Angels and Demons Part 5

Greetings,

                We have been in a series that is intense and at times very stretching. There are purposes for this knowledge, and what we will discuss this week will be one of those purposes. We left off by saying that the restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2:7 is primarily responsible for maintaining the divide or “veil” that separates our dimension from the dimensions where many of these fallen angels are trapped.

                “Do you not recollect that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining him [from being revealed at this time]; it is so that he may be manifested (revealed) in his own [appointed] time. For the mystery of lawlessness (that hidden principle of rebellion against constituted authority) is already at work in the world, [but it is] restrained only until he who restrains is taken out of the way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:5-7 AMP)

                In order to understand the job of “he who restrains” it really becomes necessary to understand what the mystery of lawlessness is. The word translated as mystery is the Greek word musterion. This word primarily means that which was hidden now being revealed. Its primary relevance in the Roman culture was the information which was known to the mustes or initiated ones. The initiated ones were the practitioners of the mystery religions. In other words, the mysteries were the secret knowledge practiced and passed down by occult adepts. Here Paul makes the distinction “mystery of lawlessness” because he uses the same word musterion in other writings to refer to mysteries found in Christ. Here he wants us to know that the activity associated with mystery religions was well and alive in the earth. This is still true today.

                Mystery religions practice the occult. That’s what they do. They are responsible for doing rituals associated with summoning demons or even fallen angels. In order to summon certain fallen angels, as we discussed in last week’s email, they must be called out of their dimensions and into ours. This means that the mysteries these people practice will allow them to “sidestep,” so-to-speak, the barrier that separates our dimension from others. It is this activity that Paul is relating to the work of the restrainer. In other words, while the restrainer maintains dimensional separation, there is an ongoing effort to sidestep what the restrainer was put there to do.

                I’m not going to try to prove the identity of the restrainer to you but I will say this: the text does not tell us who it is. Some say it’s the Holy Spirit. The problem with this idea is that the Holy Spirit is God and God is omnipresent. How can an omnipresent being ever be “taken out” or removed from anywhere?

                In any case, whoever this restrainer is, he will one day be taken out of the way. If you have followed me up to this point then you have probably figured out what I am getting at. The problem is that when the force is removed that separates the earth from the dimensions where many fallen angels are trapped, our world will quickly change in many ways that elude the imagination. Today we deal with disembodied spirits of dead nephilim. They are like cupcakes when compared with the power of beings that are the direct creation of God.

                Consider this: the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 men in one night (2 Kings 19:35). No destruction like this has ever been affiliated with a petty demon. We are talking about two entirely different classes of entities. Are we really prepared for spiritual warfare to move to a whole other echelon? This is why I am spending an entire year on the topic of spiritual warfare. In Christ we have the victory, but we need to be prepared to enforce it. As what I am explaining to you begins to manifest, those that are unprepared and those that are lukewarm will undoubtedly fall away.

                The passage in 2 Thessalonians 2 continues to link the removal of the restrainer to the manifestation of the lawless one, otherwise known as the antichrist.

                “And then the lawless one (the antichrist) will be revealed and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and bring him to an end by His appearing at His coming. The coming [of the lawless one, the antichrist] is through the activity and working of Satan and will be attended by great power and with all sorts of [pretended] miracles and signs and delusive marvels--[all of them] lying wonders--And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-10 AMP)

                Notice that as we learn about the coming of the antichrist the Bible is clear that many signs, pretend miracles, and lying wonders will accompany him. I have previously explained that this is synonymous with what we see described in the sixth seal. Sure enough, as we read about the sixth seal in the book of Revelation we find that “stars will fall to the earth.” These will include the stars (angels) that are currently kept from us by the restrainer—they will return.

                “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” (Revelation 6:12-13)

                Now that we have established that many fallen angels will be coming to the earth at some point in the future, we have greater clarity on what Jesus meant when He said that the last days would be like the days of Noah. There was a point during Noah’s lifetime when fallen angels, their children, other related abominations, and men all occupied the earth at once. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.

                “And as it was in the days of [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” (Luke 17:26)

                However, even in saying all of this there is still activity I have yet to address. We have established a scriptural understanding for many things, but now we are prepared to dive even deeper. Next week we will get into the topic of genetic engineering and the creation of hybrid creatures and abominations. What we will find is that this is not something to be unveiled in the future. This is already happening.

                To be continued…

Angels and Demons Part 4

Greetings,

                We are now in the fourth part of our series on fallen angels and demons. Last week we left off by stating that the war in heaven described by Revelation 12:7-9 may have actually taken place while Jesus walked the earth. This week we are going to build upon this thought. This will allow us to understand what truly comes of the hosts of heaven that rebel with Satan in Revelation 12:4. We have already established that demons are the departed spirits of nephilim (hybrids). Since we primarily encounter demonic activity (as opposed to fallen angelic activity) in the earth, where are these heavenly hosts that followed Lucifer?

                Before answering that question let’s return to the war in heaven and look at the passage again. This time I have included verse ten which describes the results of this particular war.

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come [1] salvation, and [2] strength, and the [3] kingdom of our God, and the [4] power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Revelation 12:7-10)

Verse 10 is the true crux of this passage. It describes the results of the war, and when we understand the results we realize that these are the promises associated with the salvation we currently possess. These promises didn’t come prior to the Garden of Eden nor are we still waiting for them. In other words, because of the stated results, this war must have ended prior to the resurrection of Jesus. As we will discover, the true ending of this war came as a result of the work that Jesus accomplished between His death and resurrection. Let’s begin by looking at the results.

1.       Salvation - “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9–10).

2.       Strength – “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).

3.       Kingdom - “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:9).

“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13).

4.       Power of His Christ - “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:12–13).

                Could the Bible really be any clearer about what resulted from this war? I don’t think so. Everything that came about with the end of this war aligns perfectly with what the Bible discusses in regards to the promises of salvation in Jesus Christ. Therefore, this becomes the third definite angelic rebellion, the first being the fall of Lucifer and the second being the rebellion of the angels involved in Genesis 6. The concept of multiple angelic rebellions is what scripture actually speaks to. There was not just one rebellion prior to the fall of man.

                Moving forward, it was the hosts of heaven referenced by Revelation 12:4 that Jesus spoiled and triumphed over between His death and resurrection.

                “And having spoiled principalities and powers [types of angelic spirits], he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15)

                This is why when Jesus was resurrected He explained that He had all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). This is also why we now have the victory in all things through Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:57). However, this is not where the story ends. By the time we reach the New Testament Epistles we are told where the rebellious heavenly hosts (not associated with the pre-flood incident) are currently found. We are told that they reside in something called heavenly places.

                “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 NKJV)

                I’ve explained heavenly places before so I’m going to move right along. The fallen angels that rebelled with Lucifer in Revelation 12:4, as a result of the work of Jesus, are largely found in the heavenly places of the second heaven. Note that there do seem to be some that are still found in the earth like Lucifer (1 Peter 5:8).  Heavenly places can also be understood as alternate dimensions. Although there are ways for these beings to have some degree of influence upon the earth, many of them are trapped where they are. This is why groups like the illuminati will conduct very powerful rituals to bring these beings over for brief amounts of time in order to communicate with them. Consider this testimony from one woman who claims to have been involved with this kind of activity.

                “…during the rituals, you had to have psychic ability. You have to be very powerful in that way to call out The Old Ones…that come from another dimension. They actually materialize from out of another dimension, and are present at rituals. And they are so powerful, and there is such an evilness about them, that they want out of this other dimension. And they have to be called out by someone who has that power.”

-          Arizona Wilder

Not only can they be brought here but there are apparently ways for humans to travel to where these beings are located. Consider this quote:

“Archiometry… is a very advanced branch of black magic and voodoo, which involves cultivating the ability to enter into alternate universes, and then you go into these universes and you try and energize the universe, become the god of that universe, and then draw power from that universe back into your own universe. This started out, basically, as part of the worship of the star god Sirius, which is known in Egypt as Set, which is the Egyptian version of the Devil. The idea is that because there was a black dwarf star of Sirius next to the white star Sirius, it became known as Sirius A and Sirius B. Ancient magicians realized that they could use that black star as a gateway into an alternate universe, and so that’s how they discovered universe B. Then later on there was universe C and D and E and etcetera, etcetera… The person who comes back invariably seems to have amped up their power by a whole order of magnitude… It’s believed by these people [that] this is a very easy way of becoming a living god… The fact of the matter is [that] you‘re doing it by demonic power and if you’re indeed entering other universes those are universes that are populated by extremely evil beings and extremely wise cruel beings.”

-          Bill Schnoebelen (Interview with an Ex-Vampire DVD)

What keeps these beings where they are? This is the job of the restrainer reference in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. We will be picking up here next week…

Angels and Demons Part 3

Greetings,

                We have spent the past two weeks scripturally proving that angels and demons are in fact two different classes of beings. In order to come to this understanding it became necessary to prove that giants (otherwise known as nephilim) were hybrids. They were half man and half angel. This week we are going to dive further as we begin to flesh out what this means for us today.

                We are now going to return to the topic of angels. We have already gone over the fact that Lucifer was the first angel to rebel. However, when we took a closer look at what happened during the Genesis 6 incident we realized that Lucifer had little if any involvement in that rebellion. This is further proven in that while the angels discussed in Genesis 6 were cast into hell (2 Peter 2: 4-5) and placed in everlasting chains under darkness (Jude 6) Satan wasn’t. Satan was clearly roaming the earth during the time of Job.

                “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” (Job 1:6-7)

The fact that there were two separate rebellions proves something important for us. There were and have historically been multiple angelic rebellions. This week we are going to discuss how this relates to the twelfth chapter of Revelation. Instead of jumping right into a particular verse and using it out of context to prove something we think we should believe, we will begin at the beginning.

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.” (Revelation 12:1-2)

There is a great wonder in heaven. As we proceed to define this wonder we are going to allow the Bible to interpret itself. In other words, where do we see the Bible using the same description and how does that fit with what we are being presented with here? In the book of Genesis, one of the twelve sons of Jacob (renamed Israel) is Joseph. He has a dream in which the sun the moon and eleven stars bow down to him. That dream is interpreted by his father who responds as follows:

“And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” (Genesis 37:10)

Based on this interpretation Jacob is represented by the sun, his wife is represented by the moon, and the twelve stars are the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus the woman that is in the midst of all of these symbols represents the nation of Israel. Sure enough, Israel is represented by a woman on numerous occasions throughout scripture (Hosea 3:1, Ezekiel 36:17). Therefore, Revelation 12:2 is describing the time when the nation of Israel was ready to deliver the Messiah to the world. This is the exegetical timeframe for the next comment.

“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” (Revelation 12:3-4)

As we read the next portion of Scripture we see a dragon having seven heads and ten horns. We know that this is a symbolic representation of Satan because Revelation 12:9 says so. Regarding the seven heads and ten horns, heads on a beast are scripturally significant of successive kingdoms while horns tend to mean rulers within a kingdom ruling at the same time. In any case, the tail of this dragon draws a third of the stars of heaven and casts them to the earth. Allowing the Bible to define itself, stars are in this case are symbolic of angelic beings (Revelation 1:20).

Notice that in verse 4 the purpose for drawing them to the earth is clearly given. It is to devour the child, the Messiah, as soon as it is born. The timeframe for this angelic rebellion led by Lucifer does not seem to be prior to the Garden of Eden. If we accurately exegete the passage and simply read what it says it gives us a timeframe of some point prior to the birth of Jesus (but after Israel becomes a nation).

Verses 5 and 6 go on to discuss that Jesus was born anyway, He was not devoured, and He was ultimately caught up unto God. As we know Jesus lived, died a horrific death upon the cross, was raised to life, and at some point afterwards was caught up into heaven. Verse 6 goes on to discuss the nation of Israel and how she will flee into a place prepared for her in the wilderness for 1260 days. This seems to jump forward in history quite a bit correlating with the timeframe given for the coming great tribulation (Daniel 9:27, Daniel 11:31, Matthew 24:15-21, Revelation 13:5-7).

The passage in Revelation 12 picks up in verse 7 and now we are at a significant war in heaven.

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9)

In this war Satan and the fallen angels with him are cast out of heaven. The question is: when does this war take place? Some have suggested that it happened prior to the Garden of Eden. If this were true, why is Satan still coming before God in the book of Job? This conclusion makes no sense. The passage is clear that after this war “their place was no longer found in heaven.”

Others have said that this war is yet to come. They suggest that during the great tribulation Satan will make war with heaven. Could that be what this passage is referring to?  

I am firmly persuaded that neither of these possibilities is the truth of the matter. Instead, I am convinced that this war actually occurred and came to its end during the time that Jesus conducted His ministry on earth. In order to grasp this, it is essential to understand the implications of the next verse: Revelation 12:10.

To be continued…

Angels and Demons Part 2

Greetings,

                Last week we left off in the midst of our discussion on how the angels were able to procreate with human women as described in Genesis 6:1-4. We also realized that although Lucifer had already rebelled, it is unlikely that he was involved in this since he was not locked up like the angels that were involved (2 Peter 2:4). On this note we will resume our discussion as we seek to understand the difference between fallen angels and demons.

I want to make you aware of an ancient text known as 1 Enoch. Although it is not canonized, it is quoted by the Bible and gives information that the Bible is relatively silent on. Note how it is quoted by the Bible:

“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 14-15)

“And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones, To execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” (1 Enoch 1:9)

The following quote is from the book of 1 Enoch and if it is correct, it sheds additional light on the incident of Genesis 6:1-4 and helps us to understand that there were exactly 200 angels involved in the incident. Furthermore, the record in 1 Enoch confirms what I pointed out in the last email. Lucifer had little if anything to do with this rebellion. His name is not listed among the names of the captains.

“And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children…' Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And these are the names of their leaders: Samlazaz, their leader, Araklba, Rameel, Kokablel, Tamlel, Ramlel, Danel, Ezeqeel, Baraqijal, Asael, Armaros, Batarel, Ananel, Zaqlel, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, Sariel. These are their chiefs of tens.” (1 Enoch 6:1-3a, 5b-8)

                Thus far everything that we have discussed has been in relation to angels. However, now that we have established what Genesis 6 actually explains we can move on. The word translated as “giants” in the book of Genesis is the Hebrew word nephilim. It was primarily due to nephilim activity that the flood was sent. This activity threatened a pure human seed which would be necessary to bring about the birth of the Messiah. God could not let that happen. Moreover, this activity also played a role in bringing about total lawlessness and evil (Genesis 6:5).

                After the flood the nephilim show up again, particularly in the Promised Land (Canaan). When they show up there are different races of them:

Ø  Rephaims: a tall ancient people in the land east of the Jordan. The dead ones (Genesis 14:5)

Ø  Emims: Fearful ones (Deuteronomy 2:11-12)

Ø  Anakims: long necked ones (Deuteronomy 2:11-12)

Ø  Zamzummims (Deuteronomy 2:20)

Ø  Horims: a race of nephilim conquered by the descendants of Esau (Deuteronomy 2:12)

Ø  Avims: Conquered by the Caphtorims (Deuteronomy 2:23)

Ø  Caphtorims: giants from the lineage of Mizraim (Egypt) (1 Chronicles 1:11-12)

Etymologically related to the Hebrew word Rephaim (one of the tribes of the giants) is the Hebrew word rapha. They both carry the connotation of being dead—rapha referring to the dead Rephaim. It is no coincidence that rapha actually means ghost or shade according to Strong’s Concordance. This leads us to a particularly interesting passage in the book of Isaiah.

“They are dead, they will not live; They are deceased, they will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And made all their memory to perish.” (Isaiah 26:14 NKJV)

This passage is speaking to the resurrection of the dead. How are there some “deceased” that will not rise? I bolded the word deceased because it is translated from the Hebrew word rapha. Remember that while this word means ghost and shade it is etymologically related to the word Rephaim. In essence, Isaiah is actually saying that as ghosts, the spirits of dead nephilim will not have a resurrection. Trying to interpret it as pertaining to humans is straightforwardly impossible; this is the only conclusion that makes sense.

The Bible is clear that all humans will have a resurrection. From the book of Revelation we learn that there are two resurrections. One resurrection is for those that have died in Christ (Revelation 20:5-6) and the other is for everyone else (Revelation 20:12-13). The important point is that every human will experience a resurrection for judgment at some point. It is impossible to be human and not receive a resurrection.

Isaiah’s comment in regards to the word rapha is actually for the purpose of setting up a comparison. Just a few verses later Isaiah continues to speak to the resurrection of the dead. He is intentionally making a distinction between human spirits and nephil spirits.

“Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead.” (Isaiah 26:19 NKJV)

Although the Bible doesn’t specifically tell us what happens to the spirits of dead nephilim, the fact that the word rapha means ghosts or shades is enough to draw our conclusion. Demons are not angels, but the disembodied spirits of dead nephilim. Having proven this with the Bible, we can verify it by returning to the account of 1 Enoch.

“And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. [As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.] And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offences. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.” (1 Enoch 15:8-12)

To be continued…