INTRODUCTION
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendent of David. The virgin's name was Mary."
--Luke 1:26-27, NIV
Today we will look at some of the aspects of the Christian doctrine of Angels and their continued role in Christianity and humanity in general.
We will discuss the origin of Angels and likewise Demons, their role in both the New and Old Testament and lastly we will discuss the activity of angels in spiritual warfare.
Concluding that angels and demons were created by God, acting as ministers sent by a loving and divine God to oversee and participate in world events and to reveal our eternal salvation through Jesus Christ.
THE ORIGIN AND ROLE OF ANGELS AND DEMONS
So that we know what we are talking about let’s begin with a definition. Angels are typically knows as benevolent celestial beings created by God that act as an intermediaries between heaven and earth, and figure prominently in Christianity.
The creation of the most influential Christian angelic hierarchy is attributed to Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, also known as Pseudo-Denys, who was a Christian theologian and philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century.
In his book De Coelesti Hierarchia Pseudo-Dionysius (The Celestial Hierarchy) he drew on passages from the New Testament, specifically Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16, in an attempt to develop a schema of three Hierarchies, Spheres or Triads of angels, with each Hierarchy containing three Orders or Choirs which resulted in
First sphere consisting of: 1. Seraphim, the highest ranking class of angels closest to the throne of God. 2. Cherubim, 3. Thrones
Second sphere consisting of: 4...
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It would seem from some of the biblical encounters recorded that angels have an active role in our eternal salvation whether it be defeating opposing rebel forces that we are unaware off, or simply delivering messages from God.
There definitely seems to be a complexity of organization and unknowable mysteries that may take an extensive amount of time to understand.
In researching the long established ideas about angels that have been a part of Christianity the spiritual world no longer seems black and white, instead there is an entire grey area open to be explored, this grey area is another subject entirely, but in researching the complexity of the spiritual world some questions have been answered, but many have been formed.
Bibliography
NIV Holy Bible
Wikipedia.org – ( Pseudo – Denys) background information and The Celestial Hierarchy.
The Bible contains many stories of people having an encounter with angels. An encounter alludes to an unexpected meeting. The word “angel” is a transliteration from the Hebrew word “mal’ak” in the Old Testament (Strong’s H4397) and the Greek word “angelos” in the New Testament (Strong’s G32). Both words mean “messenger” and describes one who executes the plan and will of the person whom they serve.
To his dismay, he is unimpressed, accusing the old man, “who looked more like a huge decrepit hen,” (Marquez, 2) as imposturous. This statement suggests the appearance of the “angel” was the least of what the priest had expected. To him, “…nothing about [the old man] measured up to the proud dignity of angels,” (Marquez, 2), as he surveyed the worn and grimy feathers of the old man’s wings. He concluded “that if wings were not the essential element in determining the difference between a hawk and an airplane, they were even less so in the recognition of angels,” (Marquez, 3). In conclusion, the priest supposes that the old man is rather a fake than what he'd believed real angels
In the Time of the Angels is a remarkable book that focuses on the idea that our morals come from philosophy apart from religion. The ways in which the book reveals this idea is striking, with the darkness that embodies Carel throughout. The book remains dark and melancholy while creating power struggles within the relationships of multiple characters. However, this book is used as a guide to better understand the relationship between darkness and Father Carel.
In addition, The New Testament treats the corrupt conduct of the Fallen Angels as fact, as stated in the Book of Jude 1:6; which became accepted within Judaism as a reality. Predominantly, the early Church Fathers also supported the Enochian writings. For example, Justin Martyr ascribed all evil to demons, whom he alleged to be the offspring of the angels, who fell through their lust for women; directly referencing the Enochian writings. Another Church Father named Origen (AD 186-255), which occurred as a scholar of Clement, believed that angels could embody as men. Similarly, this belief grew through time, especially among the Church Fathers, who also believed in the embodiment of evil fallen angels/demons and the warfare going on between those of the spiritual
Angel is portrayed as a strange and confused character from the beginning, being raised by a single mother. She is always shown to be frustrated about how he is living his life, mainly because he is not seeing his priest for life guidance. Angel’s Mother is forcefully trying to change her son’s ways without really trying to figure out what his problem is. Angel is clearly afraid to admit his sexuality to his mother. When Angel agrees to go back to the church his mom is quick to emphasize the prayer to Angel and you can see the uncomforting look on his face. Angel’s issues and confusion begins with his unloving mother that clearly does not love hers son.
Angels, and the dimensions they live in, were apparently created before our visible world and universe. (The Bible tells us in Genesis ch.1-2 that mankind was created (or evolved) last.) The number of angels are countless. One reason they are count- less is
We have been given a training manual whereby we can study so when our enemy, Satan comes against us, we will know how to fight against these demonic angels that has been dispatched against us. Why do I say demonic beings? Let’s step back a moment to the Old Testament book of Job where we read:
Is there life out there in the great beyond? It is a question that many of us have asked, but there is no real answer, no tangible evidence to validate the existence of other intelligent beings. All we have are so-called experiences that earthly people have had with these beings, like me. I remember, as a child, I stayed awake late one night. I was lying in bed admiring the stars outside my window when I saw a bright light in the distance. It moved in impossible ways I could not explain, even to this day. It was only for a moment, but the memory of this unexplainable phenomena has stayed with me ever since. If there are other intelligent beings like us living in distant worlds, how do we explain their standing in religious history? Are they gods or angels? Are they our creators? In decades past, people who claim to have had ufological experiences have banded together to create religious societies in their quest to become closer to extraterrestrial life. While all of these societies support different views on UFOs and religion, all have one common belief – there is life out there and they are real and powerful beings far more advanced than humans in technology and psychic abilities. Throughout this research paper, I will establish how some of these religious societies were formed, and describe in detail how their belief system works and why they are considered religious in nature.
When they first find the old man, the villagers claim that “he’s an angel” (Marquez 1). There is no denying the man’s divinity but he seems to represents much more than your average angel. In fact, the old man doesn’t resemble the typical image of an angel at all. Rather than being a young and pure angel, he is “much too human” with his “unbearable smell”. His angelic wings are even “strewn with parasites” with mistreated feathers (2). This contrasting imagery, however, doesn’t completely undermine the old man’s divinity; rather it draws attention to his lackluster appearance. The disappointments we feel towards the old man along with his particular characteristics make him remarkably similar to the one of bible’s tragic heroes; he is th...
While it is unfortunately true that some Christians tend to hyperspiritualize events and exclaim "the Devil did it," or "the Devil made me do it," this is certainly not the case with all. Many Christians have pointed out alleged demonic (or divine) occurrences which were -- in fact -- instances of fraud, anomalies, psychosomatic phenomena, auto- or heterosuggestion, and so forth. (3) Such Christians have demystified baffling occurrences and accounted for them by their natural causes.
The Christian belief of demonic forces has been present since the coming of Lucifer. The Christian views of demons involve the idea of possessions and provide answers to the evil actions that occur amongst the living. Although Christianity does not admit to the existence of demons...
...s world within the text of “A Very Old man with Enormous Wings.” What it means for people to care, explore, learn, promote, survive, and be curious about the fantastical world around them. These themes focusing on human nature become a whole lot more significant when you hold them up next to the angel. The humans did not care quite enough for the angel which can be clearly seen when noticing how they took advantage of him by exploiting him for the opportunity that arouse due to their desire for wealth. The family used him to satisfy their curiosity while also treating him like a common house pet. All of these factors are a testament to the many short comings of the human race even when they are graced with something that only a short period of time ago they could not have even imagined and that would have continued to have exists apart from their interference.
David Almond has thoroughly and clearly displayed the theme. Unanswered question always leaves a person’s imagination whirring with theories, belief and disbelief. We can only imagine what angels look like, but what they do is clear. Most people use their ideas and dreams to make their world better by turning them into reality. So dream, the world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.
Once upon a time. Satan the devil was an Angel. Some say that his former position in Heaven was equivalent to a modern day Choir Director. Satan was in charge of leading the praise and worship to God. Satan became greedy for power and led a rebellion to over throw God. Satan was relieved of his duties, and dis-fellowshipped from the Angelic ranks.
The doctrine of angels is called “Angelology” which is one of the ten major categories of theology and angels are a part of those ten studies. Scholars have many views about angels