Phillips - Angels and Demons: The Complete Guide to Understanding How They Operate

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A NGELS AND D EMONS by Ron Phillips

Published by Charisma House

Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group

600 Rinehart Road

Lake Mary, Florida 32746

www.charismahouse.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked MEV are taken from the Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright 2014 by Military Bible Association. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Copyright 2015 by Ron Phillips

All rights reserved

Cover design by Justin Evans

Visit the authors website at www.RonPhillips.org .

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

An application to register this book for cataloging has been submitted to the Library of Congress.

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-62998-034-8

E-book ISBN: 978-1-62998-039-3

Portions of this book were previously published by Charisma House as Our Invisible Allies , copyright 2009, ISBN 978-1-59979-523-2, and Everyones Guide to Demons and Spiritual Warfare , copyright 2010, ISBN 978-1-61638-127-1.

CONTENTS

O N D ECEMBER 20, 1857, C HARLES S PURGEON D ELIVERED A sermon called The First Christmas Carol. In that sermon Spurgeon spoke of the believer and his angelic allies. He began his sermon with these words:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

L UKE 2:14, KJV

It is superstitious to worship angels; it is but proper to love them. Although it would be a high sin, and an act of misdemeanor against the Sovereign Court of Heaven to pay the slightest adoration to the mightiest angel, yet it would be unkind and unseemly, if we did not give to holy angels a place in our hearts warmest love. In fact, he that contemplates the character of angels, and marks their many deeds of sympathy with men, and kindness towards them, cannot resist the impulse of his naturethe impulse of love towards them. The one incident in angelic history, to which our text refers, is enough to weld our hearts to them forever. How free from envy the angels were! Christ did not come from heaven to save their compeers when they fell. When Satan, the mighty angel, dragged with him a third part of the stars of heaven, Christ did not stoop from his throne to die for them; but he left them to be reserved in chains and darkness until the last great day. Yet angels did not envy men. Though they remembered that he took not up angels, yet they did not murmur when he took up the seed of Abraham; and though the blessed Master had never condescended to take the angels form, they did not think it beneath them to express their joy when they found him arrayed in the body of an infant. How free, too, they were from pride! They were not ashamed to come and tell the news to humble shepherds. Methinks they had as much joy in pouring out their songs that night before the shepherds, who were watching with their flocks, as they would have had if they had been commanded by their Master to sing their hymn in the halls of Caesar. Mere menmen possessed with pride, think it a fine thing to preach before kings and princes; and think it great condescension now and then to have to minister to the humble crowd. Not so the angels. They stretched their willing wings, and gladly sped from their bright seats above, to tell the shepherds on the plain by night, the marvelous story of an Incarnate God. And mark how well they told the story, and surely you will love them! Not with the stammering tongue of him that tells a tale in which he hath no interest; nor even with the feigned interest of a man that would move the passions of others, when he feeleth no emotion himself; but with joy and gladness, such as angels only can know. They sang the story out, for they could not stay to tell it in heavy prose. They sang, Glory to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men. Methinks they sang it with gladness in their eyes; with their hearts burning with love, and with breasts as full of joy as if the good news to man had been good news to themselves. And, verily, it was good news to them, for the heart of sympathy makes good news to others, good news to itself. Do you not love the angels? Ye will not bow before them, and there ye are right; but will ye not love them? Doth it not make one part of your anticipation of heaven, that in heaven you shall dwell with the holy angels, as well as with the spirits of the just made perfect? Oh, how sweet to think that these holy and lovely beings are our guardians every hour! They keep watch and ward about us, both in the burning noontide, and in the darkness of the night. They keep us in all our ways; they bear us up in their hands, lest at any time we dash our feet against stones. They unceasingly minister unto us who are the heirs of salvation; both by day and night they are our watchers and our guardians, for know ye not, that the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.

As we explore the mystical world of the angels, may we come to love them for their faithful service to the triune God and their tender service to us. May they be welcome in our churches, our homes, and our workplaces. May we enjoy their companionship until they carry us across the great divide to the world where there is no death.

D URING O PERATION D ESERT S TORM IN 1991, THIRTY-FIVE nations formed a coalition with the United States, making a total of thirty-six nations, against Saddam Hussein to bring Kuwait back under the leadership of the emir of Kuwait. This coalition created such a powerful force against Iraq that the air strike began and ended within six weeks. Iraq surrendered after these bombings and a four-day ground campaign.

This operation was extremely successful because the leaders of these countries came together, agreed on a common goal, organized their attack, and created a fair and uniform way to direct their troops, which promoted unity, easy communication, and a shared goal.

Each of these thirty-six countries supplied troops based on their military resources. While the United States and Great Britain supplied the most, every country supplied a particular number of troops to champion the cause. As a result, each nation only had to supply a small amount of resources in order to accomplish the goal of liberating Kuwait from Iraq. The strategy was masterfully executed, and because of the formation of this coalition, the sacrifice from each country was minimal.

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