Uncovering the throne of Satan, Pt 2

Left to right: Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler. Were they influenced by the throne of Satan?

In my earlier post, I discussed a passage in Revelation 2:12-13, that speaks of a specific place where Satan lived at that time in history — Pergamum (also written Pergamon).

And to the angel of the church of Pergamum write: I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is and you hold fast My name and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where satan dwells (Revelation 2:12-13 NASV)

The city was not only the dwelling place of Satan, but Satan’s throne was located there as well. At the time the Apostle John wrote Revelation, the city was home to a massive altar dedicated to Zeus. Some have suggested the Pergamum altar was in fact the throne of Satan referred to in Revelation. This altar simply manifested a spiritual reality — Pergamum was Satan’s capital.

It is not a coincidence that in the natural realm Pergamum was also the capital of Asia. Satan’s presence in this key city gave him an opportunity to influence the political process.

After Christianity came into dominance in the Roman Empire, the altar fell into disrepair. The temple was turned into a fortress and partly destroyed during many battles. The altar gradually disappeared covered by debris and dirt.

The throne of Satan uncovered

In 1878, German archaeologists uncovered the largely intact altar of Satan. In 1901, they dismantled it and transferred the altar to a museum on Berlin’s Museum Island — renamed Pergamon Museum in honor of its most famous relic.

Was this move significant?

Thirteen years after its arrival, World War I started with the Germans on the Axis side. It is estimated 16 million people were killed during this war.

Then in 1939, Germany under Adolf Hitler initiated World War II where over 60 million people were killed including 6 million Jews in concentration camps. To this point, it is considered the deadliest conflict in human history. One of the goals of Hitler — with his Axis allies Japan and Italy — was world domination.

This is similarly one of the goals of the end times Antichrist — political control of the earth. The Apostle John speaking of the Anti Christ says:

It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. (Revelation 13:7 NASV)

Was there a demonic influence behind Hitler and these two wars?

Neil Kressel in his book, Mass Hate: The Global Rise Of Genocide And Terror, said this about Hitler:

“Overwhelmingly … Germans speak with mystification of Hitler’s ‘hypnotic’ appeal. The word shows up again and again; Hitler is said to have mesmerized the nation, captured them in a trance from which they could not break loose”

In 1 John 2:8, the Apostle John warns there will be many antichrists, but only one will be the true Antichrist mentioned in Revelation. Hitler was not the Anti Christ, but I do believe he was part of Satan’s attempt to set up the Antichrist reign before its time (Daniel 7:25).

But God stopped him.

Pergamum altar transferred to the Soviet Union

After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union — who had captured Berlin — took the altar as a spoils of war. In 1945, they transferred it to the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad.

For most of the time it was there, the country was ruled by Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) — arguably the bloodiest mass murder in the history of the world. Historians have not come up with a conclusive figure of how many people were killed during Stalin’s reign, but numbers range from 10 million to 60 million.

Now to be fair, Stalin was involved in mass murder before the throne of Satan arrived, but after the war, Stalin set up the Eastern Bloc made up of many of the countries the Soviets had supposedly liberated in their push to take Germany.

For the next few decades, similar to Hitler, communism pushed for domination as the world entered the Cold War years.

Stalin even played a major role in the Korean war (1950-53), where he and China backed Communist North Korea’s unsuccessful effort to take over South Korea. Nearly 3 million people died in this conflict.

But again God intervened.

Conclusion

In 1958, the Soviets returned the Pergamum altar to communist controlled East Germany. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, East Germany was eventually reunited with West Germany in 1990.

Today, the altar sits in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

The throne has no inherent power. It is simply a place designated as the administrative center of Satan. Is it still serving this purpose today?

Who knows?

Some have suggested the European Union’s attempt to unite Europe under one government (Revelation 13:7), one economy (Revelation 18:15) and one currency (Revelation 13:16-17) is simply another manifestation of the one-world government desired by the Anti Christ. Today the European Union consists of 28 countries and 24 languages (Revelation 13:7).

As for the mortician’s claim in my first article, that Satan lives in San Pedro, one can’t be sure. Though Satan himself may not dwell there, it can be argued a strong demonic presence seems to influence the city.

As believers we need to understand that Jesus has all authority on the earth:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 NASV)

God has the final say on the end times!

More in this series: