Deceiving the Sky
Let’s begin in one of the most intense warfare passages in the Bible.
Rev 13:11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.
Rev 13:12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.
Rev 13:14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
Fire coming down from heaven in verse 13, in the sight of men, has the distinct purpose in verse 14 of deceiving those who dwell on the earth… and by these signs, make an image of the beast. I find it possible that these events in Rev 13 could be a combination of UFOs, Aliens, and Artificial Intelligence. It’s certainly fun to consider these possibilities in my Futurist / Science Fiction writing.
This deception in Rev 13 comes from the sky and Paul tells us who the perpetrator is:
Eph 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Eph 2:2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Summarizing these verses, we have fire from heaven… derived from the prince of the air… great signs in the sky… all intended for the purpose of deceiving those who dwell on earth... as warfare in the Knowable Spaces of length, width, and depth framed by time present take the lives of 25% of humans on earth. That’s around 3 billion dead from the Roman empire to now, if you were counting, and deep and dark, but well worth the time to think on.
Bottom Line: Stepping into the meat of this post, I want us to consider strategic approaches that press warfare and tactics from the Unseen Realms into the Knowable Spaces.
The unique characteristics of cyberspace have created a domain of war with two distinct personalities. Cyberspace is the first human derived domain of war where fighting from the domain has radically different tools, techniques, and procedures than fighting within the domain. Deception is critical as hackers strive to reach from Cyberspace into the other domains of war to deceive or even destroy decision making or infrastructure that relies on the Internet grid.
Cyberspace is barely 50 years old, but the Unseen Realms (Spiritual Domain) are timeless. The spiritual domain of War is at least 6,000 years old across creation, as we know it, after the fall in Gen 3. Applying what we’ve learned about cyberspace, I believe the Unseen Realms have the same dual characteristics. The tools, techniques, and strategies for combat within the Spiritual Domain are different from those used to project war and deception into the physical spaces of length, width, and depth, framed by time present. We see this in the book of Job and our Lord attacking the pantheon of Egypt in the ten plagues of Exodus. Yet, many of the most powerful effects reside in the tools, tactics, and techniques that project combat From the Unseen Realm Into the Knowable Spaces where humanity exists. It is possible that these include high technology like UFOs and Aliens. Their purpose – as detailed in Rev 13 – is to deceive those who dwell on Earth.
Bill Gertz’ book, Deceiving the Sky, is a superb analysis of China’s drive for Global supremacy. Gertz unveils strategic concepts of deception that might be useful in understanding our enemies in the Spiritual Domain of War. He describes a concept that comes from ancient Chinese strategies used by Generals to “Deceive the Sky to cross the ocean.” Deceiving the Sky is integral to masking true goals and intentions to achieve first, local hegemony, then world domination. Resident in Sun Tzu’s classic, 36 Stratagems, this describes the Usurper and his demon hordes attempting to usurp creation by deceiving men.
For a moment, I want to raise up the spiritual gifts as tools and tactics of warfare in the lives of the faithful. They are so impactful that they are certainly used by the prince of the air Usurper to deceive. In I Corinthians chapters 12 through 14, Paul identifies the gifts then lays out the discipline and processes of verification to make sure we are not Deceived by the Sky. He describes the gift of the Spirit, the gifts of the spirit, but most importantly, the GRACES of the spirit. Dr. Wiersbe takes that further by describing the graces of the spirit as maturity. Without Grace and Love, the gifts are clanging cymbals, as Paul describes in I Cor 13. In particular, without scriptural interpretation and authentication, these ‘charismatic expressions’ devolve into noise and the church body is not edified. Framing the spiritual gifts in authentication, grace, and maturity should be something we understand as believers step into church with their families. For men, this should help us envision a much more masculine approach because we are at war. When the body frames spiritual gifts with interpretation and authentication as detailed in scripture, we are edified by these spiritual weapons of war through TRUTH from the Lord.
The spiritual gifts, framed by scripture, authentication, and interpretation as detailed by Paul the Apostle, combine to edify the body of Christ and keep families and believers from being Deceived by the Sky… Even if UFOs are zooming around.
Satan and his demons are with us, trying to Deceive the Elect, by Deceiving the Sky. They usurp, lie, kill, steal, destroy, and hammer the faithful 24 X 7, but our best weapons anchor to scriptures and are the sweet fragrances of our prayers rising to the ultimate ONE who said, “Let there be light.”
The bottom line in using our spiritual weapons of war as the prince of the air strives to Deceive the Sky come from Jesus’ Olivet Discourse:
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.
Jay
Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, Retired Microsoft Architect, Student of War and participant in the domains of war across faith and professional life… often had to change underwear after ducking incoming.