Angels and Demons: The True Angels of Heaven

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Go to harvest.org forward slash virtue. Pastor Greg Laurie says angels are real. The Bible says so, and there may be an angel or two near you right now. Angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit eternal life. Angels, unfortunately, suffer from a good deal of bad press, fake news, inaccurate reporting. They're not plump little babies sitting on clouds playing harps.

They don't have two wings and a glowing halo. And not all angels are the good guys. What's the truth about these heavenly beings? Pastor Greg Laurie has the answer today on A New Beginning from the only reliable source, a book inspired by God, the creator of angels, the Bible. You know, right now, all around us is a supernatural world.

It's an invisible world. And around us right now are thousands of mysterious created beings called angels. Most of them are holy.

I'm sorry to say some of them are not. Some of them are fallen. But you find what the Bible says about angels in both the Old and the New Testament. In fact, the Bible mentions angels nearly 300 times.

And there's so many misconceptions about angels. Let me just say first off, the job of an angel is to kind of work undercover. We like to compare angels to Navy Seals. You know, Navy Seals are that elite force that we dispatch in certain situations to take care of business.

They go and do things all the time and we often don't hear about what they did. They just get the job done. That's sort of a good description of angels. They get the job done for God.

They're not there to draw attention to themselves. They're not there to have extended conversations with them, though it's possible you have spoken with an angel. And I'll tell you why I believe that in a few moments. But you probably weren't aware of it if you were speaking with an angel. I would suggest to you there are times when angels have spoken to you, but you probably didn't know it was an angel. But they're very interesting creatures sort of working behind the scenes, working undercover. They're sort of like God's secret agents.

There's a lot of misconceptions, as I said. For starters, people think that when we die, we might become an angel. You know, I've heard it said when someone dies, well, God must have needed another angel in heaven.

Well, God doesn't need any more angels in heaven. And more to the point, people don't become angels when they die. Angels are created beings.

They're a group all unto themselves. When we die, we receive a new body and so forth, but we have no connection to angels. And I hate to break this to you girls, but in every appearance of an angel on earth, it was a guy, not a girl. Now, I know that is hard for some people to believe because we use the term angel sometimes in a feminine way, like she's as pretty as an angel, right?

We don't generally say he's as handsome as an angel. But actually, all of the appearances of angels are appearing as men in the Bible. And so these are amazing, created beings that are there working constantly in our life. It would appear from scripture that they are eternal.

It would seem as though they never die. Speaking of those who have died and gone to heaven, Jesus said in Luke chapter 20, neither can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels. Now, angels have a specific ministry in the life of the Christian. They are dispatched from heaven to assist us, to encourage us, to minister to us, sometimes to protect us, occasionally to speak to us.

Hebrews 1.14 says, angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit eternal life. There's many instances in scripture where angels intervened and angels spoke to Philip and told him to go to the desert and he went. And a man came to faith from Ethiopia.

And then we have the story of Peter who was taken to prison and he was going to be executed because James had already been put to death by King Herod. And the church prayed. And an angel was dispatched to wake Peter up and get him out of jail. So an angel was sent as an answer to prayer. There's a story in the book of Genesis where God was speaking to Jacob to show him the world of angelic activity.

And Jacob had a dream. And in his dream or vision he saw a stairway or a ladder of angels going up and down the stairway or up and down the escalator, if you will. Just angels constantly at work moving between heaven and earth doing the work of God. And as I already said, it's entirely possible you've met an angel. You say, well, how would that be? Well, Hebrews 13, 2 says, don't forget to entertain strangers for in doing so some people have entertained angels without knowing it. So, you know, you might say, well, how would I know? You probably wouldn't know. Maybe you'll know when you get to heaven. And you'll be walking around and some angel walks up to you and says, hey, thanks for getting me that burger.

What? Hey, you got me that burger. Have we met?

Yeah, we've met. Remember that homeless guy that you ran into on this date? And I was hungry and I said, can I get a meal? And you took me in to In-N-Out Burger and you got me a great burger.

Double double as I recall, animal style. Still remember it even in heaven. I want to thank you for that. You were an angel?

Yes, I was. Because the idea is that when you did it for a stranger, somebody that was in need, it could have been an angel under cover. So it's possible you've met an angel. It's possible there's angels in the room right now. Now, I know they're here in the invisible realm, but it's not entirely outside of the realm of possibility that there could be an angel as a person. So look around. Look around. You never know.

Don't look for feathers or anything like that. Wouldn't it be mind blowing if an angel appeared to us right now? I tell you what, if an angel did appear, you'd be very tempted to worship the angel. That actually happened to the apostle John. An angel appeared. He was so blown away he fell down to worship it. And the angel said, do not worship me. Worship God. But they're so incredible.

They're so awe-inspiring. You'd be inclined to worship. But imagine if Gabriel or Michael or another angel appeared before us right now.

I did hear a story about a time in a church service when the devil himself appeared. So here are people at church and all of a sudden Satan appears on the stage. People are screaming and freaking out. Climbing over each other to get out of the church. They're climbing out of the windows, running out the doors. They're terrified. The church is emptied in just seconds.

Except one older man sitting in the second row. The devil says, why aren't you running? Do you know who I am? The man says, I know who you are. And the devil says, I am the devil. I have a lot of power. I could bring a lot of misery into your life.

Why aren't you afraid of me? The old guy said, I've been married to your sister for 46 years. That's a true story.

No it isn't. Just one of those lame preacher jokes, right? But I'll tell you, if an angel of the Lord appeared, we would certainly be amazed. Now sometimes the question is asked, do we have guardian angels?

I don't know the answer to that, but I think the answer is maybe. I mean I know we have angels involved in our lives, but do we have a specific angel that is assigned to us? Like that's your job. You watch over that child or you watch over that person. We can't know a certainty, but there is an interesting statement where Jesus says in Matthew 18, 10, Don't look down on these little ones, speaking of children, for I tell you, their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven. Interesting phrase, their angels in heaven. So that would imply maybe a guardian angel. Going back to the story of Peter when he was sprung from the prison by the angel. He showed up at a house where a bunch of Christians were praying and he knocked on the door.

And they couldn't believe that God had answered their prayers so quickly. And so when someone said, it was actually a lady named Rhoda, she said Peter is standing at the front door knocking. One of the others said well it's probably just his angel. And they left him knocking. I mean for me if an angel knocks I'm letting him in.

Hey if FedEx knocks I open the door. Wouldn't I open the door for an angel? And so that's a curious thing, but it's interesting that they say maybe it's his angel. So maybe there are guardian angels.

If there are or there are not, that's really not that important. You can just be confident of this. You have angels actively involved in your life protecting you, watching out for you. As I said, God's secret agents. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. So many listeners have commented on the help they receive from Pastor Greg's daily messages. God's word ministers to them and it often gets them through some of their darkest hours.

Hi Pastor Greg. I'm calling to thank you for your ministry. Almost two years ago my teenage son passed away in a drowning accident. After that a friend gave me one of your books, Hope for Hurting Hearts, which really helped. Knowing that you lost your son, Christopher, and how you dealt with that has been a huge help to my husband and me.

We've been listening to your messages ever since. Your hard work in giving us the gospel has been such a blessing. If I'm not reading one of your books, I'm reading the New Beginners Bible, which I have read front to back a few times now.

Learning as much as I possibly can about Jesus, where my son is, and where we're all going to go, is comforting. Thank you, Pastor Greg, for all you do. If you've had your life changed because of Harvest Ministries, would you let Pastor Greg know?

Just drop him an email. Greg at Harvest dot org. Again, that's Greg at Harvest dot o-r-g. Well, today Pastor Greg is offering insights from his series, The Afterlife and the Eternal, with insights today based in Genesis 3.

Let's continue. So the title of this message is Angels and Demons. So this is what kind of perplexes us, is where the heck did demons come from? Why do we even have to have demons?

Well, they're out there for sure. And to simplify it, a demon is a fallen angel. God did not create demons as we know them today.

He created angels, but he gave to these angelic creatures a free will and an ability to choose. And as hard as it is to believe, one third of the angels followed a high-ranking angel known as Lucifer, the son of the morning, in a rebellion. But Lucifer is also known as Satan and the devil. So before I address where demons came from, let me just talk about where the devil came from. Now if I were to ask you where did the devil come from, most of you would probably say hell. The devil came from hell.

Actually, that's not true. Now let me tell you where the devil really came from. The devil came from heaven.

That's right. Now he wasn't the devil in heaven. He was, as I mentioned, Lucifer, this beautiful angel, maybe an archangel. If not, certainly a high-ranking angel on the level of maybe a Gabriel.

I don't think a Michael, but certainly a high-ranking angel. But he rebelled against God. In fact, it's described in vivid detail over in Ezekiel 28 where it is said of Lucifer, You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. You were anointed as a guardian cherub.

For I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God. You walked among the fiery stones.

I don't know what the fiery stones are, but he walked among them. You were blameless from the day you were created. Listen. Till wickedness was found in you. And through your widespread trade, you were filled with violence and you sinned. And I drove you in disgrace from the mountain of God. And I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.

Your heart became proud on account of your beauty. And you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth and made you a spectacle before kings."

Wow. So what happened to Lucifer? Wickedness was found in him. It's also spoken of in Isaiah 14, the fall of Satan.

Lucifer allowed his perfection to be the cause of his corruption. He wanted the number one job. Satan says in Isaiah 14 again, I will be like God.

I will be like the Most High. He wanted the top job. And so the Lord said, you're out of here. And so he lost that position he once held. And one third of the angels followed him. Instead of wanting to worship God, he himself wanted to be worshipped. You know, it's interesting that it says he was filled with violence. You know, this is so insane, these shootings. And, you know, we always want to find the motive. First of all, those in the political world want to find out, is he a Republican or is he a Democrat?

And they make it all a political discussion. Or what race was he? Why was he black? Was he Hispanic?

No. They missed the big issue. There's a spiritual dynamic going on. And we forget the fact that there's evil in the world today.

And there's a devil who's full of wickedness and full of violence that inspires people to take the lives of other people. That's what I mean when I say we're in a spiritual battle. I sent out a tweet and I said, let's pray for everyone who is in office right now, whether you put them there or not. I've got liberals and conservatives mad at me.

What is wrong with you people? And so I think the thing that we don't realize is this is a spiritual world and we get caught up into the political fights and caught up into these other little things and we forget we're children of the Most High. And our kingdom is in heaven. And we're ambassadors of the kingdom of God.

And we need to remember that. And so we'll talk about that more next time in our message on spiritual warfare. But anyway, so the devil. Yes, he is no longer in that exalted position in heaven.

But this might surprise you. He has a backstage pass into the presence of God. You say, well, how do you know that? Because we read about it multiple times in Scripture. And the book of Job is the account of the angels of the Lord presenting themselves before the Lord. So here's all the angels and guess who shows up?

Luke. Lucifer is there. And the Lord says, what have you been up to? Oh, says the devil, I've been going back and forth across the earth watching everything that's going on.

And what an interesting description. He's just like roaming around. He's looking for trouble, right? What havoc can I wreck? What misery can I bring?

What life can I potentially destroy? That's why the Bible describes him as a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. That's him. And that's what a lion is like.

They're hunting for prey. The devil never takes a vacation. Wouldn't it be nice if he did? Wouldn't it be great if we could announce, hey, we just found out Satan's taking August off. No devil in August. You know, I think even if Satan took August off we would still get ourselves into trouble. Don't you think?

I think so. But the devil doesn't take a month off. The devil doesn't take a week off. He doesn't take a day off. He doesn't take an hour off.

He's always at work. If he's beaten, he rises again. If he can't come in the front door, he'll come in the back door. If he can't climb down through the roof, he'll tunnel up through the floor.

He'll find a way to get in. And he's looking for vulnerability. He's looking for someone he can grab. You know, going back to the lions, you know, usually the easiest way for the lion to get their lunch or dinner is when they watch that little herb of antelope or whatever it is they're chasing after. And there's always the lagger.

Right? There's a group. They're all moving.

And then there's one guy, you know, 20 feet behind. Lion says, it looks like lunch to me. You want to know something surprising, though? More people are killed in Africa by hippos than lions.

Yeah, that's true. Lions kill some, but, oh, hippos kill way more. And the funny thing about a hippo is they don't even look threatening.

You know, well, I played Hungry Hippo. They're so cute. You know, you go on the Jungle Cruise ride in Disneyland, and there they are with the little ears, and they do that in real life. Little ears turn around like that, and then, you know, you think, how dangerous are they? They're very dangerous, and did you know they're really fast on land? I know this because I went to Africa years ago, and we stayed in a tent at camp, and they took us to our tent, and they warned us about the hippos that come out at night. I'm thinking, hippos?

Are you serious? I should be scared of hippos? He goes, oh, yeah. They move fast, and they attack people. So I bring that up because the Bible does not say that your adversary, the devil, is like a hippo running around.

Okay? It says he's like a lion. The point I'm making is sometimes they think, oh, yeah, watch out for the lions, and the devil can come to you in many ways. Sometimes they'll come in all of his depravity and wickedness and perversion, and other times they'll come to you as an angel of light, but always with the purpose of deceiving or misleading you, and he has a well-organized network of demon powers doing his bidding, and those are his demons. We read numerous passages that refer to Satan and his minions, not those minions, these minions. Matthew 12, 24 speaks of Beelzebub, which is another name for the devil, the prince of the demons. Then in Matthew 25, 41, the devil and his angels.

Revelation 12, 7, the dragon, another phrase for the devil, and his angels, and, of course, hell is the future dwelling place for the devil and his angels. Now, it seems to me that the purpose or objective of demons is twofold. Number one, it is to hinder the purposes of God, and number two, it is to extend the power of Satan. Again, the purpose of demons, i.e.

fallen angels, is twofold. They want to hinder God's purpose in your life, and they want to extend the power of the devil. So I know that kind of is scary when we talk about things like this, and it's true that one-third of the angels followed Lucifer, but it's also true that two-thirds of the angels are on our side.

And more importantly, God is on our side, so we're on the winning side, but there's a battle still. Pastor Greg Laurie, with a close look at the world of angels and demons today here on A New Beginning, and there's more to come in this message. If you missed any part of today's presentation, you can get a replay instantly by going to harvest.org. The study title is simply Angels and Demons. For a copy on CD, just call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime, again at 1-800-821-3300. Pastor Greg, you've just finished your brand new book called Billy Graham, The Man I Knew.

That's right. I know that when he went home to the Lord that you and Kathy had the opportunity to attend his memorial service. Do you remember where you were when you heard that Billy had gone home?

Yes, I was actually in Israel, and I was on a little tour with some fellow pastors. In fact, Cissy Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of Billy, was with us on that trip, and she heard the news differently than everyone else. We all lost a hero, someone we looked up to.

She lost her grandfather, and she was very close to him, and we were all very sad. Now, Billy was 99 years old, so he lived a very long life, but yet, you know, it was the end of an era, and so there was great sadness in losing him because I just feel like we need another Billy Graham right now in our world, you know, a man who's a pastor to presidents, regardless of what side of the political aisle they're on, a man who can speak to us during cultural moments. I mean, Billy was there after 9-11 speaking to the nation, really being a chaplain to America, and he played such a valuable role in, of course, the great evangelist. But so, yeah, I remember the day very distinctly, and then I attended his memorial service that was held a bit later back at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, and just about every pastor I've ever met. In fact, as I walked around and looked at the diversity of people that were there, people from every denominational background, every kind of theological background, I thought, wow, this is what heaven's going to look like if we like it or not.

You know, we're going to be there because we believed in Jesus and we believed he died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead, but these are people that would not normally hang around each other, but even in his funeral service, it was a reminder of the bridges he built to so many people in the Christian world, and so many came from around the world to pay tribute to the great evangelist. And, in fact, when his library was dedicated, President Jimmy Carter, President George H.W. Bush were there in person, as was President Clinton. So that alone shows you how he reached people on both sides of the aisle, and he was loved and appreciated by these presidents that valued his counsel because Billy kept it confidential, and he would rarely reveal something about a president. I asked him lots of questions. What was it like when you were with this person?

What did they say? He kept it confidential. He did tell me one amazing story, though, about President John F. Kennedy.

I asked him if he had any regrets in life, and he said, yes, I do. And he told me the story of how he was at the prayer breakfast there in Washington, D.C., and the president will always be in attendance, and President Kennedy was there. Billy spoke, and after it was over with, the president said, Billy, I would like you to ride with me back to the White House. I have something I want to talk to you about. Well, Billy was very sick, and he said, Mr. President, I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline.

I don't want to get you sick, but maybe I could talk to you as soon as I'm over this sickness, and President Kennedy agreed, and then only days after that, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. And Billy always regretted that because he wondered, what did the president want to talk to me about? But, you know, he would keep these conversations in confidence, and I think that's why people trusted him so much and wanted to share their heart with him knowing that he would give them good counsel. And I do write about his relationships with presidents, and it's fascinating. His relationship with President Johnson is really surprising. They had a very close friendship. They were both Southerners, you know, so they connected on that level. He was very close to President Reagan as well, not as close to President Carter, but it continued with the Bush family, George H.W.

Bush. He really played a role in George W. Bush coming to Christ, and then fast-forwarding, he was very close to Bill Clinton and Hillary as well, and they admired him. In fact, Bill and Hillary came to his final crusade, and some people get very upset because they're so partisan these days, and how dare you be with those people?

What are you talking about? Jesus spent time with all kinds of people. He was called critically, I might add, the friend of sinners. Billy built bridges to people, and he always shared the Gospel, and he always emulated Christ, and I think we can learn from his example. So I write about that and a lot more in this new book I've written called Billy Graham, the Man I Knew.

Yeah, and it's a book you won't be able to put down. It's a fascinating look at the life of this remarkable man of God. And we'll send you a copy, it's just out, to thank you for your investment in making these daily studies possible. It's only through listener support that we can feature Pastor Greg's teachings each day. So please send your gift today to A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and look for Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here, personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a Bible study. It's a worship service. It's church in your home. Maybe you're not able to get out to your church right now. If so, join us for Harvest at Home.

People are listening in from around the world and listen to this. We have seen thousands of people make a commitment to follow Christ. So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well next time, more insight on angels and demons and an important warning from Pastor Greg about the devil and his strategies. Join us for A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.