The Pyramid of Evil

THE PYRAMID OF EVIL

BY ROBERT B. MACDORMAND

It is important for Christians to recognize the existence of
Satan and the host of evil spir its that follow him. They are
creatures that will oppose us.... 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 Screvrtape 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 some one
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.
..........

From "Thy Kingdon Come" - October 2011 - a publication of the Association
of the Covenant People, Burnaby, B.C. Canada.