The Pyramid of Evil
It is important for Christians to recognize the existence of Satan and the host of evil spirits that follow him. They are creatures that will oppose us. I believe they hate the Israel Truth movement because they hate the truth. Jesus was introduced to the conflict with evil as soon as He received the Holy Spirit. The devil (Satan) tried to stop his ministry at the outset. Jesus’ first act in his ministry was to resist the devil.
The Apostle Paul sheds light on the subject in his letter to the Ephesians. “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”. Ephesians 6:12. Many books have been written on the subject of spiritual warfare. It is important to know how our enemy operates. A few authors I would recommend are Neil Anderson, (“The Bondage Breaker”), Derek Prince, (“They Shall Expel Demons”), and Bob Larson. In his book “Larson`s Book of Spiritual Warfare”, Bob Larson refers to the passage in Ephesians 6:12: “This scripture refers to Satan’s system of supernatural activity, which is organized spiritually and geographically. Certain principalities control particular countries and cities. (For example, Daniel 10 refers to the spirits “prince of Persia” and “prince of Greece.”) Other powers direct their attention to designated sectors of society, such as the political and academic realms. Rulers of darkness focus on certain industries like entertainment and pornography. Demons with specialized abilities work their evil where they are most effective.”
I believe this illustrates the tier system by which evil operates, which I would call “the pyramid of evil”. Satan would be at the top, as the cap stone. Under him would be the principalities which control nations. Under them would be the powers. Under them would be the rulers of darkness and under them would be the spirits of wickedness. Each descending tier is larger than the one above. At the bottom, the spirits of wickedness probably number in the millions. The lower tiers are oppressed, dominated, and bullied by the upper tiers, as theorized in the book, “The Screwtape Letters”, by C.S. Lewis. The upper tiers gain strength and support from those below them. The spirits of the lowest tier gain their satisfaction from dominating and oppressing human beings.
Since most of the work of Satan is done by the lowest spirits of wickedness, these are almost always the ones we will have to deal with. The methods of all evil spirits are the same: Invade the mind. That is what Satan tried to do with Jesus, to put evil thoughts in Jesus’ mind and to twist his thinking away from the truth. Jesus resisted him with the Word of God. Evil spirits will try to inject evil thoughts into our minds such as anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy words, and try to get us to speak words expressing such things. When they do this to a Christian, he or she has the authority to tell them to leave in the name of Jesus Christ. If the oppression persists, the victim may have neglected to confess some sin, such as not forgiving someone that offended him or her. Beyond that, the victim may have to meet with two or more other Christians to pray against the oppression. “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”. Matthew 18: 18-20.
We Christians have the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16), but we must guard our minds against evil influences. As we approach the end of this age, the Lord exhorts us to stand firm in our faith and in the love of God. He said, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved”. Matthew 24:12,13. We are to resist the devil’s attempts to turn us against God and we are to speak the truth in love. (Ephesians 4:15) In this way, we break down the support structure of the pyramid of evil.
