Do you have any friends or family members who have thought they came into contact with some kind of angelic creature whether angel or demon?  I remember when one of my friends told me that he couldn’t go to sleep the night before because he sensed the presence of Satan in his room. In the middle of the night, he had to yell for his dad to come into his room because he was so afraid to get out of bed.  He was about 21 years old at the time.  A few years later, I remember hanging out with an unsaved friend of mine on Halloween night.  We were in my room listening to the radio station that was broadcasting priests going into a house of a demon possessed family to exorcize the demons.  I remember thinking about it, and quickly turning off the radio after realizing that he could become possessed since he was unsaved.

As Christians, why is it important to study angels?  Well, it is important because not only did God create beings in His image to practice dominion on the earth (humanity), but He also created an angelic order.  Therefore, I believe it is unbiblical to ignore the angelic world.  We should never ignore what God has created and given attention to in His Word.  On the other hand, I believe it is unbiblical to be too fascinated with the angelic world.  Many Christians wonder too much about angels, study them in Scripture, and even desire to contact them.

            What is it that a Christian should believe about angels?  God created angels for the glory of Christ (Hebrews 1:5-14).  The writer of Hebrews records God saying, “Let all the angels worship [Jesus].”  God certainly may have created the angels first – to praise Him while He created everything else (Job 38:6-7).  We do know that He didn’t create them as cute and chubby or fair and beautiful.  Rather, God created angels as fearsome, immaterial creatures (Luke 2:9).

            What is that a Christian should believe about Satan?  Satan was created by God as His angel (Isaiah 14:12-15).  As an angel, Satan fell to pride and desired to exalt Himself above God.  Many wonder when this actually happened.  Didn’t it happen at some point between the good creation of all angels and the Satanic deception of Adam and Eve?  Since no one can find a decisive passage of Scripture of what may have happened in heaven when Satan fell, I’m really starting to think that his deception of Adam and Eve was the event of his fall.  When Satan sought to deceive Adam and Eve, was he not desiring they follow His authority rather than God’s authority?  Isn’t that pride (1 Tim 3:6)?  Couldn’t that be when He was completely cast out of heaven?  I’m thinking so.  Either way, through the fall of sin, Satan became the ruler of the world and the demons (2 Cor 4:4).  The default mode of creation is under Satan’s sway.

            What is it that a Christian should believe about demons?  Demons were created by God as His angels.  About 1/3 of the created, heavenly angels followed Satan’s rebellion and fell from heaven with him (Rev 12:7-10).  That means there are 2 good angels for every 1 evil demon.  A demon’s ultimate desire for us is to use anything to distract us from living for the glory of Christ.  Their distraction may be deceptively desirous, but we can overcome their distractions through our faith in Christ.  God proves over and over again in Scripture that Jesus practices perfect power over Satan and demons (Matt 12:22-29), and since the church is united to Christ we too have power of the evil order through Jesus (Eph 3:7-10). 

            I normally hear 3 main questions when it comes to angels, Satan, and demons.  First, can or will we ever see angels materialize?  Hebrews 13:2 tells us that we’d better take care of all strangers in our midst because others have and the strangers turned out to be angels.  Second, are we ever in Satan’s specific presence?  We know that Satan is not in all places at one time because He’s not God, but we can be sure that Satan is very fast (1 Peter 5:8).  On one hand I wonder why Satan would waste his time in my presence.  On the other hand, if I was Satan, I’d make sure to be in everyone’s presence at least once in their life.  Third, can a Christian be demon possessed?  Absolutely not.  The presence of God can’t be shared with Satan’s presence.