We enforce our legal demands through threats of punishment—whether fines, beatings, imprisonment, or death. (This is exactly how the worldly powers treated Jesus and His apostles, yet they refused to allow their hearts to be infected with such corrupt methods and, instead, they forgave all who mistreated them and never taught their followers to use worldly governments or imposed laws or coercive enforcement to advance the kingdom of God. Why? Because all worldly governments are part of Satan’s kingdom.) This threat of legal trouble incites fear, so people comply.

But if people do not agree with the current laws then, while they behaviorally comply to avoid being punished, they seek to gain more power for themselves in order to replace the current ruling authority and to change the laws to ones they like better; they then turn around and punish those who won’t comply with their newly made-up rules. And, thus, the world constantly fights—nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, political party against political party—yet all are equally deceived into believing that “if we can only get the right laws passed, the right judges, the right elected officials, the right police force, the right people arrested and imprisoned, then we can have justice, safety, and security.”

It is all a lie—the wine of Babylon; whether you are politically left or politically right, God is calling you out of Babylon, out of Satan’s kingdom of imposed law, and into His kingdom of love, truth, and freedom.

And for those who leave Babylon, we are not left under the powers of our enemy. The Bible says about Jesus:

  • Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (Colossians 2:15 NIV84).
  • No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37–39 NIV84).

The most important point to realize is that all of Satan’s powers exploit or magnify fear, and what casts out all fear? Love! It is God’s love in our hearts that is the key, being loved and loving others. Satan wants to separate us from God’s love and truth—but if we remain in God’s love, we are more than conquerors. But without love, real love, we will be destroyed by fear; all of Satan’s powers incite fear and his methods of governing are self-centered ways of trying to cope with that fear.

It is the truth and love of God revealed at the cross that destroys the lies of Satan and wins us back to trust. Then in trust, we open our hearts and God pours His love into our hearts (Romans 5:5). And His perfect love casts out all fear. Those who have God’s law written on their hearts live free of the control of the state—they live to glorify God by love for Him and love for their fellow man. They do what is right because it is right, because it is in harmony with God and His designs for life. And the contrast is sharp for all to see:

  • Those who hid Anne Frank were breaking the laws of their land, while those who killed her were obeying them.
  • Those who sought to kill Martin Luther were obeying the laws of their land, while those who protected and hid him were breaking them.
  • Those who enslaved people throughout history were obeying the laws of their land. Those who helped the slaves escape to freedom were disobeying them.
  • Those who discriminated against black people under Jim Crow were obeying the laws of the land. Those who treated them as equals were disobeying them.

We will never achieve God’s goal of a kingdom of perfect peace, perfect security, perfect safety—a kingdom free of fear, free of sin, free of exploitation and abuse—by using Satan’s methods. We must come out of Babylon. We must reject imposed law as a means of justice. We must know God and have His law written upon our hearts so that we love Him supremely and no longer give in to fear and try to make ourselves feel safe through more human law or changing human government.

So come out of Babylon and into the kingdom of God!


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Testimony 38

Since November 2015, when I started studying Gods word from this God Is Love point of view, my life has been transformed. My troubled marriage of 15 years has been healed and my husband and I are truly happy for the first time in 15 years. Now When I read the word of God I understand it so much better and I can’t help but see Gods love radiating through the pages to humanity. Gods word is living and active and I am blessed beyond measure to be having this amazing experience. God has given me a beautiful understanding of Jn 3:16 that amazes me more and more each day. Thank you again for your ministry.

Helen D., London, England

 

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Hearing Dr. Jennings’ presentations in person came at a pivotal moment in my spiritual journey that began about nine months ago, when the fault lines inherent in my belief system began to crack under questions that most reasonable people end up asking about God and His nature. These were questions I couldn’t find answers to, and they shook my faith. I was unable let it go any longer and be satisfied. My Christian experience became distant. I was afraid; the fear in me rose like thorns, pushing me away from Jesus. And then someone heard my questions and introduced me to this ministry, and my life has totally changed.

I can tell you that this new, “present truth” message is far grander and life-changing than when I shifted from being an agnostic and then a nominal Christian. It has radically altered my worldview, because it reveals a God that makes sense. It is a revolution. I believe that Dr. Jennings’ message is the final message that must go to the world. If any message could be called “righteousness by faith,” as abused as that term is by the right and the left, this is that message, because Jennings’ biblical message identifies a God who is different, whose character isn’t an impossible contradiction.

I walk this path now without fear. I see people differently, and the Holy Spirit burns in my heart. Many call Dr. Jennings’ message false and compromising, but it isn’t false, because I’ve seen the fruits within my mind and body. It is not compromising, because in this message is the only road to holiness that makes any sense. No longer do I behold a pagan god who is always angry and suspicious. Instead, I behold a God who is freeing and loving, always working for our good, and giving me every reason to love my enemy even to my own death, just as Jesus pleads with us. God is good.

Anthony L., CA, USA

 

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I just want to say thank you so much for your conversations via YouTube. I regularly tune in to your lectures, “Let’s Talk” sessions, and many others. Through these I’ve found greater depth and meaning to God’s word. Thanks for all that you do and please continue. I’m currently working in the middle of Silicon Valley at Stanford University. I feel like God really has me in the right place right now and I’m sensing that your teachings might be part of it.

B. F., Silicon Valley, CA, USA

 

Testimony 17

The blessings of clarity and understanding you and your class inspire me to take from the word of God have impressed upon me so greatly the true, loving character of our Creator. I have found amazing freedom and joy through building a stronger, more intentional relationship with Him. What is new is that this is now a relationship built on love, reverence and respect rather than fear and obligation, and as such my eyes have been slammed OPEN as I am continually impressed by the manifestations of God’s true character in His provisions for fallen man.

T.E.H., Salt Lake City, UT, USA

 

Testimony 54

I had a lot of pressure, as a pastor’s kid, to conform and be “good.” I was good at being “good.” I thought my life was going along well until it all started falling apart and I could not figure out why! In my search for “why is this happening to me, God?” I came across your book, “Could it be this Simple,” and God started revealing to me the many distortions I held about His character, His principles, and how He has designed His universe to operate. I remember thinking, “Wow, I have had this all backwards.” I was happy and angry all at the same time. Happy to have the light of truth break through the darkness, revealing a wonderful, beautiful way of understanding God and His plan for His children, and angry, because I felt deceived and cheated by the church, my family, and myself!

My heart thrills when I listen to your bible study lessons. Literally I have gone from death to life. It is a journey I look forward to every day, as God reveals areas this distortion affects. Praise GOD! I will ever be grateful to God for this ministry and your cooperation with the Spirit!

Karen S., Portal, AZ, USA

 

Testimony 63

I’ve been very blessed by “The God Shaped Brain” and this ministry, through video and podcast, over the last few years. It’s truly opened up my eyes more to the truth about God and the importance of that truth in the present world. The message is so inviting, freeing and enlightening and MORE people need to know about it. I believe it is the last message that can truly, not only prepare a people for salvation and translation, but vindicate the character of God.

Michael V., Yonkers, NY, USA

 

Testimony 60

Just watched watched lesson 10 in the 1st quarter 2021 bible study classs on Isaiah. I want to thank you for your intellectual spirituality; it’s not an oxymoron! From the point of view of a teacher I also enjoy seeing how much personal pleasure you clearly take in not just tasting, but feasting on God’s word – it reminds me of Jeremiah not being able to hold it in! It makes me smile that your cup is so full and overflowing that you make it to Tuesday’s lesson (on a good day). It just goes to show the richness of God’s Word.

God bless the Come and Reason Team from our church here in Great Britain.

Andrew H., Great Britain

 

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You have helped make sense of thirty two years of confusion. The material you freely provide reorganized so much of my life into such a beautiful pattern that has always been hinted at from within, but misguided with my training and what I was experiencing externally. My filipno parents, who were converted from Catholicism to SDA, were sincere and did their best to raise me the right way and I have deep respect for them. However, being immigrants and not understanding the language made for a difficult transition as I was growing up, which also applied to my spiritual growth as I learned the patterns of religion. I have been listening to as many bible study classes and reading blog posts as my time in a work truck will allow, searching for the practical applications of where spirituality and reality meet, and I thank you for helping me find that. You have helped me reach a point in which I can truly say that I love God, that I believe He loves me, and, like David, I delight in His law. God bless.

Emmanuel V., Calgary, AB Canada

Testimony 24

I wanted to thank you very much for presenting your understanding of God. I’ve always been troubled by this question: Why did Jesus have to die? Since my conversion I understood that The Father & Jesus are one, I did not have issues with that. But was there not any other way to save us than for Jesus to die? I guess I actually had a question about God – if He is so wise, how come He did not find another way? I did not see the real ‘beauty’  in the cross. Only when you explained the picture in the medical context, Jesus providing medicine for my selfishness, have I started to finally ‘see the light’. Thank you so much. Your seminar, “Healing the Mind,” are absolutely marvelous & have shared them with my family and many other people, including colleagues at work. Thanks, thanks, thanks. May God bless you abundantly in your ministry.

M. W., Australia

 

Testimony 58

I have been watching your videos in The Power of Love seminar and I must say these have liberated me and have improved my relationship with the Lord. I am no longer terrified of him as I was before following your teachings.

Thando N., South Africa

 

Testimony 32

The message [of Come And Reason Ministries is] for all Christians (and those who may become Christians) and not just Adventists or any other group. It is difficult to imagine why any [anyone] with intellectual and spiritual honesty could find fault with the way you explained the healing substitution concepts and the truth about God’s character, though I know some will reject and criticize. On behalf of those in our group near Tacoma, WA, thank you and your staff for all of the hard work and for sharing the Gospel in this manner. God’s message of healing love will be carried to the whole world and then Jesus will come – He promised it.

Terry U., Tacoma, WA, USA

 

Testimony 33

I was invited over a friend’s house to see the “God and Your Brain” seminar today. I became [a christian] 36 years ago at the age of 19, but have struggled with the concept of God taking His ‘pound of flesh’ out on His Son to be appeased. Wow. Your seminar has been an incredible revelation and breath of reason and fresh air! I have your book, “The God Shaped Brain,” and it is SO eye opening. Finally, after 36 years enlightenment has come! Praise the Good Lord! What can I say, but that the Real Gospel is truly “Good News!” Thank you for your efforts in giving the Gospel a clear sound!

Paul C.,  Springfield, MA, USA

 

Testimony 19

I truly believe that to know who God really is the first step to understand ourselves in a balanced and kind way, so the healing can take place. Your approach really makes sense – Thank you for your ministry!

A.M., Pittsburg, PA, USA

Testimony 21

I am absolutly on fire with the message at Come and Reason! I can’t get enough! I’ve read your book, blog, and articles. I’ve listened to your Bible study podcasts, your radio show, and your series – all excellent! It wasn’t until the past couple of years that I have I like I’m becoming “healthy,” with more to share with others than just beasts and commandments! I used to be a Bible worker and preached when the pastors were gone until I had had enough. I didnt realize at the time what the problem was, but i know now… the message wasn’t properly focused. Now my flame is rekindled. All of your little examples are so perfect in explaining something “complicated” and making it easily understood! Now I’m trying to shape it into a life changing evangelistic series! Thank you!

M.T., USA

 

Testimony 5

We listen to your bible studies lessons in our class in Montana. You actually were the main reason I decided to get a laptop, so I can go to your site and listen, read, learn, and print the class notes. I am so grateful to learn the correct view of God and his character. Now, to just have others have an interest in knowing, so I can share it with them. Good thoughts your way.

R. N., MT, USA