I walked into my local
grocery store and there was the TV personality, Ellen, in the frozen food
aisle. She wasn’t “dressed for TV.” Later that week I was driving by the airport
and looked over at the guy in the car next to me: one of the male strip dancers of “Thunder from Down
Under.” He wasn’t in his costume either. We see people all the time here in
Vegas who are not in their performance costumes. Did you know that the devil
and his demons have different personas and put on costumes too? If we’re smart
we can see who they really are: characters putting on an act. It’s a convincing
one, yes, but we have the authority to expose and deflate them.
Here’s a little history
about the devil’s Strip show:
The devil started off as
an angel and was designed to do God’s will. He was originally supposed to help
mankind. He was created as the angel of light. Light makes things grow. Things
are made clear in the light. Lucifer was to illuminate things for mankind. But
God is the ultimate authority. Next in authority is mankind: “Let us make man
in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion.” Then comes
angels (both the good ones and fallen angels).
We’ve been taught wrongly
about the authority of angels and demons because of a mistranslation of
scripture. The devil asks, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the
son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than
the angels” (Ps 8:4-5).
Where it says “a little
lower than angels,” the word “angels” is the word Elohim,
which is God the Creator. This verse should read:
“For thou [God] hast made him [man] a little lower than Himself.”
Lucifer didn’t like the
idea of being subservient to anyone, and certainly not to men. He didn’t want
to do what God created him for. He didn’t want to help mankind; he wanted to
rule over him and be worshipped by him.
Isaiah 14 takes a look
back in the devil’s history and gives us the true story:
“Thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of
God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation: I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Is 14: 12-14). The
Message reads:
“I'll take over as King of the Universe!"
To “sit upon the mount of
the congregation” means to sit at the top, above all beings and be the one to judge
them. (See Psa 82:1 and Psa 75:2.) Lucifer liked that idea—to be the bully on
the throne and make all the decisions concerning mankind.
But he couldn’t do that
because there’s only one God over all. And because of Lucifer’s transgression,
he was tossed out of heaven: “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” (Rev 12:9).
Adam had dominion on the
earth but he got tricked by the devil and ended up giving up his power. But
Jesus came as a man into the earth and was able to take back dominion for
anyone who would believe in Him.
So where is the devil now?
He would like us to believe that he is still running things. He brings false
accusations and slander (Rev 12:10). He causes confusion, discouragement,
sickness, pain, all kinds of destruction and so many other horrible things to
mankind. He will do anything he can to put fear into people’s lives and get
them to turn against God or on the other hand, tempt them with the tastiest
sensual delights they can imagine. In Vegas terms, the devil deceives mankind
by putting on his big scary monster costume or his brilliant glistening showgirl,
stripper outfit.
But legally he has no
authority over any Christian. He is a bully with no backup. He’s a doomed being
who puts on a costume to look way more powerful than he really is. But it’s up
to us to let him know that we know what he’s up to. We have to exercise our
Christ-given authority to put him down. We can’t let the devil or his minions
trick us into thinking they are mightier than we are or that they have any
legal authority to be involved in our lives.
Isaiah tells us that in
the end, the devil will be totally exposed for who he really is. All the
costumes will come off and everyone will realize that it was all an act. He and
his devil spirits will be annihilated forever.
“They that see thee shall
narrowly look upon thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to
tremble, that did shake kingdoms; Thou art cast out of thy grave like an
abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through
with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under
feet” (Is 14:9-19).
The devil and his demon spirits
are legally under our feet now. We don’t have to wait till the end to expose
and deflate. Every single time they come up in their costumes to threaten us or
tempt us, we need to remember who they really are, underneath those crazy
costumes and we need to strictly send them away. I’m currently learning how we
can even send them to outer darkness and lock them up until the judgment day.
Now that’s exciting to me and very serious too. The name of our Jesus Christ, the
blood He shed for us and the Word of God are our weapons to use, and they work.
We need to learn more about and practice putting the bullies down, stripping them
of their costumes and deflating their pretend authority every time!
Love, Carolyn
This weekend thru Tuesday,
I’m offering the Holiday Section of WINGS as a free download on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Wings+Carolyn+Molica
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