The Weapons of Our Warfare: Using the Full Armor of God to Defeat the Enemy

by Phil Hopper

the darkness or the demonic is something that has the power to give the enemy...

The Greek words daimon and daimonion appear dozens of times in the New Testament and are commonly translated as demon. The verb form of daimonion is daimonizo and occurs around twelve times in the New Testament. Our English equivalent is demonize meaning someone who is demonized or “has a demon.”

Demonization can imply anything from demonic possession, oppression, manipulation, or affliction. It can, but does not always, imply complete control or

domination by a demon. It can also imply far lesser forms of influence.

Ephesians 4:27 says, Don’t give place to the devil. The devil has lost all place in your life as a born-again child of God.

Sin, however, returns control to him. Embracing a lie instead of the truth can give him a foothold, and that foothold can become a demonic stronghold (2 Corinthians 10:4).

The devil has no place in your life as a born-again child of God.

In Ephesians 6:10-11, Paul tells us, “Finally… be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles [or schemes] of the devil.”

The apostle Paul described them as “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” What does this mean?

The Bible teaches the stars of the heavens are symbolic of angels. Revelation 12:4, Revelation 1:20, and other passages tell us that when you look up at the night sky and see the stars, they are symbols of angels to remind us of the angelic world.

Psalm 147:4 tells us God has numbered all the stars, and He knows them all by name. Romans 1:20 says that everything in God’s physical creation is a picture of something that is true spiritually.

Stars are meant to give light; however, remember there are angels of light as well as angels of darkness and the rulers of the darkness of this age. These are the angels that used to give light but were judged by God for their rebellion with darkness.

From the beginning of his rebellion described in Isaiah 14:12, Satan has always wanted to be worshiped as God. He always counterfeits the worship of God. That is why many have worshiped the stars, representing the angelic world and the cosmos from which the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places reign.

Not only are stars symbolic of angels throughout Scripture, but Job 38:7 calls angels “stars” or “morning stars.” It’s beginning to make more sense why God has numbered and named all the stars and why people

historically have worshiped the stars in the night sky. Job 38:7 tells us that as God was creating the world and laying its foundation, the “morning stars sang toget...

All the writers of the Old Testament were monotheists, one of the hallmarks of the ancient Jews.

They believed in only one God as recorded in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”

God was declaring there is no other God but the God of Israel. God was preparing His people to go into Canaan where they would be completely surrounded by pagan people with many gods. While reminding them that He alone is the only true God, Maker, and Creator, He warns them in Deuteronomy 6:14, “You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people who are all around you.” These would be among the gods referred to in Psalm 82:1. They are the “sons of God” and “morning stars,” ...

What does it mean to say we wrestle against an unseen enemy, the rulers of the darkness of this age? What is it we are wrestling for and why are we at war? As I wrote in Defeating the Enemy, we know the angelic race was on the earth before the human race. Before Adam was in the Garden of Eden, there was a being known as the “anointed cherub” (Ezekiel 28:14). He reigned on the earth from “Eden, the garden of God” (Ezekiel 28:13). Before Adam’s race was ever created, the angels reigned on the earth. It was an angelic kingdom with their leader, the anointed cherub, reigning over them and with them. Before Satan rebelled against God, he reigned over the morning stars and other sons of God. The earth was their home and Eden was his throne. We don’t know how long they were here before Adam’s creation or what else was here, other than what we learn from Ezekiel 28.