Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Is Satan an angel?

An Angel or a Son


Angels are created beings.  They do only whatever their creator orders them to do.  They are very complex, programmed robots.  

In my earlier posts, I wrote about the plurality of the Gods written about in the Bible.  Different angels have different functions and belong to different Gods.  

In the Bible, we read of the angel of the Lord.  Conversely, that statement tells us that there are angels which do not belong to Jehovah.  Jehovah is the proper name for the God of Israel.  

To think of angels as being robots is not at all out of line with the idea we get from the Bible.  Angels were created to do certain things, and as pre-programmed robots, they do those things.  

The works of angels, according to Mr Thiessen, are:

a) they worship God
b) they protect and deliver God’s people: 
c) they guide and encourage God’s servants, 
d) they interpret God’s will to men, 
e) they will gather together the elect at the return of Christ. 

This sounds like clear, straightforward, Bible teaching but it does raise a few questions. 

If God is all-powerful and if he is everywhere at the same time why does he need helpers?  The common answer that is given, well, we just don’t understand God’s way is just not satisfying. 


Good and Bad Angels


If Jehovah, who is only good, made all the angels, how is it that now, there are good angels and bad angels?  It is here suggested that each of the Gods made their own angels (helpers), and each God programmed his (or her) angels to obey his (or her) wishes whether good or evil. 

The angels, who were fabricated by Satan, were programmed to obey his voice and consequently, work evil for him.  If that approach seems far-fetched and unacceptable, notice the contradiction that Mr Thiessen imposes on the subject of angels.  

The angels were created perfect. This means that every affection of their hearts was directed toward God; their wills were inclined toward God...We must therefore conclude that the fall of the angels was due to their deliberate, self-determined revolt against God.  

Has any theologian ever done an about-face, as fast as this one was done?  First, he says that every affection of their hearts was directed toward God and then, a few sentences later he writes, We must therefore conclude that the fall of the angels was due to their deliberate, self determined revolt against God.  

Maybe this kind of contradiction satisfies some people when it comes to Bible study.  However, the question remains, what is the real answer, since that one obviously cannot be?


Sexless Angels


Bible students have written much about the sons of God of Genesis 6 as being angels.  Some, opposed to that idea, say that the sons of God were the righteous descendants of the line of Seth and that the daughters of men were the unrighteous descendants of the line of Cain.  

They continue by saying that the recorded fact that there were giants in the earth in those days grammatically stands alone.  Those same students declare that that statement is not connected with the fact that the sons of God took as wives the daughters of men.  

Their argument overlooks the next statement in the Bible.  When the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; these were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Gen.6:4.  Since when has a person been a mighty man just because he had a godly father and an ungodly mother?!

The point of view that the sons of God, who were the fathers of the mighty men of renown refers to angels seems a bit far-fetched to some.  They claim that the statement Christ made about people in heaven proves that angels are sexless.

He said, For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Mat. 22:30.  Some claim that this statement made by Christ means that the angels are neither male nor female.  However, Christ did not say that all he said is that angels do not marry.  

Why do they not marry?  This is not necessarily, because they are sexless.  Perhaps all angels are males and so have no one to marry.  It is quite possible to believe that the angels in Genesis 6 were Satan’s angels only and that Satan was planning to thwart the plans of Jehovah.  Since each angel responds to his creator’s voice, it should have been an easy thing for Satan to command his angels to do that.

Following is a quote from the Book of Enoch, which sheds light on the topic of angels.  

In the book, the pseudo Enoch calls the angels the guardians of heaven. Enoch said, they bore me up into the heavens. I entered and walked until I came to a wall built of crystal stones and surrounded by tongues of fire, and they began to strike terror into me...and I heard the voice of the Most High: ‘Fear thou not, Enoch, thou righteous man and scribe of righteousness ... go thou and speak to the guardians of heaven who have sent thee in order to intercede for them. For they should really intercede for men, and not men for them!’ (Say to the guardians) ...why have ye left the lofty holy heavens, slept with women, defiled yourselves with the daughters of men, taken wives unto yourselves and done like the children of earth and beget sons like giants? Although ye were immortal, ye have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and beget children with the blood of the flesh, lusted after the blood of men and produced flesh and blood as they do who are mortal and perishable.

This quotation clearly states that, according to the Book of Enoch, it is possible for angels to become the fathers of earthly babies.  Could it perhaps be these angels that Jude is referring to when he said, And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains. Jude 6.

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