By Nathaniel Burson
October 25,2024
As yet another installment in what seems at times to be a bottomless source of revelations, it’s time to talk about yet another application of the seven spirits of God. If what I’ve said in the previous articles is all (or even mostly) correct, then right now there are seven angels running the Earth, under God’s direction. Just as there have been seven eras with a different one of the angels having the upper hand in guiding the Earth as the centuries ticked by, so also at each time in history there have always been seven major divisions of mankind.
Seven socio-political divisions, lines of race, trade, geography and so on that allows us to see that at any time in history there have always been seven major divisions and seven angels running seven angelic “kingdoms”.
As my previous article “Seven Angels, Two Righteous” laid out, we know only three of the seven by name because in God’s eyes, there are only three angels; Michael and Gabriel, the two righteous ones, and Satan and those who follow him – the other nameless four. But although these five angels have rebelled against God, since their trial is not finished yet – since they have been “reserved unto judgment” – they still hold office in the world.
Hard as it is for us to picture, Satan still goes back and forth to heaven – at least, he did at the time of Job – and he still has civil conversations with God, and rebels only within certain limits – he could not, or dared not, penetrate the hedge God had placed around Job without God’s express permission.
I say this because we have picked up a picture from our religions, our movies, the books written by Dante and Milton and Ellen G. White that show us a relationship between God and the Devil that is a constant battle to the death against each other with the prize being men’s souls. And what few interactions we have in the Bible between God and Satan don’t seem to be like that at all.
Yes, they are enemies; Yes, Satan sinned; Yes, he is the devil. But Jude directly implies that Satan is a “dignity” and one having authority, and worthy of respect:
Jude 1:8 (BBE) In the same way these dreamers make the flesh unclean, having no respect for authorities, and say evil of rulers.
Jude 1:9 (KJV) Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
I’m going through this again because I am about to make a case for the idea that there are seven angels ruling seven regions of Earth at this moment, and that five of those angels are rebellious, and that all of them are on speaking terms with God and are placed in authority by God, an authority which is recognized even by the chief righteous angel, Michael… and I realize that it is a drastic change from what everyone, including myself, has always believed. But if you rely on the few examples we have of God interacting one-on-one with evil angels – the only facts we have on the subject – it’s the only conclusion that makes sense.
So as I was saying, if what I’ve said in these other installments is correct, then the conclusion is inescapable that right now there are seven divisions of Earth ruled by seven different angels. So this article will be an attempt to tie the seven obvious divisions to the seven church eras, and then on to at least the three angels to whom we have been introduced.
PHILADELPHIA
To start with the easiest one, I’ve connected Michael as “the great prince which standeth for the children of thy [Daniel’s] people” (Daniel 12:1) to Israel. We know that northwestern Europe, South Africa, Australia, and the US and Canada are all descended from the tribes of Israel, so that would mean that Michael administers all those nations today.
It is difficult to speak objectively about one’s own people, but I think I can say with little fear of contradiction that there has never been a nation like the United States; there never has been a country on Earth with liberty and justice that is as well set up as the our country was, except ancient Israel; but all of the modern nations I mentioned have shared in that same liberty;
All of the democratic peoples of Northwestern Europe and North America and their colonies have produced a government based on the principles of justice and equality, and when those principles are practiced by a people, they produce trust; and when trust is produced love is not far behind; and there has never been a people with more brotherly love for one another than this country and the others in northwestern Europe had.
Note I said “had”, for we’ve thrown most of that away, and with it the love that it brought. But nonetheless this identifies us (the descendants of Israel) as Philadelphia, the “city of brotherly love”, who we already established was ruled by Michael whose name means “He who is like God”, and the most obvious meaning of that would be to connect it to God’s most fundamental nature – “God is Love”.
Interestingly, and almost certainly not coincidentally, the USA was founded at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And it was first seriously settled, depending on how you count, sometime in the 1600s – at the time that the Philadelphia angel took over (See my article on the “Simple Truth About Church Eras”).
Also, Michael is THE archangel; archangel meaning “Top Angel”, and is the chief of God’s host based on that and Revelation 12:7, so it makes sense that the chief righteous angel should govern the family of nations who have always been the most important to God. So then our conclusion is:
Michael = “He who is Like God” = Modern Israelite Nations = Philadelphia = Love
EPHESUS
The next easiest one is Gabriel. In his own words, “Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him” (Daniel 11:1). This tells us that, as of 500B.C., Gabriel was in charge of the Medes. We also know that a separate prince, the “Prince of Persia” was in charge of Persia. So even though these were allied kingdoms we know they were ruled by separate angels from opposite sides of the rebellion!
Think about that. The prince of Persia prevented Gabriel, apparently the “Prince of Media” from delivering a message to Daniel for 21 days; Michael stayed behind and fought the prince of Persia while Gabriel delivered his message. And yet in history, the Medes and the Persians were allies at that time!
Although to be fair, the Medes and the Persians never really got along all that well. Anyway, as history played out both nations were conquered by Greece and the Median nations became the Seleucid Kingdom. This lasted until Rome took over, then came under the rule of the Byzantine empire when the Roman empire was divided, and then fell under control of the Muslim nations and has been that way ever since.
So on the basis of that history, if Gabriel is still leading the same people as he was 2500 years ago, then it would be logical to expect the modern Arab world to be the specific charge of Gabriel. But I have three other reasons to believe this idea.
First, Gabriel means “Warrior of God”. The whole point of having angelic rulership over a church, or a nation, is that the nations or churches reflect the attitudes of that angel. So we would expect to find the people Gabriel rules over to be “warriors of God”
No people on the planet are more zealous – to the point of terrorism and all but constant violence against non-believers – for their God than Muslims. Granted, their concept of God is not the God of the Bible as we have it, but they do have a good chunk of truth and what they do have, they believe, enforce, and defend viciously.
Second, Muslims trace their roots through Ishmael to Abraham; and believe that Ishmael, not Isaac, was the “good guy”. As my last article shows (“seven angels, two righteous”), when God visited Abraham, two angels went with Him (Genesis 18-19). But when young Ishmael was dying, ONE angel dealt with Him. (Genesis 21:17). On the other hand, Isaac/Israel seems to have had only one angel in charge:
Exodus 23:20-21 Behold, I send AN Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of HIM, and obey HIS voice, provoke HIM not; for HE will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.
Note that this ONE angel is in charge of ruling and pardoning – or not – the transgressions of Israel. And so if the theory I’m outlining is correct, then we would expect to find both angels working with Abraham – as the father of both nations – and then split as the new nations, in Isaac and Ishmael, were born; Michael to lead Isaac’s family, and Gabriel to guide Ishmael’s. So it would be logical that Gabriel’s nations remember their heritage through Ishmael, and remember him as the good guy.
Third, of the major segments of the Earth, there are two groups of people who are most righteous towards God. The enforcing of the commandments, the general righteousness of the people, and so on. The Northwestern European races, and the Muslims. All other groups – Asians, Africans, etc all follow complete paganism. So then, it’s logical to expect those people led by the two righteous angels to reflect the two most righteous attitudes on Earth. So that gives us:
Gabriel = “Warrior for God” = Muslim/Arab world = Ephesus = Zeal
Of course, the notable exception I would expect many to raise is the countries governed or directly influenced by the Catholic Church. And that leads us directly to the third angel.
LAODICEA
The Latin countries – that is, those countries directly influenced by Rome – all have much in common. From Mexico to Argentina and Italy to Spain, what Rome says directly controls what happens in all these countries, and has since they were founded. Now outwardly it might appear that they are somewhat righteous – but they are not. I don’t mean the people as individuals, for there are good and bad in every group, but the nations and the religion as a whole are not righteous.
The Catholic church is the great whore. It is the source of the most deceptive religion on the planet. They deliberately pretend to be God’s people, while consciously changing and denying most of what God said. They changed the Sabbath, the passover, added Christmas and Lent and infant baptism and sprinkling and indulgences and hell and image worship and the inquisition and nuns and celibate clergy and… the list would fill pages. Not to mention literally changing the ten commandments. So while they may appear righteous from some angles, in fact the Muslims are a much more righteous people than they.
The Catholic church is the archenemy of God; considerably more evil than the Buddhists, for Catholicism consciously changed the word of God, and put itself in God’s place as the Vicar of Christ; Buddhism is simply wrong, Catholicism is evil.
Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
This (as my audience surely knows) is speaking of the Pope; changing the laws, times, speaking great words against the most High; it is clear God does not think fondly of the Great Whore.
Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
To be blunt, and so as not to waste time on a subject we all know, the Catholic Church serves Satan the Devil. And all the Latin countries serve the Catholic Church. So connecting Satan as the leader of the Catholic countries is not hard. And my prior installments of this series have shown that Satan is still one of the seven angels, ruling somewhere; and it is certain that Catholicism is the sworn enemy of true Christianity. Far more so than the Japanese or Hindu. How many true Christians have those countries martyred, compared to the Inquisition?
But here, too, there is another and separate line of reasoning. A “little horn” just as in Daniel 7, above, is here used to picture Rome, and by extension the Pope:
Daniel 7:10-11 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
Only the Pope has magnified himself to the level of God; the Pope and Satan, that is. Laodicea’s hallmark is pride; saying they are “rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing”, and are so good in their eyes that God “stands at the door and knocks”, for He is not good enough to be allowed in their churches. Pride means, in effect, that you believe you are as good as God, if not better:
Isaiah 65:2-5 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face … Which say, [to God!] Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
Only the Catholics have openly and blatantly said that THEY are God on Earth; that they speak for God, and have the authority to change anything they wish to change. And only Satan has had the nerve, as an angel, to do the same thing. God said to him:
Ezekiel 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: …
Which is a Laodicean attitude if ever there was one. Also, Satan is a title, meaning “Adversary”. His God-given name was “Hillel” (translated as “Lucifer”), meaning “pride, brightness, glory”. Which again connects not only to Laodicea, but to Rome as well. So then, the conclusion can only be:
Lucifer/Satan/Hillel = “Pride” = Rome/Latin countries = Laodicea = Pride
THE OTHER FOUR ANGELS
So that explains the three angels who are named. We have four angels remaining; to guide us about their natures, we have only the things said to the seven church eras. But when you truly understand those attitudes, they break down into a single word for each era, as follows:
- Laodicea = Pride
- Philadelphia = Love
- Sardis = Compromised
- Thyatira = Patient
- Pergamos = Deceived
- Smyrna = Persecuted
- Ephesus = Zealous
And so can we find these divisions in the world, without getting too speculative? I think we can. I already divided up the world into seven divisions which are pretty well obvious – granted, a few gray areas when it comes to borders, such as around India and Germany are not clear, but in general it can’t be denied that there are about seven socio-political-racial divisions on Earth.
Let us start with one of the easiest divisions:
SARDIS
Sardis was the church era covering about 1450 to 1611; God said that “you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead”. The main characteristic of this era was compromise. It was the time of the protestant reformation, and while a lot of progress was made in departing from the Catholic church, most of the reformers wouldn’t make a clean break; they wouldn’t keep the Sabbath, for instance, even though a few did make a stink of it and the Catholic church used that to show that the reformers never really left the authority of the Catholic church.
So fundamentally, they protested – but not enough. They left the Catholic church a little bit, and firmly and arbitrarily drew a line upon her authority over them, but they didn’t serve God either. Which is exactly like what the Greek Orthodox Church did. Most of Eastern Europe from Greece to the Ural mountains is Greek Orthodox, or some close variation of it.
Those people always wind up together – the Soviet Union for instance. The “Eastern Bloc”. And the Greek Orthodox church “protested” against Rome in her own way, denied the authority of the pope and did retain some true doctrines longer than Rome – but fundamentally, compromised with Rome and kept most of what made Rome pagan; idolatry, pageantry, and so on.
And so the conclusion is that Orthodoxy and Eastern Europe in General is Sardis; an angel that is on the side of the Rebellion, but who has his own nations to run independent of Satan. An angel that is very much like Satan, but with enough difference to be unique. This is why God didn’t like Sardis at all – one of the worst reviews of all the churches, second to Laodicea.
THYATIRA
Next we have the long church era – Thyatira. This was the period of the middle ages, running roughly from 556 to 1450. Almost 1,000 years. This was marked by a period of long, slow, hanging on; hiding from the Catholic church in the mountains, memorizing the Bible to keep it from being lost, and patiently just surviving.
God specifically compliments this church on their patience (Revelation 2:19). At the same time, Europe as a whole was going through the dark ages; when most of the castles were built, when knights and lords and kings ruled the lands, when the feudal system flourished more than any time in history. And there is only one place on Earth that fits these criteria: the Oriental nations.
Chinese are the most patient people on Earth. They paint scenes inside tiny bottles; take years to finish a single intricate carving; things that would drive the western mind mad. But more importantly, the Chinese feudal system is very much like the feudal system of the middle ages.
Like in the middle ages in Europe, the Chinese have traditionally treated women as property; similarly, there was a system of warlords, of knights, and of paupers, just as in Europe. And interestingly, this is one of the best times in Chinese history in terms of inventions and economic prosperity.
What we’re seeing is a pattern whereby the angel that governs one of these seven sections of Earth is temporarily promoted to lead angel in charge of the Earth, where he then – of course – projects his nature, usually confined to one block of nations, over the actions of mankind as a whole.
So we would expect to find the attitudes of China portrayed in general throughout the world when the Oriental/Thyatiran angel is in charge – which is exactly what we find. No time in European history has been more like the Chinese in terms of economic structure, patience or social layering than the middle ages, under the Thyatiran angel.
PERGAMOS
Pergamos was a deceived church. The fledgling Catholic Church had, after the horrible persecution under Diocletian, decided to embrace Christianity under Constantine and now was deceiving them with false doctrine rather than simply killing them. So it was a deceived church; a gullible church. One which was easily swayed from truth.
No race in history has been more used, more abused, lied to more often or more successfully than black Africa. They were carted off for slaves in the Caribbean and North America and around the world by the hundreds of thousands. They were kept in slavery by deception and oppression – just as the same tools were used against the Pergamos Era, who were enslaved to the precursor of the Catholic Church.
And, with the possible exception of the Irish, no group on Earth is more superstitious; all voodoo started in Africa. Most of the spiritist movement started with the blacks, and the Pentecostal movement all started in black churches. They tend to be more frightened of the supernatural than other races, and generally are more gullible;
I don’t mean this in a bad way, as the black race does have qualities the white doesn’t; a gift for rhythm for instance, and a joie de vivre that the other races envy; but from this standpoint, it can’t be denied that they are as a people more deceivable than most others. And so they are identified with Pergamos.
SMYRNA
And that leaves only Smyrna to be discussed. This connection is the weakest, but it is the only remaining block and the only remaining era, and the others seem strong enough to lend credence to this one. Smyrna was a persecuted church; their enemy was the sword. They had a very rough life, probably harder than any other church of any era. They had no power in a gigantic nation who was dead-set on eliminating them.
The area we have left is what is, or has been, run by the mongols. The history of the mongols is unknown to most people, but they have always been a hard race; living in tough conditions, always moving with the herds, nomadic peoples with “no certain dwelling place”. They lived mostly in Mongolia and eastern Russia until late in the middle ages when they began spreading like wildfire across China, Asia, Russia, and even as far as to take over Jerusalem at one point during the crusades.
Genghis Khan is their most famous ruler, who led the conquering of China, central Asia with most of the modern “’stans”, and most of Russia. His grandson, Kublai Khan, was the emperor of China when Marco Polo visited. Over the centuries from 1000-1500 A.D., they won and lost various areas, but at times they pushed as far as Kiev and Jerusalem and even tried to take Japan.
They managed to keep a stronghold in the ‘stans and northern India until the arrival of the British in the 1800s. Today they are primarily distributed from the ‘stans to Mongolia and most of Siberia. They have been a very persecuted people; they live in some of the harshest climates, and have been regularly persecuted by the Chinese, both Czarist and Communist Russia, British, Arabs, Turks and most everyone they have came in contact with; and for the most part, they still are today.
And so that gives us a rough outline of who the nations of the world are today – as God sees them – what the angels who run those nations are like, which should help understand the prophecies about those people and what their part of the plan of God is.