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God declared war on Satan and announced his plan for the redemption of all that Adam had lost.*° In Eden, God promised a redeemer, the "seed of the woman," through whom mankind would be freed from the power of Satan and death.*" This began a string of Messianic promises, each with incremental additional revelations of the details of God's plan of redemption. This was God's love letter, ultimately written in blood on a wooden cross which was erected in Judea almost 2,000 years ago. God's program will also result in a final cosmic collision and an open warfare between the physical and spiritual worlds. Some have conjectured that the UFOs are, somehow, a preparation for that coming conflict. A revealing perspective of the Biblical panorama emerges when one recognizes that the entire cosmic drama is one in which Satan repeatedly attempts to thwart God's plan. As God incrementally reveals each additional detail, Satan more closely focus his subsequent attacks. God has a destiny for mankind—Mr. and Mrs. Man—that is so fantastic that Adam's fallen race could not attain it unaided. To enable mankind, God established a program through which he would substitute his own eligibility on man's behalf. But God's plan required a pure kinsman of Adam to fulfill the requirements of God's nature (reflected in God's laws) on Adam's behalf. Thus, one of Satan's initial stratagems was an attempt to adulterate the human genealogies—and the potential Messianic line—by the incursions of the fallen angels, as we reviewed in chapter 10. However, God's gambit with Noah thwarted this early attempt. 308 Satan As God revealed that his plan would be accomplished through Abraham, singled Abraham out for special attacks on his seed, etc.°° As we encounter Pharaoh's attempts to destroy the Jewish babies*’) and his later attempts to wipe out the entire nation,”’ we can again see Satan's invisible hand behind it all. When Israel is to enter the Promised Land of Canaan, they find that it has been populated with "giants" (the Rephaim, et al) in apparent anticipation of their arrival." When God reveals that his plan will be established through the house of David,?” Satan focuses his attack on David's line. As one carefully analyzes the details of the continuing narrative, when Jehoram kills his brothers," when the Arabians slew all the heirs but Ahazariah, when Athaliah kills all (except Joash),*” in each instance we see the Satanic intrigues continuing. When Hezekiah is assaulted, etc.,’”° the same theme is being played out. When God pronounces a blood curse on the royal line in the days of Jeconiah,*’ there may have been celebration within the counsels of Satan. They probably assumed that God was now over a barrel. The Messiah was to be eligible for the throne of David, of the lineage of David, yet now there was a curse on the royal line. (I always imagine God 178 THE SCARLET THREAD