Angels and Demons

My blog has a ton of topics and many people have asked why I don’t spin off sites dedicated to each topic and the answer is basically because I like the freedom of being able to write about whatever I like which is an advantage or disadvantage depending on how similar your interests are with mine.  Not to mention all of my posts are in one place so for selfish reasons if something comes up in conversation I can easily point myself or others to the site.

With this post I just added another topic to talk about which is religion.  In our Bible study last week the topic was “Getting the Demons out of the Closet“.  What I want to throw out to the world as a question is why are demons so prevalent in our society and why does it seem like they are more prevalent than angels?  OK what I just said is a major statement so let me explain what I mean with an example.  If you are like me you watch a few hours of TV a week (I probably watch somewhere around 5-10 hours).  All over television are shows about ghosts and depending on your religion (I’m Christian), ghosts may mean something different to you but in the Christian church they are considered demons.  If you have ever watched Ghost Hunters on TV you have seen and heard what appear to be ghosts in dark abandoned buildings. The shows freak me out and I can’t watch them.

What is interesting to note is I would estimate at least 60% of the people you survey in any group would say they have encountered a ghost.  In the first house I owned I saw things happen that I can not explain.  For instance I saw blinds suddenly shake back and fourth and just as suddenly stop where there were no cats or air vents around.  I saw doors open and close on their own.  I saw fan blades spin out of nowhere, I could go on but I think you understand my point which is something was occurring I couldn’t explain.  Now whatever that thing was or wasn’t, I didn’t ask for it to be there if it was what I think it was.  Seeing those things happen scared me because as humans we are used to being able to defend ourselves from harm but when it is something you can’t physically harm by yourself, it really gets your attention

Now in our study we were given the following outline (note this is an excerpt):

What is a Demon?

1. They are a Spirit (Matt 8:16 & Luke 10:17&20)
2. They are physically limited (Matt 8:28-34 & Acts 16:16)
3. They are intelligent (Mark 1:24, 1 Tim 4:1, Matt 8:29)
4. They are powerful ( Mark 5:3-4, Matt 9:22&32, Matt 15:22)

What can they do?

1. They can inflict disease (Luke 13:11, 2 Cor 12:7-10)
2. Influence the mind (Gen 3:1-5, 2 Cor 4:4, 2 Cor 11:3 & 5, Phil 4:6-8)
3. Deceive people (1 Thess 3:5, Eph 2:2, Matt 13:19)
4. Deceive nations – (Rev 16:14)

Is Casper really a friendly ghost?  In cartoonland he may be but in real life that isn’t the case.  So my question is why don’t we see more angels and why does it seem easier to contact and apparently see evidence of a demon?  Ideally you would want the opposite which is it is easier to see the Holy Spirit or an angel but not a demon but that doesn’t seem to be the case or am I wrong?  In 1st Samuel (28: 4-25), there is an example of a witch summoning Samuel but did the witch actually Summon Samuel or was it a demon pretending to be Samuel?  I’d imagine the reason we don’t have angels in our lives is we are supposed to pray and provide our focus on Jesus and not angels.  In 1st Samuel you see an example of that where Saul says God turned against him so he summoned the dead for advice instead which is obviously not what we are to do.  What do you all think?  Leave your comments below. Thanks…