Years ago Frank Peretti wrote a book entitled “This Present Darkness.” It was a fictional book about the spiritual conflict and how spiritual forces seek to rule over the affairs of men and women. Well, that’s our subject for today – this present darkness.
In Ephesians 6:11-12 we are told, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Now principalities and powers are the executive and management levels of Satan’s evil hierarchy, and the rulers of darkness of this world are the spiritual forces that actually try to influence us toward evil each day.
The phrase “rulers of the darkness of this world” is literally, “world rulers of this darkness.” “World rulers” is one word in the Greek text – kosmokpatons. It is the word kosmos, or “world,” compounded with the word krateo, “to have strength, to hold fast and take by force.” These kosmokpatons seek to take the world by force. They are the world leaders of “this darkness.”
In his book, Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis imagines a junior devil named Wormwood, who is assigned to a particular person to keep that person form becoming a Christian. Wormwood encounters various difficulties with his assignment and writes letter back to his senior devil supervisor, Screwtape, asking his advice. These are the Screwtape Letters. His book is insightful and troubling when you realize how easily the evil angels of “this darkness” can influence our thinking. How much better to turn our minds over to the Lord as we “wrestle against the world rulers of this darkness.”
Hey – Better walk with the Lord, or the kosmokpatons will get you…