ANGELS AND DEMONS, OR SPIRITISM'S PERSONNEL

I

ONE can not be very intelligent in Spiritism without knowing something about angels of which the Bible says so much.

The Old Testament or Hebrew word for angel is "Malek", and the New Testament or Greek word, "angellus", both of them meaning "messenger" or "agent". The words are sometimes used of men and even of God Himself, but in the latter case always in the form of "The Angel of the Lord", an expression signifying the presence of the Deity in angelic form. The words are used impersonally in some instances also, but for our present purpose these need not be enumerated.

Angels are spirits, superior to men and inferior to God (Ps. VIII. 4, 5;Heb. I. 7, 8). They would seem to have bodies of some kind (Luke XX. 36), and they have appeared in human form (always as men, not women), and have eaten food and lodged in houses (Gen. XVIII. 8; XIX. 3).

The number of angels is very great (Dan. VII. 10; Ps. LXVIII. 17; Matt. XXVI. 53), and their power likewise, whether exercised in the material or spiritual world (Ps. OIL 20; 2 Kings XIX. 35; 2 Thess. I. 7). And yet their power and knowledge are both limited (Dan. X. 13; Matt. XXIV. 36; Eph. III. 9, 10).

Angels are employed both in heaven and on earth. In heaven they are worshippers (Matt. XVIII. 10; Rev. V. 11), but on earth they are associated with the affairs of providence, doing good to God's people and executing judgment on God's enemies, the latter ministry to be intensified at the end of the age (Ps. XC. 10-12; 2 Kings XIX. 35; I Thess. IV. 17).

There appear to be graded positions and authority among them judging by the allusions to thrones, dominions, principalities and powers (Eph. I. 21), and by the mention of Michael as the Archangel (Dan. X. 13), and Gabriel as one who stands "in the presence of God" (Luke I. 19).

There is a tendency towards speculation in considering these beings against which we are earnestly warned in Paul's letter to the Colossians; speculation that in the case of the Roman Catholic Church especially leads to superstition and their voluntary worship. On the other hand however, Protestantism may have thought too little about them, and have thereby greatly impoverished her experience of Divine providence and her sense of succor and comfort in times of peril and sorrow, that succor and comfort which it is their office under God to freely and graciously supply.

II

But up until this point we have been dealing entirely with good or holy angels, while alas I there is another class of them, evil as well as good.

And the evil angels are again divided into two classes. One consists of those that are in chains of darkness reserved unto judgment (2 Peter II. 4) and the other of those that are actively engaged in evil, with Satan at their head. The latter are those of which Paul speaks in Eph. VI. 11, 12, where believers are exhorted to "put on the whole armor of God" that they "may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil," because they wrestle "against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (See also Matthew XXV. 41; Rev. XII. 9).

It is these that are in evidence, it is believed, in the present "spiritist invasion." Of their origin we know nothing more than we do of the good angels, which is simply that they were created by God (Col. I. 16).

It is assumed also that all were created good, but that some fell as did Satan himself, though just when, or why they fell, God is not pleased to reveal. The following named Scriptures tell us about all we can know of the matter, John VIII. 44; I Tim. III. 6, 7; 2 Peter II. 4; Jude 6, 7. From these we surmise that they abode not in the knowledge and worship of God, but fell into condemnation through pride. They kept not their first estate or principality, so to speak, but left their proper habitation.

They are described sometimes as evil spirits (Judges IX. 23; Luke VII. 21), unclean spirits Matt. X. 1), and demons (Deut. XXXII. 17; Matt. VII. 22). This last word is erroneously rendered "devils" in the King James Version, as there is but one devil, who is identical with Satan, but there are many demons. So many indeed as to compose a kingdom with a leader, or prince (Luke VIII. 30; Matt. XII. 24-26; Eph. VI. 12).

These demons are called Satan's agents in Matt. XII. 26, 27 and XXV. 41, and as such they seem able to inflict physical maladies on men (Matt. XII. 22; XVII. 15-18; Luke XIII. 16; and even enter and control their bodies and those of beasts also (Mark V. 13; Acts XVI. 16); while from the moral point of view they are able to seduce men from the truth and lead them into all uncleanness (1 Kings XXII. 22; 1 Tim. IV. 1; 2 Peter II. 10-12).

It is especially important to note that these demons maintain a conflict with Christian believers (Eph. VI. 12), and that God Himself sometimes uses them in judgment upon unbelievers and wicked men (Judges IX. 23; 1 Sam. XVI. 14). They are to be used in the awful judgments upon the earth in the Tribulation period (Rev. IX. 1-11; XVI. 13, 14); but their own eternal fate, like that of their mighty but unholy leader, is one of torment (Matt. VIII. 29; Luke VIII. 31).

A deeply interesting question, and a very practical one also, is that of the present abode of these evil spirits or demons. Keep in mind in the reply that there are two classes of them, the one reserved in chains of darkness of which we shall learn more by and by, and whose abode is hell or "Tartarus" (Greek); and the other occupying the air considered as one of the "heavenly places" so frequently mentioned in the New Testament. From this place however, they will be cast down to earth prior to the Millenium, and then at length go into the lake of fire and brimstone "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Rev. XII. 7-9; Matt. XXV. 41).

III

In the preceding chapter we discussed the topic of demon worship and demon possession sufficiently for our present purpose, and only allude to it again as leading up to an earnest warning and appeal.

Remember that which was previously stated. (1), that demon possession is distinct from physical disease; (2), that it was and is not limited to the time of Christ; and (3) that it is in evidence today and is predicted as one of the awful features of the Tribulation at the end of this age.

Quoting from the Rev. F. B. Meyer, D.D., of London, in his booklet just from the press:

"They hate to be unclothed, and would rather inhabit swine than have no covering (Matt. VIII. 31). The nakedness of an evil spirit is torment before the time (Matt. VIII. 29; Mark V. 7).

"Their one object is to reduce the human race and drag it to their own degraded condition. Just as the Divine Spirit can only achieve His end by and through our instrumentality -- and therefore, we are called to present our bodies to Him -- so the great adversary can only achieve his end by and through human instruments, and therefore steals gradually over the consciousness of his victims until they are taken captive by the devil at his will (2 Tim. II. 26).

"Apparently the Almighty has locked and bolted our human nature against the intrusion of the demon-world, and it is at our peril that we open the door from within or allow it to be broken in from without. The angels will not attempt to help us unless at the express command of the Almighty; but demon-spirits are disobedient and recalcitrant. They defy the Divine prohibition; and if they fail to break in by force, they can at least induce the human soul to connive at their entrance by opening the door from within; and when the door has been opened once it can be opened repeatedly, and each time more easily, until the power of resistance is gone, and the demon can go and come at will, or introduce seven companions worse than himself.

"A man of high repute told me recently that a lady had come to him complaining that her life was made a perfect torment by the suggestion of unclean spirits, of which she could not rid herself. She had been an habitue of séances, and now was held by a kind of obsession. He entreated her to promise to tear herself from their fatal spell, and she promised to go to but one more, on the following day. But that day she became raving mad, rushed in an almost nude condition into the public thoroughfare, and has been for the last two years in an asylum.