Angels and Demons

Gen 24:40 “But he said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house.

They may deliver us from danger

Acts 5:19 But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out.

Note that it is the angels who do all these tasks. The Bible is consistent in mentioning angels taking care of us, not spirit helpers. There is no mention of the spirit of a departed saint coming to earth in order to bring assistance to any of the living, with the possible exception of Samuel when Saul consulted the witch. However as God was so severely opposed to that occurrence, we may not use it as justification of the idea that we may call on the departed, or the idea that the departed come to earth in service to mankind. See 1 Chron 10:13.

Does this mean we can call on angels?

Here’s something Jesus said, related to this question:

Matt 26:53 “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?

It’s pretty straight forward. If we need angelic help, we can call on God the Father, not the angels, and God will send the help He knows is best. We can pray to God for help. He takes full responsibility for our care and commands that we pray to Him and Him alone. Otherwise we may be guilty of giving the honour due Him to another.

Col 2:18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. (NIV)

We are warned to beware of those who go into great detail about their visions of angels, giving glory where glory is not due. The word ‘worship’ in Col.2:18 has a rather broad meaning, not being the usual word used for the deep love, reverence, fear and praise due to God almighty. It rather means ‘ceremonial observance’, and is usually translated as ‘religion’ in the New Testament, as in the last two verses in the book of James.

James 1:26-27

26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.

27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

So, the warning in Col.2:18 above should not be discounted too quickly, as in, “Well, I don’t worship angels!” Rather, the warning is for those who take delight in the detailed inclusion of their visions of angelic beings in their religion, those who would incorporate what they have seen in their visions into their prayer life, or those whose teaching and preaching is mixed with descriptions of angelic beings taken from the ‘visions’ they have seen.

Col 2:18 Don’t let anyone declare you lost when you refuse to worship angels, as they say you must. They have seen a vision, they say, and know you should. These proud men (though they claim to be so humble) have a very clever imagination. (TLB)

Who are you talking to?

There’s a rather frightening verse in Corinthians which really should be enough to scare anybody off from attempting to contact the dead or an angel. The fact is that humans are easily deceived. The Devil is the father of lies and will try to fool us. Here’s the bottom line: we may think we’re getting a message from a dear departed saint of God, but in truth we have no idea who or what we’re talking to.

2 Cor 11:14-15

14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

The Devil is the father of lies (John 8:44), and his demons take after their master.

1 Tim 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

They are quite capable of performing signs, which the gullible will take to be miracles, in order to get people to believe and follow them.

Rev 16:14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

We cannot think it’s enough to use the name of Jesus to make everything work the way we want it to. Some people tried that in the book of Acts with disastrous results.

Acts 19:13-16

13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.

15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Apparently we shall judge angels in the world to come (1 Cor.6:3), but while we are here we are lower than the angels (Heb.2:7). We do not have power over angels in this life, that’s God’s department. It’s not even stated that we’ll have command over the angelic forces in the next life.

Again, the Devil and his angels are masters at deception, and they will not hesitate even to use the name of Jesus in order to get us to believe them. They did in the example above in Acts 19. They are liars and will lie to us, they will pose as God’s angels, they will delight in filling our vision with intricate details of angelic beings and laugh as we take them seriously.

It is not enough to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God. Even the demons are willing to do that.

Mark 1:24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are-- the Holy One of God!”

There is a test given in 1 John 4, but we should be aware that this is not a magic formula that can protect us by lightly throwing the name of Jesus around, as if it were a sci-fi spiritual force field.

I Jn 3:24-4:3

24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

The test must actually start in 1 John 3:24. Firstly we must obey what God has told us to do. Obey exactly what? Obey the Truth of God as revealed in the Bible. That is paramount. If we do not obey the Bible, the test for true or false spirits is totally invalid. Attempting any kind of spirit discernment is meaningless without a heart that is obedient to what God has said in the Bible. Then, the verse says that as we are obedient to the Bible, we’ll dwell in God and He in us. This echoes Jesus’ own words in John 15.

John 15:5-6

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

As we abide in Jesus, and let His words abide in us, we become obedient to God, and He sends us the Holy Spirit. Then, and only then, are we qualified to discern the Truth.

Then in 1 John 4:1 we are exhorted to maintain a healthy scepticism. The Devil is a liar, and he works through deception. Therefore we are not to blindly accept every teaching that floats across our path, as gullible and naïve as babies.

Eph 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. (NIV)

We should not believe everything anyone says to us. We must check it out for ourselves. We can read the Bible to see whether it is in there. This warning applies to people who would be our teachers, prophets, guides, shepherds, as well as to the spirits that guide them. There are many false prophets in the world, says verse one, and there are many evil spirits. So whether we apply this to a teaching, a teacher or the spirit behind these things, we must be aware that the Devil is the master of deception and will try to deceive us. It is in the Bible and we have been warned.

Now we come to the test: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. The key here is the word ‘Christ’. It is not enough to talk about Jesus, Who came to the earth. Why? Because the Devil is capable and willing to misuse the name of Jesus, to his own purposes. This is exemplified in the false religions which claim that Jesus went to India to gain spiritual enlightenment, or that preach other such heresies.

2 Cor 11:4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted-- you may well put up with it!

Jesus, Who was born in Bethlehem, lived without sin on the earth, died on the cross and was raised from the dead, is the Christ, the Saviour of mankind, the King of kings and sovereign Lord of all.

Now here are some specific questions every Family member, whether prospective, present or previous, should ask: How is Jesus represented in Family publications? Is He the God of the universe or a ‘big brother’? Is He the sovereign King of kings or is He a lover, expecting sexual favours from His followers? Does He have all power at His command, or does He require assistance from new ‘spiritual weapons’? Does He use the Holy Spirit for leading us into all truth as the Bible explicitly states, or does He use the help of spirit helpers, a practice just as explicitly condemned in the Bible?

Jesus promised in Matthew 24 that many deceivers would come in His name. Thus, we must be watchful and aware. Jesus does not and cannot go against the words He spoke in the Bible. Jesus alone is the Christ, the all-powerful sovereign Lord of our own lives. He does not require any help from new spiritual powers or spirit beings. He alone is mighty to save. He did not come as a brother or lover, we won’t find that in the Bible. He comes into our lives as Lord and Master and Saviour, we are to commit everything to Him and to the words He said in the Bible. If we give preference to any other words, we are not confessing that He is the Christ. If we say that we need other spiritual powers apart from the Holy Spirit we are not confessing Him as Christ. Any spirit that teaches any other power or doctrine or Jesus apart from Bible power or doctrine or Jesus Christ the Lord of the universe, is not confessing Jesus as Christ and is therefore a false spirit.

Conclusion? If we yield to Jesus Christ as God and obey His words in the Bible, then we’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit. We won’t need anything else, and we’ll be given the gift of discernment to be able to tell truth from error, right from wrong. However if we add to Bible doctrine, or follow new teachings not in the Bible then we immediately lose the Holy Spirit which can only come to those who keep the words He said. If we lose the Holy Spirit we won’t have a clue as to whether we’re listening to God or the Devil, an angel or a demon. Most importantly, Jesus is Christ, the Lord of the universe and of our own lives. Treat Him as anything less and we deny that He is the Christ. If that’s the case then it makes no difference whether we want to apply the ‘try the spirits’ test in 1 John 4 to our prophecies or to the material we read or to someone in a position of spiritual authority. Our test results would be worthless because we ourselves would have failed it.

Jesus is Christ, our Saviour and the Ruler of all. He may use angels if He chooses to. He may even use departed saints, but He has also made it clear He usually does not. And at no time are we given permission to call on any spiritual being ourselves. We are explicitly commanded to come to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son. God will do all that is best in His sight; He does not need us to help Him along with angels or extra powers.

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