Paradise Lost - Rumor notes 94 version 1

 Revelation 12

7 There was war in the sky [heaven]. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. 8 They didn't prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven.

neither was a place found for him any more in heaven

When we participate in a group who shares common motives, interests and desires (in the groove as some used to say), we feel synchronized with those who challenge, compliment and resonate with us. That is when we feel fulfilled, where we experience a sense of satisfaction and discover the power that is inherent in knowing our group identity, even if that identity is not what God created us to experience.

Because all creation is modeled after the character of agape love describing how the Godhead has always existed, sentient beings can only find their place, their niche in the society of the universe, as they choose to live in harmony with the principle of agape love which is the design template of true reality. Our longing for this place for us springs from the deepest levels of our being and is experienced in our longings to feel accepted, loved and in sympathy with others around us.

We crave to find that place where we may thrive within a group identity that gives us meaning far greater than just ourselves. This is not unique to humans but is the design of God for all created beings. It is a propelling force intended to provide impetus toward joy as each individual seeks to discover their unique place where the heart comes fully alive and finds fulfillment and peace.

In God's design, knowing our place, feeling settled, accepted and fulfilled is not about living under subjugation or forced obedience. Our true place is where we discover true freedom and joy in willing, selfless service to bless others as we receive freely from God.

As you go, preach, saying, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give. (Matthew 10:7-8)

This has been counterfeited in Satan's kingdom by a different sort of finding your place. In this counterfeit system of hierarchy, everyone's identity is derived apart from creation design and purpose. This alternative reality depends on shame, blame and pride that drives us to jostle for position on an artificial scale of relative worth. This violates our very design and is what brought about the fall of Lucifer. When he abandoned his design identity as a joy-filled light-bearer of God's selfless love to launch his new ideas involving trading and commerce, all predicated on the notion of relative fluid value and propped up by artificial law and stratified by a system of hierarchy.

This grand experiment with new concepts all transpired in the pristine, vulnerable atmosphere of heaven where there had always been only trust with never a trace of fear or shame. Yet it was not long before the effects of this experiment began to sour, for where there had previously always been freedom, joy and constant gratitude in dependence on God to supply every need, now there was haggling, trading, competition, coveting and growing discontent. These resulted in foreign feelings, attitudes and motivations that had never existed, and their effect was to mar and distort the image of God as their disposition was altered by lack of reflecting His love. The no longer freely received from their Creator but looked for how to supply their own wants. Lucifer himself was transformed through this experience from an efficient messenger of God's love, wisdom and peace, as well as heaven's choir instructor and director, into something quite opposite – filled with bitterness, jealousy, hatred and finally the greatest accuser ever. As an incessant complainer, the ultimate fault-finder, the great agitator and the father of lies, there could no longer be found any place in heaven that was fit for such attitudes, because he had chosen to abandon his original identity to carve out an entirely different one for himself, one that competed with God instead of reflecting God.

By inventing a new identity foreign to that given him in his creation, Lucifer turned into the great Satan, the father of lies and the original murderer, even though no one had ever died. Jesus says that if you hate your brother in your heart it is the equivalent of murder. This is because identity comes from the realm of the spirit rather than based on what one does or possesses. Satan became the first to experience and cultivate hatred, and that hatred was primarily focused on the Son of God more than anyone else. Years later that hatred produced its outward fruit in his vicious attack on that same Son employing all the agencies of evil that he could amass to unleash the stored up venom in Satan's heart as well as what infected all who reflected his selfish resentment.

Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute? (Psalms 94:20)

Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them. (Ephesians 5:11)

This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don't tell the truth. (1 John 1:5-6)

The point here is that everything Satan was becoming was foreign to God's design for him, so the place of fellowship he had once enjoyed, the social and emotional place where he had experienced greatest fulfillment and happiness through selflessly serving others, that was all now despised by him. He had lost all desire, and at last even all capacity to live in sync with his original design of selfless loving service. His fake identity now completely shaped his condition, and it was impossible for selfishness to fit in with the spirit retained by the rest of the inhabitants of heaven. Love and fear, light and darkness, truth and lies share no common ground. There was no place where he could continue to find sympathy and synchronize with others. This is the tragic outcome of choosing to pursue a direction of believing and acting out of an identity that does not originate from God.

We may have witnessed this pattern ourselves. It is an all too familiar story yet it is predictable, because the same spirit that launched the original rebellion and was resisted by Michael in defense of His Father's reputation, relies on the same tactics to infect others with the motives that gave him traction in the beginning. The tragic result is always disharmony, tension and disruption of peace and harmony and societal disruption, and polarization is the inevitable outcome.

Let's explore a bit more this concept of a place to fit in as found in Scripture as we pick up clues of how events may have transpired in heaven, resulting in Satan and his angels losing their place through their own disruptive agitation. Beginning in Revelation, we see a pattern emerging involving this design principle of everyone having their place and what happens when we don't find our place.

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:1-3 NAS95)

Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. (John 15:4)

What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Therefore, "'Come out from among them, and be separate,' says the Lord. 'Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you. I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:16-18)

Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3 NKJV)

I believe this concept of willing agreement in spirit is central to appreciating the nature of the division that resulted in heaven in the early stages of this war being described here. Every detail in how we perceive what happens in this war touches the core issue of God's motives in how He responds in every situation. We must not presume on God's motives and actions that in any way conflicts with the revelation of His character by Jesus Christ, the hero of this book and the champion who exposes and defeats every lie of the enemy by fully revealing truth of our Father's everlasting, unfailing love.

Here are some helpful clues that help to clarify the true nature of why and how this separation took place.

Angels who didn't keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. (Jude 1:6)

The fruits which your soul lusted after have been lost to you, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous have perished from you, and you will find them no more at all. (Revelation 18:14)

I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. (Revelation 20:11)

He sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. (Genesis 8:8-9)

Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."

Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them! The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don't regard the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands. Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled; but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. (Isaiah 5:8-16)

This passage gets to the heart of the real issue at the heart of the war in heaven between Michael and the great dragon. It reveals what transpired inside Lucifer as he turned from reflecting the light of God's selfless glory to indulge a spirit of self-importance and domination over others. Because he shifted his source of his identity from living out the design God created him to fulfill, to imagining that his value and worth originated from his own attributes, appearance, giftings and the admiration and affections of those under his charge who thought so highly about him, he came to reflect himself rather than God, and the inevitable result was a short-circuit, a feedback loop, the deadly condition of selfishness, pride and vainglory masking an emptiness and darkness of soul deep inside.

Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre [a metaphor for Lucifer who turned himself into the great dragon in heaven], and tell him, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl. Gold work of tambourines and of pipes was in you. In the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers: and I set you, so that you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.

By the abundance of your traffic they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may see you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your traffic, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of you; it has devoured you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you. All those who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you: you are become a terror, and you shall nevermore have any being. (Ezekiel 28:12-19)

The dragon no longer believed in his created identity as Lucifer designed to share freely with others what he received freely from God. Through believing lies about himself and where his value and purpose originated, he turned himself into the great dragon who relies on fear, force, exploitation and increasing thirst for power and craves worship, thus permanently ruining his character. Imagining his worth was based on his abilities, capacity for wisdom and stunning appearance, he came to believe these were inherent in him rather than purely gifts from his Creator. In believing lies about the source of his value, sin and selfishness replaced love for the truth, and his inner sanctuaries became defiled. The heart is the place God designed in each being as the place where He wants to dwell, but in Lucifer and all who follow him, it becomes a place of frustrated passion, anger, dark feelings and resentment fueled by bitterness and jealousy. This is what it means to live according to the flesh. The operative principle here is that resistance to love always produces internal heat from dissonance, resulting in a fire of hatred and rage against God and all His ways. This is the cause that made Satan totally incompatible to continue to live in the presence of Love any longer.

You said in your heart, "I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north! I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!"

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, "Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms; who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn't release his prisoners to their home?" All the kings of the nations, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house. But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot. You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The seed of evil-doers will not be named forever. (Isaiah 14:13-20)

Lucifer destroyed his own capacity to remain in his original place. He and his followers became so saturated with selfishness they could no longer could tolerate humility and vulnerability that defines the atmosphere of heaven. There is no compatibility between these versions of reality, and the only thing left to do was to separate. This is an important principle we must be aware of today.

Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness? What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people." (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)

The dragon could no longer receive God's love or trust His ways as being best for the universe. The sweet fellowship and joy of worshiping God became repulsive and irritating for him, for the spirit of self-exaltation and pride produced by his counterfeit system of trading was totally out of sync with his original design from God. By profaning his true design, God's Spirit was no longer allowed to dwell in him. The dragon seeks control and craves worship for himself which is the very opposite of God's disposition. There can no longer a place be found for him and all who follow him in paradise, because heaven is where sweet selfless love, humility, and willing vulnerability is expressed in other-focused service which now has become reprehensible and even torment to him.

My hand shall be against the prophets who see false visions, and who divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh. (Ezekiel 13:9)

Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:35)

This passage makes it so clear how heaven views the nature of how the kingdoms of this world are assessed in the light of heaven's system of value. Everything we have been conditioned to value as being strong or useful for commerce is all like useless chaff in comparison to the true value of the grain that must be separated from it so it can be used to nourish us. The materials described here as making up the image are elements the earth views as valuable. These were defined more explicitly when Daniel explained the meaning of this dream to the king represented as head in this image.

The God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory...into your hand, and has made you to rule over them all: you are the head of gold. (37-38)

After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you. (39)

The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, because iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things; and as iron that crushes all these, shall it break in pieces and crush. (40)

Whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, because you saw the iron mixed with miry clay.

...the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. (41-42)

In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty of it be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Because you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what shall happen hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation of it sure. (Daniel 2:44-45)

What is important to note in this vision? Not simply that God can predict future history, though that is true. But what we need to see in the highlighted words here is the contrast between the fundamental nature of God's kingdom versus the kingdoms of this world all modeled after Satan's counterfeit design that relies on power, force and violence to maintain control.

When Daniel said that the stone representing God's kingdom was cut out of the mountain without hands, it is important to understand the meaning. This kingdom does not crush others by the same kind of power they relied on to raise up, but with a different kind of power. Jesus is this stone, the foundation of God's kingdom, and He has already brought this kingdom to our earth. But its full revelation is yet to be seen clearly, for it is still growing inside people's hearts as it crushes out selfishness and devours the lies of the enemy that cause resistance to love in our hearts.

Hands in the ancient language represented power and authority. What is key here is that this new kingdom would not be crafted in the same way earthly kingdoms are set up. Jesus answered, "My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn't be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here." (John 18:36) God's kingdom does not rely on forceful power to win over enemies. This stone is not separated from the mountain by the power of force, not even God's force. Yet its power proves more effective than all the power of the kingdoms of the world put together (Zechariah 4:6; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

Mountains represented gods to the Babylonians as mountains were only seen far off in the distance. The Complete Jewish Bible renders this phrase 'cut out' as 'separated itself.' This unique rock separated itself from the original mountain that represents God, to come to our earth and establish God's kind of kingdom. This conveys the concept of a large boulder unexpectedly breaking loose from the side of a steep mountainside, crashing into the valley below with irresistible natural power wiping out everything in its path. Yet this kingdom does not overcome through raw power but only by the power inherent in truth and selfless love that always seeks to serve. This is the far superior kind of power that establishes the kingdom of heaven, not only on this world but ultimately secures it in the entire universe. This explains why there can be no place found for the system of Satan to share space with God's system of love. These two kinds of power are totally irreconcilable.

In that day they will take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, 'We are utterly ruined! My people's possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!'" Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in the assembly of Yahweh.

"Don't prophesy!" They prophesy. "Don't prophesy about these things. Disgrace won't overtake us." Shall it be said, O house of Jacob: "Is the Spirit of Yahweh angry? Are these his doings? Don't my words do good to him who walks blamelessly?"

But lately my people have risen up as an enemy. You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care, returning from battle. You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away my blessing forever. Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction. If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: "I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;" he would be the prophet of this people. (Micah 2:4-11)

The system the dragon developed here on earth ultimately will allow no place for those who are tuned to heaven's mindset. Just as there was no place left for the dragon and his angels in heaven, there can be no compatibility with this world for any whose heart is being reformatted to reflect the glory of selfless love. Those controlled by the mindset of this world hate the light of love. Those who dwell in heaven and those who dwell on the earth are incompatible with each other.

She brought forth her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7)

Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (Luke 9:58)

In the next chapter we see the open hostility demonstrated towards all who refuse to cooperate with Satan's system of control here on earth.

He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. He makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs, even making fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the sight of people. He deceives my own people who dwell on the earth because of the signs he was granted to do in front of the beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who had the sword wound and lived. It was given to him to give breath to it, to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause as many as wouldn't worship the image of the beast to be killed. (Revelation 13:12-15)

The finality of this condition of incompatibility and loss of place in God's design is tragic. Worse yet, it is replicated in the lives of all who persistently resist and reject heaven's way of life until, like Satan and his angels, they fully destroy their internal sanctuary designed for God to dwell in. In the end they become the habitation of demons, and as a result they experience love only as torment whenever they encounter the presence of the passionate love of Jesus and any who reflect that love.

He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. (Revelation 14:10-11)

For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears. (Hebrews 12:17)

For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6)

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. A man who disregards Moses' law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will he be judged worthy of, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:26-29)

The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the man, passes through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none, he says, 'I will turn back to my house from which I came out.' When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes, and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first." (Luke 11:24-26)

But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this. (Hebrews 6:9)

This story by Jesus, the one that who never lost a confrontation with a demon anywhere, alerts us to the reality that though the story of the confrontation in heaven ended with the separation of angels, leaving the dragon and his angels no place to find rest in heaven, that conclusion does not just happen because of the initial deliverance through the power of truth. This same story, like a fractal repeated again and again at different levels and in different dimensions, requires the cooperation and surrender of the vital element of our will.

It is not enough to be set free from the power of the enemy over our body, mind and spirit, as wonderful and important as that may be. In this story from Jesus it is clear that this man was set free, and strongly implied is that while the unclean spirit was dwelling in that man originally he was making a huge mess of his life, his thinking and most likely his relationships. We are all too familiar with the consequences of evil spirits and the havoc they wreak in the lives of those who allow them access, and the stories of deliverance from demonic possession or harassment or whatever version you may call it, are wonderful, exciting and display that power of God's love to rescue the most debased and hopeless appearing condition so long as God is allowed permission to displace those powers of evil.

But Jesus makes it clear in this story as well, that even though we may be given the gift of freedom and through the graciousness of God and the blessing of other believers in our life, experience a wonderful clean-out and a refurbishing of our lives to restore us back to living a respectable life again, that does not remove us from the danger of being reinfected and re-enslaved by spirits far more powerful than us. The most important thing we must take seriously from this story is the reality that unless we make a deliberate choice to surrender our will daily to the will of God and authorize the Spirit of God to dwell in us rather than remaining vacant internally in our relation to the spirit realm, the unclean, opportunistic and exploitative spirits of the enemy will always be on the lookout for vacant lives, only the second time around they will be far more aggressive and will entrench themselves much deeper into our psyche to the point that Jesus says our condition will be severely worse than ever before.

Given the outcome of how the war in heaven originally finished in the first round with the expulsion of the dragon and his angels with no place to rest there, it is clear that the remaining angels made it clear by expressing their clear decisions that they were going to serve God and were no longer willing to give the enemy's accusations credibility. They would not tolerate the spirits of discontent, arguing and bitterness that destroys the peace, harmony and joy that marks the atmosphere of heaven. Since the polarization between the two sides as to how to relate to God had become so marked and settled, it was impossible for the incompatible spirits to occupy the same place, so the devil and his angels had to leave. But this was clearly not the end of the story, for until all the universe is fully settled in who to believe about God and how social order should be maintained, the war will continue until every last intelligent being has made it clear who they will authorize to define their purpose, identity and worth. That is what this war is all about, for that is the very definition of what it means to worship.

As we have been repeating since the very beginning of our study in this book, the war is not over who has more raw power than the other side, but rather is over what methods, motives and spiritual motivation we are going to endorse and practice and align ourselves with along with whether we will choose to trust that God is nothing other than pure light, love, truth and defends the freedom of all to choose for themselves. Distrust of God lies at the very core of sin, and until the trust of all who choose to follow His ways and have His motives is secure, the war can never come to a final conclusion.

We may profess to be followers of Jesus and believe in God, but unless we personally choose and choose and come to the place where our choice becomes intractable that only God's Spirit and God's methods and God's way will be what is allowed to motivate and define our relationships with everyone, we will be in danger of being taken out, hijacked and overcome by the sworn enemy of truth, love and freedom. But this is not to make us afraid that God is not strong enough to protect us, but rather should make us afraid of the one who does have the power to throw both our body and soul into hell as Jesus warned.

That one we need to be most afraid of is ourselves, for it is how we choose to exercise our freedom to decide which provides the authority determining what kind of spirit will be allowed to occupy our heart and mind and direct our thinking that in turn controls all our interactions with others. This is the power that determines our eternal destiny. It is not God who decides our fate as many insist, nor is it the enemy of our souls who retains the authority to take us down with him. The only one who has the final authority to determine the direction our lives take toward either life or death is ourselves, and that determination revolves entirely around the repeated use of our will as we determine right now who we will allow to occupy the throne room of our own spirit temple internally. This is where this war comes right to our own heart door, where both the enemy and Jesus awaits our decision as to how we will respond or not respond to the opposing versions of God, truth and reality they present to us.

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4 NAS95)

This is where the war rages in our lives right now here on earth. It is focused on what we will believe about how God relates to sinners, rebellious people and what we imagine we are to do to be aligned with heave so we will be saved. The war centers in how we use our will to choose whose version of God we will believe, the version given through the humble, meek, kind, gentle Jesus who says if we have seen Him we have seen the Father? Or will we cling to the views of God pushed by religion and the world that insist that God must utilize more forceful methods to defeat evil or He cannot be a God worth worshiping? This is the very heart of the battle that each of us faces every day, and how we choose to believe will provide the authorization which determines what kind of spirit will be given access to occupy our personal spirit temple and shape our lives to reflect their image.