Fallen Angels: The Masters of Deceit

I have entitled my sermon this morning, Fallen Angels: The Masters of Deceit. I have three brief Scripture lessons this morning; the first is from John’s Gospel:

John 8:44 ESV

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The next lesson is from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 11:14 ESV

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Finally, from 2 Thessalonians:

2 Thessalonians 2:9 ESV

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,

The common thread through each of these readings is deceit. According to Jesus, Satan is the master liar and all of his followers, be they angelic or human, share in his skill at lying.

I cannot stress how important this is. I fear that most Christians underestimate the power of the forces of darkness and their ability to deceive us. This is especially true when we do not take seriously the supernatural biblical worldview. The culture we live in is anti-supernatural, anti-religion and most of all anti-Christ! The cultural air we breathe opens us up to deceit.

My goal this morning is to fortify you with the truth, in order that you will not fall prey to the lies of Satan and his followers. We begin in 1 Corinthians 8 and 2 Corinthians 10, where Paul teaches about idols and the demons that lay behind them.

The “gods”, Who are Not “gods”

Many falsely accuse Paul of contradicting himself in 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 8, as we will learn next week, Paul teaches that the purchase and consumption of meat that comes from an animal who had been sacrificed to an idol, is not inherently sinful. Then in chapter 10, he absolutely forbids Christians to participate in these idolatrous ceremonies. Is Paul contradicting himself? No! A careful reading of both passages reveals that this is not a contradiction. In both 1 Corinthians 8 and 1 Corinthians 10, Paul wants to make it clear that it nothing more than the material from out of which it is made and that it has no power to “pollute” the meat.

1 Corinthians 8:4 (ESV)

...we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”

and

1 Corinthians 10:19–20 (ESV)

What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No...

This is why a Christian can purchase meat at the local meat market without being overly concerned about whether or not that meat came from an animal sacrificed to idols. The idol itself has no power; it is nothing more than a piece of metal, stone or wood.

However, Paul is concerned in both passages about the fallen angelic beings who are behind idols. Listen carefully to 1 Corinthians 8 as I read it again:

1 Corinthians 8:4–6 ESV

Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

The idols that people call “gods” do indeed have something behind them that can be called a “god” or “lord”.

Who or what is behind idols? In chapter 10, Paul tells us.

1 Corinthians 10:14–21 ESV

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

The “so-called gods” that are behind idols are demons! Demons are not the creation of human imagination, they are real and they are dangerous! In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul gives us this warning:

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

This is why any participation in the demonic, be it playing with a Ouija boards, consulting the astrology in the local newspaper, having your palm read at the county fair or participating in any form of witchcraft is playing with fire. You may play with fire one hundred times and not be burned, but sooner or later you will be burned! When a person participates in these type of activities, they are giving demons permission to influence their lives and as we will see in the next point, this is something you do not want.

Miracles, Which are Not Miraculous

In the passage which I read from 2 Thessalonians, Paul states that from the Man of Lawlessness will come “false signs and wonders” (2 Thess 2:9). In other words, they appear to us as miraculous, but they are not. In Mark Twain’s novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, a 19th-century engineer by the name of Hank Morgan who finds himself back in the 6th-century. With his advanced technological knowledge, he is able to convince King Arthur and his court that he is a powerful magician.

This is similar to what is going one with fallen angels and the people they empower. Consider with me, how much more powerfully angels are able to deceive than a Connecticut Yankee.

Firstly, they are spiritual beings. By their very nature, they are able to do things that to us appear miraculous.

Secondly, because they were created higher than we were, they have a superior intellect.

Third, because they once dwelt in heaven and have now been in existence for more than 6000 years, they are technologically more advanced than we are. We commonly speak of the miracle of modern medicine or of space flight. These are amazing technological achievements, but compared to the fallen angels’ technology, our achievements are neo-lithic! Imagine how easily a fallen angel could deceive us into thinking that they are actual gods.

I find it interesting that both the founder of Islam and the founder of Mormonism claim they received their religion from an angel they meet in the wilderness. Without question, these were fallen angels. Now imagine yourself back in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt or Greece. It is not hard to imagine that fallen angels manifested themselves to these ancient people as “gods”, doing all sorts of signs and wonders in order to deceive them.

Both Jesus and the apostles warn Christians about false miracles. In addition to the passage we read from earlier, Jesus warns:

Matthew 24:24 ESV

For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

When we come to the section of 1 Corinthians concerning spiritual gifts, we need to keep this in mind. In the Pentecostal and charismatic movement, people wrongly assume that where they see the spirit moving, that spirit is the Holy Spirit. This according to Jesus, is not the cause. Rather than by miracles, we are to judge teachers by how faithful they are to Scripture.

This brings me to one of the massive demonic deceptions of our own day: UFOs. Some of you may be shocked that I am even bringing this up in a sermon, but for some time now, people have been abandoning the Christian faith and falling into apostasy because of this deception. I fear that before this month ends, the faith of many will be shaken. If you are not aware, the government will be releasing a major report in a few days about UFOs. Enough has already been leaked that we know this: Our military is encountering flying object that can fly at speeds and in ways that our vehicles cannot. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that adversaries have such technology. Already, it is being widely claimed that the only remaining option is that these vehicles are piloted by beings from another planet. I want to suggest that this is not the only option. In fact, I will go so far as to say the only reasonable explanation is that they are demonic.

Extraterrestrials, Who are Not “Extraterrestrials”

It is often reported that these objects “defy the laws of physics”. When you hear this, you need to understand something: although we can constantly fine-tune our understanding of physics we are not going to suddenly replace it. For example, Einstein did not replace Newtonian physics he simply fine-tuned it. Our knowledge of basic physics is rock solid and what the laws of physics tell us is this: a physical object cannot travel faster than the speed of light. Therefore, interstellar travel space travel is and always will be the stuff of science fiction. There are no little green men traveling between the stars in flying saucers.

There are however, spiritual beings visiting our planet from another dimension, the Bible calls them demons or fallen angels. Moreover, as we have been learning they are more than capable of doing everything that is being reported. I find it interesting that when UFO proponents read the book of Ezekiel, they see UFOs, when the text clearly identifies them as angels.

A wide range of Christian theologians, scientists and apologists, including John Ankerberg, Mike Heiser, Hugh Ross and Gary Bates have pointed out the similarities between Satanic and occult practices and “so-called” alien abductions. Moreover, a large number of the individual Christians have interviewed who claim to have been the victim of alien abductions have reported prior occultic activities. Earlier in my message, I warned about the danger of opening ourselves up to demonic activities. This is exactly what I meant. Reading a horoscope or playing with an Ouija board are not “innocent” fun, they are violations against God’s law and they are dangerous beyond anything you can imagine!

As I close this message, I want to remind you of what the apostle John teaches us:

1 John 4:4 (ESV)

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

As powerful as these fallen angels are, we who are in Christ have nothing to fear.

This assurance hinges upon one thing however, being in Christ. Have you united yourself to Christ in faith? We live in a very scary world. There are forces more dark and sinister than Hollywood could ever imagine seeking to destroy us. This is why the Messiah, the Christ, is portrayed throughout Scripture as a Warrior. As Martin Luther reminds us in his famous hymn, “without the right man on our side, our striving would be losing”. So once again, I ask, “Are you in Christ?”

If not, as I pray, join me in your heart and ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. Let us pray.