Who Is the God of This World?

During a Key of David program earlier this year, my father expounded on a prophecy about Satan the devil being cast down to this Earth. And that’s something that’s actually prophesied in the pages of your Bible. And yet, as he brought out on that particular program, we hear so little about that reality today—the fact that Satan has been cast down to this Earth. In fact, you could take it a step farther and say that we really don’t hear much of anything about Satan the devil period, in this world.

Why is that? Why should there be so much confusion, or ignorance, about the devil? Many people scoff at the thought of his existence. They don’t even believe that there’s a devil. And others, while they might accept his existence, they will grossly underestimate his awesome power and influence. They assume that that deceptive influence is something that is easy to detect and that it’s really not that powerful.

Now on the other hand, there are those in the traditional Christian world who think that God and Satan are engaged in some kind of tug-of-war over trying to win the souls of men. And in just looking at the numbers over the centuries, over the millennia, and thinking about the number of people by the billions who never accepted Jesus as their Savior—I mean in that scenario, Satan is clearly depicted as being superior to God. And that’s not the case.

But the reason for this ignorance—you can start turning over to 2 Corinthians 4—the reason for this gross ignorance is because Satan, as the god of this world, has blinded the minds of men from the truth about his existence, in some cases. Or the truth about his power and influence for those who might accept that he exists.

2 Corinthians chapter 4, and look at verse 3 here. Paul says, here in the Moffatt translation, “Even if my gospel is veiled, it is only veiled in the case of the perishing.” Or those who are perishing. The gospel, the message that Jesus brought, it’s veiled, or it’s clouded, or it’s not something that so many people in this world understand. I mean, just look at the many different gospels there are in the traditional Christian world. You choose, basically, what it is that you want to embrace and follow. And it’s just nothing but confusion.

Verse 4 says, “In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is in the image of God, should shine unto them.” The god of this world, Paul says, has blinded the minds of them which believe not.

How come we don’t hear more about this god? You do hear a lot about God in the various religions in this world, but how come we don’t hear much about this god? The god of this world. The god who, in trying to overthrow Christ, boasted that he had all this power to give Christ, that he had all these kingdoms to deliver unto Christ. And in making this statement before Jesus, I mean Christ certainly would have refuted it if there was no truth to it. He would have said in Luke chapter 4 or Matthew 4—that’s where that account is recorded—he would have said, You don’t know what you’re talking about. Who are you to talk about the kingdoms that you’re over? But Christ didn’t say that because He knew, and we know because of what’s revealed in the Bible. That Satan is in fact the god of this world. Satan is in fact the ruler of this world—he’s the one who’s blinded the minds of those who believe not. And God, of course, has allowed all of this to happen.

You don’t have to turn over there, but Revelation 12:9 is one that we go to quite often, here, and my father referred to that verse in that Key of David program that I mentioned. But in Revelation 12:9 it says that Satan has deceived the whole world; the whole world has been deceived.

Let’s look at Ezekiel 28 and just cover some of that history that led up this widespread deception. Ezekiel 28, we’ll go back to the beginning here, to the time when Lucifer was being trained right at the very throne of God—God’s own throne.

Ezekiel 28 and verse 14. It says, “You”—it’s referring to Lucifer. “You are the anointed cherub that covers; and I have set you so,” God says through His prophet. “You were upon the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.” So here was this supreme masterpiece of God’s creative power, as an individually created being, as Mr. Armstrong wrote in Mystery of the Ages. And God made this masterpiece; He set him as His anointed cherub to cover His heavenly throne, and that’s where Lucifer was trained—right at God’s throne. And then God assigned him this opportunity, or a field assignment, you might say, to this Earth where he came and was to administer that same government that he had been trained in. And where he, along with the third of the angels that were working under him, were to beautify and to maintain this creation on Earth—to make it better.

Isaiah 14 is the companion passage to Ezekiel 28. Let’s look at that quickly. God’s plan for the angels went off track the moment that Lucifer sinned against God’s law of love.

Isaiah 14 and verse 12. It says “How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!” Yeah, how could this happen? How could something like this happen?, Isaiah wrote.

And he answers in verse 13, “For you have said in your 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, in the sides of the north.” So notice he has a throne there. He had a throne when he was situated on this earth. And he wanted to exalt that throne above God’s. That’s where he began going off track. It started with his heart, or as it says there in verse 13, he said in his heart, “I will ascend.” So he had this sin of vanity and wanting to exalt himself above even God, his Creator.

Verse 14 says, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High God.” See he would be like God; even above God. But God, as we know from other passages of scripture, and that was covered in that Key of David program, He brought Lucifer back down to this Earth, powerfully, forcefully. And, of course, there’s a duality to that putting him back to this Earth, and it happened again in this end time as my father covered in that Key of David broadcast. But in all of this, He, God, allowed Satan to continue ruling on the throne of this Earth. To continue on his throne. And that’s why, as is recorded in Genesis 3, it says that man has been cut off from God’s truth—from the tree of life. It says in Matthew 4, or that passage in Luke 4 that I mentioned earlier, that Jesus didn’t deny the fact that he had this power to give.

Paul, as we read earlier, acknowledged that he is the god of this world. And then John said the same thing in the book of Revelation, that he has deceived the whole world. Satan is the god of this world. This is not God’s world that we see before us. This is Satan’s world.

Ephesians 2 and verse 2, you can just look at later, but that elaborates on how Satan has maintained his deceptive influence over the minds of men. He’s a great broadcaster, Satan is, and he transmits his signal unperceptively through the air—just like a radio signal or a tv signal. Mr. Armstrong wrote about this in many of his works. He broadcasts in attitudes, in moods, in impulses. And that’s why man just has this built-in hostility toward God, as Paul said in Romans 8:7. Jeremiah 17:9 as well. There’s this hostility toward God and God’s government and God’s law. And you see it even in theology today—even in religion.

This satanic influence explains why man—even though he’s equipped with a mind that’s vastly superior to an animal’s—he’s still utterly incapable of solving even the simplest of problems. Look at this world. Look at how sophisticated it is. I mean, look at the technology, look at the advancement, in one case, in one sense. And then look at the multiplying evils. This is not God’s world. And even commentators who don’t consider themselves to be religious, can see that something is wrong, something is not right with what’s happening today; with what’s happening in nations; with what’s happening between nations; with what’s happening in families, in cities. Look at the evil in this world. God didn’t intend for it to be this way.

From the beginning He offered man, He offered Adam and Eve, the opportunity to draw from Him and His Spirit, to take from the tree of life, to eat from the tree of life. But Adam and Eve rejected that. And so God, it says at the end of Genesis 3, drove out the man. And man ever since has been cut off from God and left to himself to devise his various religions; to devise his systems of government, education, and on and on it goes.

Now, against this backdrop, isn’t it clear why Jesus Christ came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God? Jesus came with a message about another world, a different world, a world that God would build, a world that God would establish through His Son and His Bride. Jesus came with a message, a message of good news about a world-ruling government that’s to be set up on this Earth. And there’s so many scriptures that speak of this government, this utopia, this millennium, this family. And yet even in traditional Christian religion, they deny this. They don’t take this literally.

Now, Christ in His first coming, He said plainly that He didn’t come to set up that kingdom or that government then. He said before Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” And if you remember that exchange in John 18, Pilate then asked Him, “Well are you a king then?” And what did Christ say? How did Jesus respond to that?

He said [verse 37], “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into this world.” Jesus was born to be a king, it says in Luke 1. He was born to be a ruler. He was born to head up a government, a world government. He said so plainly.

Now, in the first century, because the Jews misunderstood Christ’s gospel message, they failed to grasp the vital purpose for which He came in their day. They didn’t understand the duality of those prophecies about Christ’s arrival—the fact that He was to come first as that Lamb sacrifice for the sins of mankind; and then again, in this end time, as that conquering King—as that Ruler. The Pharisees knew Jesus was the Messiah, Mr. Armstrong wrote in Mystery of the Ages. They knew that. They were looking for that. “He’s here,” some of them said. John 6, I mean you can read that account, they wanted to make a crown themselves and put it on Him. They knew what the prophecies said about the Messiah, about the Ruler, about the government. But for those that had those petty positions in the Roman government, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and such, they viewed Christ as a threat. Why would they view Him as a threat? Because of all the prophecies that spoke of Him as being a ruler. And so, instead of accepting Him, they fought against Him. They went after Him; they persecuted Him. They didn’t want a conquering king to overthrow the Roman Empire, as they saw it, because they wanted to hang on to those petty positions, as I said.

Even Christ’s own disciples were confused on the subject of His rule. And Christ had to set them straight on this in Luke 19 with a parable that spoke of a certain nobleman who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then to return—and then to come back. They were confused on the subject themselves, those whom Christ was teaching and educating. And so He set them straight on that with this parable. In that parable, the nobleman refers to Christ, who after His first coming was resurrected and then went away into a far country, so to speak, to receive the kingdom and then to come back.

Why is this so difficult to understand for so many people in this world when it’s so clearly spelled out for us in the Scriptures? It’s difficult to understand because there is a god of this world who’s blinded the minds of men to understand the simplicity of the gospel of Christ.

Christ isn’t back yet. He hasn’t yet set up this government because His government isn’t quite yet prepared and ready to rule. Why should that be so confusing that a king would need an administration or other rulers ruling with him, helping him, supporting him? Just like any king or president in the world today would have an administration or a staff. This is what Christ is preparing today in His Church.

In order for these problems that we see in this world, the chaotic problems that we see multiplying, there has to be a government from the top right on down that’s thoroughly prepared and trained to take over those reins once Christ does finally return to this Earth.

Let’s look at Acts 3. Acts chapter 3. For most people today, even in Christian denominations, they just spiritualize away these prophecies about Christ’s return, hundreds of them in fact, by saying that He, you know, somehow does it in your heart, or He does it in the Church. But Christ was born to be a king. He was born to rule.

Acts chapter 3 and verse 20, it says, “And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” This is after Christ died. This was after His resurrection. Do you think the disciples were confused on this subject? Do you think Paul, when he wrote about it in 1 Thessalonians 4, was confused on the subject of Christ coming back? Jesus said himself plainly, “If I go, I’m coming back again.” And the disciples, the true disciples of Christ, have always been looking for that arrival. They’ve always looked to the second coming of Christ. And of course there’s skeptics and scoffers—they’re prophesied in fact—that are going to deny those prophecies, that are going to deny that reality. But believers, followers of Christ, they live today as Christ lived, they strive to. And they look for His appearance. They look for His appearing, His coming.

[Acts 3:20-21], “And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” God has not been unclear on this message. He has spoken this message by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began. I mean, it’s prophesied back in Genesis 3. And dozens and dozens and perhaps hundreds of prophecies thereafter. But He hasn’t yet returned, as it says there, until the time is right for the restitution of all things.

That word restitution there means, “to restore something that had been taken away.” What is the meaning there? What was taken away from this Earth? What needs to be restored? And the answer to that is the government of God that was once on this Earth, being administered by this brilliant archangel, Lucifer, when he was administering God’s law in the way that he had been trained at God’s throne. But when he rebelled and turned away from God and turned to the ways of sin, that government on this Earth was taken away. And yet God allowed him to stay there on that throne until the government of God had been thoroughly prepared and made ready by His Son Jesus Christ and the Church, that is to marry Christ.

Isaiah 9 and verse 6, we’ll conclude over here. Christ does return to this Earth in this end time. One of His first tasks will be to banish Satan from this Earth—to dismiss him from his throne, to remove him from his throne, and to stop all of that deceptive broadcasting, that satanic influence, that just surcharges the air and fills this world with so much evil and violence; with so much vanity and selfishness; with so much division and strife.

God is going to get rid of that and start something new and different. God is not engaged in some kind of repair project where He’s like a mechanic in a garage trying to fix an old clunker. He’s got something new in mind, and Jesus came to start that. And it started so incredibly small—just 12 disciples, and then even after Christ’s death there were just 120 of them, the book of Acts says—120 disciples. He was not on a soul-saving crusade. He did attract thousands of people because of the miracles, the healings and such. But as far as the disciples, who He was actually teaching the meaning of those parables to, there was just a handful of them. And then the true Church ever since has been mostly scattered and just a small group of people who faithfully adhered to the instructions and teachings of their Savior. So much deception in this world.

Look at Isaiah 9 and verse 6. Why was Christ born? Says, “For unto us,” verse 6 says, “unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government,” the government it says, “shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting father, The Prince of Peace.” See the government is placed on His shoulders because He is a king. He is a ruler. And after Christ turns this world right-side-up, I mean it’s upside-down today, after He starts this new world with that government, then the peace, as it says in verse 7 you can read later, it will just continue to grow and spread. First over all the surface of this Earth, and then out from there to the entire universe.