"THRONES, PRINCIPALITIES, POWERS, AUTHORITIES – New Terms of the Prophetic Movement or Forgotten Biblical Truths?"

Introduction

Unlike other religions, Christianity, at least the living kind, is not a cyclical religion. God is a living God who continually reveals Himself, which is why the church is progressing. If it is regressing, it is because it is losing its relationship with God. It usually starts to cling to patterns and strategies instead of a living relationship with God. Many people want to go back to the source and look to the past, to God's past actions, and look there for patterns and ways to draw closer to God. We talk about wanting to be like the early church, but there is so much more available to us because God has been working and speaking through the church for 2000 years. More than five hundred years after the reformation of the church, we are still witnessing the constant renewal of certain truths that are recorded in the Bible, and we are seeing God's Words being unlocked and revelations activating the church in different spiritual spheres and missions. Nevertheless, we observe that many movements born out of such acts of God usually refuse to move forward when God begins to reveal new things, perhaps to someone other than themselves, because no community and no man can possess the truth. There are rifts and divisions. Then new communities, new schools, and new teachings are born. Not because the Church wants to be divided, but because it is moving forward. Sometimes division is necessary and necessary for growth, just as there is no conception of new life without cell division.

Thrones, Chapters, Areas, Authorities - new concepts of the prophetic movement or forgotten biblical truths?

HOW TO WORK WITH A PROPHETIC WORD SPOKEN FOR A CHURCH OR NATION

When the prophetic movement was emerging some 40 years ago, it continued to activate the church in prophetic gifts for the individual, and when it later merged with the apostolic movement, we were witnessing an increase in teachings and also prophetic words that touched the whole church, and also segments of human society, not just individuals, the Gospel is moving from the private sphere to society. For example, the very popular teaching, especially in the USA, the "Seven Mountains Mandate", which is based on the conviction that it is God's will that Christians do not withdraw from the world, but actively engage in seven key areas of society (the so-called "mountains") in order to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth and to be the light and salt of the earth. These 7 areas are: Government (politics), Education, Media, Arts and Entertainment, Religion , Family, Economy. The teaching, which has its roots in 1975, is an "evergreen" of modern Christianity, there are countless books and sermons on the subject. This teaching is also characteristic of the NAR movement, - the New Apostolic Reformation, within that segment of evangelical Christianity which emphasizes the restoration of the "fivefold ministry" of Ephesians 4:11 - especially the role of modern-day apostles and prophets - as a key work for the spiritual renewal and expansion of God's kingdom on earth. Like many movements before them, say the Faith Movement, the Charismatic Movement, the "Dominion" Movement, etc., it has brought with it some extreme practices and doctrines, but we will discuss this in more detail elsewhere when the time comes. But these movements are important for us, because these doctrines are coming to us too, and we need to be able to put them in context. God does not want us to be ignorant.

Every new movement brings with it a new theological language, and with the emergence of these new movements in the last 40 years, new theological concepts have also emerged, which are not new, since they are from the Bible, but have been lost in the church because of human tradition.

The theological concept of the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus preached ( as a superstructure of the Gospel of personal salvation and sanctification only ) came to the fore again. The emphasis on transformation of society, cities and nations, not just the salvation of individuals, and the concept of the dominance of the church in the spiritual spheres - the Church Triumphant.

SPHERES OF AUTHORITY

Many traditional believers do not know what to do with concepts such as: thrones, powers, authorities, spheres, spiritual realms, spiritual warfare, etc. because they have not been taught about them before. In the parable of the sower, Jesus is telling us about that segment of people who receive the Word, but because they don't understand it, the devil (who in this parable is depicted as birds of the sky - spirits in the atmo-sphere) steals it from them.

As we come to a new level as a church, and by a new level, I mean that the Lord wants to entrust us with greater authority. With that comes more complex prophecies, and we don't want prophets "sowing and the devil reaping." It is better not to go wild with revelations, but to take time to understand.

God wants us to understand both the spiritual hierarchy and the natural hierarchy. For every authority, both human and spiritual, is given by God. As in the spheres of natural life, the juridical system has more authority than political government in a nation, and in the judiciary, say, a policeman has much less authority than a Supreme Court judge, although we had a case in Slovenia years ago that showed that people have no concept of authority at all. There was a complication when a policeman, who was employed at the Supreme Court gate to keep order—that is to say, to keep the Supreme Court judiciary safe—assaulted one of the Supreme Court judges because he walked past him without stopping. There was an incident and, as usual, a media scandal. The people went mad. They said, "The judges have to submit too, what do they think they are," instead of asking themselves, "Has this policeman gone mad?" It was interesting that even the journalists who were reporting were not clear, even at a basic level, who was guarding whom, and who was subordinate to whom. Unfortunately, the same logic is reflected in the church regarding the understanding of authority in spiritual spheres. Most of them go no further than this cop-out logic.

I heard a church leader say that he does not recognize or obey the judiciary in his country because the church is above it. He continued, "as well as over medicine, education, politics, and all other areas of civilization." Needless to say, his church mostly has members who don't fit into society or have had problems with the law, and instead of repenting, they formed an alternative Christian pirate culture, where, because of "faith," anything is allowed.

When Jesus said that He gives us a name that is above every name and an authority that is above every other name, He didn't mean that we don't recognize any structure or authority anymore, because if we did, we would have to leave this world immediately. That kind of thinking is immature and causes people to laugh at us, and God needs to make a wick around us so that we don't go astray until we grow up in the understanding of government. That is why the apostolic reformation was so necessary: to bring the church back down to earth out of its childish infatuation with heaven, because our eternity depends on what we do on earth. In heaven, they don't need faith, righteousness, miracles, prophecy, knowledge, or new languages. In heaven, they don't cast out demons and heal diseases and speak the word of the gospel to get people saved. We do this exclusively on earth.

Jesus said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world, for if it were, my disciples would be fighting now".

When we say that the Church has supreme authority, we must understand that it is given in the spiritual spheres, to influence the earth so as to call forth the kingdom of heaven, not in the natural spheres, in the way that politics, law, economics, education, medicine, science, .... have it, people who are trained and called to these spheres of life must submit to the "field" in which they operate. As the Bible says in Proverbs, "The king is subject to the field", not the other way around. The Church is Christ's, which He has placed above all as His Body, but it is subject. First to Christ, then to one another in Christ, then to the field, which is the kingdom of this world, to till it and to bring the harvest into God's hands.

It can be said that humans never have power over something, only power in some sphere. But we do have power over our bodies and over our choices. Paul goes so far in his theology as to say that the wife does not have authority over her body but the husband does, and that the husband does not have authority over his body but the wife does, when he speaks of married life, but this is also a subject that I will bring up on another occasion.

Thrones, Dominions, Rulers, and Authorities - Bible Classification

Thus, in the spiritual world, there are also different levels of authority. One is the authority of God, which is sovereign and absolute; all other authorities are delegated. There are angels with different powers and authorities for different spheres. Another is the authority of the church, and another is authority in the natural spheres of life: authority in the family, nations, cities, and various industries.

Let's look at what the Bible says about the authorities. We will find that it deals with them in considerable detail. If we want to walk in the power of the Kingdom of God,

we must understand authority.

Col 1:16: "For in him all things were created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created through him and for him."

Eph 1:21: "Over all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come."

Eph 3:10: "That now the manifold wisdom of God may be made known through the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places."

The spiritual structure of government that comes from heaven:

1. Thronoi (θρόνοι)

Thrones, thrones, seats of authority, power, and strength, the term denotes the highest level of power with vested sovereignty and judicial authority. Paul uses the word only in Colossians

In the book of Revelation, the word "θρόνος" appears ~47 times, most often as the place of God's authority, but sometimes also as the place occupied by the thrones of other beings:

Rev 3:21 - Christ shares His throne with the overcomers

Rev 4:2-4 - The throne of God + 24 thrones with elders

Rev 5:6-13 - the glorification of the Lamb before the throne

Rev 7:9-17 - the crowds before the throne

Rev 11:16 - 24 elders on their thrones

Rev 20:4 - "I saw thrones, and power was given to those who sat on them to judge"

Rev 20:11 - Great White Throne - Judgement

2. Kyriothetes (κυριότητες)

- estates

Eph 1:21: "over all rule and authority and power and dominion (κυριότητος) and every name that is named..."

Meaning: Christ is set above all, including all spiritual powers, including the hosts.

Col 1:16: "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him and for him."

Meaning: Christ created all spiritual entities, including the hosts, which means that He is above them.

3. Archai (ἀρχαί)

- doings, champions or rulerships, patrilineages, chieftainships

It can be used for:

God as Creator, Jesus as the Firstborn over all creation (Col 1:15-18),

or for demonic leaders and fallen angels (Rom 8:38).

Rom 8:38: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities (archē), neither things present nor things to come, nor powers, shall be able to separate us..."

Col 2:10: "In whom also ye are filled, who is the head of all principality and power."

Here Paul again uses the term archē - that is, Jesus is above all initial order or superior spiritual authority.

4. Exousiai (ἐξουσίαι) - areas

Col 2:10: "And in him you are complete, who is the head of all rule (ἀρχῆς) and authority (ἐξουσίας)."

Col 2:15: "He disarmed principalities and powers (ἀρχάς καὶ ἐξουσίας), and showed them as those who were humbled, triumphing over them in him."

1 PT 3:22: "Who is at the right hand of God, being subject to angels, authorities (ἐξουσίαι), and powers (δυνάμεις)."

A spiritual power structure that comes from hell:

The demonic authorities are structured in the same way, and Paul in Ephesians arranges them as follows:

Eph 6:12: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

When Paul speaks of the heavenly realms, he is referring to the "second heaven". The first heaven is our earthly atmo-sphere, the second heaven is the spiritual realm, and the third heaven is the heavenly realm. There are no physically present evil beings in heaven or on earth until the appearance of the incarnation of the Antichrist.

They were, in the time of Noah, and they were judged, when evil was incarnated through the sexual unions of the sons of God - the angels, who left their domain, that is, the domain of their authority, and went and conceived with the human race the so-called hybrid embryo of giants. That is why God sent the flood upon the earth, so that this hybrid species would not completely corrupt the human race and bring it beyond the possibility of redemption. Some biblical commentators state that the condemned hybrid beings from the time of the Flood, who remained without bodies, became demons because they no longer have bodies and cannot die, and they want to inhabit human bodies. The Bible mentions demons in several places, but nothing is explicitly said about their origin. The origin of demons other than fallen angels remains unexplained in canonical literature.

It is true that demons can inhabit people and the bodies of animals (we read about this in the Gospels when Jesus is recognised by a legion of demons possessing a man, and when he casts them out, he asks Jesus to cast them out into the swine, but the swine refuse and go into the lake), and fallen angels rule over areas, but only because humans have, through sin, surrendered, allowed, or even knowingly surrendered territorial authority: to fallen angels in nations, cities, regions, families, or on a personal level. We can read about this in the Book of Daniel.

Jesus cast demons out of people, not out of the atmosphere, thus clearly demonstrating the authority of the Kingdom of Heaven. The book of the prophet Malachi is key to understanding how the authority of God works initially through the establishment of God's altars and the sanctification of His people.

Categories of evil Eph 6:

1.Principalities (ἀρχαί - archai)Spiritual authorities or "archons", a higher order of fallen spirits, doers of evil, chiefs, "heads" - architects of evil

Cf. Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11

"Ruler of this world" - ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου (ho árchōn tou kósmou toútou)

2. Powers (ἐξουσίαι - exousiai) Delegated powers over regions or peoples

Luke 22:53 (Jesus' pre-arrest discourse): 'I was among you every day in the temple, and you did not stretch out your hands for me. But now is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Greek: ἡ ἐξουσία τοῦ σκότους - he eksousia tou skotous).

Acts 26:18: "To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in me." (Greek: ἐξουσίας τοῦ σατανᾶ - exousias tou satana)

Col 1:13: "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son." (Greek: ἐξουσίας τοῦ σκότους - eksousias tou skotous)

3. The World Lords of Darkness (κοσμοκράτορες - kosmokratores)The demonic rulers over the world's darkness and system

The term appears only once in the SP:

The Kosmokratores are, according to some teachings, fallen angels who have taken dominion over pagan nations (cf. Deuteronomy 32:8-9). They are associated with the spirits behind the pagan deities (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:20), whom men worship, thinking they are doing good, but unwittingly serving the evil of worldly racism.

4. Spiritual forces of evil (πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας - pneumatika tēs ponērias)Corrupt spiritual beings in the heavenly spheres - disembodied spirits of evil

The term appears only once in the SP:

Satan's throne" (Greek: ὁ θρόνος τοῦ σατανᾶ, ho thronos tou satana)

Although Paul does not mention the "throne" of evil, Revelation 2:13, where he locates it in the physical city of Pergamon, means:

a) The centre of His authority on earth

Satan is not omnipresent because he is only a created being, so he does not have the capacity to personally control everything, but his power is expressed through regional centers of influence where he has been offered the most by the people. Pergamon, mentioned in the book of Revelation, was one such city where paganism, imperial idolatry, and persecution of Christians intertwined, and is called by Jesus the city where Satan's throne is.

b) The earthly manifestation of the heavenly rebellion

Satan has been cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-9) and is seeking places on earth where he can exert influence. Since man is the crown of creation, God's beloved, Satan's primary purpose is to establish a "fatherly" relationship with mankind as the Father of lies. He steals hearts. He steals thoughts. He steals lives. If people did not fall for his lies, he would have no power.

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SPIRITUAL WARFARE

"So also these in their reveries profane the flesh, despise the dominion, and curse the glory. And yet Michael the archangel himself, when he contended with the devil, and disputed over the body of Moses, durst not accuse the devil with blasphemies, but said, "The Lord chastise thee!" But they curse what they do not know, ... (Jdg 1:9-12)

When Jude speaks of "dreaming", he is referring to an imaginary spirituality that does not recognise spiritual authorities.

Almost every time I go to a prayer meeting, there is someone who is telling the princes and the authorities of the country to go away, citing some historical data. Most of these are inexperienced or immature Christians who think it is "nice" to have authority. Therefore, such prayers are not very harmful. Nor are they helpful.

Christians who bind and challenge demonic entities over cities, regions, and nations are doing foolish things. These entities have come to power solely because they were "elected" there by the people or given a place there by the sin of disobedience, rebellion against God, idolatry, witchcraft, and adultery. When people begin to turn from darkness to God, these authorities lose their power. Jesus confronted Satan personally in the wilderness, and only because Satan himself came to tempt Him. He didn't do "spiritual mapping" and search through the history of nations to find out what kind of devils to expect in the wilderness.

Ignorance of spiritual protocols and authority is due to the almost non-existent biblical teachings on angels and demons and the understanding of natural and spiritual authority. The Bible explains all these concepts in great detail.

It is the same with commanding angels. Nowhere, and I mean nowhere, does the Bible allow or even command us to direct angelic activity. Jesus even says to Peter, "Do you think that I cannot ask my Father and he would immediately make available to me more than twelve legions of angels, but then how shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?" (Mt 26:53). Jesus never addressed the angels directly with commands during His earthly life.

We will discuss this in more detail at the next Spiritual Warfare Conference, which we are organising from 26.6. - 29.6.2025.

When Paul says that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, we are not fighting against people, but against what those people have given power over. And we do this by tearing down the reflections, the mental strongholds that rise up against the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

For it is written that the Gentiles were blinded in their minds by the "god of this world", so that the knowledge of Jesus Christ did not dawn on them. When we pray for the revival of a nation, we are not putting "down" principalities, for the Bible makes it clear in Ephesians that we are placed in Christ "above" every principality, name, and power that is in this world, but we are fighting against mental strongholds, ungodly concepts that Satan has built in the collective consciousness of individuals, a place, or a nation. Praying for a nation without the preaching of the Gospel that must follow is meaningless and only serves our personal satisfaction of having done something for that nation, not "getting our hands dirty". Our greatest mission for the nation is preaching. Jesus instructed us to pray for the workers who will go into the harvest, because the harvest is great and the workers are few. We must not mistake the means (prayer) for the end (workers and harvest).

Prayer for the individual is based on a similar principle. Perhaps this will help us to understand what is being said. We are not going to cast out the demon of obesity from a person who is overeating and who is, say, in serious health trouble because of his habits, but we are going to ask him about the reasons which have led him to surrender autonomy and authority over his body to intemperance. When a man repents and receives grace in this area of life, the power of the devil over his life will be broken, he will also be spontaneously freed if his intemperance has led him into demonic bondage. We can cast out and bind the devil to the point of insanity, but if a person does not want to change, we are not doing him any service. If something is not rooted in truth, It has no power of deliverance. Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Truth - in and of itself.

Prayer is not intended to influence the free will of individuals, as its "antagonist" witchcraft, attempts to do.

Unnecessary casualties of a spiritual war

I once had a vision of a group of Christians gathered under that big rock by Lake Bohinj, praying against another group of Christians. They were led by a person who thought they were being threatened, but I couldn't make out what from the vision. It was an imaginary threat that the devil had concocted. The group against whom the prayers were directed had climbed up on that rock and was high above their heads and could not see them. They did not even seem to be aware that anything was wrong; they were just happy that they had overcome the rock. This really amazed me, so I thought about what they had done to get such a reaction from the group under the rock. The only thing that could have put them in danger, as I understood it, was that they were no longer part of that group at the foot of the mountain because they had decided to move on. The group under the rock shouted, threw small axes in the air to represent their prayers, and declared victory over the devils. They were all very connected and intense in their prayers and followed their leader in her declarations. All these axes fell back on them, causing alarm and confusion. So some gave up. But a few continued with the "spiritual warfare" because they only had eyes on the leader.

Paul says in one place, "Because they did not receive the truth, God sent them a spirit of deception, so that they believed a lie." Whatever is not the truth has no power to penetrate, but is twisted back to the place from which it originated. It may be mental or soulish prayers, prophecies from one's own spirit, or the words of human doctrine instead of the Word of God. Such "truth" can only have as much place as man, or in this case the group, offers it. At the same time, it is also a confirmation that cursing undeservedly strikes no one. Therefore, we can be completely fearless when people speak against us, or even pray against us.

Even if you think someone is your enemy, the Lord's command is to bless him, not to pray against him. These are the basics.

So we should not be surprised to see that new teachings and new actions of God also bring opposition, usually from those closest to us in faith and understanding of God's plans. When there is a divide between those who want to move forward with God and those who do not, it is usually the ones who do not want to move forward who cause more opposition than those who are on completely different shores of doctrine and Christian practice than we are.

The Bible says (I paraphrase), "Have not all heard the voice? They did, but some did not believe." Every new thing or new movement will threaten the comfort zone or dominance of a particular group of people.

What is new in these times, I believe, is a much greater authority than we have known as Christians. Jesus' ministry did not go up the Pharisees' noses because of healings and good works, but because He spoke on the same topics as they did, but with much greater authority.

"They were amazed at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Mr 1:22).

Many Christians know the authority of Christ only up to the cross, just as the disciples did before the resurrection of Christ, before the new birth: Christ saves, Christ heals, Christ sets free. Everything remains on a personal level, perception and experience. We must remember that Jesus sent his disciples to preach, heal and liberate before he went to the cross. The cross is much more than that. But we do not know enough about Jesus, to whom everything in heaven and on earth is subject, and about the Church, which is his body, "the fullness of him who fills all in all".

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CONCLUSION

If we are to move properly in these times, as individuals and as a church, we need an understanding of spiritual authority and the spheres to which we are sent. It is not that in our eagerness we reject natural structures and authority on the one hand, or ignore the importance and role of spiritual structures in the heavenly places, but that we are able to discern their place and limit - and above all God's purpose for us within them.

Today we are invited to go further. Not to remain superficially enthralled by spiritual concepts and prophetic words, but to go deeper, to immerse ourselves and to live them in a redefined relationship with Christ. Because the revelation of the Word, which we may or may not have, defines our relationship with Him. Scripture says, "You are mistaken, because you know neither the Word of God nor the power of God." That is, there are only 2 kinds of error. Without knowledge of the Word, we will drift into religion or false doctrine, and without knowledge of the power of God, we will drift into "Cessationism" (a doctrine that does not recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in our day), or into witchcraft. False doctrine and witchcraft are the two things that are currently destroying Christian churches more than anything else, because they are active forms of error.

Sometimes, when I read the posts of my brothers and sisters (not over there), I am amazed at the flood of all kinds of extreme doctrines, Jewish fables, conspiracy theories, end-of-the-world expectations, even flat-earth theories, denials of the Bible, various personal super-revelations that turn basic truths upside down, deny common sense and at the same time the purely childish enthusiasm for "Christian prophets" who operate in the spirit of witchcraft under the guise of the work of the Holy Spirit. African spiritism, which has infiltrated charismatic Christianity, especially deliverance, healing and prophecy ministries, and various names such as Apostle Kathryn Krick, Prophet Lovy Elias, the disciples of Prophet TB Joshua, and a whole host of similar "stars" have flooded the Internet.

Recently, several people forwarded me a three-hour interview with James Kawalya, a Ugandan pastor, where he explains his occult past at length. In his video, he mentions a group of praying men who are said to be the most advanced with some special revelation. All this group is supposed to be doing is essentially denying the perfect work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The doctrinal errors spread by these highly spiritually active people under the guise of the power of God are very dangerous. In reality, these people are speaking "another gospel," and the people who listen to them are receiving "another spirit." God's Word instructs us to test the spirits to see if they are from God. Ignorance and arrogance feed these populist prophets, and that is why they attract a large following, because they are especially attractive to people on autopilot who do not accept the responsibility to develop their own convictions in prayer and Bible study.

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?So every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' but whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name done many mighty works?' And then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you. Get away from me, you who act unchastely!" (Mt 7:15-23).

Many people are misled in their desire for the supernatural. They start feeding on these teachings instead of the "locally produced teachings" of their churches. They think this is a "higher level." After a while, they lose their "appetite" for God's Word and feed exclusively on the teachings of people they do not know personally. The basis for a healthy spirituality has always been that the primary source of our teachings is the local church, and if you don't think that meets your needs, go to God's Word for the answers, not the internet. May the Lord lead you into true fellowship.

We need a Church that does not run away into infantile spirituality or self-exaltation, but matures in the understanding of authority, vocation and service. God is teaching us to rule. This is the meaning of discipleship. Jesus made disciples for the Kingdom, not just converts who are tossed about by every breath of other doctrines.

May the Lord lead us to a deeper understanding and greater maturity - in every individual, community and nation. For He is building His church. And the gates of the underworld will not prevail against it.