TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
THE DOCTRINE OF ANGELS
Part 2
February 11, 2018
BEFORE we begin, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, take a moment to name your sins to God the Father. This will allow you to be filled with the power of The Holy Spirit as you read this booklet (EPH 5:18 & 1JO 1:9). IF YOU HAVE never believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have that opportunity right now. Simply tell God the Father that you are believing on His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you make that decision, you are now a believer and will always be a child of God! When you die, you will spend eternity with Him forever in heaven! (JOH 3:16 & ACT 16:31).
As we continue to look at the Doctrine of Angels, we should note that they are more than mere power coming from God. They are individual beings, created and given power by God. Angels live, gather, move, and function separately with their own free will. But, they are not self-originating, self-sustaining, or capable of killing themselves. Not self-originating means they are each one made by God – as opposed to humans who have babies in order to multiply.
Angels do not have the power to reproduce or search the human heart (know your thoughts). Like all created beings, they live and move by the virtue of divine empowerment. We see this in JUDE 1:9 with Michael the archangel fighting with Satan: But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” In other words, angels defer to God in their actions. They may, however, influence the human mind as one person may influence another person.
Angels have the ability to possess the unbeliever: Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. (MAT 12:22) Obviously, this verse refers to a Fallen Angel and follower of Satan; as does LUKE 13:11‑16: And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
Angels can also influence any member of the human race. This is taught in 1TIM 4:1-2: But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron… Now, you might be wondering about demon possession and what leads up to it. Demon possession is defined as demon invasion of the body which can only happen to the unbeliever since the believer possesses the Indwelling of the Trinity. The demon or demons reside within the body of the unbeliever for a period of time as is determined by their commander Satan. The solution to demon possession comes from the One Who Has Ultimate Authority over demons, The Lord Jesus Christ. That solution is to believe in Him. At the moment of faith in Christ, the new believer is baptized by the Holy Spirit, becomes the temple of the living God, and can never be possessed by demons again. Demon possession comes from bad decisions. Remember, in Grace, God gives us free will to make whatever choices we want. When we make the worst decision possible – to NOT believe in Jesus Christ, we put ourselves in a position to be demon-possessed.
Here are some examples of decisions that can result in demon possession. One is idolatry. Idolatry is allowing anyone or anything to take a higher position in your life above your personal love for God. Idolatry points to an excessive attachment or an extreme devotion to something or someone. Now, we should point out that a believer can be guilty of idolatry if he/she has attachment or an extreme devotion to something or someone, which takes priority over his/her personal love for God, but we are talking about demon possession and the unbeliever.
Drug addiction is another example of a bad decision that can result in demon possession. So is dabbling in the occult and consulting mediums – something we see a lot of in today’s society. But remember that in of themselves, these things do not imply demon possession.
The believer, as we have learned, is indwelt by God The Holy Spirit who makes a temple out of the body of the believer and a demon cannot dwell in that temple! This is taught in 1Cor 6:19-20: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.
Angels’ appearances change, depending on where they are and what they are doing. 1COR 15:39-40 says, in part: All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies… Their appearance can change as occasion demands. Look at HEB 13:2: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. This teaches us that angels can appear to look just like us. But now look at MAT 28:2-4: And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. No man (or woman) has ever been described as having an appearance like lightning! So, we can determine that they have the ability to change appearance when necessary.
Now, demons or fallen angels are disembodied and seek embodiment whenever possible. This is taught in MARK 5:9-13: And He [Jesus] was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding [a]nearby on the mountain. The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea. Wow!!!
Angels are free, honorable beings and have, at least in the past, made their own destinies by what choices they made – just like us! As we learned at the beginning of this study, with their volition, some sinned to follow Satan: For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment… (2PE 2:4) According to JUDE 1:6-7, when the angels sinned, they lost their first home: And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
{to be continued}