The Twelve Principalities of Satan

Popular theology has at its core twelve principalities of Satan, Disobedience, Lying, Rejection, Tradition, Idolatry, Entrepreneurship, Sedition, Rebellion, Hypocrisy, Witchcraft, Covetousness, Antichrist, and Death, which have infiltrated the body of Christ (Ephesians 6:12). As there are twelve tribes of Israel, there are twelve tribes of Ishmael (Genesis 25:16). Israel represents freedom, whereas, the twelve tribes of Ishmael represent bondage and can be looked at as physical representations of the twelve principalities of Satan, which are assigned by Satan to destroy the people of God. "But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free" (Galatians 4:29-31). Another physical representation of these enemies of righteousness was given in the Old Testament, namely, the seven nations—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—which God commanded the children of Israel to destroy. Their destruction was ordained because "the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants" (Leviticus 18:24-25). "Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever ... When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee ... Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them" (Deuteronomy 12:28-30) lest "they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods."

When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. (Deuteronomy 7:1-5)

Satan's organization is comprised of both functional principalities and geographical principalities. We are first introduced to some of the geographical principalities in the book of Daniel: "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. ... Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come" (Daniel 10:13, 20). Functional principalities, except death, work within geographic principalities in a matrix organization to bring about man's destruction: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy" (John 10:10). Principalities and their attendant power or powers (prince or princes) may have captains and other powers or may even contain other principalities with their respective powers. We see an example of this hierarchy in king David's organizational structure of his kingdom: "And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king, and of his sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men, unto Jerusalem" (1 Chronicles 28:1). All functional and geographic principalities report to the principality of death which is both functional and "geographic." Death and hell (hades) are both holding places for the unrighteous dead: "death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them" (Revelation 20:13). Death transfers its dead to hell after three days. The top twelve functional principalities are listed in the table below:

These principalities have their root in one another. Disobedience begets lying, lying begets rejection begets tradition, tradition begets idolatry, which leads people to substitute someone (or something) else for God while still proclaiming God. Entrepreneurship comes next because a person steps in to fulfill the people's need for idols. The entrepreneur often usurps the authority of the incumbent pastor via the principality of sedition. The entrepreneur, then, is eventually accepted by the people and "ordained"; thus, enters in rebellion. Rebellion in turn leads to what we all know the world says the church is full of, hypocrisy. Hypocrisy further begets witchcraft (calling evil good and good evil), witchcraft begets covetousness (full replacement of God). Covetousness now begets antichrist (man believing that he is a god) and death sets in. Throughout the body of Christ, we can see all of these spirits in one form or another. They may be working together. They may even be in their infancy stages, beginning with disobedience and leading up to the other eleven. The truth is that they are there and they must be cast out. Throughout this book, we intend to display to you through history, simple observation, and revelation that these principalities are in authority in Christianity and, indeed, controlling the people of God.

The twelve principalities of Satan hinges on mankind emulating Lucifer's program of ascendancy and preeminence: each principality adds a layer of deception that is cloaked with a "spiritual" veneer. Any belief, practice, system or religion that promotes ascendancy and preeminence is inherently satanic: "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:13-14). Ascendancy in this context means to strive consciously or unconsciously to excel above another person or group: be in a state of rivalry (competition). Like Satan, ascendancy promotes rising above your peers, or brethren, to gain preponderant, governing, or controlling influence. The sin of emulation is inherent in competition which is focused exclusively on rewards or punishments. Preeminence in this context means the quality or state reached through ascendancy in which a person has paramount rank, dignity, or importance. Or, said another way, they gain preponderant, governing, or controlling influence. In light of these definitions of ascendancy and preeminence, consider capitalism, sports, the world's education system, Roman Catholicism, Calvinism, and Pentecostalism. As Christians we are to "honour all men" (1 Peter 2:17), which means we are "in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves" (Philippians 2:3). The system of the world is based on "dishonor": believing one person is better than another or one person can become better than another. In the church, dishonor must be eliminated for "all ye are brethren" (Matthew 23:8), "God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34), and "we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Romans 12:5). Christians have to separate themselves from the sin of emulation: "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise" (2 Corinthians 10:12); "neither be partaker of other men's sins" (1 Timothy 5:22). This is no different than in the time of Moses in which God said: "I am the LORD your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances" (Leviticus 18:2-3). Emulation coupled with pride and lust is part of the foundation for the world system: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (1 John 2:15-17).

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

The principalities become strong holds as Christians put into practice the false knowledge, thinking, decisions, judgments, and beliefs put forth by these principalities. Just as faith in God requires obedience (works), faith in Satan also requires works: "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead" (James 2:20)? When principalities become strong holds, their various powers (princes, captains and other devils) are referred to as unclean spirits. The powers all work to drive the Christian to perform false practices—unrighteousness; these false practices then become strong holds themselves. These unclean spirits all have one common thread: they desire that we leave the kingdom of God and pay our allegiance to the kingdom of this world. What we fail to understand is that whatever kingdom with which we associate ourselves automatically connects us to the king of that kingdom: even the god of this world, SATAN. The king of the kingdom of God is Jesus Christ. This is why this book is titled Beyond Tradition into the Kingdom of God, because we want the church to turn away from its ways that lead us to perdition. We want, No!, God wants us to recognize the real King, the King of kings, Jesus Christ who he has sent to be the savior of a decaying world and to not be wrapped up in a collapsing kingdom that will inevitably be destroyed. We must remember that this is serious. It only takes a little bit of Satan to cause our entire enterprise to look like him. This book points out the little things (and some big things) that are becoming big snares that will ultimately cause those within the church of God to not just stumble but be held captive by the enemy. "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (1 Corinthians 2:12). And, "they also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine" (Isaiah 29:24). We begin our discussion with Disobedience and Lying—two half principalities—because they comprise the twelfth principality which is the lowest ranking of the top twelve principalities.

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