The Prince of the Power of the Air: The Digital Battleground

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

Praise the Lord. Welcome to The Sound of Faith. I’m Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Today’s message is a panoramic view of the evil influences and supernatural authorities driving our current chaotic culture, especially the anti-Christian America media, the prince of the power of the air. And you know, it’s the same with all things Wi-Fi that support the Internet and online media. Now, you know, Wi-Fi uses radio waves to transmit signals between the devices, the computers or whatever it may be. And nearly everyone has a computer in their home. How many here have a computer in your home? Okay. That’s just about everybody. And if you don’t have a computer in your home, how many at least have a smartphone? Then in a matter of speaking, you have a computer. Amen? And, you know, our lives revolve around them. Let’s face it. Now they do. You know, you’re always checking this or that or the other on your device or you’re doing something yourself on your device. Amen? I mean, come on now. People don’t even go to the grocery store anymore. They go online. They go to, let’s say, Walmart website. They go through the groceries. They say, I want A, B, C, D. And then they come to the door and somebody brings the groceries out to them. Or you order takeout food. We’re all doing things like this all the time. We probably do it so much that we don’t even think about it. What would happen if all of a sudden we couldn’t do that? And most people, not everyone, but many people, at least anybody, I would say 50 and younger, definitely 40 and younger, have a social media account of some kind. They’re on Facebook or some sort of social media outlet. Amen? And you know what? The good, wonderful thing about this is that it gives us the wonderful ability to program Christian messages, songs, and such online. On social media. Amen. I mean think about what happened. When COVID-19 first hit. And we had that huge shutdown. When you literally were not supposed to go anywhere. Amen? In the very beginning, back April last year and May last year. And what a blessing it was to be able to get church online. Now, you know, some of you remember that prior to that, we kept telling you all, we’re going to do live streaming soon. Pretty soon, we’re going to do live streaming. But first, we’ve got to paint the ceiling. And we’ve got to do this. And we’ve got to do that. And all these things we had to do. And we weren’t getting them done that quickly for different reasons. But, you know, one day, folks, we’re going to go on live streaming. Well, we got plunged into live streaming. We weren’t ready. And we weren’t expecting it. And, yeah, it was from my kitchen table. But we didn’t miss one Sunday. And let me tell you, it was many struggles in my kitchen. We were using my laptop. The only problem is, is it started getting hot. After all that time. And when it started getting hot, it’s starting going out. And here I am preaching at the table. And Benny’s walking over to the refrigerator and getting ice out of the freezer. And putting it under my computer. They’re trying to keep it cool so I could finish the message. Amen. And you know, there was just a lot of things with the lighting and with the sound and all kinds of stuff. It was crazy, but what a wonderful privilege that we were still able to preach and be in contact with faith tabernacle through this wonderful medium of internet. Amen. And you know, since then, thousands of churches are now live streaming. Let me tell you, when we finally realized we’re going to have to get some better equipment than putting ice cubes under your laptop. We got to get a real computer that’s made for this and all the stuff that goes with it. And when Benny would be searching to find one, they would be sold out. He’d go on here, sold out, go there, sold out. Every church in America was jumping in. trying to keep contact with their people through the internet. And now, you know, many churches are saying, like we did, even when we go back to church, we’re going to stay online for those people who really can’t come to church. There are people who just can’t. They’re in nursing homes, or maybe they are home, but they’re immobile. And so we’re going to continue to minister to them. Amen? And so all of this has been a tremendous, tremendous blessing. We all agree it’s a great blessing. And, you know, even you, when you go home today, maybe there’s another preacher that you like, you know, that you’d like to watch. And when you go home, you’ll watch the replay. You know, like I like Brother Stottlemyre. You know, he live streams. He reminds me of Brother Hardy when he was young. He’s like a young brother heartache on way back. And so, you know, you can watch him later. I’m sure you all have ones you love. Amen. So there are many well-known preachers online, not only pastors, but teachers and evangelists and prophets. And they all have something to share with the body of Christ. And I tell you what, the devil doesn’t like it. The prince of the power of the air is not cool. With all of these preachers, we got some of our own ministers in the church that have their own nights when they come on. Amen? And I know you all know who they are and you probably follow them. Amen? See, what he hates is he hates the truth. And he hates the gospel. And he’s operating through the media the powers that be to censor or to silence if possible. The messengers and the message. Amen. Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. All of these outlets are censoring ministries. And members, their content, they’re censoring their content if they come out and share what the Bible says. What it preaches. If they get on issues like abortion or homosexuality and same-sex marriage, they are censoring them. They’re not supposed to. They’re not to infringe on First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. But they’re doing it. Amen? And often when they’re doing it, people don’t even know that it’s being done. Amen? See, because now sexual rights trump First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And that’s just the fact. It trumps the Constitution. Those rights come above and before your right, my right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And anyone that opposes the new morality, that opposes the new morality, like preachers like me, amen, and that preach biblical morals are being censored. and or silenced now let me give you a case in point a very recent case in point in january of this year a very prominent messianic rabbi who’s a best-selling author and a christian tv speaker and a pastor of a large congregation He felt led of the Lord to record a prophetic word to the new administration and to post it on his Facebook and YouTube pages. He posted it on a Monday morning. By noon, he had a half a million views. The next day, he had one million views. And then they couldn’t get over that. They had never in anything he had ever, ever posted had had so many views so fast in such a short time. And then they noticed something strange happened with you. Googled to look for that video. No results came up, no results. It was as if the video had vanished. It was more than that. It was as if it was never posted in the first place. Like there never was such a posting of that video. And only some copies could be found by Facebook members who had reposted it on their page. And so they being very low level did not catch the attention of the censors. Or they would have been taken off there, too. So it was only in the case where, you know, some ordinary Christian out there had reposted it that some of them were still online. Now, they didn’t take it off this minister’s YouTube account, but you couldn’t find it. If you tried to Google for it, you would have to know how to go to it or go to his website. Amen. It was apparent that it was being suppressed. This is a method that is called shadow banning. Shadow banning that they’re using on these medium, each one of these different types of accounts that I’ve already mentioned, shadow banning where they are banning the post. And in most cases, you will never know it. You’ll never know that it’s being done because of the way that it’s being done. Amen? So when social media powers want to ban a message or ban a post or even ban a site, they do it in such a way that often the poster doesn’t even know that their message is being censored or outright silenced and banned. Amen? These are forces that are being manipulated by the prince of the power of the air in what amounts to Christian digital persecution. Amen? Those who preach a biblical message that conflicts with the present progressive culture, a.k.a. the counterculture. And these forces… are being driven by the prince of the power of the air. Amen? And folks, this censorship, this silency, and this persecution of Christians in this way, real Christians, is only going to increase. Amen? So, how have we arrived at this place where Christians are labeled as evil and mentally imbalanced and dangerous to society? You know that they put the message out there, these Christians are uneducated and ignorant. Excuse me? Excuse me? I know plenty of very intelligent, well-educated people. That believe the Bible is the word of God. The inerrant truth of the word of God. Amen? But that’s the message that’s put out there and that’s what people think of us. So now let’s answer that question. How did we arrive at this place? Let’s go back to Isaiah chapter 5. They go so far as to say that we Christians are actually dangerous to society. Amen? Do I look dangerous to you? Do I look dangerous? Well, you know what? In a way, I am dangerous. Any spirit-filled child of God is dangerous to the agenda of the prince of the power of the air. Amen? In that respect, we are dangerous. Isaiah chapter 5, verse 18. Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin, as it were, with a cart rope. I know in the King James Version that sounds like, what? Okay, let me explain it to you. It’s a picture of someone who is eagerly drawing sin to themselves with ropes of lies and deceits. Like cattle would pull a wagon with ropes. So the picture, the idea is these are people that are drawing sin to themselves. I’ll give my own metaphor that we might like better than this one because, you know, we’re really not into cattle a lot around here. Draw sin to themselves like they are a magnet for sin. That is what it’s saying. Amen? And they have become so hardened by their sin that that they are presumptuously, presumptuously trawling and eagerly drawing sin to themselves. You see folks, there are people who in their weakness fall into sin. They’re weak, they can’t say no. They’re weak without the power of the new birth, without the power of the spirit of God, they continually fall into sin. They’re too weak. I love the scripture in Romans, the fifth chapter. When we were without strength, Christ died for us. When we were too weak to say no, we wanted to do good, but we couldn’t do it. We didn’t want to do the sin, but we did it. It’s not talking about these folks. In their weakness, they fall into sin. But he’s talking about sinners who in their arrogance and in their presumption, they draw sin to themselves. That’s what this verse is saying. Amen? They defiantly challenge God. You know, that is if there is a God. Let’s put that in sarcastically. If there is a God, they challenge him, do your worst to punish me. You say, where’d you’re getting that from? Verse 19, let’s read it. That say, let him, speaking of God, let God make speed and hasten his work that we may see it. And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it. Now, when you understand what they’re doing here, it makes you want to say, whoa, whoa. They’re mocking God. They’re mocking the idea that God would judge their sin. That’s what’s happening here. Amen? In other words, they’re saying, oh, really? Let him come and do it so we can see it. Bring it on, is what they’re saying. And even when they say the Holy One of Israel, they’re saying it was scorned. And they’re playing on the words and the prayers of true prophets of God that in their messages they would say the Holy One of Israel with reverence. But they’re taking it and saying it scornfully. Well, let the Holy One of Israel come and do his thing. They’re saying, come on, do your worst to us. Give us your best shot. And let us see it. Amen. We’re ready. We’re up to it. There is no fear of God. In their hearts and before their eyes. There’s a verse in Jeremiah 1715 that says, behold, they say unto me, God speaking, behold, they say unto me, where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now. All the warnings that God was giving Israel through Jeremiah. And this was right before they were going. They were going to go into captivity. But he was sending one more prophet. One more prophet. And made his face like flint, like stone. And said, get out there, boy. And don’t worry about them. Get out there and deliver what I’ve told you. And they said back to God, oh yeah, where is your word? Let it come on. This is how the minds and hearts of the people were. I wanted to read 18 and 19 to you before we go to 20. Because we are seeing and hearing many, many ministers are constantly now quoting 20. But the impact and the import of verse 20 is more powerful when you read 18 and 19. And understand the mindset and the condition of the hearts of these people. Now verse 20. Woe unto them that call evil good. good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter how many know we hear this verse a lot I myself have used it quite a bit because folks if it was ever coming to pass and being fulfilled it surely is now would you not say amen to that see here’s the thing as we read in 18 and 19 because they don’t want to do right They don’t want to do right, so they have to excuse their sin. They have to excuse it, so they’ve got to blur the lines of morality. And that means they end up calling sin good. Amen? They have to call sin good because that allows them to keep living in their sin without any conviction whatsoever. by the Holy Spirit or condemnation by the word of God. The only way they can continue to live in their sin and not get under conviction and condemnation is to call it good. Is to call it good. And of course we understand we can give this, you know, one word, deceived. Deceived. They have deceived themselves. Deceived. Because they want to do it, and yet somehow they want to throw off the voice of conviction and silence their conscience, they have to call it good. And this has spawned all of the mantras that we’re hearing of tolerance today. Abortion. Abortion is a good thing. You know, because it protects a woman’s rights, and we want to support women, don’t we? Let me tell you something. Men today, even in high places like in the Senate or in the Congress where they make rules, they don’t want to be labeled as somebody who did something in any way to go against women’s rights. They’re afraid. They’re afraid to be pegged as someone who did not stand up for women’s rights. Even if in their heart of hearts, they know abortion is wrong. They know that it’s murder. They know it’s infanticide. But nevertheless, rather than be someone who said, you don’t respect women. You don’t stand up for their rights. Many of them have changed courses. Recently that once were anti-abortion are no longer now. And now they call themselves pro-choice. Pro-choice is a euphemism for pro-death. And I’m not going to preach a long time there. But I’m trying to show you that now they call it good. It’s good because it helps women. And it especially helps poor women. You know, that’s an insult and offense to the female gender. Amen? That you have to kill your own baby in order to advance and succeed in this world. You’re not going to be able to succeed. You’re not going to be able to advance if you’re tied down with some kid that you don’t want. But that’s what it boils down to. Amen? Same-sex marriage now is a good thing. You know, because everyone has a right to be with the one they love. If you put it that way, if you put it that way, then it sounds like a good thing. Everyone has a right to be with the one they love. Amen. So when you put it that way, it’s a good thing. And you know, based on that, now polygamists want to be with all the ones they love. All the ladies they love. They want to be able to marry all the ladies they love. Oh, yes. You know the polygamists are getting bold. They got shows all over cable TV, making it look like a wonderful, normal thing. And you know that that’s going to be next on the agenda. And you probably aren’t going to believe this, but it’s even now there are at least one case, and there may be more than one, it might be a couple, that they’re petitioning the courts to be able for a mother to marry her son. They say that they promise they won’t procreate and have children because of course then you have all kinds of birth defects and well that would just be a mess. But there’s no guarantee it won’t happen. But that’s beside the point. The point is when you start calling evil and sin good, this is what happens. Amen. And of course we could go on and on about all the things, but these are the two big issues. Amen. They all claim, they all say the idea is it’s a good thing and passing quickly. Just one more. What about transgender males? They want their right to participate with biological women in all women’s sports and where they’re allowed to do it. The women are getting beat down. young high school women who have spent all of their teenage years training, whether it’s to run track or whatever it is, hoping to get a scholarship to college. But now they’re coming down so far, they should have come in in one, two, and three. But no, instead, you’ve got transgender males coming in one, two, and three. And the girls are getting pushed down too low to get scholarships. Amen? It’s happening. Some states, thank you, are stepping out. I saw where some states are abolishing it in their state. The states have to do it. The federal government’s already on board. Our president is already on board with it. He said it’s good. It’s a good thing. So now the states are going to have to do it. Amen? Because there are some places where the states have their own authority. Now, it remains to be seen whether or not somebody is going to take it to the courts of the federal government, and who knows where it will end up at. Probably end up in the Supreme Court, and who knows by then we might have so many judges on the Supreme Court, you just take a bag and throw it up in the air and see what comes out. Amen? Oh yeah, some of you don’t like it, do you? I told you up front. Amen? I’m going to preach it as long as I can because I don’t know, one day I might be censored and silenced and shut down. They want to use the bathroom of their preference. Which, by the way, happens to be the women’s bathroom. Even if they haven’t had sex change surgery. Even if they’re still biologically really a man. They want to use… female bathroom amen and that was put in force by a former president carte blanche across the nation when that came into being amen and god forbid that we would cause them psychological harm by making them go in the men’s bathroom but what about the psychological harm to little girls To a seven-year-old girl going in there seeing a man in the bathroom. And to some women who may be afraid to go in that stall and know whether or not she’s going to be in there by herself. Come on now. People don’t even have common sense. But this is what happens when you call evil good. When you call evil good. All of this is a product of that. Amen. What an eye-opening word of the Lord, the prince of the power of the air. The course of this world is being controlled by Satan, who is the prince of the power of the air. Our culture and media are fulfilling his evil anti-God agenda. Paul said we’re in a cosmic wrestling match against principalities, authorities, the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies. This refers to the second heavens where Satan rules and to the atmosphere where radio waves, satellites beam down on the earth, generating radio, TV and Internet. The spirit of Satan is operating through much of the media, which has become increasingly hostile towards Christians and biblical morals, calling evil good and good evil. Darkness is increasing as Satan exerts his authority over the media. The Prince of the Power of the Air can be ordered on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request SK219. Mail to soundoffaith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or go online to our e-store, soundoffaith.org, where MP3s are available. But to order by mail, send your minimum love gift of $10 to P.O. Box 1744. If you enjoy these messages by my father, brother Hardy, and myself, please consider tucking in an extra love gift for our radio airtime. We would appreciate your including the call letters of this radio station. Until next time, this is Sharon Knott singing Maranatha.