Bad government does not originate in the human realm of things. The real architects of this madness hides behind the scenes. What we see are mere human puppets. The puppet masters of world governments are unseen to human eyes.
Writing about the Christians’ fight for the faith, the apostle Paul clearly identified their worst enemies. “We have a wrestling,” he candidly said, “not against blood and flesh, but against the governments, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) Thus, this fight goes beyond the human sphere, since it is carried out, “not against blood and flesh,” but against “wicked spirit forces.”
According to most modern Bible translations, “the wicked spirit forces” here refer, not to an abstract principle of evil, but to powerful wicked spirit persons. Some versions offer such renderings as “the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Revised Standard Version), “the spiritual army of evil in the heavens” (The Jerusalem Bible), and “the superhuman forces of evil in the heavens” (The New English Bible). Thus, the Devil has been exercising his power through other rebel angels who forsook “their own proper dwelling place” in heaven.—Jude 6.
The prophetic Bible book of Daniel discloses how these “world rulers” have been exerting control over the world since ancient times. Deeply concerned about fellow Jews who in 537 B.C.E. had returned to Jerusalem from their Babylonian exile, the prophet Daniel prayed in their behalf for three weeks. An angel, sent by God to reassure the prophet, told him why his arrival had been delayed. He said: “The prince of the royal realm of Persia was standing in opposition to me for twenty-one days.”—Daniel 10:2, 13.
Who was this ‘prince of Persia’? The angel was obviously not referring to Persian King Cyrus, who at that time looked with favor upon Daniel and his people. Moreover, how could a mere human king resist a spirit creature for three weeks when it took one angel only one night to destroy 185,000 mighty warriors? (Isaiah 37:36) This hostile ‘prince of Persia’ could only be an agent of the Devil, that is, a demon who was given control over the realm of the Persian Empire. Later in the account, God’s angel stated that he would once again have to fight against “the prince of Persia” and another demon prince, “the prince of Greece.”—Daniel 10:20.
What can we conclude from this? Simply that there really are invisible “world rulers,” demon princes who share control of the world under the authority of their chief, Satan the Devil. Yes, bad government has an invisble ruler.
