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On Belief |
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What
is the Angelic Conflict?
The Angelic conflict. It is the reason we exist, the reason we are who we are, the reason for sin and suffering and salvation. Though its beginning predates human history, it continues full force today, mostly unseen, but sometimes bursting into public awareness with calamaties like those of September 11. People ask how and why such a disaster could happen. Because of the Angelic conflict. But even as it shapes and permeates the bigger events of human history, so this conflict also shapes and permeates all aspects of our personal lives, though few indeed are aware of it. The ultimate conspiracy, its true nature and parameters remain among the most carefully guarded secrets of all time. For the devil has deceived the whole world, God tells us through the apostle John. He is the prince of the powers of the air, the ruler of the earth, the roaring lion prowling about seeking someone to devour. He is craftier than any serpent, able to appear as an angel of light, with a voice we can only compare to a pipe organ, or perhaps a full orchestra. Far superior to any of us in intellect, he has blinded the minds of men, both Christians and non-Christians alike, persuading them that there is no God, that they are not sinners, that they do not need grace, that they can please God with their own works -- that there is no devil, no hell, no unseen war at all. (1) At least, not one that affects them in any direct and relevant way. Oh, they've heard of it. You can hardly live in today's society and not come across the concept of good versus evil. Books, movies, video games -- it's everywhere, in a multitude of permutations that range from the abstract (evil as an unreasoning destructive force) to the personal (Satan against the servants of Good, or, more rarely, God).
It is a measure of Satan's genius that he uses all of them to disguise, obscure and pervert the truth. For through such means the conflict is often trivialized, portrayed in comic book fashion, with Satan as a great slavering monster. Drool glistens on his disastrous dentition as he rears up from the flames of his subterranean throne room to devour yet another hapless soul. Most people have never seen such a monster in their "real lives," nor are they likely to. They know it doesn't exist, and therefore conclude that neither does Satan. Or maybe they do believe such a thing exists, but it's down there in hell, where they don't plan on going. In any case, it has little bearing on their workaday world and they leave the theater or close the book having been amused and entertained, but not enlightened. Instead, one more layer of gauzy deception has wrapped itself around their spiritual vision. For Satan is not a slimy, slavering monster with terrible teeth and glowing slitty eyes, nor is he confined to a subterranean inferno ruling over souls he has stolen from life to eternally torment in death. The Bible says he is the most beautiful creature ever to come from the hand of God: Lucifer, son of the morning. He was the guardian of the throne of God, and persuaded at least a third of the angels to rebel against their perfect, righteous, holy creator. (These two things alone testify to his personal appeal, his beauty, his intellect and his charisma.) He has free access to heaven even now – when he is not roaming about the earth itself. (2) His greatest desire is not to destroy everything, nor to bring down a reign of darkness and fear and terror -- as so many fantasies would have us believe. He does not intend to be a fiend, but to be like God, to rule in God's place, to be worshipped and loved and praised as God is worshipped and loved and praised.(3) If things go wrong in the nations and institutions he controls, it is far more likely the result of his inability to manage the sinful nature of man than because he intends for things to be a mess. Not that there aren't things he wishes to destroy. There are: the word of God, the reputation of Jesus, the true memory of the Cross and what occurred there, the Gospel, any Believer advancing in God's Plan for his life; local churches proclaiming the truth, nations that operate under Divine laws; the Jews . . . He has as many plans to implement these desires as he does those to bring about his planned perfect world.(4) But I get ahead of myself. How is it exactly that things have come to this? The Bible teaches that before the creation of man, a conflict arose between God and His angels when Satan attempted to ascend to the mount of heaven and wrest God's rulership away from Him. The resulting battle left the surface of the earth in ruins (tohu wa bohu) and packed in ice. Presumably at this point the trial occurred that found Satan and his cronies guilty and sentenced them to the Lake of Fire.(5)
Through the genius of his plan, using the free will decisions of the original perfect man and woman, God arranged that all the rest of us would begin life condemned as sinners and rebels, just as Satan is condemned.(7) Then He would take on the form of this lower being Himself --that had to be an incredible shock to all of the angelic creation -- and, more shocking still, allow these pitiful, dust-bodied, sinful, stupid, gullible men to abuse Him and mock Him and finally nail Him to a Roman Cross in an attempt to destroy Him. Only to turn it around and bear the penalty for the sins of those same sinful, stupid, vicious people -- and all the rest of us besides -- and thus neutralize the claims His justice had against us so that we could live with Him and fellowship with Him forever. There is no greater demonstration of love than this. (And by analogy it must show the angels what He was willing to do for them when they fell, though scripture makes no direct mention of this.) (8) Those people who reject that love, and the gift it has provided do not escape their state of condemnation.(9) Eventually – and eternally -- they will reap the consequences of their free will decisions against Him, just as Satan and his followers will one day reap theirs. All of it clearly demonstrates that God is indeed fair and just and right, and that the fallen angels do deserve the sentence they have received. There is more, though, for God is nothing if not
thorough. Salvation from eternal condemnation is just the beginning of God's
plan for those who believe and accept the gift. As He has delivered us from
the power of sin in eternity, so He wishes to deliver us from its power in
time. He wants to bless us in the devil's world, a world of sin, by giving us
the privilege of testifying in this great trial as It is, naturally, Satan's objective to see that we fail. To turn us into witnesses for the defense, to embarrass ourselves and our loved ones and, most of all, the One we claim to serve. He wants to deceive us and use us against each other, to confuse us and scare us and neutralize us. He wants to get us distracted with inconsequential issues, making mountains out of molehills, wasting our lives as the Exodus generation wasted theirs -- wandering in circles in the wilderness, ignorant, ineffectual and ignominious. Above all he wants to keep us out of that Promised Land of blessing beyond imagination that is the province of the spiritually mature believer.(11) If we are not well trained and equipped in matters spiritual, he will succeed against us. We must be humble enough to recognize our need, humble enough to submit ourselves to the authority of our pastors and of the word itself, to study it as we study no other subject, burning it into our brains, then using it in our lives. Man does not live by bread alone, says our Lord, but by the word of God. As we eat physical food on a daily basis, so we should eat spiritual food as well. It is the key to temporal victory. For apart from the knowledge of the word of God -- and the application of that knowledge to our lives -- we will be left to wander among the rocks, whining and mewing about our misfortunes, always wondering why, never really understanding what is going on, casualties in a war we don't know we're even fighting.(12) _________________________________________________________ There are many other parts to the Angelic conflict, as I mentioned above -- parts that relate to the nations, parts that relate to the Jews, parts that answer questions like "Why 9-11?" The doctrine of the Angelic conflict is lengthy and complex, as one would expect it to be. Since my intent here is to provide only a general summary, there is much I have left out. It is, however, the basis for the fantasy and
science fiction novels that I write, published by Bethany House. Arena and the first three books of
my Legends of the Guardian-King series have all won Christy Awards, which
are given to honor excellence in Christian fiction. I invite you to investigate
them by clicking HERE, or on the “My Books” link on the sidebar at left, or
at the bottom of this page. Readers interested in further academic study may consult The Invisible War by Dr. Donald Barnhouse. Lewis Sperry Chafer also offers a couple of brief chapters on it in his Major Bible Themes. Both of these books are currently available through Amazon.com or Christianbook.com. Studies of greater depth and scope (and more immediate availability) may be found at the website of Grace Bible Church (Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin), where you can download the doctrine as a printable word document (there are 28 pages with lots of scripture to back up the points) or listen to a series of 57 hour-long lessons by Pastor McLaughlin via real audio. The lessons are also available on a CD or as audio cassette tapes. All of it is free of charge, since Grace Bible Church operates on a grace basis with regard to its tapes, publications and Internet ministry. I strongly urge you to check out this excellent resource if you are at all interested in increasing your knowledge about the angelic conflict. Copyright 2002 Karen Hancock ______________________ Ephesians 2:2 John 12:31 Matthew 4:8,9 Ezekiel 28:13 2 Corinthians 11:3, 14, 15 Isaiah 14:12 Revelation 12:4 Job 1:6, 7 Revelation 12:10 2 Thessalonians 2:4 (4) 2 Corinthians 11:3,4, 13-15 I Timothy 4:1 Jeremiah 4:23-26 Genesis 1:2 -- tohu wa bohu is also used in Jeremiah 4:23 to describe the results of a battle which occurred at a time when “there was no man” (vs 25), ie, in pre history. Vs 26 adds that it was done by the Lord in “fierce anger” Matthew 25:41 Revelation 20:10 (6) I Corinthians 4:9 “spectacle” = theatron, the place where public dramas were shown back
Romans 5:18 John 6: 47, 51 Job 1, 2 Job 42 I Corinthians 4:9 Hebrews 12: 1 (11) 2 Corinthians 11: 3, 4, 13-15 I Timothy 4:1 I Corinthians 10:19-21 Galatians 3:23 Matthew 19: 16-28 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 8-10 Luke 4:4 Jeremiah 15:16 |
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Since Satan is obviously not yet
in the Lake of Fire, the logical extrapolation is that he appealed his sentence.
We can speculate a number of grounds on which he is making this appeal, but
one that seems to carry the most weight is an accusation against God's
character we hear often enough in life: how can a loving God cast His
creatures into hell? To answer this appeal, God created man, a lower being,
and set him into the great stadium of earth, an open theater for all the
angels to observe.
Invisible Heroes, witnesses for
the Prosecution. To that end, He has provided everything, all the power and
knowledge we need to do this. We have only to take advantage of it, though
that, again, is a matter of choice. A matter of many choices made day after
day after day all the way to the end of our lives.