Posted on 01/01/2011 3:20:55 PM PST by wmfights
As of this writing, Hollywood has produced more than three dozen films, made-for-TV movies, and series featuring “heavenly beings.” Roger Ebert, film critic not noted for his commitment to the Bible, wrote “These scenarios are all wrong, wrong, wrong from a theological point of view (which is the only one worth having about angels). All the authorities agree that God created angels before the beginning—before there was earth or sea or sky, or men and women.” Say it again, Roger!
We do not expect theological accuracy from Hollywood; indeed, sometimes even respect and decency are lacking. Thus in the movie Michael, John Travolta portrays the biblical archangel as a slob; a brawling, promiscuous, but supposedly lovable, slob. Covering his wings with an old trenchcoat, Michael joins three tabloid journalists on a journey to Chicago. Along the way he seduces women and he spends a night in jail.
Obviously, this scenario is much more akin to the fallen angel, Lucifer, than it is to Michael, the archangel, the “prince who protects” the children of Israel, and who fought with the devil over the body of Moses. Hollywood has it wrong, very wrong.
My concern is not with such gross distortions of angels, however. Something much more sinister is taking place with this new angel fad, something that ultimately is more damaging than trash television or blatant, liberal theology. I refer to this: that millions of evangelicals are accepting the “Touched by an Angel” TV series as good viewing for Christians everywhere. People who should know better are looking upon this show with approval.
If you are not acquainted with the TV program, “Touched By an Angel,” the basic formula as stated by the producers is this: “The angel meets her assigned human at a crossroads in his or her life. The angel (by the power of God) performs a miracle to bring that person to a point of decision or revelation. He or she, by their own free will, then takes life-changing action.” Note 1
Thus, in virtually every episode a troubled person is helped, perhaps there is a physical healing, or an emotional barrier overcome. Sometimes the needy person might be facing a personal crisis in his or her marriage or with the children. Whatever the situation, an angel is used by God to resolve the crisis, proving that there is a spiritual dimension to the world, and that God Himself stands at the ready to help us by sending angels to those who least deserve or expect it. Each show has a “feel good” ending, since a crisis has been resolved, and the troubled person has turned a corner, setting out in a new direction.
Why do I object to this harmless story line? The answer, briefly put, is that the show is loaded with theology, a cultural theology that reinforces the prevalent views about man and God. Through its pleasing portrayals of needy people, helped by heavenly messengers, it lobs a grenade at the heart of the Christian Gospel.
A False View of Human Nature
First, it assumes that people are basically good, rather than sinners who stand in desperate need of God’s saving grace. The show avoids concepts such as sin and the total depravity of the human race. Everyone has good within, waiting for it to be unleashed. Indeed, one of the show’s actors says that “there might be an angel in everyone of us, waiting to do a miracle.”
The show reinforces the prevailing cultural myth that sin is never the problem we face, rather it is always a feeling of disconnectedness, a need for knowledge about how God’s help can be enlisted. Thankfully, an angel comes to help in a crisis, and there is relief knowing that at last one has made contact with God.
The Bible teaches that an understanding of our sinfulness is central to our understanding of how we must approach God. If we don’t know how bad off we are in the presence of a holy God, we will try to access Him in ways that He despises. Thus, a wrong view of man always leads to a wrong view of God.
A False View of God
In the television series, the Almighty can be contacted by anyone who has the good fortune of connecting with an angel. Like Cain, who thought that God could be approached in any creative way, the show teaches that ordinary people, if they have enough ordinary good will, can have contact with God, without a mediator, without a sacrifice, without blood.
It follows that the show has no place for Christ, neither His cross nor His resurrection is necessary for us to make contact with the “powers that be.” Angels are waiting to help us get connected. They are more approachable than God; thus, it is possible to be in touch with the spiritual world without appeasing God.
“But” you protest, “it does not claim to be a Christian program, but is committed to presenting a generic faith, showing that there are people who believe in God; and that angels are real beings just as the Bible says.” But the point cannot be made too strongly: The view of human nature portrayed in the series is not biblical and therefore the God the show portrays is not biblical either. It reinforces a destructive cultural stereotype.
What do we make of the angel stories; the reports of angels intervening to help people? Before we answer that question, we have to cover an important bit of biblical data to put matters in perspective.
Sorting Out the Facts
All angels, whether good or bad were created by God. They are independent creatures, not recycled dead people as Hollywood often portrays them to be. In many movies, angels are presented as deceased humans, who earn their wings by good behavior. That is a human idea found nowhere in the Bible.
We must affirm that there is a great deal of similarity between the evil angels and the “elect” angels, as Paul calls them. Thus, it is not possible for us to always distinguish the good angels from the bad ones. It is simply not wise to navigate the metaphysical landscape without a map, a guide that lets us call these angelic beings by their correct designation.
Satan is presented in the Bible as having a keen intellect, a full complement of emotions and a will by which he rebelled against God. Although at one time he stood in God’s presence, orchestrating the praise of all the angelic host, he chose his own path in the cosmos. As a result, he is on a forced march to destruction, enroute to his final destination of torment and humiliation in hell.
Unfortunately, he did not fall alone, but took a percentage of the angelic host with him (perhaps 1/3 according to Revelation 12). At any rate, he has a multitude of helpers that do his bidding, and that seek to extend his kingdom. These helpers are known in Scripture as demons.
When Jesus was on earth, Satan mustered all of his powers to try to divert the Son of God from His calling. He tried to kill the Christ Child when Herod slaughtered the children under two years of age in the environs of Bethlehem. Since the plan failed, he tried to get Christ to sin in the desert; later he continued his opposition, but Christ decisively defeated him on the cross.
Satan was unsuccessful, of course. Facing the cross, Christ said, “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out” (John 12:31).
The Similarity Between Good and Bad Angels
It is not always possible for us to tell the difference between good and bad angels. The evil angels are willing to make as many concessions as possible to deceive the unwary. The angels of darkness turn themselves into angels of light so that people will be confused about their real identity.
1. Evil angels are willing to mouth solid, evangelical doctrine. When Christ was in the synagogue in Capernaum He met a man with an unclean spirit, who, when confronted by Christ cried out, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24). This demon, in effect, could sign an evangelical statement of faith that affirmed that Christ was Jesus of Nazareth, “the Holy One of God.”
What is more, demons confessed that Christ was the Son of God. “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” (Mark 5:7). These are the words of a demon responding to Christ’s command to leave the demented man. These demons, could, in effect, sign an evangelical statement of faith that affirmed that Christ was “The Holy One Of God,” or “The Son of the Most High God.”
Of course demons do not make such admissions willingly, or gladly. But when in the presence of Christ, or when attempting to deceive others they will confess to the truths of sound doctrine. Yes, they are capable of appearing and quoting “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord” if the words will deceive one of their victims.
2. Evil angels will duplicate the miracles of Christ. Paul warned that Satan would come with “all power and signs and false wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). Not every miracle is from God; not every beneficial intervention comes from the good angels. Evil angels will do all the helpful miracles they can if it serves their long-term goals, namely diverting people from the purity of the Gospel of Christ.
A man who was healed from a serious disease in a so-called healing meeting, discovered that he inherited “demonic darkness”, that is, a persistent sense that he now had an evil presence near him. When he rebuked Satan, the emotional and spiritual cloud left him, but his disease returned. We should not be surprised that healings occur in all the religions of the world. Satan is willing to give something that appears good in exchange for blind allegiance.
3. Evil angels use “super apostles” who present themselves as experts in spirituality. They convincingly lead people to believe that all people have, within themselves, the power to find God; they can have direct contact with God by following the right techniques.
These apostles invite people to come to God “just as they are” not to be cleansed and forgiven, but to be accepted on the basis of their own merit as humans. They are to come to receive the help they deserve. God delights to make contact with His creatures, if only they will desire it. “Come one and all” and “come in your own way.” And so we come once again to the grand lie: anyone can make contact with God without a mediator, without a God-appointed sacrifice and without blood.
Any television program that promotes such a view of man and God is an assault on Christ and His work on the cross. Any insistence that good angels are party to such a portrayal is deception. The good angels know the difference between true spirituality and the false. They know what it takes for man to worship God. They also know what happens to those who think they can do it all in their own way.
Telling The Difference
So the question is: how do we interpret the dramatic rescues, the healings and the help given to people who are in desperate straits? What do we say about the accounts of ‘divine interventions’ of heavenly beings that make everything turn out just right, regardless of what people believe about Christ? Think through the following:
1. God’s good angels are given assignments limited to the people of God. They are not sent indiscriminately to all men and women. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). Thus, we have the function of angels defined for us in Scripture. If angels are ever sent to those who refuse to accept Christ and therefore “will not inherit salvation,” we have no account of it in Scripture.
2. God’s good angels participate in acts of judgment for the unconverted.
Yes, angels are sometimes sent to the unconverted, but only to judge them. We think immediately of the angels that visited with Abraham had the responsibility of executing judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. Angels did help Lot escape the city, but only because he was a believer in Jehovah and therefore a “righteous man” (2 Peter 2:7).
Repeatedly, in the book of Revelation, angels are directly involved in executing the judgment of those who have not come under the protection of Christ’s sacrifice. For example, in chapter 14 a succession of angels comes announcing judgment. One warns that if anyone worships the beast “he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:10). The angel that followed announced the impending judgment and the next angel executed it.
Read carefully, “Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying ‘Put in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe’” (v.18) Then notice what this angel does.
“So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God” (v.19). Later in the book, an angel invites the birds in midheaven to eat the flesh of kings, commanders, and mighty men (19:17,18) now that God has destroyed them in judgment.
Needless to say, the program “Touched By An Angel” does not feature angels coming to execute the wicked. These Hollywood angels are always doing good deeds, even for people who might not be particularly religious; even for people who do not believe in Christ as Savior and are not “heirs of salvation.” These popular representations of angels are not good angels, but angels of another sort.
3. Evil angels have all of the essential powers of good angels. Therefore evil angels perform many similar assignments as those of good angels for their evil master, Satan. Think of the awesome “victory” (albeit temporary) Satan wins when millions of people mistake his intervention into human lives as the intervention of God and His angels!
Remember, Satan’s goal is not to create as much misery as he can on planet earth; he is willing to do some good things while keeping his eventual goals in sight. His primary objective is to spread false doctrine, to reinforce the idea that God can be approached directly without a mediator, an acceptable sacrifice and blood. He does not mind if people believe in God, in supernatural occurrences and miracles. Indeed, these serve his purpose very well.
If you are a Catholic, Satan will appear as Mary; if you are a Protestant, he will appear as Christ and if you are a Hindu, he will appear as Krishna. Now that Princess Diana has become a international icon and a religious symbol, reportedly there are sightings of her, too. Satan will take whatever form expected to keep people shielded from the Gospel of Christ. It is naive to say, as some do, that these stories must be the work of good angels because the miracles are good and beneficial. We must boldly say that “good” miracles can be done by “bad” angels.
The famous spiritist, Emanuel Swedenborg recognized the difficulty of distinguishing good angels and bad. After years of spiritism, he wrote, “When spirits begin to speak with a man, he ought to beware that he believes nothing whatever from them; for they say almost anything...they would tell so many lies, and indeed with solemn affirmation, that a man would be astonished...if a man listens and believes, they press on and deceive, and seduce in [many] ways.” Note 2
Please do not forget the great sin of our time: the belief that God can be approached without a mediator, without an acceptable sacrifice and without blood.
Only the full biblical message can combat the rampant spirituality of our times; a spirituality that is a substitute for the Gospel of Christ. The fear that Paul had for the saints in Corinth should be ours today, “But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
Millions are deceived by angels whose presence preaches “another gospel.” As Paul warns, “But even though we, or an angel in heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8).
Let us remember that angels do not always get their theology straight!
Notes 1. Quoted in Citizen, Dec. 1997, p. 7. 2. Quoted in John Ankerberg and John Weldon, The Facts on Channeling, (Chattanooga: The John Ankerberg Evangelistic Association, 1988), p.8.
Agreed.
INDEED.
Amen to your posts on this Thread. Praise His Holy Name! Praise Jesus!
LUB with Jesus in Jesus in Our walk with Him!
AMEN! AMEN!
Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast!
Yet sweeter far Thy face to see
And in Thy presence rest.
No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find,
A sweeter sound than Jesus’ name,
The Savior of mankind.
O hope of every contrite heart!
0 joy of all the meek!
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!
But what to those who find? Ah! this
Nor tongue nor pen can show
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.
Jesus! our only hope be Thou,
As Thou our prize shalt be;
In Thee be all our glory now,
And through eternity. Amen.
I don't know.
The rules are different for Angels. They can not be redeemed so the fallen are lost forever and know it. They only have the power that God allows them to have, for example Jesus Christ tells an Angel to bind Satan and thrown him in the pit and it is done. Satan can't resist. So I'm sure if they are told to tell the truth they must.
But it seems to me that they can do all kinds of things to humans that are lost.
INDEED.
I believe these will be those that never believed in the sufficiency of the Cross. IOW, the Holy Spirit was not indwelling them although they "played" at being a Christian. Don't forget Jesus Christ promised the Holy Spirit would be with us always.
They will teach that it's by your own merits, works, that man can bring themselves to GOD.
Now you've moved into the never ending battle with RC's and EO on one side and Evangelical Christians on the other.
I agree, but relying solely on this may not be enough. They are cunning.
I don’t think many would believe
that I had any grounds
to fuss at someone else
about
“ENTHUSIASMS!”
Certainly one would be wise to pray for Holy Spirit’s discernment and to “follow after peace” in one’s spirit from Holy Spirit in all situations, as well.
However, I don’t think Christ was blowing smoke when He gave that criteria.
It must have meant something quite reliable.
I believe these will be those that never believed in the sufficiency of the Cross. IOW, the Holy Spirit was not indwelling them although they "played" at being a Christian. Don't forget Jesus Christ promised the Holy Spirit would be with us always.
wm,..2 different issues at hand.
Believers are never commanded to be indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, rather God the Holy Spirit indwells the believer in this Church Age by His Volition, i.e. His Sovereign decision. That is all God's action, not ours. At the end of the Church Age, it appears the Restrainer is removed, and many identify the Restrainer as a function of the Holy Spirit. Indwelling of the believer by God the Holy Spirit is not a necessary condition for saving faith, but is an action by God by His grace at this time, and for some other believers in the Millennium. I don't know if absolutely no believers in the OT were indwelt by the HS, although their are some strong doctrinal arguments to support that position.
Back to the 1st Timothy passage, .... the same qualifier of 'faith', is also used in passages of saving faith, though might also be understood as 'doctrine', or a system of faith in our thinking or in our soul, minds and hearts.
IMHO, the passage gives a strong indication that there will be believers who fall away for these deceptions.
Aside...if the deceptions weren't so significant to very real believers, Scripture in discussing eschatology or things to come, might not devote so much reiteration of the deception to the audience of believers.
BTW, God the Holy Spirit still indwells believers who are out of fellowship with Him, although they are not being further sanctified until they return to Him in repentance and confession of sins for forgiveness. If they never return, then they simply approach the sin unto death.
Just to clarify, I hold to salvation by faith alone and once saved, always saved. The HOPE or ELPIS is a measure of confident expectation, so yes, by the doctrines of assurance of salvation, I definitely have hope in the saving work of our Lord Christ Jesus.
We aren’t saved by works, although as a natural consequent of our diligence in perseverance and performing as He guides us, works come by our effort and volition while remaining in fellowship with Him, and are rewarded at the bema seat judgment.
IMHO, Scripture makes very good sense that angels are creatures with volition.
MALAK as a person dispatched as a deputy from God, or also as a messenger from God, does strongly imply their function from our perspective is from God.
When our Lord Christ Jesus was tempted in the desert by the Adversary, Satan made several propositions to Christ which obviously were not in accordance with the Word. Those came from the volition of the Adversary, not by God.
We might be getting ahead of ourselves here.
In the study of angels, some have categorized a number of angelic choirs, in which there are many different types of angels.
From my notes:
THE NINE CHOIRS
The Building Blocks of Creation
Though there are many differentiating versions, the most commonly accepted model of the angelic heirarchy is the Throne of Glory model, as found in the Celestial Hierarchies of Dionysius, and the Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas.
This model deals with the idea that God is the center of all creation, encompassing the universe as a whole. The nine ranks of angels are split into three triads, which radiate outward from God’s focal point at the center of all being.
THE HIGHEST TRIAD
Choir One: The Seraphim
Seraphs are accepted as the highest ranking angel in God’s service. They have several reported duties, prime among which is ceaselessly chanting “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth if full of His Glory”. The reason for this monotony is to perpetuate the song of creation, which reverberates love in His kingdom.
In appearance they are quite unsettling. The prophet Isaiah saw a Seraph, who was reported to have six wings - two covering the face, two covering the feet, and two used for flying. They earned the popular title of “fiery flying serpents of lightning”, who roar like lions when aroused. They are more equated with dragons or serpents, which may bring proof of Satan’s position as a Seraph when he was an angel in Heaven.
HERBREW ORIGINS:- ser (doctor, surgeon) rapha (higher being)
CHOIR TWO: THE CHERUBIM
Newcomers , the Cherubim have managed to find their place in the celestial heirarchy. This is because of a famous quote, stating that God stationed “East of Eden the Cherubim and the Ever Turning Sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life”.
Immortalized also by common dipiction found in Baroque ceilings, as I have stated earlier their image in historical lore is less than demure. Other reports state that a Cherub has four faces and four wings. As fearful as they may appear, the Cherubim are beings of great knowledge and wisdom. They are also known as God’s charioteers.
HERBREW ORIGINS:- kerub (one who intercedes)
CHOIR THREE: THRONES
In Jewish lore the Thrones are also known as the great wheels, or “many eyed ones”. While the Cherubim are God’s charioteers, the Thrones seem to be the chariots themselves.
Their appearance was initially explained only as “like buring coals of fire”. Later sightings proved them to be a fiery wheel with four faces. Such sightings have caught the eyes of UFO buffs, for they can closely mirror such sightings of flying saucers.
The Thrones are to express God’s Divine Will as constantly flowing waves of creativity. The ruling prince of the Thrones is said to be the angel Raphael, though is later found in the ranks of the Archangels.
HERBREW ORIGINS:- galgal (pupil of the eye) (alternate name of the Thrones - Galgallin)
THE MIDDLE TRIAD
CHOIR FOUR: DOMINATIONS
Described as Dominations, Dominions, Lords, or by the Hebrew “Hashmallim”. According to Dionysius, the Dominations regulate the duties of angels. Some say that they are channels of mercy within the second Heaven.
CHOIR FIVE: VIRTUES
Known as the Malakim, Dunamis, or the Tarshishim, these angels bestow blessings from God, usually in the form of miracles. They are associated with heroes, and are said to instill courage into the hearts of those who fight for good.
CHOIR six: POWERS
Also called the Dynamis, Potentiates and Authorities, they are said to be the first angels created by God. They are the spirit guides who assist those who have left the body and have lost their way in the astral plane. Perhaps a divine aide to misguided ghosts?
THE lower TRIAD
CHOIR SEVEN: Principalities
Princedoms are the protectors and regulators of earthly boundaries, as well as crown kings, emperors, and powerful rulers, if only in sublime ways. Later they were also reportedly charged with the preservation of religion, and were subsequently forced to take an objective veiw of the concepts of good and evil.
CHOIR eight: ARchangels
Archangels are a confusing breed. They encompass what has been referred to as “the magnificent seven”, yet these names are held in such high esteem that you would think they belonged in the highest rank (known as the Seraphim). Some beleive they do, whilst others maintain that their place is among the Archangels. Nevertheless, the Archangels are God’s messengers, who carry out His decrees. They are also His warriors, for it was the archangels who battled Satan’s uprising.
The “magnificent seven” include the following Archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Sariel, Uriel, Raziel, and Metatron.
CHOIR nine: Angels
Though used as a generalization for the species as a whole, an Angel is the simplest depiction and presence of God’s servant. They are messengers, emissaries, and mediators. They guard mankind from evil influences, and their sheer numbers are incombrehensible. The Talmud speaks of there being one thousand angels assigned to every one child born. Christian tradition, however, is uncharacteristic in their surprising leniency. They state that there are only two angels assigned to each man, woman, and child - one for the right hand, inspiring goodness, and one for the left, influencing him with evil.
NOTE: Some consider the Nephilim to be the one and only rank among the supposed Tenth Choir, though there is little to support this thought. The Nephilim are cross-breeds - half human and half angel.
The Nephilim - Grigori (The Watchers)
In Hebrew lore they were known as giants, the offspring of fallen angels (”the sons of God”) and the daughters of men. (Genesis 6). Apparently not a pleasant merging of species, the Nephilim - or Grigori, which means “one who watches” - created havoc upon the earth, going so far as eating people. Some say it was this attrocioty that urged God to create the flood that Noah saw out.
Information on the angelic hierarchies chart are from Gustav Davidson’s “A Dictionary of Angels, Including the Fallen Angels”, copyright 1967. The Free Press - A Divison of Macmillan, Inc.
This is a very recommended book.
In depth information found after was drawn from Malcom Godwin’s “Angels - An Endangered Species”, copyright 1990. Simon and Schuster Inc.
A great book covering both sides of the story, so to speak.
No doubt.
Thinking about this I'm wondering if because we as believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and we are in Christ that a fallen angel can not lie to us. Not because of us, but because of what is in us.
We know a fallen angel can not possess a believer.
It looks like this is going to be one of those times we are going to disagree. As a believer in a pretribulation rapture I don't believe ITim.4:1-9 is a passage that occurs during the Tribulation, but precedes it.
The Holy Spirit (I agree is the restrainer) indwells all believers.
John 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
The indwelling Holy Spirit is a result of faith.
BTW, God the Holy Spirit still indwells believers who are out of fellowship with Him, although they are not being further sanctified until they return to Him in repentance and confession of sins for forgiveness. If they never return, then they simply approach the sin unto death.
This presents an alternative explanation. In this case if true believers begin to believe the "doctrines of demons" they may be taken home with lost rewards, but not having lost their salvation.
Agreed, and Amen !
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