By Brian Nixon, Special to ASSIST News Service
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO (ANS – May 21, 2015) — I’m privileged to host a call-in radio broadcast called “Theology Thursday” (http://star88.fm/media_theologythursday.asp) on Star 88. On this broadcast we answer a host of questions on various Biblical topics. This past week we covered angels and demons, with great questions from our listeners. Because of the general interest, here are some quick facts about angels and demons.
There are many false ideas about Satan and demons in the world today. We live in a world where two extremes exist concerning the realm of the supernatural. On one hand, there are groups of people who deny that the supernatural realm, saying that angels and demons, and even God, are not real. We call these folks, materialist, because they only believe that the material world (that which we can see, touch, and test) is real. 
On the other hand there are groups of people who do believe that the supernatural world exists. They believe in God, angels, and the like. This group of people we will call Supernaturalist, because they believe that there is a supernatural world, beyond what we can touch, test, and see.
As Christians, we would fall under the Supernaturalist category. However, we must be careful in how we describe the supernatural world, and here in is where the problem lies: not all supernaturalist believe the same thing about the supernatural world. As an example, Christians are not like the Animist who believes that good demons fight bad demons, or that our relatives walk on the earth in the form of ghosts, as some religions teach. No! As Christians we must adhere to a Biblical view of the supernatural world. It is very important to get our information from the Bible about the things we cannot see, touch, and test.
Angels are mentioned 196 times in the Bible. 103 references are found in the Old Testament, 93 from the New Testament. The Hebrew word for angels is mal’ach; the Greek is angelos. Both words mean “messengers.” Angels are spiritual beings created by God to serve Him. Some of the angels rebelled, of which we get the term, demons. We don’t know exactly when the demons rebelled (some suggest sometime after the creation of the universe in Genesis 1), but the Bible is clear who the leader is: Satan.
Biblical truth is very important when we turn to the subject of the supernatural and demons. Some would have you believe that demons are under every rock, behind every door, and controlling every politician. As Christians, we must check these statements with what the Bible teaches about demons. So it is to the Bible we turn to give you some points to ponder and think through regarding demons.
1) The Bible teaches that demons are real.
2) Demons were once good angels who fell during the fall of Satan (Jude 6).
3) Satan is the lead demon, called Lucifer (Isa 14, Matt 4).
4) Satan originated sin, and has spent his existence tempting and leading humans from God (2 Cor. 4:4)
5) Satan and demons are not as powerful as God, and are under the jurisdiction of God.
6) Demons are not the only cause of evil in the world, the world’s systems and the works of the flesh, are also responsible for evil.
7) Christian’s need not fear demons. (1 John 4:4)
8) At some point in the future, all demons will be cast into the eternal lake of fire, being separated from God for all eternity.
As you can read, the Bible is clear about the reality of supernatural beings called demons. But unlike the popular description of demons as pitched-forked, horned, red faced creatures—the Biblical demons are evil, but still well beneath the control of our Lord. For even they tremble at His name (James 2:19).
To listen to “Theology Thursday”, click here: http://star88.fm/media_theologythursday.asp
Photo captions: 1) Star 88. 2) Demon illustration from http://gnosticwarrior.com/demons.html
About the writer: Brian Nixon is a writer, musician, artist, minister, and family man. To learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Nixon. You can contact him at https://twitter.com/BnixNews
** You may republish his or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net).
