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From Garner Ted Armstrong's new book
~REAL
JESUS
THE STRUGGLE WITH
SATAN
"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the deviL " Thus
begins the account of a cosmic battk of wil/s unique in al/ the history of the wor/d.
J
esus spoke at great length, in
private, to His disciples about
His encounter with Satan. The
accounts of both Matthew and
Luke, together with Ma rk's one
paragraph establishing the time of
the event Uust before the beginning
of His ministry and just after His
baptism), prove that Christ dis–
cussed this momumental struggle
with them in detail. Obviously,
there were important lessons to be
learned.
In this struggle, Jesus was quali–
fying to take over rulership of all the
góvemments of the world- and He
had to defeat the present world
ruler at his own game, according to
his own rules, on his own battlefield.
It was to be the supreme battle, and
the enemy had al! the weapons.
BaHie of the Ages
Previously named Lucifer ("shining
s tar of the dawn ," or " !ight–
bringer"), th is great being 'had
formerly been an archangel and a
personality extremely close to the
God family. Jesus said, " I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven"
(Luke 10: 18). Jesus was there. and
took part in an earlier battle with
Lucifer (Isa. 14: Ezek. 28) which
had literally convulsed the heavens,
rent the earth, exploded stars and
planets, and filled space with the
by
Garner Ted Armstrong
junk of a gargantuan, titanic battle.
Anyone who wants to take the
Bible literally as an actual commu–
nication to man from outer space–
from God- would see the results of
Satan's rebellion and battle against
God in the panorama of universal
destruction that is evident in the
bleak, crater-pocked face of the
moon, the desolate, lifeless waste of
Mars, the impenetrable Yenusian
atmosphere, the billions of aster–
oids, meteors, and comets, a ll the
space dust and gas. The whole uní–
verse bears testimony to this primal
war in space that defies human
imagination.
Sa tan had been confined to the
earth- been "chained" by God's de–
cree in a state called "hell" (Greek
tartaroo)
in Il Peter 2:4- but was
allowed to hold sway over the earth.
Satan was a prince reigning over
total destruction when that Person
who was later to become God in the
fiesh carne upon the sce11e as out–
lined in the first chapter ofG enesis.
Once, the earth had teemed with
billions of creatures. The atmo–
sphere was completely ditferent
from today-almost universally
tropical, with no polar ice caps, and
with abundant, thick, luxuriant fol i–
age providing both food and shelter
for billions of creatures. Lucifer was
originally given the earth as his re-
sponsibility, but the Bible says he
tried to use earth as a base for bis
attempt to overthrow God from His
throne. He failed , and, as John
wrote, his "tail" (cometlike?) drew a
third part of the "stars of heaven" (a
common biblical symbol for angels)
and "cast them to the earth" (read
Rev. 12:3-9).
T he total destruction of th e
earth's surface was the result, and
the massive burial of whole conti–
nents teeming with plant and ani–
mal life - multiple billioos of
creatures-resulted in the storage of
fossil energy for the use of man
countless thousands of years yet in
the future.
If scientists believe the earth to be
4112
biUion years old, there is no
quarrel with Scripture- even 10 bil–
lion years does not contradict the
biblical record.
Of Cherubs, Serpents, and Dragons
John's twelfth chapter of the Apoca–
lypse (meaning " to reveal," not " to
destroy") is a quick summary of the
whole time period which includes
the conception of God's plan for His
Church, Satan's rebellion and
earth's destruction. Satan's attempt
to destroy Christ through Herod's
decree to kili all tbe children,
and
Satan's personal encounter with
Jesus in the wilderness.
4
From the book
The Real JeSU$
by Garner Ted Armstrong. Copyright @1977 Garner Ted Armstrong .
Published by Sheed Andrews and McMeel, lnc.. Shawnee Mission, Kansas.