The REAL Star Wars
It is far more astounding than any science-fiction fantasy—and it is absolute reality!

By Gerald Flurry
From the July 2015 Trumpet Print Edition

Most of you have heard about the science-fiction fantasy Star Wars movie series. But did you know that the Bible talks about a real star wars that is more astounding than any fiction? The real star wars have been going on for thousands of years, and whether you realize it or not, they are affecting your life.

The very last of these star wars is building now on Earth, and it will be a thousand times deadlier than any other. Yet it’s going to be the last one, forever.

This is not fantasy. This is reality. It is happening behind the scenes—but it is clearly depicted in your Bible if we do a little digging to see—and its end is imminent.
Stars in the Bible

The Bible uses stars as symbols for angels. Notice, for example, Revelation 1:20: “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches —.” These seven stars represent seven righteous angels.

There are also fallen stars. “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth —” (Revelation 12:3-4).

The Bible shows who this great red dragon is. God created him as an archangel and named him Lucifer (“light-bringer”). But he rebelled against his Creator and led a large faction of angels to actually war against God and literally attempt to overthrow Him (Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28).

What was the result? Long after this war, God sent His Son to Earth, and Christ Himself actually tells us about the decisive moment: “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Lucifer became Satan, and his angels became demons.

Notice the rest of Revelation 12:4: “[A]nd the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” Almost immediately after Christ was born, Satan inspired King Herod to kill all children 2 years old and younger in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:13-18).

This is important to understand: These star wars among spirit beings affect physical human beings on Earth! If we misunderstand or disbelieve that fact, we will be deceived, and will end up being victims.

Let’s go back in history to the beginning—the most destructive war among the stars ever, the war that started all of these wars.
The First Star Wars

God originally appointed Lucifer and one third of the angels to rule over Earth. It was God’s testing ground to prepare them to rule the universe. When Lucifer ruled Earth with God’s government, those angels under him were full of joy. It was a wonderful and happy place.

But then he and his angels rebelled. He became God’s bitter adversary. Satan and the demons failed dreadfully and disastrously. They disqualified themselves from ruling over the Earth and the universe.

That great star war between the fallen angels and the righteous angels of God devastated not only the face of the Earth but the planets, the galaxies, the entire universe!
After Satan led one third of the angels to rebel, what did they do to the Earth? “And the earth was [became] without form, and void —.” The Hebrew for “without form and void,” tohu and bohu, conveys chaos, confusion, waste and emptiness. “[A]nd darkness was upon the face of the deep [the destroyed surface of the Earth]. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).

Lucifer became bitter, and he filled the Earth with violence! That is what he’s all about: violence and bitterness. God changed Lucifer’s name from “light-bringer” to “the adversary,” or enemy of God—and that’s what he is to this day!

God created the universe. It was structured and beautiful. But what do you see today if you look out at the universe? Destruction, decay and bondage. Why? What happened between the time God created it, perfect, and now? It was destroyed in that same war!

That great star war between the fallen angels and the righteous angels of God devastated not only the face of the Earth but the planets, the galaxies, the entire universe! That is the destructive power of Satan. There was a great war out there, and even though the beings fighting in that war are invisible, you can see how destructive they were to physical things! They can destroy physical things, including physical human beings. They have great power, and the only way to combat that power and overcome it is to have God’s power.

The state of the universe shows you how real and how destructive the true star wars are. We are talking about the real war happening between the stars: the righteous stars and the fallen stars. This is the real star wars!

God recorded this war in many scriptures in your Bible, yet we hear very little about it. People don’t understand and don’t believe in these wars—and their effect on what is happening on Earth right now.
Sons of God Will Rule the Universe

“Because the [creation] itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:21-22). The whole universe is in “the bondage of corruption.” How did that happen? Why is the universe pictured here as groaning in travail and pain? Because of the decay and great devastation in the universe! All those desolate planets have been greatly damaged. God never creates anything unless it is very good (e.g. Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, etc.). That means something went terribly wrong with all these planets; we can see how much damage has been done to them. That is the result of Lucifer and the angels’ rebellion. They have awesome destructive power! Yet few people understand it.

At one time, Lucifer was a covering cherub for God. This powerful being was trained at the headquarters of the universe. But his rebellion led God to eliminate the potential that angels would rule the universe.

When God saw the destruction of the universe, He realized that He could not trust the angels to rule over it. The only one who can rule the universe is God. Only a God being could be trusted with such power. So He set in motion a plan even greater than the angelic plan. He decided to re-create Himself. He renewed the face of the Earth, and then created a new type of being: mankind.

Believe it or not, the truth of your Bible is that God’s magnificent purpose for human beings on Earth is to be fashioned after His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26)—and to actually enter His Family as God beings! That is what God is doing with mankind! That is His magnificent plan! I urge you to request from us a free copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s book The Incredible Human Potential, which explains this wonderful truth in detail straight from your Bible.

Romans 8 says “children of God” will be the ones to bring liberty and freedom—not just to their personal lives or their families, but to the Earth and the rest of the universe!

Romans 8 plainly tells us that God is preparing human beings to rule over the Earth and the universe. The children of God are going to bring liberty to the entire universe. Why don’t people talk about this more?

Now, if you look at human beings, it is obvious that we are not ready to rule the universe. We have become rebellious, sinful and destructive just like Satan. In fact, Satan and the demons still rule the Earth (2 Corinthians 4:4) and have massive influence over human beings (Ephesians 2:2).
Satan’s Power

If you want to really understand Satan’s power, look at Isaiah 14. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God —” (Isaiah 14:12-13). “Above the stars” means above all the angels—but he has even greater ambition than that.

Notice: “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” (verses 13-14). Here God records Lucifer’s thoughts as he prepared an attempt to depose God and steal His throne! That was Lucifer’s ambition! It was an insane attempt against the all-powerful Creator, but Satan was so full of self-will, vanity and bitterness, he actually tried it.

“Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell [the grave], to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the [one] that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms” (verses 15-16). This power actually shakes kingdoms and makes the Earth tremble! A lot of people on Earth tremble today because of this evil being and his fallen angels. These “stars” exert tremendous influence over men, because men absorb that same rebellious spirit.

The Emphasized Bible refers to Satan in verse 12 as “O, crusher of nations.” The American Standard Version says: “He didst laylow the nations!” The Jerusalem Bible uses the phrase “enslaved the nations.”

Your Bible says Satan and his demonic fallen stars have power over nations and human beings! That is why they cause so many problems and get involved in such wars. They have nothing but bitterness and wrath in their minds because of their rebellion against God. That’s the way it is when angels or humans rebel against God. We enter into a bitterness that’s almost like being addicted to heroin. You just can’t shake it, if you’re not very careful. It is extremely dangerous.

Daniel recorded how Satan even fought to prevent his prophetic book from being recorded in the first place. God had given the prophecy to Gabriel to deliver to Daniel. Gabriel is one of the three archangels mentioned in the Bible. The only others of this highest angelic rank are Michael—and, formerly, Lucifer. As Gabriel was delivering the book to Daniel, Satan the devil attacked.

In Daniel’s prophecy Gabriel is recorded as saying, “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days” (Daniel 10:13). That is Satan the devil; he is mentioned this way because he actually ruled over the world-girdling empire of Persia. Satan is the one that ruled it! Can you believe that? This is what happens in these great world-ruling empires; that’s why they are so evil and why they do such deadly, evil things.

Continuing in verse 13: “[A]nd behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia” (New King James Version). This prince of Persia was fighting against Gabriel, God’s archangel, so it is obviously referring to Satan the devil and his fallen angels. This was a great battle in the star wars of the Bible.

Satan is called the prince of the kingdom of Persia because he gets control of these great world-ruling empires. 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls him “the god of this world.” People worship him and they don’t worship God. Revelation 12:9 says Satan has deceived the whole world!

This is the real star wars! Satan has forceful rule and power over the rulers of the world. He empowers them to cause destruction. And very soon, according to the prophecies of the Bible, he is going to cause the greatest crisis ever on Earth. He is fighting against God. He knows that his time is short! (Revelation 12:12). Why is it short? Because Christ is about to return and kick him off his throne forever, and bring this world peace, joy and happiness that it should have had from the very beginning.
Spiritual Terrorism

Ezekiel 28 also talks about these star wars. “Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty” (verse 12). Here, God talks about the king of Tyrus and Satan the devil almost as one and the same, because Satan rules over kings!

He was “the anointed cherub” (verse 14) who helped God in His Work. But then he started a war! “[T]hou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more” (verse 19). God will put a stop to it, but Satan is a terror to this world! He is a terrorist—the supreme terrorist on Earth—and he rules over all terrorists! How many people understand that? Do you know why our nations can never win the war against terror? Because Satan empowers it. The only way we can overcome or conquer them is to have God’s power, which is far greater than any power Satan has. But we turn away from God today, so we have no spiritual power.

Daniel 8:10-12 talk about these stars: “some of the host and of the stars” were cast to the ground. That is, the very work of the angels of God was cast to the ground because 95 percent of God’s own people rebelled, and they transgressed. They left themselves without God’s power, and Satan just took over God’s Church. He not only takes over nations, he takes over God’s own Church if the people don’t obey Him. That is the kind of power Satan has. Yes, these star wars go on even inside God’s Church! These invisible beings—evil beings and God’s angels—are battling against or with God’s people. How effective those righteous angels are depends on how obedient the people are.
Join the Fight!

Though so few people believe it, this world needs this message. They need the message of God to understand why they are here, what is happening on Earth, and what it all means! People are in confusion and into all kinds of destructive things. But there is a great future ahead of us. We need to understand the real star wars—and what God and those righteous stars are fighting for! It’s about nothing less than our purpose for existing!

Romans 8 says God is preparing “children of God”—human beings—to rule the Earth and the universe. But to reach that stage in His master plan, God is taking several successive steps. Right now, God is not yet trying to make all human beings—or even all who consider themselves Christians—into “children of God”! He has actually chosen only a little flock today to come out of this world.

Are all the problems and disasters you see in our world what God wanted for mankind? No, but we have it because people rebel against God.
That tiny Church that Jesus Christ founded is preparing to marry Him and help Him bring liberty and freedom, joy and happiness to the Earth, and then to the universe.

Those who respond to this calling now, before Christ returns, are merely the firstfruits. God is going to use them as His Bride to rule with Him in the World Tomorrow from His headquarters—and open up salvation to all of mankind. They will have a remarkable, amazing reward for what they do today to get this message out to the world. They will help Christ lead His entire Family to rule over the Earth and then all the universe!

We get to bring liberty, real freedom, to the entire universe! No more suffering! No more star wars! No more pain! What could be more wonderful and exciting than that? The real star wars God has revealed are a campaign to eliminate all wars, all unhappiness, all pain, all suffering, all misery on Earth.

Look around! Are all the problems and disasters you see in our world what God wanted for mankind? No, but we have it because people rebel against God. People need to be taught to obey God and have all of the wonderful blessings He has for all of us!

Now, if you respond today, you get directly involved in those star wars, and you have God and His righteous angels helping you fight the destructive power of Satan and the fallen angels. That is how we prepare to rule with God.

I hope this real star wars becomes vivid in your mind so you can see what it is all about and see God’s master plan. The people of God are fighting in this evil world today, fighting ferociously, to win this battle for God. And we absolutely will win! We cannot lose if we are loyal to God!