Derek Prince - Occult Powers Are Increasing In The World
This excerpt is from: How to Approach Biblical Prophecy
So, what is the end? The end is monarchy. One man. Jesus who will be King who will lead a righteous rule who will share His authority with those whom He has trained through suffering through affliction, through discipline to share His rule with Him. What do we call those people? We call them the church. And bear in mind that the word church is a very poor translation of the Greek word ekklesia, which is essentially a government assembly. So if we’re members of the church, we’re members of a governmental assembly which will be headed up by one righteous man, Jesus. That’s God’s solution. And I believe there is no other solution. I believe, in a certain sense if we’re trying to arrange some of the solution we’re wasting our time and energy. We’ve got lots to do within the context of God’s revelation.
Now, I want to point out two, I think incontrovertible principles [you may not think them so] but what we are dealing with is the corruption of human nature caused by sin. And notice, that when Paul speaks about fierce times the reason he gives is "men will be" and he lists eighteen moral or ethical blemishes. The root cause of the problems in the world is not nuclear fission it’s human character. After all the atom bomb didn’t invent itself. Men invented it, men used it. Men have invented all sorts of horrible instruments of destruction. It’s men who use them.
So the root cause of the problems of humanity today is the moral and ethical corruption produced in humanity by sin. And if you’ll accept the metaphor of corruption, which I believe is valid there are two principles in the natural. All corruption is progressive. It doesn’t get better it always gets worse. And, all corruption is irreversible there is no way to turn back the working of corruption. I believe that applies to the world situation. I believe it applies to the world. The corruption in the world is progressive. It’s never going to get better It’s always going to get worse. And, it’s irreversible, there is no way to reverse the process of corruption. So, all Christian prayers and schemes and plans that are, whether they know it or not directed to reversing corruption are a waste of time and probably money, too. This is why we need biblical prophecy because it saves us a lot of wasted time, effort, and money a lot of disappointment.
Please understand I believe as Christians we have an obligation to pray for our government within the parameters of the revealed will of God. I was speaking about this once some good many years ago about the need to pray for the government and at the end a lady came up to me, a dear lady and said, "But Mr. Prince, doesn’t the Bible teach that everything is getting worse and worse?" I said, "No. It teaches some things are getting worse and some things are getting better and I’m one of the things that’s getting better." You can be one of the things that’s getting better too, you understand? This is not negative, it’s realistic. You have to live within the parameters of the revelation of God’s Word. So, let’s note also and we’ll return to this list but let’s note also that in the last time this passage reveals there will be a great upsurge of the occult.
For instance in the same chapter that’s 2 Timothy 3, verse 7 Paul said: Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds disapproved concerning the faith. Notice the word corrupt. But those two names Jannes and Jambres are the names of the two magicians in Egypt that resisted and opposed Moses and Aaron. And so, when it talks about them it’s talking about the occult the satanic supernatural. Please bear in mind that Satan is perfectly capable of working miracles. Any Charismatic who believes that all miracles necessarily attest the truth is mistaken. The Bible says in the end Satan will do great miracles but they’ll not be truth they’ll be lying wonders. It’s interesting, really, because this conflict between Moses and Aaron and the magicians was not fought out on the natural plane it wasn’t a conflict of theology. The battle for us in these last days is not going to be a conflict of theology it’s going to be a conflict of spiritual power. That’s the decisive issue.
Let me remind you what happened when Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh and said "Let God’s people go." Pharaoh said, "What sign can you show that this message is from God?" And Moses said to Aaron "Throw down our rod." And in the presence of Pharaoh that rod became a snake. Now you might think that would convince Pharaoh but it didn’t. He said, Wait a minute. I’ll see what my magicians can do. He called for them and, listen the Bible says plainly they threw down their rods and they became snakes. All right. Supernatural but satanic. That’s not the end of the story, thank God. Do you know what happened next? Moses’ snake ate up the Egyptian snakes. I just picture this, it’s so vivid to me. The magicians walked away swith empty hands, they had no rods. And Moses’ rod was thicker and stronger than it had ever been. But, it was fought out on the supernatural plane.
I want to tell you for sure, that’s where we’re going to have to fight. It’s not going to be theology it’s not going to be merely doctrine it’s going to be who has the power of God. This was predicted nearly 2000 years ago The prediction is right in force today. The powers of the occult are increasing. Their boldness, their arrogance their claims to superiority are increasing continually. But, their folly will be made manifest to all men as was the folly of Jannes and Jambres.