Good Angels
The book, Angels, by David Pawson gave a quick gist of the knowledge of angels and demons existing today. Following is my summary of the main points from that book.
Scripture teaches that angels are a distinct different order of beings and are created by God too. They are not mediators between God and men, but they were frequently featured in Scripture carrying out the orders of God. They are spirits and do not have bodies of flesh but they have the power to appear as bodies. They are far superior than people in strength, intelligence and knowledge. They belong to heaven and not earth. They are probably numerous in the universe because in Scripture, they were mentioned as myriads upon myriads, ten thousand times ten thousand, and hosts. They do have titles, ranks, grades and names. There are archangels, cherubim, seraphim, principalities and powers.
When Jesus our Lord warned, “Beware of what you do with these little children. Their angels behold the face of my Father in heaven.”, he was saying that what we do is known to angels and will therefore be reported to God. They are around us when we worship. When one person believes in Christ, they know and all rejoice in heaven.
The Ministry Of The Angels
- Protection. They protect against danger and terror. Eg. When the Syrians surrounded Elisha, there was another circle of God’s chariots. The angels touched the eyes of the Syrians and they could not see.
- Provision. They can provide for us. Eg. Hagar and Elijah were fed when there was nothing to eat in the wilderness. After our Lord was tempted and was hungry, the angels ministered to Him.
- Punishment. They can carry out the Lord’s judgments such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Deliverance. Eg. Peter was delivered out of jail.
- Guidance. Eg. Cornelius was told by an angel to send for Peter.
- Comfort. When Paul was on his way to face Caesar on the long and dangerous sea voyage, an angel comforted him that he would get to see Caesar.
Bad Angels Or Demons
We learn from Scripture that both the angels and the fallen angels or demons are in the heavenly places and they all have free will too. We learn that one third of these angels set themselves up against God led by one anointed cherub nearest to the throne of God. Evil started with this rebellion. He has five titles namely Satan, Abaddon (Apollyon in Greek meaning destroyer), Beelzebub, Belial and Lucifer. He is described in terms of animals and likened to a serpent, dragon and a roaring lion. He is a slanderer, tempter, deceiver, accuser, tormentor, murderer and destroyer. Presently, he is ruling the world and that is the reason why the world is in such a fallen mess today. He is described also as the prince of the power of the air and god of this world. His kingdom in the world is a kingdom of disobedience, darkness and disease. He is constantly trying his best to destroy the kingdom of God. He will sow tares among the wheat in the Kingdom of God. He will masquerade as an angel of light and his minions can also masquerade as apostles of Christ and servants of righteousness in the kingdom of God to preach heresy. He will tempt us always with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life as he had done before with our first parents. We read of much demonic activity, especially of demon possession. Today, we tend to dismiss demon possession mentioned in the gospels as mental disease, epilepsy or insanity. But according to David Lawson, the symptoms are quite different :
- Supernatural strength. A demon possessed person may take many men to hold him or her down.
- Clairvoyance. Knowledge of other people that is quite impossible to know except by supernatural revelation.
- An ability use voices that are quite different from the person’s own voice.
- A profound antagonism to the name of Jesus.
- A wild reaction to prayer such that the possessed person will go berserk when prayer is offered.
