Though originally given their dominions by Yahweh, the lesser elohim had governed corruptly and had not maintained loyalty to the Most High. Instead, they embraced the worship that should have gone only to Yahweh (Deut 17:3; 29:25). Although Yahweh told these elohim that they would die like men (Psa 82:6–8)—that he would strip them of their immortality—there is no indication that the threat tempered opposition to Yahweh. The New Testament makes it clear that, once the powers of darkness understood that they had been duped by the crucifixion and resurrection, there was a sense that the
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