Intelligence:Noun:1.capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude ingrasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.2.manifestation of a high mental capacity: He writes with intelligence and wit.3.the faculty of understanding.4.knowledge of an event, circumstance, etc., received or imparted; news; information.5.the gathering or distribution of information, especially secret
information. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/intelligence
Sometimes we don’t think of
spiritual beings as having intelligence.
We have simply been limited in our teaching of the heavenly beings. The devil is an intelligent enemy. He has had, according to our time frame, over
six thousand years to plan and plot how he will work. The serpent is said to be more subtle,
cunning, crafty, or shrewd, than any other beast created. Yet God wrote the entire plan of the devil in
the Bible for us to learn about. We know
the end time military conflicts will be when the devil convinces the earth
inhabitants to make war against the Lamb, Jesus. Before that, the devil will raise up the
beast and the false prophet to bring the world into a one world governmental
system. Before that, the beast will make
a peace treaty with Israel and rebuild the temple. Before that, the redeemed must leave earth so
that the devil will have free reign on earth.
Looking at the present, we understand that the devil has a direction
that he is moving towards. But we
Christians are so one dimensional that we cannot understand that the devil has
multiple plans spinning in multiple directions to discourage you from wanting
to worship Jesus as Lord. If you believe your Lord is doing things that are
“mean” you will not enter into a relationship with him. In other words, why would you worship and
praise a God who may back hand you at any moment? We will come back to this
thought.
The
creator of spiritual beings is Jesus. Jesus
is one third of Elohim, along with
the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes fables have led us into wrong thinking regarding the nature of
spiritual beings. Fairy tales seem to
indicate there are beings created good, and beings created evil, however that
proves untrue according to scripture. Instead, all beings are created with
freewill. All beings have the ability to
choose. That initially sounds great, but
it presents the opportunity to choose poorly.
It is the desire of the Godhead for people to make good choices, such as
to serve the Creator, but a forced service is not a choice. Therefore, the risk the Creator takes is to
give all beings freewill to choose. As
we previously considered, spiritual beings knew the difference between good and
evil, yet Adam did not until after he sinned. Nonetheless, there are many created beings,
spiritual and physical, created by Jesus, and all have a purpose. If we are to
be successful in warring against the devil and his group, there are some things
we have to understand.
The
Father makes universal peace through the blood of Jesus, and all things in
earth and heaven will be reconciled back to Jesus. We have the written plan we simply have to
study it.
Col
1:11-20 [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power
according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and
patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy, 12 Giving thanks to the
Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the
inheritance of the saints (God's holy people) in the Light. 13 [The Father] has
delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of
darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 In
Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of
our sins. 15 [Now] He is the exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible
representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation. 16 For
it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen
and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all
things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in
and for Him. 17 And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things
consist (cohere, are held together). [Prov 8:22-31.] 18 He also is the Head of
[His] body, the church; seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among
the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the
chief place [stand first and be preeminent]. 19 For it has pleased [the Father]
that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers,
and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently. 20 And God purposed that
through (by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should
be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as
through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross. AMP
Thrones NT:2362 thronos
(thron'-os); from thrao (to sit); a stately seat ("throne"); by
implication, power or (concretely) a potentate: KJV - seat, throne.(Biblesoft's
New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew
Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International
Bible Translators, Inc.)
Dominions NT:2963kuriotes
(koo-ree-ot'-ace); from NT:2962; mastery, i.e. (concretely and collectively)
rulers: KJV - dominion, government.(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers
and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003,
2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Principalities NT:746 arche
(ar-khay'); from NT:756; (properly abstract) a commencement, or (concretely)
chief (in various applications of order, time, place, or rank):KJV - beginning,
corner, (at the, the) first (estate), magistrate, power, principality,
principle, rule.(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance
with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft,
Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Powers NT:1849 exousia
(ex-oo-see'-ah); from NT:1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, i.e.
(subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery
(concretely, magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated
influence:KJV - authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right,
strength.(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with
Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc.
and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Created NT:2936 ktizo
(ktid'-zo); probably akin to NT:2932 (through the idea of proprietor-ship of
the manufacturer); to fabricate, i.e. found (form originally):KJV - create,
Creator, make.(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with
Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc.
and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
All
these beings, in their offices, were manufactured by Jesus. The Holy Spirit, also known as the Spirit of
Wisdom, was formed before the creation of the earth. The Holy Spirit was a
director or architect during the process of making the earth.
Prov
8:22-31 The Lord formed and brought me [Wisdom] forth at the beginning of His
way, before His acts of old. 23 I [Wisdom] was inaugurated and ordained from
everlasting, from the beginning, before ever the earth existed. [John 1:1; 1
Cor 1:24.] 24 When there were no deeps, I was brought forth, when there were no
fountains laden with water. 25 Before the mountains were settled, before the
hills, I was brought forth, [Job 15:7,8.] 26 While as yet He had not made the
land or the fields or the first of the dust of the earth. 27 When He prepared
the heavens, I [Wisdom] was there; when He drew a circle upon the face of the
deep and stretched out the firmament over it, 28 When He made firm the skies
above, when He established the fountains of the deep, 29 When He gave to the
sea its limit and His decree that the waters should not transgress [across the
boundaries set by] His command, when He appointed the foundations of the earth
— [Job 38:10,11; Ps 104:6-9; Jer 5:22.]
30 Then I [Wisdom] was beside Him as a master and director of the work; and I
was daily His delight, rejoicing before Him always, [Matt 3:17; John 1:2,18.]
31 Rejoicing in His inhabited earth and delighting in the sons of men. [Ps
16:3.] AMP
We
also see reiterated in John, that Jesus, the Word, the third part of Elohim,
made everything.
John
1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.2 The same was in the beginning with God.3 All things were made by him;
and without him was not any thing made that was made.KJV
This
begs the question; if we are at war with the devil and his group, did Elohim
make him evil or good? The freewill choice of Lucifer to choose to want to put
his throne in the sides of the north, to judge the sons of God, because of his
prideful thoughts of being better than other created sons of God, is our
answer. Lucifer was an anointed Cherub,
the one who was a protector, a coverer.
He looked beautiful when he reflected God, but not on his own. He also had sanctuaries; not just one, but at
least two or more. He used the beings
under him, merchandising, or employing those beings for profit. The Bible also states that Lucifer destroyed
his land and killed his people. There
was a series of actions that were not deemed acceptable to God, not just
one. Freewill can be dangerous if we
keep making poor choices. This is what
happened to satan; not simply one mistake, but several infractions against
other beings.
John
8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning [746], and abode not in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for
he is a liar, and the father of it.KJV
Here
we see that Jesus tells the Jews (the ones who don’t believe on him) that they
are of their father the devil. People
sometimes distort this verse to try and explain that God made the devil evil,
but in context we see something different.
The word arche, as we studied
last week, shows up here, and some would say that that word proves the devil
was created evil, however the word murderer is manslayer. One could not be a human killer until humans
were created. From the beginning of
human kind the devil was a murderer, not the beginning of his own creation. Lucifer was an anointed Cherub, allowed to
walk among the fiery stones, a privilege not given to all the sons of God. The devil was a murderer of man from the time
man was placed in the garden. The devil
was not a brute murderer, killing by force, but by cunning and subtlety. He was a manipulator. This is why I have written about witchcraft
and manipulation as not becoming a Christian.
The devil used trickery to deceive Adam and Eve; he did not run them
over with a stampede of elephants.
There
comes a point when we continue down a destructive path that we may not want to
turn back, and we find ways to justify our behavior. The spiritual beings are similar
to us; if we remember, we are to judge angels, see 1 Cor 6:3. In like manner, we will be similar to
spiritual beings. In Luke, Jesus is
recorded as saying that if we attain to the next world, we will be like
angels. This is the only place this word
is used, it does not mean we become angels;
instead we are similar to angels.
Luke
20:34-38 And Jesus said to them, The people of this world and present age marry
and are given in marriage; 35 But those who are considered worthy to gain that
other world and that future age and to attain to the resurrection from the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36 For they cannot die again, but they
are angel-like and equal to angels [2465]. And being sons of and sharers in the
resurrection, they are sons of God. 37 But that the dead are raised [from
death] — even Moses made known and showed in the passage concerning the
[burning] bush, where he calls the Lord, The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob. [Ex 3:6.] 38 Now He is not the God of the dead, but of
the living, for to Him all men are alive [whether in the body or out of it] and
they are alive [not dead] unto Him [in definite relationship to Him]. AMP
Angels NT:2465 isaggelos
(ee-sang'-el-los); from NT:2470 and NT:32; like an angel, i.e. angelic: KJV -
equal unto the angels.(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and
Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006
Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
The
old fairy tales that tell us that we become angels when we die is not
true. We are like angels in that we
don’t marry. This was something the angels of old saw and desired, causing many
to come to earth and take earth women as wives, bearing offspring called the
Nephilim. Those angels are in prison
awaiting judgment. But we have to think about this, why are we judging angels?
Because they have free will, and make free will decisions. In Job we see the sons of God meeting
together, and satan comes as well. Satan
comes to accuse, but similar to a board meeting, the sons of God are asked what
they have been doing, just as satan was asked.
All beings are under Jesus’ judgment and authority.
1
Peter 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and
authorities and powers being made subject unto him.KJV
This
is why the devil fights Jesus, and stirs up an end time battle to fight the
Lamb; because all powers are under his leadership. Jesus did not put the “world to come” under
angelic authority.
Heb
2:5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come,
whereof we speak.KJV
There
are a good number of spiritual beings in the creation. They are ministers to those people who will
be the heirs of salvation, as Hebrews tells us. Heb 1:14. When we look at the
word for hosts, we see it is “large
group of beings”. In this context it is
an “army of angels”.
Ps
24:10 Who is this King-Glory? God of the angel armies [6635]: he is King-Glory.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H.
Peterson. All rights reserved.)
OT:6635
tsaba' (tsaw-baw'); or (feminine) tseba'ah (tseb-aw-aw'); from OT:6633; a mass
of persons (or figuratively, things), especially reg. organized for war (an
army); by implication, a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically,
hardship, worship): KJV - appointed time, (+)army, (+)battle, company, host,
service, soldiers, waiting upon, war (-fare). (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive
Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary.
Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible
Translators, Inc.)
If
we remember, Azazael, one of the fallen angels, came to earth and taught humans
how to make weapons, as well as makeup and jewelry. Therefore, there must have been the knowledge
of warfare in whatever part of heaven Azazael came from. We already understand that the spiritual
beings all had the knowledge of good and evil.
If Jesus created spiritual beings such as, angels, cherubim, seraphim;
and some of them used their free will to renounce His Lordship; he may have
utilized His loyal spiritual beings to remove Lucifer from his place in the
upper heavens. We know that Lucifer
still has some access to heaven to accuse humans before God, but he does not
have full access any longer. One day
Lucifer will lose his access to all of heaven and will be cast out along with
one third of those who changed their lord from Jesus to Lucifer. One day, those
people who were not among the redeemed will be judged. If found cursed, these people will enter
eternal fire, the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Matt
25:41-46 Then He will say to those at His left hand, Be gone from Me, you
cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels! 42 For I
was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to
drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me, I was
naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit
Me with help and ministering care. 44 Then they also [in their turn] will
answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or
sick or in prison, and did not minister to You? 45 And He will reply to them,
Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least [in
the estimation of men] of these, you failed to do it for Me. [Prov 14:31;
17:5.] 46 Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are
just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life. [Dan 12:2.]
AMP
Angels
who serve Jesus have responsibilities besides ministering to people who make
Jesus Lord. Angels will separate the
people of the kingdom of God from those not allowed in.
Matt
13:38-44 The field is the world, and the good seed means the children of the
kingdom; the darnel is the children of the evil one, 39 And the enemy who sowed
it is the devil. The harvest is the close and consummation of the age, and the
reapers are angels. 40 Just as the darnel (weeds resembling wheat) is gathered
and burned with fire, so it will be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of Man
will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes
of offense [persons by whom others are drawn into error or sin] and all who do
iniquity and act wickedly, 42 And will cast them into the furnace of fire;
there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth. 43 Then will the
righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God) shine forth
like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears [to hear] be
listening, and let him consider and perceive and understand by hearing. [Dan
12:3.] AMP
Matt
13:49-51 So it will be at the close and consummation of the age. The angels
will go forth and separate the wicked from the righteous (those who are upright
and in right standing with God) 50 And cast them [the wicked] into the furnace
of fire; there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth. AMP
Just
before the consummation of the age, the angels separate the people of the
kingdom and the children of the evil one.
Angels are given the charge in several instances to mark the children of
God, or to kill the ones who are not of God.
So far as we know there is no escaping the lake of fire. Once beings,
whether human or spiritual, are thrown into the lake of fire there is no way
out. We have no further plan of
redemption for those in the lake of fire, nor do we have a plan of salvation
for them. Therefore one day, all beings
will be separated so that those who have turned to evil will be contained in a
lake of fire while the children of God the Creator, are set to live in a new
heaven and new earth. What we see from
the future of the two new places, heaven and earth, is that they will be
without intentional evil. Right now we
have intentional evil on the earth.
Beings that scheme and plan evil against humans.
Intelligent
spiritual beings that know the truth, but have committed to make an allegiance
with satan, are what we are continually dealing with. They use a smoke cloud
against humans to make our heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Holy
Spirit, look like mean gods, that do not love us but instead may beat us at any
moment. If we were to understand that
that is simply the opposite of reality, we would be further ahead in this game
played against us. There are schemes
spinning in every direction, but Christians think very one dimensionally;
seeing only “good” or “evil” rather than “evil” and “more evil”. For example, people will say that the United
States of America was established as a “Christian” nation. That is not quite the truth, there were many
people who were truly Christians who came here, but it is not a blanket
statement of all good vs. all evil. If
51 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were known and
registered freemasons, could we make a blanket statement that the USA was
established as a Christian nation? Then we would have to say that freemasonry
is a Christian religion, yet we know that is not true. There are many great books written about
secret societies where one can research freemasonry.
Here
is another example; people always like to compare the USA to Israel, and then
attribute the punishment of Israel, especially the northern kingdom, to the
USA. We then have to ask a few simple
questions. Firstly, where is the United
States of America talked about in the Bible?
We may be able to stretch the USA into the outer isles or the young
merchants of Tar shish. But if that is all we have to go on that is pretty
thin. Then we have to ask where (if we
use those examples or some other example) is it written that God made and
established a covenant with the USA like he did with Israel? I’ve heard people try to make a case that the
USA’s borders were breached, for the first time, like the Northern Kingdom of
Israel, on 9/11. However we have simply
forgotten history, such as Pearl Harbor, and the war of 1812. Then we also have to ask the questions as to
where are Canada, Brazil, Argentina, North Korea or South Korea, or Malaysia in
the Bible; and is God punishing them, or just the USA? This is called belief bias where something is
either accepted or rejected according to one’s own every day knowledge and
perspective. If one does not have a world
view, then a person’s world view centers on their small city or town. Just like a toddler, who thinks the world
revolves around him, so do many American Christian adults believe they are the
center of the Bible.
It
is an ingenious being that can spin tales and stories, even using similar
circumstances from the Bible, and make people look at Jesus and the Heavenly
Father in a bad way. Does the devil know what is written in the Bible? It is a being with intelligence that can make
people think the Father is harming his own, and that there is no evil ruler
here on earth. An intelligent being
makes people believe everything comes from the Creator God, good and bad, while
there isn’t a devil, doing anything bad on earth. An example of one of the many
deceptions the devil uses is how the devil inspired a religion in the 8th
century that has many tenets of the book of revelation, in opposite form, such
as Islam. Therefore, there are people
who believe the anti Christ will come out of Islam. At the same time, there are secret societies,
such as the Illuminati, that control much of the wealth of the free world, and
people are led to believe that they will be the world leaders and rulers. Yet if one were to take out a world map and
look at the areas both of these groups have control over, one would notice
there is a large portion of the world that neither group control. Some also believe the harlot of all religions
is one that got its start from Constantine, three hundred years after
Christ. Another group ambitiously
promotes visitors from other planets who are coming to either help or harm
us. Simply, this will be the cover story
of the rapture; aliens came and took all the trouble makers away to be
re-programmed. All these groups truly
exist, and all are just smoke screens, attempting to distract us from Christ. From
the Bible, we can see that one day a world leader will come to power with the
help of the dragon and the false prophet.
Therefore it hardly matters as to what story the devil spins now, we are
simply to go out and make disciples, knowing that the Bible is our rule and
guide for future events. These smoke
screens cause many people to be passionate about their knowledge, and again, it
is intelligent spiritual beings that made an allegiance to the devil that
continue to spin tales to keep Christians off balance. But Jesus said something interesting to his disciples
to set us apart.
Matt
5:43-48 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour,
and hate thine enemy.44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you;45 That ye may be the children of your Father which
is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.46 For if ye love them which love
you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?47 And if ye
salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans
so?48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect.KJV
Why
would Jesus tell his disciples to love your enemies or pray for them that
despitefully use you? Love sets us apart
from the devil. If the enemy is trying
to cause you to sin, and you simply love and pray for the people the devil is
using, it keeps your heart light and happy.
This does not mean we should erase the imprecatory psalms, as we studied
last week; but sometimes people are being used and they don’t even know
it. This is different from those who
intentionally made an allegiance with the devil, and you will only know the
difference by revelation from the Holy Spirit. I’ve heard many stories where a Christians’
kindness helped someone get saved, even when the non-believer knew they weren’t
being nice, they were touched by love. This makes the devil crazy. Paul also warns us to keep alert and
intercede.
Eph
6:18-20 Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit,
with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with
strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God's
consecrated people). 19 And [pray] also for me, that [freedom of] utterance may
be given me, that I may open my mouth to proclaim boldly the mystery of the
good news (the Gospel), 20 For which I am an ambassador in a coupling chain [in
prison. Pray] that I may declare it boldly and courageously, as I ought to do.
AMP
Since
we are to keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, it would
seem that there could be a scheme or a trick at any turn in life. Therefore, we are to keep sharp and vigilant.
We are not dealing with stupid spirit beings, but beings who know more about
the universe than we do. We should be
consistent in our prayer time, and ask the Holy Spirit to show us the way to
pray.
