The Systems of Spiritual Wickedness in High Places

REID WRITER'S GROUP

Sat, 26 Apr 2025

Spiritual Wickedness in High Places

Greek:
Pneumatika tēs ponērias en tois epouraniois (πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις)

Definition:
The highest-ranking demonic authorities strategically influencing spiritual atmospheres, heavenly realms, global leadership, world systems, and governing authorities.

Primary Role:

• Influence worldviews, spiritual climates, nations, and governing leadership.

• Initiate and sustain global-level spiritual deception, corruption, persecution, false teachings, apostasy, and systemic evil.

• Directly oppose the Kingdom of Heaven by obstructing believers from clearly discerning and following the Voice of God.

Seven Primary Systems of Spiritual Wickedness

Spawned systematically from humanity’s disobedience and agreement with false worth (value) offered deceptively by Satan, the "god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4):

1. Unbelief

• Nature:
  Refusal to trust God fully; a mindset that constantly doubts or questions His word, character, and promises.

• Satanic Argument:

  “Has God indeed said…?” (Genesis 3:1)
  Sowing perpetual seeds of doubt about God’s word, character, and intent.

• Impact:
  Persistent spiritual blindness, skepticism, inability to enter God’s rest (Hebrews 3:19).

2. A Proud Look

• Nature:
  Arrogance, self-sufficiency, and the elevation of human perspective above God’s wisdom.

• Satanic Argument:

  “For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…” (Exodus 20:5)
  Exploits human pride to rebel against divine sovereignty.

• Impact:
  Resistance to correction, revelation, and true repentance; rebellion against divine order and humility (Proverbs 16:18).

3. Delusion

• Nature:
  Spiritual deception, false belief systems, distorted perception of reality.

• Satanic Argument:

  “And for this reason God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false…” (2 Thessalonians 2:11)
  Exploits rejection of truth, causing believers to embrace destructive deception.

• Impact:
  Chronic spiritual confusion, vulnerability to false prophets, false doctrines, religious deception.

4. Despair

• Nature:
  Utter hopelessness and emotional/spiritual anguish, detachment from the hope of God’s promise.

• Satanic Argument:

  “Those who nurse infants in those days will mourn...” (Matthew 24:19, Luke 21:23)
  Amplifies despair in hardship, trials, loss, and crisis to challenge faith.

• Impact:
  Spiritual paralysis, emotional collapse, loss of vision and purpose, inability to trust God’s goodness and promises.

5. Pride of Life

• Nature:
  Obsession with worldly status, recognition, wealth, and accomplishments.

• Satanic Argument:

  “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity…” (Ecclesiastes 1:2), exemplified in the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32).
  Temptation to find identity and purpose apart from God, resulting in spiritual emptiness.

• Impact:
  Pursuit of meaningless achievements, resistance to surrendering fully to God’s plan, spiritual emptiness, and dissatisfaction.

6. Lust of the Flesh

• Nature:
  Uncontrolled cravings for sensual gratification, physical pleasure, and carnal indulgences.

• Satanic Argument:

  “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:15)
  Tempts believers into short-term satisfaction at the cost of spiritual vitality and eternal inheritance.

• Impact:
  Bondage to addictions, immorality, compromised spiritual discernment, weakening believers' ability to clearly hear God’s voice.

7. Lust of the Eyes

• Nature:
  Covetousness, envy, greed, and desire rooted in visual temptation.

• Satanic Argument:

  “All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:9)
  Offers false prosperity and worldly wealth in exchange for worship and allegiance.

• Impact:
  Idolatry of materialism, pursuit of wealth over God’s kingdom, entrapment in mammon-driven living, and compromised spiritual effectiveness.

Generational Iniquities and Spiritual Binding:

These seven spiritual wickedness systems produce generational bondages and spiritual blindness. They form cords that systematically entangle humanity, rendering many unable to discern clearly God’s purpose or receive His grace freely. Humanity becomes bound together in spiritual blindness, perpetuating cycles of sin, ignorance, and rebellion.

• 2 Corinthians 4:4 (ESV):

  “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers...”

Spiritual Wickedness’ Primary Arguments:

At the core of their spiritual strategy, these forces produce arguments directly challenging the grace and authority of God:

Divine Solution and Spiritual Victory:

The power to systematically dismantle these wicked spiritual cords is found through:

1. Blood of Jesus Christ:

• Breaks generational curses, destroys spiritual blindness, provides total atonement and freedom.

• Scripture:

  "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb…" (Revelation 12:11)

2. Testimony of the Holy Spirit:

• Counters deception, fear, and unbelief through divine truth and clarity.

• Scripture:

  "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Revelation 19:10)

3. Rope of Hope (Hebrew "Tiqvah," תִּקְוָה):

• Tiqvah means "hope," literally a rope or lifeline, binding believers securely to God's promises.

• Scripture:

  "Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope…" (Zechariah 9:12)

Practical Spiritual Response (Strategic Warfare):

• Regularly declare victory over the seven spiritual wickedness systems.

• Apply the Blood of Jesus Christ and engage actively with the Holy Spirit’s testimony through prayer and prophecy.

• Engage in repentance and renewal, severing generational bondages and cords of iniquity.

• Proclaim the Rope of Hope (Tiqvah), binding believers to divine promises, spiritual clarity, and overcoming power.

Conclusion:

Understanding and clearly identifying the seven strategic systems of spiritual wickedness allows believers to specifically and effectively pray, dismantle, and permanently break these strongholds. Through Christ’s Blood, the Holy Spirit’s testimony, and the unbreakable Rope of Hope, believers overcome spiritual wickedness, restoring clear spiritual discernment and effectively positioning themselves to faithfully hear, respond, and fulfill God’s divine purpose and mandate. 

Each system unfolds spiritually like a tree: a root in the heart’s orientation, a branch in how it manifests in hearing or response, a fruit in its tangible consequences, and a cycle in the repeating pattern that ensnares believers—until broken by Christ’s blood, the Spirit’s testimony, and the Rope of Hope.

1. Proud Look

Nature: Self-Exaltation

• Root: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Bible Gateway

• Branch: “A scorner has no love for one who rebukes him; neither will he go to the wise [for counsel].” (Prov. 15:12 AMPC) YouVersion | The Bible App | Bible.com

• Fruit: “When swelling and pride come, then emptiness and shame come also, but with the humble are godly Wisdom and soundness.” (Prov. 11:2 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Cycle: “A haughty look and arrogant heart will incur a fall”—pride leads repeatedly to disgrace and downfall. Bible Gateway

2. Delusion

Nature: Spiritual Deception

• Root: “Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false.” (2 Thess. 2:11 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Branch: “by all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it.” (2 Thess. 2:10 AMPC) YouVersion | The Bible App | Bible.com

• Fruit: “In order that all may be judged and condemned who did not believe in the Truth, but instead took pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thess. 2:12 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Cycle: Rejection of truth breeds deeper delusion—“they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it,” perpetuating bondage. Bible Gateway

3. Despair

Nature: Utter Hopelessness

• Root: “Alas for those who have babies which they are nursing in those days! For great misery and anguish and distress shall be upon the land…” (Luke 21:23 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Branch: “For then there will be great tribulation… such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now—no, and never will be again.” (Matt. 24:21 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Fruit: “In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo.” (Zech. 12:11 AMPC) YouVersion | The Bible App | Bible.com

• Cycle: “Why are you cast down, O my inner self?… Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him.” (Ps. 42:5 AMPC)—a loop of despair and faint hope. Bible Gateway

4. Pride of Life

Nature: Worldly Assurance

• Root: “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life—these do not come from the Father but are from the world.” (1 John 2:16 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Branch: “Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness… for a man’s life does not consist in possessing overflowing abundance.” (Luke 12:15 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Fruit: “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with gain. This also is vanity.” (Eccl. 5:10 AMPC) YouVersion | The Bible App | Bible.com

• Cycle: “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” (Eccl. 1:18 AMPC)—a ceaseless pursuit ending in emptiness. Bible Gateway

5. Lust of the Flesh

Nature: Carnal Cravings

• Root: “But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions).” (James 1:14 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Branch: “Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.” (James 1:15 AMPC) YouVersion | The Bible App | Bible.com

• Fruit: “Sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.” (James 1:15 AMPC) YouVersion | The Bible App | Bible.com

• Cycle: “For I do not understand my own actions…I do the very thing that I hate.” (Rom. 7:15 AMPC)—the inner struggle repeats in bondage. Bible Gateway

6. Lust of the Eyes

Nature: Covetous Longing

• Root: “For all that is in the world…the lust of the eyes…these do not come from the Father but are from the world.” (1 John 2:16 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Branch: “But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:28 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Fruit: “So kill the evil desire lurking in your members… all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry.” (Col. 3:5 AMPC) Bible Gateway

• Cycle: The eye’s craving leads to inner idolatry, repeated until one rids self of these lusts. “So kill… covetousness” (Col. 3:5 AMPC). Bible Gateway

By clearly identifying each system’s root, branch, fruit, and cycle, believers can target their prayers and declarations more specifically—breaking off generational cords of pride, delusion, despair, and lust, and embracing the freedom bought by the Blood of the Lamb, guided by the Spirit’s testimony and secured by the Rope of Hope.