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Part XI – How the Kingdoms Advance Geopolitically

Although the governments of men are legitimate political actors who influence history by seeking their own self interest, behind all political power is ultimately the war between the Spiritual forces of God and those of the devil. The devil’s goal is consolidation of power under one head in order to control and eradicate all of mankind, and God’s goal is bring people out of the devil’s Kingdom and into relationship with him, which politically means less consolidated power and more in the hands of the righteous in order to protect God’s goals.

There are many different factions on the planet which are pursuing the devil’s goal. In fact it is pretty natural for man to desire this kind of power and desire to push out other rivals. It is a complex game of brinksmanship. Although history itself is teleological (directed) the role that a specific political actor plays at a given time may shift. The direction of history is seen only from a distance as the net direction emerges.

The devil wants to use evil governments to set up increasingly evil governments. This is the phenomenon I call “twice the son of the devil.” It is a spiritual principle that Jesus lays out in Matthew 23:15. It is an extension of the phenomenon we observed with the Haman behavior. Haman is a ruthless man who deceives and kills (literally or figuratively) in order to take power. Haman is not the end goal however. As evil as he is, those who are discipled by his regime are even more evil. This is because they have no exposure to good like Haman did in his early days. They only have exposure to evil, and evil being done to them. Therefore, eventually Haman himself will be destroyed by a man more wicked than himself. For example, Stalin was more wicked that Lenin, although Lenin himself was quite evil. I believe that Satan’s goal is to set up a succession of Hamans in order to usher in the Antichrist.

On the other hand whenever one of these Haman figures is defeated, God’s Kingdom will experience a great advance, just as Mordecai and the Jews did at that time. When the US defeated Hitler and later the Soviet Union, what seemed to be the most dire possible future suddenly became a future much brighter than had been imagined. As US political power provided greater shade for the Gospel, the Gospel experienced major advances after each of these two victories. The political power, however, was only a manifestation of the greater Spiritual power after removal of Haman and his empire.

You cannot use the devil’s methods to defeat the devil. Lies and Murder will only give his kingdom more power even if the people who you take out are evil. God’s Kingdom advances through the principle of resurrection. When God raises up a seed, the devil and his Kingdom do everything they possibly can to kill it. If the devil is unable to kill the seed, the seed will come back and do more damage than it did the first time. So while the devil’s kingdom advances through spiritual and physical killing, God’s Kingdom advances by the principle of resurrection. If you play by God’s rules, the devil’s attempts to stop you will fail, and you’ll own the board at the end of the day. The evils you do, however, will reap a harvest in the end. If the devil can make you compromise, he can stop or kill you, but if you don’t compromise, his attempts to kill you will make you more damaging to his kingdom. Therefore more the devil “raises the stakes” the more a victory will accomplish for God’s Kingdom, or a defeat will cost it.