There is a spiritual warfare between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. This spiritual warfare will last until Jesus Christ has cast the devil and his angels and sons into the eternal lake of fire. Every person belongs to a kingdom; the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. To which kingdom and army someone belongs and which armor someone has put on: the armor of light or the armor of darkness, a person will show through his or her life. The life and the words and works show to which kingdom a person belongs and in which armor the person walks; The Kingdom of God and the armor of light or the kingdom of darkness and the armor of darkness. In this blogpost, we will look at the armor of darkness. What does the Bible say about the armor of darkness? What is the armor of darkness? What are the elements of the armor of darkness?
Who belongs to the kingdom of darkness?
Those, who belong to the generation of fallen man; the old man, are sons of the devil and belong to the kingdom of darkness; the world. They walk in darkness after the flesh in obedience to the will of the devil that diametrically opposes the will of God and are clothed with the armor of darkness.
They are workers of darkness, who do the works of darkness and represent, preach, and bring the kingdom of darkness to the people on earth.
The workers of darkness are workers of iniquity
He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God (John 8:47)
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin (John 8:34)
Those, who are born of the corrupt seed of fallen man belong to the devil; the ruler of this world, and walk after the flesh. They listen to the words of the devil and obey his words, therefore they live as sinners, doing all those things which go against the will of God and are an abomination to God (Read also: ‘The will of God vs the will of the devil’ and ‘The necessity of the new birth‘).
They are not born again in Jesus Christ and do not have the Spirit of God, who represents the law of the Spirit (the will of God), but their spirit is dead. They are unspiritual and live after the flesh as slaves of sin.
They have the spirit of this world, the spirit of the antichrist, who acts on behalf of the devil, and are led by the rulers of darkness and sin and death that reign in the flesh.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning (1 John 3:8)
The workers of darkness are workers of iniquity and don’t listen to God and His Word, but instead, they listen to their flesh and obey the will, lusts, and desires of their flesh.
And so they yield their members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin and produce the fruit of death, which is sin.
What is the armor of darkness?
Those, who belong to the army of the kingdom of darkness and are clothed with the armor of darkness, fight for the kingdom of darkness against the Kingdom of God. Their job is to guard, keep, and enlarge the territory of the darkness. They do this by walking in the armor of darkness; the armor of the devil
The loins girt about with lies
Why do ye not understand My speech? even because ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it (John 8:43-44)
Those, who are clothed with the armor of darkness have not girt their loins with the truth of God, which is written in the Word, but they have girt their loins with the lies of the devil.
These lies of the devil, that the world consider as the truth, say the exact opposite of what the Word of God says.
For example, when we look at the ten commandments of God, then the words of the devil; the world say:
- Thou shalt love yourself and the world above all and obey the devil
- Thou shalt make graven images and have many other gods (idols), and bow down unto them and serve them
- Thou shalt take the Name of God in vain (use for unholy things, cursing, etc.)
- Thou shalt consider the sabbat as any other day
- Thou shalt not honor thy father and mother, but thou shalt rebel against them
- Thou shalt kill
- Thou shalt commit adultery
- Thou shalt steal
- Thou shalt bear false witness against thy neighbors (lie against thy neighbor), including little white lies, and making (false) promises, which thou don’t keep
- Thou shalt covet thy neighbor’s house, wife, manservant, maidservant, his ox, his ass, and all his other possessions
These works derive from the sinful nature of the flesh, that is prideful and rebels against every commandment of God and disobeys His words.
Because the flesh doesn’t yield to God and His words but yields to the devil and his words.
Therefore, those, who walk after the flesh are not able to please God, since they can’t walk by faith according to the words of God.
And so they walk in obedience to the devil in iniquity, doing the works of the flesh
The breastplate of unrighteousness
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 6:5-8)
The sons of the devil live after the flesh after the will of the devil in iniquity and are clothed with the breastplate of unrighteousness. They honor and exalt their father; the devil, with their lives by doing the works of the flesh, which are the works of darkness.
The works of the flesh; the works of darkness, whereby they honor and exalt the devil are: adultery, fornication, (sexual) uncleanness, effeminacy, lasciviousness, inordinate affection, Idolatry, witchcraft, anger, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, malice, strife, blasphemy, filthy communication, lying, seditions, heresies, evil concupiscence, covetousness, envyings, stealing, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like (1 Corinthians 6:9, Galatians 5:19-21, Colossians 3:5-10)
The feet shod with the message of the world
The sons of the devil don’t speak the truth, but they lie, just like their father. They speak his lies disguised as truth and proclaim the knowledge and wisdom of the world that exalt against the knowledge and wisdom of God and diametrically opposes the Truth of God.
They are messengers of the world and proclaim a false peace. They do everything they can to convince the people, including believers, of their truth, so that they become disobedient to God and His Word.
Their lies are wrapped in half-truths. And so they bring a message of false unity, false love, and false peace, which in reality causes enmity against God, separation between man and God, a dissolute life and perseverance in sin, and turmoil in the lives of people.
As long as those, who say they believe, remain carnal, and live after the flesh, they shall believe these lies and leave the truth of God and repent to the world and compromise with the words and the works of darkness.
The shield of unbelief
The workers of darkness don’t believe the words of God, but they believe in the words of their father, who is the ruler of this world. Therefore they believe the words of this world. Just like their ancestor Adam, who believed the words of the devil above the words of God and by obeying the words of the devil became separated from God.
With the shield of unbelief, they deflect all the words of God, so that they remain prisoners of darkness, who are trapped in the lies of their father and keep living as sinners in iniquity and sin.
The helmet of damnation
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others (Ephesians 2:3)
The workers of darkness walk after the will of their darkened carnal mind, which is fed by the knowledge and wisdom of the world. The will of their corrupt thoughts determines their actions and their course of life, since everything a person says or does derive from the mind.
They are not saved, but they are still trapped in the lies of the devil that are strongholds and reign in their carnal mind.
Their corrupt and reprobate mind rejects the words of God and exalts themselves above God and resists the will of God causing them to walk in disobedience to God.
The sword of the flesh
As their spiritual weapon, the workers of darkness use the sword of the flesh; the words of man, which are inspired by the wisdom and knowledge of the world. With their words, they attack the believers and make them to doubt the words of God, and cause them to depart from the faith and the words of God.
Because the workers of iniquity not only believe and walk in the lies of the devil, but they also preach his lies and try to mislead and tempt the people with their lies, just like their father.
They try to convince people, that the lies they speak are the truth, so that the people believe in their lies and walk in them and become disobedient to the will and the words of God and become separated from God through their disobedience and serve the devil through their obedience to him.
The devil has misled and tempted many people with his lies and encouraged and caused them to lie, commit adultery (spiritually with the world and naturally), commit fornication, divorce, defraud, rebel against parents and authorities, kill (including abortion, euthanasia, etc.), and so on.
Every person, who approves of sin belongs to the devil
How many preachers are out there, who approve of sin, and instead of removing sinners, who don’t want to repent but persevere in sin, from the church, they persecute and remove the believers, who stay faithful to God and His will and keep standing on His Word, from the church (Read also: ‘What does it mean to deliver someone unto satan?’).
How many of them twist the words of God and adjust the words of God to the lives of people, who want to remain the old carnal man and want to live after the lusts and desires of the flesh?
How many of them believe the wisdom of the world above the wisdom of God and believe in a.o. the evolution theory above creationism.
How many preachers are carnal and are led by the flesh and speak their own words and opinions instead of speaking the words of God?
And so, there are many preachers, who preach lies and instead of raising the believers in the truth of God so that they spiritually mature and walk as mature sons of God, who live holy lives doing the will of God, they feed the believers with the lies of the world unto sons of the devil, who persevere in sin.
Every preacher, who approves sin, is not a son of God, but is a son of the devil and doesn’t preach the truth, but lies, just like his father.
The works of darkness lead to death
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (James 1:15)
The Word warns, that some shall depart from the faith, because they have given heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:1).
Many people don’t want to listen to the words of God, but reject His words and refuse to become born again and yield to the Word and the Spirit and live after His will, but they keep walking after the will of the flesh in the love for themselves and the world.
They live in darkness and walk in the armor of darkness, representing, preaching, and bringing the kingdom of darkness to the people.
They belong to the world and live after the will of the devil and honor him through their words and works, until the death comes to get them and they find out that during their whole life on earth, they have been misled and lived in a lie instead of the truth.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
