Pod Prep: 3-18-16
The Invisible Powers: Angels Loyal & Disloyal
Introduction
Did you ever ask yourselves why there is so much current interest in angels, demons, and other spiritual entities? Because our culture will not turn to the God of the Bible, they are hopeless in their lives, and crying out for any help with problems in their lives. They sense a hunger for spiritual help. Of course, they refuse to turn to the only means of help provided for us, Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures. During the late nineties, we fantasized about angels. Without reading the Bible, our culture came up with man’s ideas about angels and their activities. The world scoffed at these attempts. Later, Satan saw an age old opportunity to use our fantasies and seemed to push his print and visual media for acceptance of the occult and demons. This includes the current popularity of vampires on TV. We became enamored with demons and other occult gods, much to his approval. For our own enlightenment, we as Christians must turn to the Bible for our answers and our hope for life today and our future life involving all of these topics.
Angels Are God’s Servants and Messengers
They were created to serve God by rescuing and protecting people God is working to develop. People are given vital messages thru Angels. Christ said he laid down his life voluntarily. He could have called on legions of Angels to protect him from the stake if he had so chosen. His love for us is so great he chose to ransom us with his life. See Matt 26:53. They are sent to minister to believers. Note Heb 1:14 and Psalm 91:10-11.
Angels protected Major Prophets like Elisha and can become visible to us when necessary. Note I Kings 6:16-17. They prepared Gideon to believe that he could be Israel’s deliverer. Note Judges 6: 22. Angels are wise and intelligent. They gave insight from God to (Gabriel) Daniel. See Daniel 9:21-22. The wisdom of Angels is mentioned regarding King David in II Sam 14:17.
We are not to pray to Angels
Angel worship is a form of false worship. It is often associated with pagan philosophy. Paul wrote to the Colossian church that they should beware of pagan philosophy. They should avoid the rudiments of the world. Paul says do not let them deceive you with false humility and the worshipping of Angels. See Col 2:9, 18. Paul says learn from the Church in which Christ is the head and disavow worldly doctrine like asceticism. Note verses Col 2:22-23. Do not pray to angels. Christ the Son of God says pray to the Father. Angels listened to the apostles and desired to learn more about our salvation. Note I Pet 1:12.
Fallen Angels are Dangerous and to be Avoided
Paul warns the strong Christians to not get over confident and disregard the dangers of demons. Some in Corinth were even going to pagan temples to eat. They knew that the pagan gods were nothing and the statues had no power. However Paul warns of over confidence, people getting too close to the flame. Pagan revelry, idolatry and the occult are contaminated with dangerous demons. I know of a man who starting a long time running conversation with the demon in a possessed person because he was spiritually “strong”. He had to spend three weeks in a mental facility after a nervous breakdown! See I Cor 8:1, 4, 10. Further note I Cor 10:19-21.
Satan and his minions are very subtle and deceptive. They can use religion to mislead people as well as openly occult material. See II Cor 11:13-15. They should be avoided as well as places where evil is rampant such as crack houses or other places of ill repute. Don’t get puffed up like Lucifer and fall away from God. We all need to follow the example of the loyal angels and worship only the true God.
Evil Spirits Rule the Great Pagan Empires
We are not given a lot of details about the spirit realm. We learn bits of information as it regards other topics in the Bible. Probably God does not want us getting too involved with the angelic world. In that spirit we learn indirectly about demon influence in regarding’s to Daniels prayer for the restoration of Judah. See Dan 9: 21, 10:13-14, 20. These powerful empires are under the control of warring high ranking demons. They no doubt love having people war and kill each other. Even WWII seemed at times to have empires inspired by cruel demonic forces, but not the western allies.
FACTS REGARDING ANGELS
1. They are mentioned 273 times in 34 Biblical books.
2. They were all created by and for God. Col. 1:16
3. They report directly to God. Job 1:6; 2:1
4. They were present at Creation. Job 38:1, 4, 7
5. They announced A birth to the shepherds. Luke 2:10-14
6. They do not marry or breed. Matt 22:30
7. Angels have emotions. Job 38:7
