Angels, Demons And What You Can Do About Them

Hello Church,

For those of you who have listened to me for the past 10 years (or 23 years), you know I talk very little about Satan.  I also don't preach or teach a lot on the belief that there are cosmic battles taking place around us unseen.  Angels and demons who fight for the right to take human souls or cause or prevent human tragedy make a great book or movie, but does it really fit biblical theology or a Christ-centered belief system?

There are other reasons I don't talk much about it, but the main one is that Free Will is a big deal to me.  A popular excuse people have for doing bad, wrong, immoral or unethical things is that 'the devil made me do it'.... or that is to say, someone or something else is to blame for our actions.  It's an easy out.  We shy away from taking responsibility for our choices when we could just confess the truth.....

I was mad
I was in a bad mood
I was in a hurry
I didn't notice
I didn't listen
I didn't care
I was selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed
I just made a bad decision

Biblical Theology is, at times, far away from our cultural perceptions of the 'underworld' or 'heavenly realms'.  As we have discussed in Bible Study, how we understand angels has been influenced heavily by various cultures over the centuries.  How we market and make money off of them just reinforces these understandings.

My take covers a couple of layers.  First, my decisions or the decisions of others -- be it informed or misinformed decisions-- say a lot about how our days go.  Sometimes those decisions are mine and sometimes a decision that a stranger makes can impact my life in wonderful or tragic ways.  We live in community, like it or not.  All of our decisions weave themselves around one another causing endless domino effects that we sometimes are not ever aware of.

Second, God created a Universe that is always changing and renewing itself.  Some would say, for example, that the tornadoes in Texas last night were spiritually motivated by either God or Satan.  I say when we build our homes in tornado alley, we understand the risk we take by our decisions.  Just as if we build our house by the Ohio River, we understand the risk of flooding.... or if we walk under a dead tree during a windy day, we understand the risk of getting hit on the head from a falling branch... or if we walk down hard-wood steps in our socks we take the risk of falling on our butts (personal experience notwithstanding).

This belief system might make some uncomfortable.  It makes me more comfortable.  Having the gift every day to make good decisions that matter to myself and others is something to look forward to.  It beats waking up every day and wonder what others are going to do to me.... something I can't control anyhow.

Live the gift.  Make good decisions.  Satan won't like it and he can't do anything about that either.

God is Good,
Pastor Joe