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God’s Word Is Alive
SO ALIKE has been the course of the nations over thousands of years that historians have advanced the theory that history repeats itself. Wars, oppression and intimidation have been common in the rise and fall of nations. Why?
Could it be that a common invisible power has dominated all nations? Has the same guiding force been responsible for their similar acts of violence?
There is no need to guess at the matter. The Bible clearly proves that an intelligent superforce has been influencing both men and nations. In God’s Word, Jesus Christ himself calls that superforce “the ruler of this world.” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) Who is he?
To help answer this question, consider the situation at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry here on earth. The Bible tells us that after Jesus was baptized he went into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan the Devil. Part of that tempting took the form of three proposals made by the Devil to Jesus. The third of these is described in this way:
“Again the Devil took him along to an unusually high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him: ‘All these things I will give you if you fall down and do an act of worship to me.’”—Matt. 4:8, 9.
What did the Devil offer Christ? It was “all the kingdoms of the world.” Were all the world governments really the Devil’s property? Yes, for how else could he have offered them to Christ? Satan was the invisible ruler of them. For that reason Jesus later said: “My kingdom is no part of this world.”—John 18:36.
The Bible clearly explains that all the nations are under the Devil’s control, saying: “The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19) God’s Word, in fact, calls Satan “the god of this system of things.”—2 Cor. 4:4.
This information helps us to understand why it is that nations hate and try to destroy one another when it is the natural desire of all normal persons to live at peace. Yes, “Satan . . . is misleading the entire inhabited earth.”—Rev. 12:9; Eph. 6:12.
Shortly, however, all of this will change. The time is near at hand when the resurrected Jesus Christ will bring to their end Satan and his wicked world, while preserving God’s servants alive forever.—Rev. 20:1-3; 1 John 2:17.
