Those Other Angels
by: Richard S. Clifton

Saturday Ramblins, Vol. 1, No. 25 (November 28, 1998)

No study of the angels would be complete without a look at the other angels: the fallen angels. According to Jewish and Christian tradtions, they are no less angels than any occupying the ranks, or choirs, in heaven. They are pure spirits, retaining the power of their celestial cohorts and able to interceded in human affairs. Their purpose, obviously, is to disrupt the peace and harmony God wishes for His people.

It has been said before in these pages that one major fallacy of the so-called "New Age" obsession with angels is that it fails to take into account the demon angels. Addionally, this thinking, when it does acknowledge the fallen spirits, takes a dualist approach to good and evil, i.e., they are seen as equal powers at battle in the universe. This is contrary to Christian doctrine.

If, as some modern thinking purports, God and the Devil are emblematic of the ancient war between good and evil, then it must be assumed they are equal powers, each having existed for all eternity. This flies in the face of Judeo-Christian belief of monotheism: one God, who always was and is the source of all things. Addressing this issue, C. S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity that dualism supposes two powers, each independent of the other. Even this belief, he said further, if carried to it's logical conclusion would lead back to the Christian belief of the Good One as having preceeded the Bad One.

Good and evil are not two independent concepts. For evil to exist, there must be some standard of what is right and good. Evil is "good gone bad". Good must have existed in the first place. And that Good is God, from whom all things flow.

And so it was at the creation of the angels. They were created at some point as good. God gave them free will. Some chose to challenge God's power and authority. Other angels, according to tradition, led by Michael, intervened and drove the rebellious spirits from heaven.

Lucifer, which means "Light Giver" has been erroniously applied to Satan, the fallen angel. This misnomer occured long ago from a misreading of a passage in Isaiah 14. The "Light Giver" was the morning star, Venus. In this passage, it refers to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who in his own conceit and pride had raised himself to the level of God. Said Isaiah, "You have you fallen from the heavens, O morning star, son of the dawn! How are you cut down to the ground, you who mowed down the nations!" (verse 12).

The passage goes on to say how this self appointed bright star claimed he would ascend higher than the throne of God and set himself above the stars. The Devil came by the name when early in Christianity, theologians like Tetullian and St. Augustine likened him with a falling star such as mentioned in Isaiah.

Call him Lucifer, Satan, the Evil One or Ol' Scratch, he was created as preimmient among the angels and given power over the entire earth, a power he still weilds today. Satan's sin was pride. One tradition said that when God stepped away from his throne, Satan went and sat in it. He like the idea so well, he refused to leave and there began the great war in heaven.

Cast out of heaven by angelic forces led by St. Michael, Satan and the other angels who sided with him, were forever to be advesaries with God for the souls of humankind. But it must never be forgotten that he and his legions are angels. They still have all the powers of angels and can come to us in very pleasing and beautiful guises, as any angel can.

It is the modern and trendy worship of angels that often fails to see or generally neglects this point making it very unwise to wittingly seek angelic experiences. Satan is the great deceiver and can easily distract us with seemingly beautiful and attractive forms. His best weapon is still pride--the very thing that caused him to fall from God's grace. Pride is not something inherent to human nature--it's a gift manufactured and brought straight to us from hell.

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