不要顺着空中掌权者的首领而行
一九三七年我在中国内地游历，看到一个很好的例子。有一天我经过一条从坡上流下来的小溪，溪中满了随波而流的枯叶，在这些叶子中却有小鱼逆流而上。因为鱼满有生命，所以能逆流而上；但是叶子没有生命，只能随波漂流。枯叶没有生命，无法抵挡水流，不能逆流而上。凡是随着今世潮流的人，都是死的。这世代的潮流能带走这么多人，乃因他们都是死的。在世界各地，每一个国家，人们都是死的。所以，每当世代的潮流进来时，他们立刻就被卷走了。我们从前也是死的，并且被这世代的潮流冲去；但是现今我们已经活过来，潮流不再能影响我们。
当我们死在自己的过犯并罪之中，我们不仅积极的跟随这世界的世代，我们的行事为人也顺着空中掌权者的首领，就是那现今在悖逆之子里面运行之灵的首领。这里的首领指撒但，就是六章十二节所说，那些空中执政者、掌权者的首领。“灵”与“空中掌权者”是同位语，指集体的权势，就是一切邪恶天使权势的集合，由撒但为其首领。这集合的灵，现今正在悖逆之子里面运行。我们从前也是悖逆之子，但如今已经得救成为。
在我们上面有空中掌权者的首领─撒但所管辖的范围。没有多少基督徒充分的认识这个空中的邪恶权势。全地都在这空中之灵的权势之下。这个邪灵，这种邪恶的空中权势，乃是犯罪、谋杀、甚至自杀的原因，驱使人作人平常所不会作的恶事。这邪恶的源头是在于那管辖他们的灵，就是空中的权势。这灵现今乃是在悖逆之子，在那些悖逆神的人里面运行。
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Pleasing to God – Do Not Follow the Age (2) — Eph. 2:2
Do Not Walking According to the Ruler of the Authority of the Air
I saw an excellent illustration of this when I was traveling through the interior of China in 1937. One day I passed by a creek which flowed down the slope of a hill. The creek was full of dead leaves that were being swept along with the current. Among the leaves some little fish were swimming upstream against the current. Because the fish were full of life, they could swim against the current; but because the leaves were lifeless, they could only be carried away by the current. They did not have the life to withstand the current and go against it. As long as anyone follows the present current of the world, he is dead. The reason the current of the age can carry so many people along with it is that they all are dead. Throughout the world, in every country, the people are dead. Therefore, whenever the tide of the age comes in, they are swept along by it immediately. Once we also were dead and carried away by the tide of the age, but now that we have been made alive, the current cannot move us.
When we were dead in our offenses and sins, we were not only active in following the age of this world; we also walked “according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit who is now operating in the sons of disobedience.” The ruler here refers to Satan, the prince of the aerial authority mentioned in 6:12. The spirit, in apposition with “the authority of the air,” refers to the aggregate power, a personal aggregate of all the evil angelic authorities, over which Satan is the ruler. This aggregate spirit is now operating in the sons of disobedience. But we, who once were sons of disobedience, have been saved to be the church.
Above us there is the sphere ruled by Satan, the ruler of the authority of the air. Not many Christians have an adequate understanding of this evil power in the air. The entire earth is under the domination of this spirit in the air. This evil spirit, this evil atmosphere, is the cause of crimes, murders and even suicides. It influences people to do evil things which, as humans, they would not normally do. The source of this evil is in the spirit, the atmosphere, which dominates them. This spirit is now operating in the sons of disobedience, in those who are disobedient to God.