The Truth About Angels
WHO ARE THOSE INHABITING THE SPIRIT REALM?
15 The Bible shows that we humans who live here on the earth are not the only living, intelligent persons in the universe. It reveals that, just as there is a fleshly realm of creatures who breathe earth's air, drink its water and feed on its food, there is also a spirit realm, not dependent on earth's provisions for life. And it shows that the Chief One in that spirit realm is the Creator himself, Jehovah God. Of him Jesus said: "God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth."-John 4:24.
16 There are about four thousand million people now living on earth. The Bible reveals that in the spirit realm there are, besides the Creator, millions of other spirit persons who are known as angels. (Daniel 7:9, 10; Revelation 5:11) All these others received their life from the Creator of heaven and earth and came into existence long before the first humans were created. As Revelation 4:11 says: "You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created." There are no persons, human or spirit, who do not owe their life to Jehovah God, the Creator.
17 The Bible's historical account shows that after the creation in Eden of God's first human son and daughter, Adam and Eve, a certain powerful angel, moved by vanity and ambition, rebelled against God. Using deception and appealing to selfishness, he succeeded in getting the first human pair to join him in his rebellion. Since he became the enemy of Jehovah, the Creator, he is called Satan, which in Hebrew means "resister", or "adversary." (Genesis 3:1-13; Revelation 12:9) He later induced other heavenly sons of God or angels to follow a similar course of rebellion.
18 The apostle Peter speaks of those spirits who were "disobedient when the patience of God was waiting in Noah's days." (1 Peter 3:19, 20) Bible history shows that sex attraction played its part in this disobedience, causing, these spirit sons to come to earth, take on human form and thus leave their assigned place in Jehovah's service. Of the days of Noah before the flood, we read at Genesis 6:2: "Then the sons of the true God began to notice the daughters of men, that they were good-looking; and they went taking wives for themselves, namely, all whom they chose."
19 Jehovah God did not allow this to go on indefinitely. He brought a global flood of waters upon the earth, sweeping away all corrupt humanity and preserving only his faithful servants. Hence, the disobedient spirit sons had to dematerialize, that is, abandon human form and return to the spirit realm. Thereafter they are referred to as demons or evil spirits. Showing that God has not allowed them again to take up human form and has kept them in a degraded, condemned condition, Jude 6 says: "The angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place he [God] has reserved with eternal bonds under dense darkness for the judgment of the great day."
20 Since that time, and with the support of these wicked spirits or demons, Satan has been the "god" of this world and its corrupt systems. This may surprise you. But read John 14:30 and 2 Corinthians 4:4 and you will see that when God's Word speaks of the "ruler of the world" or "the god of this system of things" it does not refer to Jehovah God but to Satan the Devil. The apostle John writes: "The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one," and also refers to Satan as "misleading the entire inhabited earth."-1 John 5:19; Revelation 12:9.
21 The Bible, then, shows that there are not only good spirits, such as angels, but also demons or bad spirits. Knowledge of these truths is very important, for it is the key that opens the door for understanding the relationship of unseen spirits to us and the events of our daily lives. Let us see how accurate knowledge of God's Word helps us to find the answer to the following important questions.
WHERE DO SPIRIT MESSAGES COME FROM?
22 Many people in different parts of the earth believe that messages can be received from the spirit world. Typical of many who say they have received such messages is the experience of a certain young girl in Brazil. One day she began to hear "voices." She applied to spirit mediums for help. For years after that she would suddenly see a dark figure before her and she would go into a trance. In that state she would prescribe remedies for illnesses and do things to relieve persons who were under attack from superhuman forces.
23 Frequently a sick person may go to a spirit medium, medicine man or psychic healer in order to get something to cure his sickness. The medium tells him to go home and return in the morning. During the night the sick person, in a dream, is told what kind of root to take for his illness and where to find it. It is believed that this message comes from a dead relative, perhaps a grandmother whom he actually seems to see in the dream.
24 Most of those who believe in such messages also believe that their dead ancestors are alive in the spirit world and that these ancestors can either help or do harm to those living on earth. Members of Christendom's churches usually believe that at death the soul, which they say is immortal, goes to either heaven or hell, or, if they are Roman Catholics, that it may go to a place called purgatory before going to heaven. Some people, a minority, believe that death is the end, that there is no life after death. Human beliefs about the dead are clearly contradictory. Why not consider, then, what Jehovah God, the Almighty Spirit who created all life, has to say about this?
IS THE SOUL IMMORTAL?
25 Let us examine first the popular, widespread belief that the soul is immortal, that it can never die. Is that what you believe? How can any of us be sure? Certainly the One who created the soul should know, for he inhabits the spirit realm, being the Almighty Spirit, Jehovah God. The Bible says: "Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar." (Romans 3:4) Are you willing to accept God's word over that of men? What does the Bible reveal?
26 If you were to read the Bible from start to finish you might be surprised to find that what it says about the soul is very different from what so many people believe. First, you would find that the expression "immortal soul" does not appear anywhere in the Bible, not even once. On the other hand, you would find in various places that fish, birds and animals are all referred to as "souls,"-Genesis 1:20, 21, 24, 30; Numbers 31:28.
27 Perhaps even more surprising, at Numbers 23:10; Luke 6:9; Acts 3:23 and in many other scriptures you would find that a "soul" can be "destroyed." In the prophecy of Ezekiel, Jehovah God plainly tells us that "the soul that is sinning -it itself will die." (Ezekiel 18:4, 20) Since the soul dies, it clearly is not immortal.
28 The Bible shows plainly that immortality is not something we are born with, as so many people think. Among all the creatures of Jehovah God, the resurrected Jesus Christ is spoken of as "the one alone having immortality." (1 Timothy 6:16) And 1 Corinthians 15:50-54 states that, as a reward for their faithfulness to him, certain servants of God will receive immortality. This means that the popular belief that everyone is born with an immortal soul finds no support whatsoever in God's Word. In whose word, then, will we put our trust, in that of the Creator or in that of men? Surely the Almighty Spirit, Jehovah God, merits our confidence. Men may lie, but the God of truth does not.
THE REAL SOURCE OF SPIRIT MESSAGES
38 We have learned the identity of the ones inhabiting the spirit world. Besides the Almighty Spirit, Jehovah God, and his faithful angels, there are God's adversary, Satan, and his host of unfaithful angels or demons. We have seen the way in which God has provided his message or communication for us. It is through his inspired Word, the Bible, which he transmitted to faithful men in the past and which has been preserved till this day for our guidance.
39 What about these other messages then? Could it be that instead of coming from dead ancestors they come from God's adversary and his demons? Do you think it would be hard for such wicked angels to masquerade as or pretend to be the dead and thus deceive persons? Since Satan tried to deceive the first human pair about death, would this not be a clever way for him to try to support his false teaching? Yes, especially when we keep in mind that the Bible calls Satan "a liar and the father of the lie."-John 8:44.
40 But you may say: 'Why, then, do some of these messages seem to be good or helpful, as in the healing of illness by means of a certain spirit medium or medicine man?' God inspired the apostle Paul to give a very simple answer to this, saying: "There is nothing surprising about that; Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is therefore a simple thing for his agents to masquerade as agents of good." (2 Corinthians 11:14, 15, New English Bible) Obviously, to deceive and mislead people more easily, the demons often play the Part of being helpful. Paul gives further warning of this campaign of deception by saying: "Some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons."-1 Timothy 4:1.
41 If these spirit messages really were from a good source they would be all good, would they not? As Christ Jesus said: "Either you people make the tree fine and its fruit fine or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten; for by its fruit the tree is known." (Matthew 12:33) What kinds of "fruit" do we often find associated with these spirit communications?
42 Consider the case of a certain widow in Lisbon, Portugal. She read books about communicating with unseen spirits and began to hear a voice telling her how to write literature in French. This pleased her and she continued to receive such messages. Later, however, she began to hear frightening noises in her room at night. At times she even felt as if an invisible force was trying to push her down the stairs. What at first had the appearance of benefit now became a source of terror to her. Doubtless you have heard of persons having similar experiences, perhaps even worse problems, so that they went to the point of becoming desperate for relief. But is that the way the Great Spirit, Jehovah God, deals with people? The Bible tells us that God is love and that he wants us to love him. (1 John 4:8) And at 1 John 4:18 it says that we can approach Jehovah God with freeness of speech because "there is no fear in love, but perfect love throws fear outside . . . he that is under fear has not been made perfect in love."
43 Because he is love, the Great Spirit, our Creator, has our best interests at heart. He teaches us to be unselfish and to show others the same kind of love that he shows toward us. But what do we often find in connection with those practicing spiritism?
2007-11-18 16:10:39
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answer #8
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answered by EBONY 3
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