Creatures animated by Satan

Change is never easy. Right now, I’m writing in the guest bedroom at my mom’s old sewing desk with my knees hitting the wood and metal contraption underneath that holds the hidden sewing machine in place. The chair is so low I’m typing with my hands and wrists fully on the keyboard. The lighting’s not good either.

The whole idea of putting me in the basement hasn’t proven a workable one, to say the least. The acoustics alone are enough to make you stark-raving mad. Every sound the house makes (not to mention the myriad of man-made noises like the TV, radio, phone, shower, washing machine, dishwasher, heater, etc.) is magnified in the cold and dreary spot with super-bad lighting. It’s terrible to try and concentrate.

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Jordan explained on a recent Sunday morning, “There’s one thing I know: God’s Word works when you trust it, and it doesn’t when you don’t. The verse says, ‘It works effectually in you that believe it.’

“If you don’t say, ‘This is what makes the choices for me,’ it doesn’t work, but when you do believe it, it works quickly and powerfully. It becomes energy in your life.

“Romans 8:22 says, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” I want you to notice in verse 20, he says, ‘For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.’

“Verse 21 says, ‘Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.’ Then in verse 22, he says, ‘For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.’

“For time immemorial you’ve been told the word ‘creature’ should be ‘creation.’ All the new bibles take II Corinthians 5:17 and they change the word ‘creature’ into ‘creation.’ But it’s fascinating that your King James Bible doesn’t do that.

“That word ‘creature’ is like that word ‘quicken.’ It means something special beyond simply creation. This podium here is a creation. It’s real but it’s not alive. The word creation means something created. The word creature means a LIVING creation. A creature is talking about something teeming with life. They’re both made by God, but one is talking about the life associated with what’s created.

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“Romans 1:25 says, ‘Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.’

“You go back in Isaiah and Psalms, when Israel set up those idols, it was the spirit behind the idols; the unclean spirit that inspired the idol. Psalm says all the gods of the nations are idols. There’s something behind that and that idol’s just the manifestation of this evil spirit.

“When they worshipped the creature more than the Creator, they’re worshipping these living beings that were using the creation for its own purposes. In other words, there’s a satanic rebellion program, an Adversary, who has his own purpose in using the universe—the earth and the heavens.

“There’s this life that God wants to fill His heavens with, and the earth is enveloped by this creature, and is down in the heart of it, and there’s this animated life force. When it says we’re delivered from the prince the power of darkness, that’s saying there’s an animating force behind what’s going on in the world.

“Ephesians 6:12 says, ‘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.’

“Satan has authority up there. He does. Ephesians 2:2 says, ‘Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.’

“When it says he’s the prince of the power of the air, he’s the head of the government in all of the invisible realm. But the reason he would say ‘the prince of the power of the air;’ that’s the realm where you and I live. In other words, he’s not just the authority in heavenly places and in hell; he’s the authority in the world that you function in; that lost people live in.

“He’s the one who’s directing and promoting the philosophy, the course of this world. He’s promoting it so he can eliminate the Creator. How he exerts his influence and leadership, ‘he’s the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.’

“He has access, as it were, to their will. He works in their spirit, in their inner man. They have no Savior. They have no Holy Spirit within them. They have no light and truth within them.

“The genius of unsaved people is satanically inspired. He uses that to captivate them--to convince them they’re God and to eliminate any ability on their part to see any glory in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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“There’s a difference between being somewhere and dwelling somewhere. When you dwell somewhere, that means, ‘I’m going to settle down and feel at home.’ When you dwell somewhere, you’re home. To dwell is more than just being there.

“God doesn’t dwell in the second heavens today. That doesn’t mean He can’t be there. He’s dwelling in the third heaven. II Cor. 12. That’s why they pray, ‘Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ Where God dwells His will is accomplished.

“Currently there is a rebellion in the heavenly places in the second heavens. The Adversary is dwelling there. He went out and merchandised his plan to the angelic host and that’s why the emphasis is on ‘principalities, mights and dominions.’

“He went out and literally merchandised his lie program to the upper echelons in the heavenly places and those angelic host followed him in the lie program. That’s why a third of them fall out of the heavens into the earth in Revelation 12 because the devil and his angels get kicked out. But they’re the ones who are controlling the LIFE in the heavenly places today. They’re the ones making a creature out of the creation.

“Romans 8:19 says, ‘For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.’

“Notice the creature has an earnest expectation. If you changed that to ‘creation,’ how would that desk have an earnest expectation? You see why the word ‘creation’ doesn’t work there? Because He puts living terminology in relationship to the subject He’s talking about, so the translators understood immediately that it was more than just a creation.

“There’s something special that has an ‘earnest expectation.’ To be earnest about something, that’s your attitude about it. You’ve got this intense attitude. ‘Earnest expectation’ means it has some intelligence to be able to do . . . There’s something it’s thought about in the future out there.

“You see, were not just talking about the places. We’re talking about the creatures and the life that are animated in the places. ‘Waiteth’ is another word. You see these are terms that describe life.

“What are they waiting for? The manifestation of the sons of god. The creature was made subject to vanity in order to display the true nature of the one who is manifesting his life. Then there’s that ‘bondage of corruption.’ That’s the condition of the life that’s there now.

“The life that animates the heavens today is a life of bondage and corruption. Go back to Ezekiel 28 and you’ll see how Satan corrupted His wisdom and filled his kingdom there with iniquity and the bondage that comes from it.

“By the way, when he uses that term ‘you’re a new creature,’ he’s going to replace that creature that’s up there now, the bondage of the corrupt one, with a new creature.

“Instead of manifesting the life in the satanic program, you’re going to manifest the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. The wisdom, knowledge and understanding that’s in Him, you’re going to put on display. That’s why I said reigning with Him is more than just sitting on the throne telling people what to do.”