"The previous bowls have been poured out upon the earth, the sea, the rivers and fountains, the sun, the throne of the beast, and the great river Euphrates. This, the last and greatest, is poured into the air; and immediately there is heard a voice out of the temple in heaven, proclaiming, "It is done!" What, then, is symbolized by the plague poured into the air? Of what is the "air" the emblem? In the Revelation the whole of nature is used as a great complex parable or symbol. What does the atmosphere especially signify? And the answer is not difficult. If earth, sea, rivers, fountains, the sun, a throne, etc., denote manifest spiritual realities, the air obviously would symbolize an invisible spiritual realm. And here we are helped by sundry hints of scripture usage."
Much more in the text:
The internet is transmitted through the air.
There's no way to count the number of souls that the tell-a-vision has swallowed up.
Great point, space force, Air force......
Ephesians 2:2
Satan is the prince of the power of the air.
"This certainly edifies me more than to think Russia is going to invade Israel or that there will be some kind of nuclear holocaust over on the plains near Megiddo, somehow causing giant hailstones to fall upon the people. If any of this is literal, we have some glaring inconsistencies. Notice -- if the great earthquake has shaken everything apart, the great city split into three parts, the cities of the nations fell, great Babylon was judged, every island fled away, none of the mountains could be found -- who or what could even be left for the hail to fall upon! We have all kinds of carnal-minded prophets of doom and gloom in the land today talking about hailstones as big around as beach-balls, Godzilla monsters walking down Main Street, giant insects invading the homes, hideous demons riding horses, scorpions as big as bulls crawling up out of the earth, and other foolishness too ridiculous to enumerate -- all of which they imagine is revealed in the book of Revelation! I often wonder how people who have received the Holy Spirit of God can fail to see that all these things are symbolic, they are metaphors representing great spiritual realities within our lives and in the experience of mankind. I really have to question whether a man has truly been filled with the Holy Spirit of Truth if he can listen to such literalistic trash, such carnal drivel, and never say, "Wait a minute -- there's something about this that doesn't add up -- how can that be the revelation of Jesus Christ!"
"Many years ago, while meditating upon this precious passage of scripture, the Spirit unfolded within my consciousness the significant truth that our catching up "into the air" can never be properly understood apart from the inspired words of the same apostle Paul wherein he states, "And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR, THE SPIRIT THAT NOW WORKETH IN THE CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE" (Eph. 2:1-2). There are several key words or terms that unlock the storehouse of spiritual truth contained in these verses. Consider -- PRINCE, POWER, AIR, SPIRIT, WORKETH, and IN. According to these plain statements of scripture there exists a "power of the air." This "power of the air" is identified as a "spirit," and this spirit is located "in" the children of disobedience, wherein he "works." Can we not see by this that the "prince of the power of the air" is not something or someone outside of us, but a spirit-power that operates right here WITHIN MAN. Furthermore, this spirit-power that works within man also emanates from man, exerting an influence throughout the atmosphere that surrounds the earth, giving motivation to the myriad activities and events that transpire in the world, which Paul calls "the course of this world" that men walk in under the control of this "power of the air." Thus it is called the "POWER of the AIR."
"The air is the realm of the firmament, or a dimension of heaven; therefore the air signifies the spiritual atmosphere, either positive or negative, where men walk. All realms of life have their "atmosphere" -- the air. If you go to a bar there is an atmosphere there. If you go to a brothel there is an atmosphere there. If you go to a rock concert there is an atmosphere there. If you go to a Baptist church service there is an atmosphere there. If you go to a Pentecostal church service there is an atmosphere there. The atmosphere at a Catholic mass is altogether different from the atmosphere at a Charismatic meeting. Every realm has its atmosphere! When you enter the presence of a son of God who knows the truth as it is in Jesus, who walks in the wisdom of the mind of Christ, who expresses the unconditional love of God, and dwells in the glory of God -- there is a clear, powerful, victorious, confident, peaceful, transforming atmosphere there!"
"Just think -- you have the unique potential to be a transmitter of the LIFE-GIVING ENERGY of God Almighty here upon this earth!"
"There is, of course, an individual and personal application as the Babylon within each of us is judged. The mighty earthquakes come to each individual as the Lord shakes each believer from the death-hold of the spirit of Babylon, to be loosed unto the complete control and Lordship of Jesus Christ through the indwelling Spirit. All the cities (the religious strongholds, dominating hierarchies, denominational headquarters) of the nations fall. They fall within the affections of each of us! They all fall before the greater revelation of Jesus Christ! Every island of religious gatherings flees away. Every mountain of religious achievement, fame, and power crumbles and are no more. The ultimate truth of God's great hail falls unrelentingly upon every thought, concept, doctrine, and tradition of man, crushing it into the earth. The spirit of Babylon is marked "finished" because the Lord, by His Spirit and His Word, puts down all rule, authority, and power! Isn't it wonderful!"
"When "the prince of the power of the air" is judged and cleansed from the realm of the "powers of the heavens," THAT POSITION IS NOT GOING TO GO UNFILLED. ANOTHER POWER MUST BE RAISED UP INTO THAT VACATED REALM OF DOMINION TO BECOME THE ENERGY FORCE THAT INFLUENCES, AFFECTS, IMPACTS, SWAYS, IMPELS, CHANGES, AND TRANSFORMS THE UNDERSTANDING, CONVICTIONS, DESIRES, AND ACTIONS FIRST OF ALL THE PEOPLE OF GOD, AND EVENTUALLY OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE WHOLE WORLD, GIVING DIRECTION AND MOTIVATION UNTO TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS!"
"Notice now the sublime message in the words of the prophet Isaiah wherein he says, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies…and your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand" (Isa. 28:16-18). I think that's a marvelous passage because what the inspired prophet is declaring is that the hail which He sends as judgment will REMOVE THE REFUGE OF LIES which is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell -- and it will do it through the tried stone, the precious corner stone -- the mighty Christ within our spirit! Christ is the word of God and He is the truth. The "great hail" is another symbol for the word of God and the truth. It is not the truth of God as the gentle rain of blessing, but the "hard word" of correction and judgment! If you pause to think, you will become fully aware that only HE can remove the refuge of lies beneath which the whole church world has been enshrouded! Who can deny that a vast amount of what the church systems teach about the nature of God, His purposes, the church, heaven, hell, eternity, sacraments, baptisms, the end-time, the great tribulation, the rapture, the millennium, the antichrist, free will, the judgment, and a hundred other things is just that -- a refuge of lies!"
"Water flows, and also it becomes sometimes hard as ice and hail. When it falls as hail it is not a blessing, as we think of blessing. When it falls as hail it always brings destruction, depending on its size, quantity, and duration. Hail is water, but it is frozen water, thus it bespeaks a hard word from the Lord! It is the word of God that strikes us and knocks the carnal-mindedness out of us! It is the word that rebukes, chastises, and corrects us! It gives us an attitude adjustment! It is not an easy word, not a flowery word, not a sweet, soothing word, but a word that devastates our field and beats down the carnal mindset, ways, and works that grow out of our earthly nature. What large hailstones of a "hard word" fall from the heavens of God's Spirit into our land as He smashes our religious idols and all the things we treasure more than His will and way! The "refuge of lies" speaks of all the false ideas, false concepts, false doctrines, and false ways of the Lord's people! "
"You can be a good Christian and embrace these false teachings and practices, but you'll never be a son! The dealing hand of God must come into our lives to thoroughly correct, purge and purify us from all the defilements of religion! Multitudes of believers want only the rain of God's word and God's spirit, only the blessings from above. To these the Lord says, "Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto sons, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every SON whom He receiveth. And if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement…then are ye bastards, and not sons" (Heb. 12:5-8). Oh, yes, the Father will give us His glory, His nature, His wisdom, authority, and power, and raise us up to judge the world and rule the nations with a rod of iron. But before He entrusts into our hands such awesome responsibilities He will put His finger on every aspect of our lives, He will bring training, discipline, order, and judgment to our house. He will send the hailstorms into our lives to beat down and destroy all the refuge of lies, all the falsehoods of the doctrines of men, all the foolishness of the religious systems, in which men take refuge, in which they trust for their blessing and eternal salvation."
"In the statement above I substituted the word falsehoods for lies because lies infer a deliberate, intentional, malicious deception. Very few preachers, teachers, and church systems deliberately intend to deceive God's people. They themselves are deceived and the message they proclaim is laced with falsehoods."
"Grasp it! A couple centuries ago we could not have understood as we do now how communication by sound and picture can be broadcast instantaneously THROUGH THE AIR. Wherever you are as you read these words, chances are there are myriad voices, pictures, and music IN THE AIR around you. A radio, television, or other electronic device tuned to the right wavelength would make them audible to you. You may not have realized it, but both spirit and soul in every man are a receiver and a transmitter. You may be tuned in on the wavelength of the Holy Spirit or you may tune in on the wavelength of the negative realm, the demonic, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Prophets are uniquely sensitive to the spirit realm of God, whereas "psychics" are often sensitive to the soulical realm of man. You don't hear anything with your natural ears because spirit and soul do not broadcast in audible words or sounds. Spirit broadcasts in thoughts, attitudes, impulses, and emotions. The flesh broadcasts in thoughts, attitudes, impulses, and emotions of lust, perversion, greed, vanity, jealousy, anger, envy, deceit, fear, competition, strife, hatred, rebellion, violence, bitterness, debate, etc. Here is the real cause of all the world's evils! Why do movements like communism, New Age religion, the hippy movement, the rock culture, the drug culture, casual sex and sexual permissiveness, and a hundred more movements contributing to the deception of masses of people and the moral breakdown of society, suddenly rise up and sweep across the earth within a few short years like a plague, permeating everywhere, changing the attitudes, outlook, societal character, and moral fabric of everyone, including the people in the churches? What is this? It is the work of SPIRIT -- invisible, intangible energy -- power! Invisible, but very real. And very powerful! There is constantly in this world a transference of spiritual energy from the invisible world into the visible. Ah, it is the
power of the air, the powerful spirit organization in earth's atmosphere, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience!"
"The ungodly movements of the world, be they social, entertainment, political, religious, educational, or otherwise, are the direct result of negative spirit influence transmitted to the masses through faithful ministers of unrighteousness who have become filled with the un-holy spirit, and consequently transmitters of the same, producing the supercharged atmosphere of sin and death. In this way Satan is indeed the "prince of the power of the air," meaning that he is the invisible ruler, which activity and authority he exercises in and through men -- "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience!"