"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" 2 Corinthians 4:4.

Who or what do we believe the god of this world might be? Do we think it is the supposed "antichrist," or perhaps the devil, that books, pastors, movies, and folklore portray him to be. Hopefully, we can see that this featured entity is neither of the two. Paul made it fairly clear the devil that had blinded minds was not a big evil tail-swishing imp that blinds people by tempting them to be evil and immoral. I don't think the apostle was suggesting that the god of this world was a devil laying wait around every corner who delighted in tempting every soul in some sort of sin that he could claim as a trophy he snatched from the saving hands of Jesus.

You see, the devil, that old serpent, tempts the children the same way he tempted the parents of humanity, that is, to be their own gods. It was when that little snake whispered into the inner ear of the woman's heart: "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5, NIV.

She then gave to her husband, and they became lesser gods that very day. In doing so, the man and woman were no longer in union with their Creator, as they entered the world of carnality, of darkness, and death. After the woman and the man partook of the deadly fruit, they became consciousness of themselves, and their world ended. They traded the wisdom of God for that of the flesh. Even in that lowly state, God said that they had become as one of us (Elohim), to know good and evil. (Genesis 3:22).

There is no denying it, they had become gods. The big problem, though, was that they were gods of the world rather than the heavens. They made themselves gods that were independent from the living God. No longer were their hearts and spirit centered on Him. It was on themselves. Not God-centered but self-centered. And from that day, until Jesus, there has been set a great gulf between man and God. It has been a very long night of darkness, of sorrow, of sin, and of death since that fateful day of Adam's infamous godhood.

He/they became the gods of the world by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil rather than remaining gods of the heavens. They were cast from that lofty realm to till the ground from which their fleshly bodies had been taken. One thing that they did retain was their authority to rule the entire earth:

"And God said, Let us make man in our image (which is God), after our likeness (which is God): and let them (which are gods) have dominion (which gods have) over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Genesis 1:26.

David said something about man being a god: "What is man that Thou art mindful of him...for Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands..." As a god (elohim), he had dominion, but a further reading of this passage shows that the commission over which man was given was under the first covenant and limited to the earth realm. We find, then, that Adam truly became a god, as the serpent promised and God confirmed — but he was not a god of the heavenly realm. He became, rather, "the god of this world." 1 Corinthians. 4:4.

Since the serpent has never lived or existed in the truth; it was impossible for him to speak truth to Eve. That spirit spoke facts, but it was not truth. It was a form but not the essence. It was a doctrine about God rather than the living union and reality of and with Him.

Man gained knowledge by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and died in the process. Being that the spirit of the serpent in the heart of mother Eve was acted upon, she took on its knowledge and wisdom of the world, which was vastly inferior to God's knowledge and wisdom. James said:

"This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." James 3:15. Such is the way of the serpent. It is soulish! It appeals to the ego of the carnal mind. It is devilish, that which touches the human spirit and defiles it with the spirit of the world. It is deceptive and blinds the human creature from the truth. But let us rejoice; for there is "...the wisdom that is from above which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." James 3:17.

It should be obvious that the apostle was not referring to the god of this world as being what the church system has painted; such as the devil or the antichrist. The spirit of the devil is the inspiration, the driving force of the world's god, and is certainly a real part of it; but the devil is not that god. The fact is, the devil that the church system promotes doesn’t exist. There is surely a devil. To say otherwise, we would have to ignore roughly 57 verses of the Bible that refers to the devil, 49 times that speaks of Satan, 36 concerning the serpent, and 18 verses of the dragon. We will not ignore them by any means; but the particular devil of popular belief is foreign to the scriptures. Only in their beguiled imaginations and doctrines is there such a devil.

Paul was talking about a devil (diabolos - traducer, twister) which is a spirit and most often is religious in nature. We see it as such in the religious order of that day, which was that of the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. It was that old hierarchy, that subtle, religious system of the Jews of which he was speaking. He spoke of a satan that was always the lying adversary to God’s elect. Corporately, those lying/adverse/satan inspired men were the gods of that world, that cosmos, and that age! Moreover, as surely as there is a many membered body of Christ — there was a many membered, corporate body of the god(s) of this world. They were the elohim who ruled Israel, and today, there are also gods of religion, of governments, economics, the news media, the military, educational systems, vice and immorality, the political and drug cartels, and the list goes on. What an enormous complex that the gods of this world rule over, and it's with the great red dragon being the spirit behind it all.

Perhaps there are not many who know that men and women of authority are being inspired by the devil, especially the heads of religious organizations, and have not considered that they are gods, yet it is true. For instance, those of religious orders that ruled over and judged Israel were called gods in the Old Testament:

"Then his master shall bring him unto the judges (Heb. elohim - gods)... Exodus 21:6. And, "The 'gods' (Heb. elohim) know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness(NIV); all the foundations of the earth are out of course (because of the gods). I have said, Ye are gods (elohim)...and you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. " Psalm 82:5-7 KJV. (Parentheses supplied for clarity)

Permit me to be among the others to tell you that according to the scriptures — the god of that dispensation in 70 A.D., of that world, of that age, was cast out. There was war in heaven, and he lost. He lost the war! The power of that serpentine system was removed! The powerful, prestigious dragon, the prince of the power of the air, was cast out of that heaven! The priesthood was stripped of its rank and order! Corporately, that defeated god was cast from that high place of glory! He lost his status! The dragon and god of that world was defeated and consumed by the flaming firebrands of God’s elect! In like manner, the hour will come when the world powers that war against us today will be cast down and destroyed to never rise again.

Hopefully, it is becoming evident that there was a god/elohim of that age, that there was a cunning devil (traducer), a satan (adversary) of that age, and he was destroyed along with the age wherein he ruled until that time. When that age was dissolved and came to a close, by default, the spirit of that dispensation also came to a close. The priesthood of natural Israel was over. Their world came to an end.

Since we can see this, let us also understand that there is a cunning serpent/satan/devil of this present age that empowers the a god(s) of this world. Let us also know that there are no differences between those today and the ones back then. Moreover, if these devil inspired gods have not filled our ears with nonsense, and blinded our minds to truth, I believe we should be able to see that great conflict of 70 A.D. was the end of the world that Jesus said the generation standing there would live to see it happen.

The war against Jerusalem was a manifestation of the spiritual war in that heaven. It was a war that was waged against everything that had set itself up as God, and we have the same today. There are the unholy of this nation; such as, the government, the press, Socialism, Communism that are the agents not only on the spiritual plane but on the ground, and there are also the holy ones, the Sons of God in the heavens and with boots on the ground.

There was war in Jerusalem’s heaven against that great red dragon. The priesthood of old flew through the heavens with great authority. That religious system ruled over the people of that world. It sat in an exalted place, until it was cast from that esteemed throne by God's elect, and so it has been and will be today.

That day of old spiritually foreshadowed the war that every overcoming son of God will face. For there is a whore that sits upon many waters, which are the people and nations of the world (Revelation 17:1, 15), and the sons who are caught up to God and His throne will remove her from her glorious seat of tyranny. We will let the ground forces of today’s Titus do what they will. That is not our concern; but we will do what we are called to do, and finish it in total victory.

That in which we are presently engaged is first against that religious spirit within us, and then the one in the heavens that is without. And when we have won the war within, when the devil, that great red dragon, has been bound and eventually destroyed in our own lives, it will also be so in this present world. Once there is no engagement of war against mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth within ourselves, the season will have come that we will destroy that fallen modern-day city that is in all the earth.

A complete victory will be found as the clarion call is trumpeted from the heavens that Satan has been destroyed, and his evil power removed forever from every form of life. It has been God’s plan to strip the accuser of his rank and forever destroyed to never see that religious and political system built again.

In this waning age, we have seen the subtle serpent grow into a great red dragon, and as it draws to a close, God’s elect are being caught up to dethrone and destroy the dragon along with his tail of lying prophets Isaiah 9-15. And please know, this present world war in heaven that has marched down through the centuries will not end until the enemy of God’s people is unseated from its powerful place. As the god's of this world fall, their pompous pride and prestige will be turned to shame and utter defeat.

War has been shaking the heavens, as we find ourselves in the midst of it every day. It has been between us and the great red dragon, inwardly and outwardly! We have been warring against Satan, that ancient serpent, the adversary, the devil, the traducer of God’s truth. That devilish spirit has had power in and over people's lives, and especially in man's church and political systems of the world. And please note, in "man's" church, not the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. there is a vast difference between the two, and I am assuming you know that, and if not, you can figure it out as His Holy Spirit reveals it to you.

Most of us know the battles are no longer against an imaginary devil that is tempting our flesh to sin. There is an area where the devil moves and has its being, and that is in the hearts of people, in the world of pseudo religion, in politics; but praise God,we are not tempted by any means to join their ranks again. There is no desire to be joined to a harlot or a dragon. We will not be tempted by the woman's seductive spirit or be forced by the evil power of the seven headed lizard.

For some, those two wars have been won. But for the many, the war against the red dragon, the angel that is transformed into light continues! Some have gained victory, some will continue to war until victory is secured for them, while some have surrendered to the alluring call of the harlot who are captives in Babyon. An ample amount about her is found not only in the book of Revelation but also in the Proverbs:

"For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: ⁴But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. ⁵Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. ⁶Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. ⁷Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. ⁸Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: ⁹Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel." Proverbs 5:3 -9. (See also Proverbs 2:16-20, 5:20, 6:24-27, 23:27-28).

When arrayed in such tempting beauty and with words dripping like honey from its comb, it is sometimes hard to see the truth of who or what Satan is. That spirit is truly a master of deception, especially since it is so appealing to the natural man and woman. However, when its identity is known, his, or its reign ends, it goes up in smoke — forever destroyed!

On the other hand, if that traducing devil, the religious and political spirit and systems of this age have blinded our minds — servitude will be the order of the day. It will flourish while God’s Kingdom diminishes. But, we believe it will be otherwise! Like Gideon's army, there are three hundred (divine deliverance) who have gone the distance, and seven thousand more we don’t know about. They have been tried by fire and proven. They will rise at the beginning of the middle watch, at the darkest hour of the night, and the fiery light from their broken pitchers will pierce the darkness, while the word of their trumpets sounds the victory that is already sealed (Judges 7:20-21). The phallic groves will be destroyed. The host of the Midianites (the servants of Baalim) will be cast from the heavens; that is, Satan, the adversary, the dragon with his lying prophets!

Brethren, the handwriting is upon the wall, and it says:

"Your religious and political days have been numbered! You have been weighed in the balance and are found wanting. Your kingdoms are divided and given to others." The spirit and god of this world have met their match!

So arise you holy watchers, the priests who weep and travail between the porch and the altar. Dispatch the valiant vanguards so the Lord's people will be spared, that they are not seen as a reproach. And also that the godless heathen, the god of this world, will no longer rule over them or have cause to say, "Where is your God?"