Spiritual Authority (7) Dealing with Government Spirits

When the people of a city or nation submit to their political leaders, they give them authority over their lives.  If the powers of evil get to control the people at the top of the political hierarchy, they gain authority over all the people submitted to them.  Concentration of political power leverages the authority of the powers of evil.

The spiritual powers that control political leaders are called government-spirits in the Bible (this is better a translation of the Greek words than the popular expression principalities and powers).  Some, like Prince of Persia, take the name of their nation (Dan 10:20).  They have immense authority on earth, despite their defeat on the cross, because people submit to the leaders controlled by them.  Political leaders have legal authority over their people, so attacking them gives the government-spirits control over cities and nations.

Focusing on individual people is a very inefficient way for the powers of evil to use their shrinking power.  If an evil spirit gains control over one person, it can make that person’s life miserable, but that is all.  By getting control over a political leader, the same spirit can make an entire nation miserable.  The powers of evil amplify their power by attacking people with political authority.

The power of evil is mostly an illusion, but concentrating on a few powerful people has allowed the forces of evil to magnify their pathetic power.  Controlling human political power has amplified their authority out of proportion to their strength.

In the modern world, political power has been centralised and consolidated as never before.  The leader of a modern democratic nation has greater power and authority than an emperor in Old Testament times, because they can control every aspect of life in their city or nation.

The political systems of great nations are extremely dangerous, because one person has control over hundreds of millions of people.  The devil can gain huge power on earth, by deploying a few strong spirits to get control of the president of China, Russia or the United States.  By getting control of these leaders, the government-spirits get authority over everyone submitted to them.  Concentration of human political power gives vast power to the government-spirits that control it.

In an excerpt from chapter 14 of my book Kingdom Authority called Dealing with Government Spirits, I list seven tools for dealing with these powerful spirits.