Indeed, there are other gods. Where do they come from? Let’s look at what happened in Revelation 12:7-9: “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
So, we see that Satan is also called the “serpent of old”. In the first book of the Bible, Genesis 3 tells us that a serpent, a snake, was used by Satan to cause the fall of mankind, to go against the command of God not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now, if Satan was as powerful as God, God would not have been able to curse the snake he used to deceive Eve! In verse 14, “the LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life; And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.’”
Now, what happened to the fallen angels? The book of Enoch, which was incorporated into the Bible for 500 years tells more about a few of these fallen angels, called “sons of God” and the great sin they committed. Genesis 6:4 gives us a summary of this sin: “The Nephilim [giants] were on the earth in those days–and also afterward–when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” These indeed were great and powerful god-men, known as gods, but in no way were nearly as powerful as God. The following verses in Genesis 6 show us that this is the reason man became so wicked that God wiped out mankind, except for Noah and his family, with the flood.
What was the judgment of God on these fallen angels for this sin? 2 Peter 2:4 states “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell (tartaroos: the deepest abyss of Hades) and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment (geenna: the Lake of Fire); and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;”
For more information on the fallen angels and their contribution to witchcraft and their offspring called “the Nephilim” which are now evil spirits, I have another hub called The Origin of the Nephilim.
Satan Given Dominion on Earth
What about Satan, the power that influenced the snake, and the rest of his fallen angels? Well, Satan was given lordship and dominion over the earth. Luke 4:6 is the account of Satan tempting Jesus in the desert: “And the devil said to Him, ‘I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”
Who gave Satan this domain? I’m going to speak my opinion here, but in Genesis 1:26-27 “God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let THEM RULE OVER the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ When Eve gave in to the serpent, and Adam followed in that sin, THEY gave dominion to Satan! How did he obtain this? He lied to them by stating in verses 4-5 that “You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan is called the “father of lies” in John 8:44: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
2 Corinthians 4:4 states “The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Satan will fool people in any way he can. Have you ever known a good liar? How about an excellent liar? How about the father of liars? The best liars deceive perfectly and no one knows the lie, but the one lying. Satan disguises himself as Jesus Christ, too! That’s why you must know the Bible in order to test him. Satan allows his angels to appear to people and claim to be an angel of the Lord that gives them a new gospel to preach, twisting the Bible we already have. His angels will appear as lost loved ones or practice haunting so people pay more attention to the spirits than the Lord over all of them! He is the GREAT DECEIVER. He empowers the antichrist who actually claims to be GOD Himself.
Galatians 1:8 states “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!”
1 John 4:1-2 state “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come IN the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”
The SHOW-DOWN
Now we get back to the question of “Which God is greatest of the gods?” We already have answered that thus far, but let’s look at some “show-downs” in the Bible that further exhibit the authority of God over the gods of this world.
God vs Baal (1 Kings 18:21-40)
This is an account where the prophets of Baal, the god of Satan, were challenged to prove their god was as strong as Elijah’s God. In verses 21-22 Elijah says, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I alone am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.”
The challenge was that each would prepare one ox, which they would cut up and place on wood without starting a fire. They both would call on the name of their god/God and whichever one answered by fire would be the proven authority. While the prophets of Baal continued to shout and cut themselves even while praying for hours to their god, Elijah mocked them. Indeed, no fire came.
Elijah then went so far as lay stones around the altar, to fill twelve pitchers with water and poured it on the ox and wood, which even filled a trench around the sacrifice. Elijah then prayed to God and in verse 38, “the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” All the prophets of Baal were slain that day, as the people believed and worshiped the LORD.
Moses vs Pharaoh’s Sorcerers (Exodus 7:10-12)
“So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.”
Jesus raises Himself from the Dead (John 2:19-22; Matthew 28:1-9)
John 2:19-22 “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews therefore said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”
Matthew 28:1-9 “Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his garment as white as snow; and the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
And the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going before you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.
And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.”
ALL Authority Given Back to Jesus
Matthew 28:16-20 “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’
‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
It’s only by accepting Jesus Christ in your hearts that you give dominion back over to Him in your life, and He is the only One that has and gives us victory over Satan and his angels, though we live in a world where man continues to give Satan dominion.
Why follow the weak gods of this world who are the enemies of the ALMIGHTY God? Trust in the only God who can save you and give you His Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will raise YOU from the dead unto eternal LIFE. Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
A Matter of Life and Death!
We have already established that Satan was a murderer from the beginning. Matthew 10:28 states, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Matthew 25:41 & 46 state, “Then He (the LORD) will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;” – “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Are you saved and following the God of gods? If you want to receive salvation today, read my hub Come to Jesus: Salvation. God loves you and gave His only Son to die on your behalf. John 3:16 states “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes (entrusts their spiritual life to) in Him, shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life.” AMEN!
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5 Responses to “The God of gods!”
Thanks Aelia, for a very interesting post.
Praise God, Cheryl ~ thank you!
Amen, this is an excellent post!
Hi Wade! I'm just now kind of figuring out comment approvals and replies ~ forgive me for the delay! Obviously, the Lord is enlightening me even still
Praise God and thank you for your encouragement!
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