Through insights from the saints we can come to understand the nature of angels and demons. We cannot learn anything from Dan Brown, who clearly channels demons when he writes the endings to books like Angels and Demons. But from writers like St. John of Damascus, we can understand just enough about spiritual beings to realize our need for armor.
First, about angels:
The angel's nature then is rational, and intelligent, and endowed with free will, changeable in will, or fickle. For all that is created is changeable, and only that which is uncreated is unchangeable. Also all that is rational is endowed with free will. As it is, then, rational and intelligent, it is endowed with free will: and as it is created, it is changeable, having power either to abide or progress in goodness, or to turn towards evil…
…They are not hemmed in by walls and doors, and bars and seals, for they are quite unlimited. Unlimited, I repeat, for it is not as they really are that they reveal themselves to the worthy men to whom God wishes them to appear, but in a changed form which the beholders are capable of seeing.
…they have not a bodily form by nature, nor are they tended in three dimensions. But to whatever post they may be assigned, there they are present after the manner of a mind and energize, and cannot be present and energize in various places at the same time…
They are mighty and prompt to fulfill the will of the Deity, and their nature is endowed with such celerity that wherever the Divine glance bids them there they are straightway found. They are the guardians of the divisions of the earth: they are set over nations and regions, allotted to them by their Creator: they govern all our affairs and bring us comfort. And the reason surely is because they are set over us by the divine will and command and are ever in the vicinity of God.
(De Fide Orthadoxa, Book 2, Chapter 3)
On the first pass, that sounds like terrific news. The angels guide us and our nations, govern our affairs, and bring us comfort. They guard us, and saying the “Angel of God” prayer is a good reminder of what they are actively doing for us at all times. When this prayer is said, take heart to consider what it means.
Angel of God, my guardian dear,to whom God’s love commits me here,ever this day be at my side,to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.
So we must pray for their intercession, their guidance. We ask the angels and the saints to pray for us, just as we ask Mary to intercede and pray for us. We are in a spiritual battle, so enlisting help must be done daily. There is no such thing as a one-person army (which made the U.S. Army’s ad campaign of “An Army of One” very odd to me, as it targeted the self over the team). This is also why “spiritual but not religious” makes you a one-man-band as opposed to a member of a massive force of people and angels working together. As Pink Floyd asked, “Did you exchange a walk on part in the war, for a lead role in a cage?” The cage is your self, and that is what you trade when you give up the community of faith for the solitude of “I’m spiritual but not religious.” A bird in a flock makes sense. A bird in a cage does not.
Unfortunately, many have been driven from the church, thinking that it feels like a cage, when it should feel like a flock. This is evidence that we have failed to teach the faith well, especially key things like the joy, the mystery, and the aim of holiness and humility before God. This has chased the baptized out so that they look for holiness in other places, like concerts and fitness centers, and they will never find what they are looking for in those places.
Being a standalone believer, with a “lead role in a cage,” makes for easy sniping for the devil and the demons. As any addict knows, the devil wants you alone. He wants you isolated so that you pick up again. Whether it is a drug, a drink, a porn site, sports gambling - or whatever unhealthy attachment haunts you. Never forget that the devil is the divider, the accuser, and solitude is what he requires to re-employ you for his work.
What does St. John of Damascus have to tell us about demons? Can he help us articulate what they are and how they came about? He can.
He who from among these angelic powers was set over the earthly realm, and into whose hands God committed the guardianship of the earth, was not made wicked in nature but was good, and made for good ends, and received from his Creator no trace whatever of evil in himself. But he did not sustain the brightness and the honor which the Creator had bestowed on him, and of his free choice was changed from what was in harmony to what was at variance with his nature, and became roused against God Who created him, and determined to rise in rebellion against Him: and he was the first to depart from good and become evil…along with him an innumerable host of angels subject to him were torn away and followed him and shared in his fall. Wherefore, being of the same nature as the angels, they became wicked, turning away at their own free choice from good to evil. (De Fide Orthadoxa, Book 2, Chapter 4)
St. John of Damascus has more to say about this, and this should probably scare and encourage you at the same time. God lets the demons prevail when he sees it working for our salvation:
…they have no power or strength against any one except what God in His dispensation has conceded to them. But when God has made the concession they do prevail, and are changed and transformed into any form whatever in which they wish to appear.
This makes for a profound claim, because it re-introduces the old line, “The devil made me do it” and seems to suggest that we do not have free will after all. This is the timeless question about free will: If God wills all things, then whatever I do is willed by God and I have no agency, no free will. Likewise, if God lets the demons prevail over us, then we cannot be culpable for our actions. This plays into the hands of the Lady Gaga “Born this way” argument and also the classic plea of “The devil made me do it.”
But how about an option that treats you like a grown-up instead of some damsel in distress? Is there an option that makes for a hopeful sinner instead of a helpless sinner?
Yes.
God gives us trials that lead us to the truth. We are tested. As fallen beings, we are compromised but not broken. We may be born with the urge to sin, but we do have free will. I would think today’s gamer culture would love this option to level-up. For all the motivational speeches, from TED Talks to Peloton commercials and Nike ads, the idea of “born this way” seems a bit pathetic. We are told to achieve our goals, to strive, to work toward progress, in just about everything - except for holiness. Receiving a trophy or showing off fleeting six-pack abs pales in comparison to the pursuit of partaking in the divine nature and seeking eternal life. Once you awaken to the fact that what you want in this world is rather pitiful, the joy of pursuing a life that imitates Christ becomes the only career that even makes sense.
Trials we face become different when seen in the light of Christ. Once you realize this path forward is guided by the Holy Spirit, all tests and trials suddenly become fortifiers of your faith:
The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are necessary for the growth of the inner man, and temptation, which leads to sin and death. We must also discern between being tempted and consenting to temptation. Finally, discernment unmasks the lie of temptation, whose object appears to be good, a "delight to the eyes" and desirable, when in reality its fruit is death.
God does not want to impose the good, but wants free beings.... There is a certain usefulness to temptation. No one but God knows what our soul has received from him, not even we ourselves. But temptation reveals it in order to teach us to know ourselves, and in this way we discover our evil inclinations and are obliged to give thanks for the goods that temptation has revealed to us. (CCC 2847)
Not only do we have choices to make, but so did the angels, and some of them chose poorly. Yet we can fight. We have a role to play, like the smallest character in the saga of Middle Earth, we are cast in the great play, and we can stand in the light of Christ or hide with our fig leaves in darkness. This is powerful knowledge.
And we are culpable. We are responsible. One of our mistaken thoughts is to assume that we alone are the center of the universe, and that God’s will is only for us. There are billions of people here on earth. God’s plan is for all people and all nations. Tim Keller uses a great metaphor in Rediscovering Jonah about how a general commands his army in battle. He doesn’t go to to each soldier and have a sit down about what the battle plan is, and he doesn’t encourage each one with a therapy session. The general sets the plan and says, “Charge!” and those on his side go, while those against him desert the regiment or join the enemy. His plan and ways exceed our understanding. We know the rules of being in his army, and to follow him we need to turn (recall that to repent just means “to turn”) our eyes back to Christ. He is the general. There is no such thing as an “Army of One.” An Army of One is an individual, not an army.
When we turn our eyes away, we slip up. When we fail to surrender, we try to win alone. This is what the demons count on, and their whispers to us cause us to slowly turn away from God, often even telling us that we are looking at God when they are just holding up a mirror to our faces. The devil can quote scripture and coax us into bad ideas, bad patterns of living, and he can do it repeatedly if we don’t do daily battle in prayer and with others in the faith. Demons suggest that we worry, they make us afraid, and they tell us to wall ourselves in. A quarter they like to put in the arcade of our minds is: “You are not good enough, you are not lovable.” They remind us that we are naked and exposed and vulnerable, so that we need to gather fig leaves from the bushes of wealth, power, pleasure, or honor. They speak Babel to us, telling us that we must fight, flee, or freeze, and we know that common language all too well.
More from St. John of Damascus on demons:
God reveals the future to the angels and commands them to prophesy, and so what they say comes to pass. But the demons also make predictions, sometimes because they see what is happening at a distance, and sometimes merely making guesses: hence much that they say is false and they should not be believed, even although they do often, in the way we have said, tell what is true. Besides they know the Scriptures.
All wickedness, then, and all impure passions are the work of their mind. But while the liberty to attack man has been granted to them, they have not the strength to over master any one: for we have it in our power to receive or not to receive the attack. Wherefore there has been prepared for the devil and his demons, and those who follow him, fire unquenchable and everlasting punishment.
Note, further, that what in the case of man is death is a fall in the case of angels. For after the fall there is no possibility of repentance for them, just as after death there is for men no repentance. (De Fide Orthadoxa, Book 2, Chapter 4)
I’m not sure if this is a terror or a comfort to know, but knowing that demons have been granted “the liberty to attack man” means that our trials have meaning. The seemingly trite comment from your aunt or crazy Christian friend that “Everything happens for a reason” becomes less crazy the longer you live. As experiences stack up and hindsight comes into view, the trials make sense, but only if you repent - that is, turn toward God. Trials make no sense when we are turned away.
By surrendering to God, we become citizens in a new nation. As immigrants must take a test to become “naturalized” in America, we merely need to turn over our hearts and minds to become members of God’s nation. By giving up all control to God, he takes us under his watch, with St. Michael as our bodyguard, and a guardian angel to follow us everywhere we go. This becomes a far better defense than the U.S. Army. You have protection and overwatch at all times. I can think of no good reason why the Prayer of St. Michael should not be said daily, like a pledge of allegiance to God Most High, where we ask for help from the warriors, the elect, the angels.
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle;be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God,cast into hell Satan and the other evil spiritswho prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
People today are uncomfortable with this language, because it is taboo to talk about spirits. This is exactly what the devil wants. In the movie, The Usual Suspects, this quote says it all: “The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” That’s where we are at, where polite society shies away from any kind of Jesus talk. Why? Because polite society has rejected him and winks at every story where he “casts out a demon.” They have turned to other answers, like psychology and medicine as the only answer for the mental illnesses healed in Jesus’ ministry.
The word Jesus is now a litmus test to find out where someone is at, of which side they are on. This is a door that must be open or closed. God does not allow the door to be halfway open. If the door to sin is cracked open at all, the door is considered fully open. Given our endless battle against evil thoughts and spirits, we can only shut the gate to hell with the grace of God. Grace stops sin in its tracks. The door to hell is heavy, and only with God’s strength can it be closed. The reason the door to hell is usually portrayed as a gaping mouth is because sin will eat you, it will swallow you, like a dragon or monster. St. George can only slay the dragon and not get eaten because he fights with God at his side. How does he do that? Before George kills the dragon with one thrust of his sword, he makes the Sign of the Cross and asks for God’s help. That’s how it’s done.
When Jesus said he was a sword, he wasn’t kidding. His name splits groups in half, with those who believe on one side, and those who become uncomfortable hearing the word on the other.
After Babel, God allowed spirits to rule the nations, delegating control to them. This is something we gloss over today, because we don’t really believe in spirits, and for most cherry-picking Bible readers, because we don’t even really believe in God, if we’re honest. Remember, we don’t just speak English, we speak Babel. We want competition and pleasure all the time. Ain’t nobody got time for nonsense about spirits, angels, and demons. In fact, if someone were to admit in a business meeting that they believe in angels, they would be considered an idiot. Fortunately, this is one of those promises from Jesus, that being mocked for faith in Him and all that comes with Him is a sure sign of being on the right track.
This denial of spirits is why we miss so much of what is happening in the Bible. Our modernist ears and eyes are so disenchanted that we give more credence to Harry Potter magic spells than to the religious truth of the Bible, because whenever a spirit enters the story, our reason drives our belief out. This is a shame because there is far more going on in the epic story of the Bible than what’s happening at Hogwarts. But you have to believe in God first, and believe in Jesus as the second person of the Trinity, to really understand what is happening. It’s much easier to accept the fantasy Harry Potter because we know he’s an invention sprung from a writer’s head. Choosing to believe in Christ as the living son of God means changing every single aspect of our life. So to play it safe, we put words like Jesus, God, spirits, souls, etc. all on a shelf.
When you read Genesis, it’s important to understand these points about “the nations”:
* the Tower of Babel is the last thing that happens before we meet Abraham.
* The formation of the people of Israel begins with Abraham.
* The nation of Israel is in a world that is fully fallen and lives among nations that are ruled by demonic powers.
* The nations dislike Israel because they will not bend the knee to false gods (Well, some of the Israelites won’t bend the knee, but plenty do - repeatedly.)
* The remainder of the Old Testament is God guiding and leading the Chosen people from Abraham to Mary.
* All people will be “blessed” through Abraham’s descendent, meaning Jesus. All people = All nations = Both gentiles and Jews
A lot of death and genocide happens in this journey as the sole people of God Most High must fight, scrap, and survive among the 70 nations, which are ruled by demons, or another way of saying it is that the nations worship false gods. For those who dislike Israel’s warring, they forget how many times the nation of Israel is on the receiving end of brutal warfare, and experiences enslavement and genocide on the wrong end of the gun, so to speak. As for the hard sayings in the books of Joshua and Judges, regarding total war and the genocidal commands of God, I would refer you to look into a book by Michael Heiser called Unseen Realm. The commands to the Israelite army in the conquest of the Promised Land is unique and strange. Joshua and company cannot simply waltz into the Promised Land because there is something already there, something much darker than what we can easily discern from the text. Nations that worship fallen angels, a.k.a. demons, are the only targets of God’s heavy-hammer of genocidal war. The doctrine of Just War applies only to these specific clans in Palestine. How God deals with enemies in Joshua and Judges must be compared with how he deals with other nations. Reasons for the brutal warfare in these books are alluded to regarding what these nations are doing. An ethnic cleansing is the literal reading here, as the Chosen nation of the God Most High works vigorously toward the fulfillment of the covenant to take the land. This occupation of the land is a pre-requisite to the Messianic age that we are living in today. If you cannot stomach the Promised Land struggle, I would suggest combing through the Six Approaches on the website Reason and Theology. Much ink has been spilled on this topic, but I feel like Heiser and others, like Fr. Stephen de Young, are catching onto something deep and important from texts unearthed with the Dead Sea Scrolls that we are only beginning to understand, and it requires reading the book of Enoch alongside the Old Testament. I can’t dive into this here because it would requires another set of articles and episodes of its own to fully explore.
One thing is certain: it is a lonely world to be staying true to the one true God. The same is a fact today, as anti-Jewish and anti-Christian sentiments are rising in America. But like any life lived with conviction, Israel’s formation as a nation requires great sacrifice, struggle, and often battle for both establishment and survival. You cannot get to Mary without the conquest of Canaan. Later, when Israel squares off against the mega-armies of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, they fail to win. Being the only nation that worships Yahweh makes for difficult passages wherever they go, but amid this whole story there is an all-important plot playing within the larger narrative.
This huge story is zeroing in the entire time on a path to the home of a teenage girl, where:
“In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” (Lk 1:26-28)
Gabriel comes to Mary in the fallen world where the nations are still ruled by demons. All of the nation-building narrative, all of journeying in the desert, the wars, the kings, the captivity, all of that is preface to the moment with Mary. The chaos, the Creation, the Fall, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, are preface to Abraham. Genesis from chapters 1 to 11 are explaining how the fallen world came to be the way it is. From Abraham to Mary: that is the story of how the nation of the chosen people delivered and lasted through centuries of struggle to protect and guard the lineage that brought forth the Mother of God.
And that’s where the story starts to get really interesting.
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