W____ wrote:

Dear Mike,
I enjoy your site and have studied much and am learning much.  I believe my mind has been polluted by orthodox Christianity so much so that I am still having troubles seeing spiritual truths.  However, I am progressing.  Although Ezekiel 28:11-19 addresses the Prince of Tyrus it appears that the message actually goes further and references an evil prince (Satan) who is behind him.  I have searched your site and have not been able to find a detailed explanation of this passage.  When you have the time could you please explain in detail this passage? 
Thanks,
W____

Hi W____,
I have written on this already, and I hope you don’t mind me referring you to a letter entitled What Becomes of Our Flesh? Just type that title into the search engine in the upper right corner of the home page, and it will come up.
Something you say in this letter will add to this subject. You say:
Although Ezekiel 28:11-19 addresses the Prince of Tyrus it appears that the message actually goes further and references an evil prince (Satan) who is behind him.
That is true inasmuch as this verse is true:

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [ the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

“The Dragon” is Satan, of course:

Rev 12:9  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.

The great dragon, that old serpent, the Devil, and Satan, are all one and the same, an evil spirit which the Lord sends to trouble His fleshly vessels of clay. While Satan has a whole host under His command, Satan himself, and all of his minions are under the command and control of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will:

1Ki 22:19  And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
1Ki 22:20  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
1Ki 22:21  And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
1Ki 22:22  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

This story of King Ahab, just as the story of Job, and Joseph’s brothers, and every other story in the Bible, demonstrates that no evil spirit can lift a finger without permission and commission from God. The story of King Saul is this same story. Satan can do nothing more than he is sent to accomplish:

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1Sa 16:15  And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

From whence came this “evil spirit?” Answer from the Bible: “From the Lord… From God.”
It is important to know this because we are told time and again in various ways that we must “live by every word of God:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Rev 1:3  Blessed [ is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time [ is] at hand.
Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Does this mean that we must all physically attempt to kill God’s elect as did Kings Saul and King Ahab? No, it does not, but it does meant that we must come to see that the potential for this type of hatred for the elect of God is within each and every one of us. We must come to acknowledge that the kings of Tyre and Babylon are in each of us simply because they both are but  what we all are, and that is merely sons of Adam. If we hate our brother we are spiritually guilty of murder:

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

We are the beast of Rev 13:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

We get our beastly “power and throne and great authority from the dragon.

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [ the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat [ Greek – throne], and great authority.

As such we are the “sons of our father the devil,” and “we are all… children of disobedience.” As such we “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book,” good and evil. As such we “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God:

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye [ God’s elect of Ephesus] walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Col 1:21  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies [ of God] in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Col 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, [ and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Col 1:29  Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Having “Christ in you… and being presented perfect in Christ Jesus” necessitates that we all must “live by every word of God and keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book, good and evil. When we deny this is so, we are in effect telling Christ that He doesn’t know what He is teaching. We, like Peter, are telling our Lord “This shall not be unto you.” But we as the ‘christ’ of Christ must “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book:”

Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [ man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

When we read “Ye are of your father the devil,” and we think that there is no way that statement can ever, in any way apply to us, we are denying that we must “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book and live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” We are “adding to and taking away from the words of this book.”

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [ from] the things which are written in this book.

I hope all of this helps you to see that while Ezekiel 28 and Isa 14 are addressed primarily to you and me setting ourselves up as kings on the throne in our hearts where Christ ought to be, that the types, shadows and symbols of this beastly king within are the Kings of Babylon and the Kings of Tyre. As the apostle Peter, we are “Satan” at any time we withstand the words of our Lord and say that every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God is not for us to keep. But you are right about the fact that it all also addresses the power behind the throne of this beast within:

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [ the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat [ Greek – throne], and great authority.

Mike>