Forty years ago today, a spiritual event of the first magnitude took place. Satan the devil attacked the very throne of the Almighty God seeking to overthrow his Creator, only to be defeated and cast down to Earth: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9).
“Satan was cast down at a specific time,” writes Gerald Flurry in America Under Attack. “When did this occur? As improbable as it may sound, an overwhelming amount of evidence shows that this prophecy was fulfilled at a definite time in recent history.”
The overwhelming evidence is that this event took place on the same day that Herbert W. Armstrong died, Jan. 16, 1986. Forty years ago today.
How do we know this?
Verse 13 reveals Satan’s first target: “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.” The woman in this passage, described in more detail in verses 1-2, symbolizes the Church of God.
Revelation 12 is an end-time prophecy just like Matthew 24, where we find a clue about the activity of God’s Church just before the return of Jesus Christ. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (verse 14). This shows that the gospel ceased to be proclaimed shortly after Christ sent His 12 disciples into the world until this end time. Indeed, Paul warned in Galatians 1:6-7 that even many within God’s Church accepted a false gospel.
As Mr. Armstrong proved in The Incredible Human Potential, the gospel was not proclaimed until his ministry, when he prepared the way for Christ’s return. As an end-time type of the Prophet Elijah, Mr. Armstrong preached the gospel around the world and exposed Satan. His ministry was a sign that Christ is about to return: Mr. Armstrong’s life was a pivot point in human history, and so was his death.
After Mr. Armstrong’s death, Satan attacked God’s Church. The leadership that took over the Worldwide Church of God stopped proclaiming God’s message and eradicated the truth he restored to the Church (Matthew 17:11). Malachi’s Messageproves this truth in detail.
But we can also see the effects of Satan being cast down in world events.
“Here again we see just what a decisive pivot point in world history is Jan. 16, 1986! The world entered a profoundly different time!” writes Mr. Flurry in January 16: God’s Miracle Day. “We must be aware of the scale of spiritual warfare that occurred on that date, and that has been taking place ever since! From that point, Satan and his evil minions were confined to Earth! This has brought a whole new level of suffering to this world. Satan was already being worshiped on Earth, but now it is even worse. He is cast down and full of wrath. He and his army are a spiritual force of tremendous evil and destructive power. We must be able to recognize their malevolent influence!”
Satan the devil, the author of all evil and spiritual wickedness, was cast down, and ever since, he and his demons have been confined to Earth. He knows he has only a short time before he is deposed from his throne by Jesus Christ Himself! (Revelation 12:12).
The world changed dramatically but gradually during Mr. Armstrong’s life; after his death, all those destructive trends intensified. Satan is wrathful because his reign on Earth is coming rapidly to an end! Jesus Christ is about to return to put Satan in chains and, eventually, outer darkness forever! “He has nothing to lose,” continues Mr. Flurry. “Since that gigantic turning point when Satan was cast down, the devil’s time has grown shorter and shorter, his anger has gotten worse and worse, and his power and wicked influence have grown far stronger. This Earth has never experienced the full wrath of Satan until this end time.”
Why so much turmoil in Iran and Latin America? Why wars in Israel, Ukraine and Africa? Why so much anti-Semitism and violence against Jews? Why so many drugs and so much strife on America’s streets? Why so many attempted and successful assassinations in America?
It is because of 40 years of Satan being cast down.
40 Years of Wrath
Ever since Jan. 16, 1986, Satan’s wrath has intensified, and that is reflected in world events.
After attacking God’s Church, Satan attacked the world’s number one superpower: America. Here are just a few examples:
- Earthquakes: Of the top 10 costliest earthquakes in California’s history, all but one occurred after 1986.
- Family breakdown: From 1986 to 2024, households with married couples dropped from 57.6 percent to 47.1 percent. From 1990 to 2016, births in the U.S. outside of marriage rose from 28 percent to 40 percent.
- Illegal immigration: The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants and liberalized America’s immigration laws.
- Lawlessness: At the confirmation hearings of Robert Bork in 1987, the “shocking, dishonest vilification of a man who was obviously qualified and greatly respected” marked a new era of lawlessness and an attack on the Constitution (America Under Attack). The radical left saw a dramatic rise in power, including two terms of Barack Obama and one of Joe Biden
- Race relations: Starting with the Los Angeles riots of 1992, racial turmoil has plagued America, including the “summer of love” in 2020.
- Sodom and Gomorrah lifestyles: In 2012, the first time Gallup polled the question, 3.5 percent of the U.S. identified as LGBT. A decade later, it was 7.2 percent. In 2020, 19.7 percent of Gen Z identified as LGBT, along with 11.2 percent of millennials. Thousands of teenagers receive body-mutilating surgery called “gender-affirming care” to try to change their gender.
- Violent video games: This highly addictive media has skyrocketed in realism, immorality, widespread use and addiction in the last 40 years. It has been particularly devastating to men.
- Drug use: “In 1986, drug cartels opened up new drug ‘pipelines’ between Colombia’s cocaine fields and America’s inner cities. Cocaine-related hospital emergencies rose 110 percent” (ibid). In 1992, the U.S. had 900,000 daily cannabis users. By 2022, it was 17.7 million. In 1985, one third of Americans had tried marijuana at some point; by 2024, it was nearly half. Today, 217 Americans die every day of opioid overdose—more than 105,000 people a year. Since 1999, 1.25 million Americans have died from opioids. Such use opens the door for demonic activity.
- Mental illness: Between 1987 and 2000, mental illness was ranked among the top five conditions accounting for rising health-care costs. In December 1987, the U.S. government approved fluoxetine for medical use, and pharmaceutical companies began marketing drugs like Prozac to “cure” depression.
- Occultism: “Satanic-related fashions became more and more popular, as did outright occultism and even satanic ritual abuse. Many religious people have suspected that something dramatic changed in the 1980s” (ibid).
- Mass shootings: They went from being fewer than five per year in the U.S. until about 1988, when they rose to more than 40 per year today. These are signs of dangerous demonic influence.
Beyond what has happened in America, consider how the world has changed since 1986. Here is a very brief list: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of militarized Germany; the collapse of the Soviet Union; the rise of radical Islam in the Middle East, 9/11 and other terrorist attacks in the West; the rise of China threatening U.S. dominance; Russia’s war on Ukraine; Oct. 7, 2023—the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.
This is not a golden age of peace but an age of war. Satan’s wrath will culminate in a nuclear World War III! This is spiritual reality.
40 Years of Hope
Most Christians and Americans are ignorant about Satan and these Bible truths. That is because the land is filled with false ministers of Christ, as Mr. Armstrong wrote in Mystery of the Ages: “Because, as the prophet continues to explain, we have too much ‘witchcraft’ and too many ‘soothsayers’ (astrology) and false ministers in our lands who refuse to preach with authority the commandments and ways of the living God!”
The message from God’s Church is different: “We discuss Satan in detail,” writes Mr. Flurry in Overcoming Satan. “Only the Philadelphia Church of God understands Satan today. Only we reveal Satan to the Laodiceans and the world. … God’s Church understands what Satan is planning and doing, and we expose it to all who will heed.”
The first target of Satan’s wrath in 1986 was the wcg. Its leaders were spiritual traitors inspired by the devil to destroy the one message on Earth that exposed him.
After Satan destroyed the Church Mr. Armstrong built, Mr. Flurry fought for the truths restored to God’s Church, continuing to trumpet a warning message. For 36 years, God has been broadcasting a message of hope through the ministry of Gerald Flurry.
This period of Satan’s wrath will be followed by the greatest event in the universe, the return of Jesus Christ! The destroyer will be replaced with the Prince of Peace. Satan will be locked up in chains (Revelation 20:1-3) and God’s government will be restored. “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:7).
Satan has been cast down to this Earth, but we can overcome him as Christ did. We must understand the spiritual reality of this world and God’s soon-coming solution!
Read our free booklets Overcoming Satan and January 16: God’s Miracle Day.