I was raised with the explanations given from scripture that humanity has been living in the "last days" (Matthew 24; Revelation 12) of the wicked world system alienated from God due to original sin. I was taught that the Great War in Heaven spoken of in Revelation 12 resulted in "woe for the Earth," and that Satan's "short period of time" began in 1914 with the first World War.
The Devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for one act of worship. I was taught that the rulers of mankind have been under Satan's control ever since the sin of Adam. Therefore, it was actually in Satan's power to tempt Jesus to switch sides at that time. However, before the final battle on the Earth there would be "Great Tribulation such as has not occurred before, nor will occur again."
Of course, I left the religion of my youth due to the blatant self agrandisement of the "Governing Body" in many of their books and magazines (almost every prophesy somehow pointed to them, these 'spirit-anointed' men in charge of JWs), their literalist interpretations of everything in the Bible, their love of real estate holdings and free labor from the membership, their use of lawyers to avoid financial losses in lawsuits, and reports of corruption within the leadership.
From my rationalist side, I'm aware that civilizations follow patterns of growth and collapse. Many, many books have been written by scholars and scientists from various disciplines examining how we got where we are today, and the likely future course of events from the effects of pollution, resource depletion, population overshoot, etc. A couple books I've read are Jared Diamond's Collapse and Derrick Jensen's Endgame. We are simply fortunate to live at a unique time in the existence of our species on this planet. Even by purely natural means and lifespans, billions of people will die in this century. Nothing like that level of death for humankind has ever happened before, and it's a function of cause and effect on a grand scale. But it's a mere blip, a moment here and gone, in the life of the Earth itself.
All the spirits have their functions, and there are definite imbalances happening at present. I'll end with a quote from The Magical Knowledge Trilogy by Josephine McCarthy:
"We limit ourselves by our need to contain power and make it do what we want it to. Our imaginations and ability to look at the longer-range prospect of an action is so limited that we cannot possibly mediate the full flow of power and contain it. We end up in a losing battle with nature and the forces that flow all around us. And when those forces do things we do not like and we cannot control, we label them as evil. Such behaviour is a pattern within humanity that rears its head from the smallest issue to the biggest project.
[...]
"A good example of this is the tale of Lilith. This power, which is a hive consciousness, is the force of storms/the wind in the desert, which often brings death to the weak. This power, identified in some desert cultures as female, and in others as male, also began to be connected in near eastern myths with parasitical powers that induced sexual dreams in god fearing Jewish men (it was her, they cry, I didn’t do anything...yeah right). Often such ‘evil winds’ or destructive storms do have beings that flow with them, that are parasitical in nature, but they are the ‘hangers on’ not the power of the storm itself (like the ticks on the back of a ferocious dog).
"Back to Lilith. So the power of the destructive storms, or the winds that blow in disease and death, became feared, reviled, and ‘amulets a many’ were created to keep her/them/it at bay. But no-one ever stops to ask what true function this destructive power has in our world.
"The power of the storms is about keeping the land healthy, and the tides of death are nature’s way of taking out the very old and very young. It is a tough, but natural way the land keeps populations of various species in check. So instead of battling the storms with magic, how about learning to live with them in a healthy way? How about learning about their power and working with them in service–or at least how to get out of their way without trying to attack them head on? By doing so, the magician learns to tune into the power, and will even feel it coming: he will feel its intention, its path, and its force, and will be able to act accordingly. Should he work with it? Hunker down? Become invisible to it?
"Such a magical connection with the land and power was adeptly displayed by the Adaman Island’s aboriginal Indians, who live on a string of islands in the Indian Ocean. When a tsunami hit, they were already safely tucked away at the top of the hills. They moved hours before the giant wave hit. They were in tune with the land and talked to the sea. They knew the earthquake was coming and they knew the sea was coming, so they got out of the way."
