God tells us emphatically in the Bible He is not ruling the world but Satan, the Evil One, is:
1 Jo 5:19 ....The whole world is under the rule of the Evil One. TEV
Luke 4:5-6 Then the devil...showed Him (Jesus) all the kingdoms of the world, and ...said “...this (the world) has been delivered to me...” Jesus didn’t refute it:
Jo 14:30 (Jesus) ...The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.
Rev 11:15 (it is not until the very end of this age that) ...The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord...(God gets them back from Satan) KJV
How did Satan get to be the ruler of the world? It was in the Garden of Eden when Adam rejected God’s words and acted on Satan’s words. By virtue of that sin Adam died to God spiritually, and put himself under the rule of Satan. And Satan’s sin nature, that is, the nature of disobedience to God, infected Adam’s human nature and has been passed down to every human being. Only Jesus can free us from sin and therefore Satan’s power:
Rom 5:12 ...Through one man (Adam) sin (disobedience to God) entered the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
Rom 7:17-18 (So Paul says) it is...sin that dwells in me. For I know that...in my human TEV nature nothing good dwells (only evil, the nature of Satan inherited from Adam)...
1 Jo 3:8 (To Christians) He who sins is of (belongs to) the devil for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the (sin) works (disobedience to God) of the devil.
Matt 1:21 ...You will call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins;
Only when we are saved from sin’s penalty and power are we free from Satan’s dominion.
Acts 26:18 (God’s mission for Paul and for us to the world) Open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God...
What is the evidence that the whole world lies under the rule or influence of the Devil?
There’s only one Savior from the power of sin in our flesh and from belonging to the Devil:
Acts 4:10-12 ...The name of Jesus Christ ...Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (from sin, disobeying God, and from the god of sin, the Devil)
1 Tim 2:5-6 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all...(no one else qualified)
Christ is the only Deliverer from Satan’s rule, but most of the world do not yet know Him:
• Of the world’s 7 billion people only 2 billion one way or another say they’re Christian.
• The majority of the world belong to one of hundreds of false religions, none of which can save them from Satan’s power, because he is stronger than anyone. It’s he who inspired those religions to divert people away from their only savior, Christ.
Eccl 6:10 ...Man...he cannot contend with him (Satan) who is mightier than he.
• The rest of the world are atheists or agnostics, whose minds Satan has blinded:
2 Cor 4:4 KJV In whom the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of them which do not believe (atheists, agnostics, and religionists), lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
• Of the 2 billion identifying themselves as Christian, the vast majority are Christian in name only, meaning they have religious traditions that resemble Christianity and give lip service to the Bible but they have never been born again. Being still in darkness they cannot see the kingdom of God and they are not being changed into the likeness of Christ. This includes most of those in the main line denominations:
John 3:3 (Jesus) ...Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
1 Pe 1:23 Being born again...by the word of God...(that was believed in the heart) KJV
Rom 8:29 Whom He (God) foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
• Atheists, agnostics, followers of other religions, and Christians in name only evidence Satan’s nature either by advocating things contrary to the Bible, by evil in the name of religion, or by hostility toward Spirit filled Christians, the only threat to Satan’s rule.
Acts 19:15 The evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul (Spirit filled) I know; but who are you?" (So without Christ actively in them Satan trounced them).
1 Jo 5:18 We know that anyone born of God (and living in God) does not sin (disobey God)...Christ's divine presence within him preserves him against the evil, and the wicked one (Satan) does not lay hold, get a grip on him, or touch him. AMP
What is the evidence that most Christians, once born again, are still under Satan’s power
• Of those born again by believing the initial words of the gospel of God, the vast majority have not been willing to absolutely surrender their lives and will to God and consequently they do not have the Spirit of Christ to rule them. Therefore they don’t currently belong to Christ but remain as carnal Christians under the rule of Satan:
Acts 5:32 ...The Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who (want to) obey Him.
Rom 8:9 (To Christians)...If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Those who live in Christ, walking in God’s love, led by God’s own Spirit, are being changed into Christ’s nature and so increasingly exhibit Christ’s actual characteristics. But those Christians who are not now totally submitted to the rule of the Holy Spirit fall back under the influence of their human nature where sin, the nature of Satan, resides. They will be easily offended, un-forgiving, constantly worried, prone to complaining (not knowing it is against God) with a tendency to lie, quickly angered, rarely content, without any real trust in God, self-image conscious, hard of heart, worldly, covetous of what others have, lovers of pleasure, despising authority and with little appetite for God’s living words.
These Christians, who were once born again, but are now carnal, dominated by their flesh or human nature, are living in continual disobedience to God, that is, living in sin. They do not know that they are now back under the power of Satan who will harm them.
Eph 2:2 ...Satan, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. TLB/TEV
1 Jo 5:19 ....The whole world (and most of the church) is under the rule of the evil one.
Wherever there is sin, which is disobedience to God, Satan has dominion, regardless of whether its before or after conversion to Christ. Wherever there is righteousness, the result of continual obedience to God, Christ now reigns and Satan is always defeated.
Rom 6:16 (To Christians) Don’t you know...you are that one's slaves whom you obey whether of sin (disobeying God) resulting in death (to God) or of obedience (to God) resulting in righteousness? (And continual victory over the Devil).
2 Cor 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph (when we are) in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
How does Satan deceive the whole world? Through thoughts, which we think are our own:
Rev 12:9 ...Called the Devil and Satan who deceives the whole world...and Christians
2 Cor 2:11 Lest Satan should take advantage of us (Christians) for we are not ignorant of his devices (the word translated devices is also translated as thoughts:-)
2 Cor 10:5 ...Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (in us),
Satan’s weapons are his thoughts by which he induces us to disbelieve and disobey God that’s how he rules the world and many Christians. Part of his deception is that atheists, religious people and carnal Christians, don’t know the degree to which their thoughts, especially their thoughts about God, are being manipulated by an unseen evil spirit.
Luke 9:55 (Jesus to His disciples) ...You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;
To be under Satan’s thought influence doesn’t necessarily mean that he can force us to do things like, kill others or commit suicide, although he will if he can. For a combination of the fear of legal consequences, public shame and our own consciences, can limit the extremes to which he can drive us. But it does mean that our thoughts and wills are so under Satan’s influence as to prevent us form giving our lives to Christ, from being full of the Holy Spirit and from expanding God’s kingdom and thereby reducing Satan’s kingdom.
Those not currently living in Christ, led by His Spirit and walking as God’s Children in His Kingdom, are unknowingly under Satan’s influence in their thoughts, it is just a question of to what degree. Those living in Christ will of necessity be engaged in spiritual warfare with Satan and his demons, and that warfare takes place exclusively in the thought life:
Rom 8:14 As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God.
Eph 6:12 We (Spirit led Christians) are not fighting against people...but against evil TLB rulers of the unseen world, mighty satanic beings...who rule this world;
Eccl 6:10 (But)...Man (on his own)...cannot contend with him who is mightier than he.
Satan’s thoughts are way stronger than ours, only Christ by His Word and Spirit is stronger
1 Pet 5:8 ...The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Mat 10:16 (Jesus) I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves...(no match for them)
Matt 6:13 (Jesus tells us to pray this daily) ....Deliver me from the evil one (Satan) For
John 15:5 (Jesus) ...Without Me you can do nothing (to overcome the stronger one) but
1 John 4:3 ...(If) you are of God...(you) have overcome them (wicked spirits), because He (Christ) who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (Satan).
Rev 12:10-11 ...The accuser (Satan)...they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb (the Holy Spirit that leads them) and by the word (God’s word) of their testimony...
Luke 11:21-22 When Satan, strong and fully armed, guards his palace (any human TLB being) it is secure; until someone stronger and better armed (Christ, by the entrance of His words and Spirit) attacks and overcomes him and strips him of his (thought) weapons (freeing from sin anyone belonging to Satan) To stay free:
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God (be made safe from the power of sin, having Christ’s righteousness, by the truth of God’s words increasingly in your heart, have unwavering trust in those words, so the gospel of peace is spoken out of your mouth, by the anointing of God’s Holy Spirit, with whom you always communicate in prayer) so that you may be able to stand against the wiles (the thoughts) of the devil.
When we see this major gospel truth we’ll recognize our acute need for God at all times:
1 Cor 1:18 For the message of the cross (the gospel) is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
To see that unless we live in God’s presence we cannot escape captivity by Satan, with its end that he will take us to his ultimate destination, hell – this is humility and this is a love for the truth. To refuse to see this truth is pride and means we are already a captive.
2 Thes 2:10-11 He (Satan) will completely fool those who are on their way to hell because they have said no to the Truth; they have refused to believe it and love it and let it save them, so God will allow them to believe lies with all their hearts, TLB
1 Jo 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest...
Rom 1423 ...Whatever is not of faith is sin - 1 Jo 3:8 He who sins is of the devil...
