Evil Angels, Spiritual Deception and Demon Possession

By: Dr. John Ankerberg and Dr.John Weldon; ©2012

In the world today most people believe in the existence of evil, but few recognize the existence of the devil who accounts for great evil.

Evil Angels, Spiritual Deception and Demon Possession

We think that the reason demons are impersonating good angels today is not only for purposes of spiritual deception, theologically and philosophically, but also so that they can easily oppress and possess people through the guise of “higher consciousness” and “profound” angelic contact and “union with God.” In order to do this, the angels must establish trust with their human contacts, and this may be accomplished when they appear as ghosts, poltergeist phenomena, good angels, or spirits of the dead. In other words, as different in nature than the evil spirits that they are. A Book of Angels tells us,

When a spirit enters a room, you feel a chill…. When it touches you or when its body passes through you, you feel an arctic cold…. But angels are different, and no one who has seen an angel ever mistakes it for a ghost. Angels are remarkable for their warmth and light…. You are flooded with laughter, happiness…. Angels give aid, or bring messages of hope, but what they do not do is wander, earth bound, like the lonely spirits who are dead.^[1]

Obviously, the popular angels camouflage themselves for hidden purposes. Sophy Burnham observes, “Why is it that angels like disguise? It seems they take whatever form the visited person is willing to accept; and sometimes no form at all—a dream, a thought, a surge of power, a sense of guidance.”^[2]

Another ruse is when the angels discredit the Christian interpretation beforehand. Here, Christians are agents of the “devil,” falling prey to false ideas and the consequences of their own misinterpretation of angels as demons. Rosemary Guiley emphasizes,

If we start mistrusting the agents of light, fearing that they are demons in disguise, then we paralyze ourselves—which is precisely what the dark side wants. They would like us to trust nothing and encase ourselves trembling in fear. Fear is the best weapon the darkness has. Fear is the fertile breeding ground for all evil…. The engines of darkness have terrible power, but nonetheless, they cannot stand up to the greater, more awesome power of light and love.^[3]

Another deception is when demons seem as kind, loving, and protective as possible.

The angels love us always. Think about how important trust is in your relationship to the angels…. I know that I can rely on the angels to teach me more about the true value of trust…. I know that the angels are taking good care of my soul…. Angels are truly everywhere—kind beings who only want to help and to love us…. We, your angelic teachers,… [promise] you are held eternally in divine love…. We, your angelic teachers, ask you to accept that…. your long-term best interests are always being considered.^[4]

Besides sounding warm and sincere, the popular angels also appeal to people’s egos, to what they want to hear, to their use of intuition alone rather than linked to rational thinking:

Vulnerability isn’t weakness; it is spiritual strength…. Living in the moment is one of the most significant universal teachings for improving the quality of your life…. Truth is the acceptance of your spirit’s voice and a willingness… to honor the Force that brings you life…. Prayers… are met with immediate and direct angelic attention and intervention…. Life is confusing when you listen only to your rational thinking…. Your heart, your inner mind or spirit, is the great conveyor of wisdom and truth…. We, your angelic teachers, expect nothing of you save that you listen to your heart….” ^[5]

By appealing to human naïveté and the baser instincts in the guise of heavenly spiritual guidance, demons are able to get people exactly where they want them: to possess them. Spirit possession is a universal phenomenon in pagan cultures throughout history. And with the modern revival of the New Age movement, the occult, Eastern religions, channeling, and now the popular angel phenomena, spirit possession is increasing in the West.

In The Little Book of Angels, by Peter L. Wilson, we are told that not only can we worship angels, but “there is another sort of angelic rite: one in which they are specifically evoked and called down, either to give and receive messages, or to enter into the body of the ritualist. In its simplest manifestation this results in the phenomenon of possession.”^[6]

Some angel books even assume that angels already exist within people; it is hardly surprising therefore if advocates one day discover angels unexpectedly speaking out of them. The Angels Within Us is a book that teaches people how to become spirit possessed under the theme of enlightenment!’ In typical euphemistic jargon, it claims, “Within your individualized energy field, in the microcosm called you are twenty-two Causal Powers, or angels, that control your conscious behavior and govern the manifestation of all forms and experiences in your personal life.”^[7] At this point, possession is assumed whether or not anyone even believes in angels.

In some books, angelic meditations precondition the meditator to accept the concept of possession: “I will unite my spirit with the angels….” Or, “We have the glorious opportunity to learn about the miraculous power of prayer and surrendering to a higher power.”^[8]

As in the occult, various “energy” concepts are emphasized in popular angel literature to rationalize possession as merely contact with the “forces of nature.” One book uses the theme of “nature” to mask possession: “You are merging with those on and off the Earth who are guiding your energy because you accept a different future for humanity…. So when you feel let down… talk to Nature. Nature is all around you no matter where on the Earth you live. Nature is all about merger, because it functions as one entirely interwoven system. You, like Nature, are becoming more and more connected with other light-workers in physical and non-physical reality.”^[9] In other words, merger with “Nature” becomes the basis for spirit possession, rationalized conceptually as a merging or uniting with Nature’s divine energies.

Another book tells people that “love is energy,”^[10] and by so doing implies that possession by “angels,” or their energy, is a forth of love. “Many cultures initiate their own spiritual students, and we, your angelic teachers, also initiate our own. Initiation requires you to release preconceived ideas about the period of training you are entering and to accept the higher good and spiritual guidance that places you under the protection [love] and inspiration of the Universe….”^[11]

Here are several statements by angels or angel authors concerning the “merger” with divine energies:

• Inner authority is spiritual energy born from union with the Divine.^[12]

• The spiritual energy of your life is welling up deep inside you from the core of your being and circling your spine to renew your life. You are in the process of managing this intense emerging energy so that you will direct it toward awakening the God within.^[13]

• Each time you allow this flow of creative energy—angel energy—to stream through your being, you expand this energy….^[14]

• And the more that you are aware of this divine consciousness, the more its dynamic energies can fill the physical-plane person you thought you were. And when the infusion is complete, you awaken and understand that you embody all the Powers of God…. You feel the energy building in consciousness … your decisions will seem to be made independent of your conscious mind….^[15]

• It is the giving up of the personality, a replacing of the human consciousness with divine consciousness…. There is a fading out of one consciousness and a fading in of another….^[16]

Consider also the words of someone who “tapped into the energy” of an angel. “I felt a tremendous surge of energy move into my back and heard the words, ‘I am the strength of Jehovah, mighty in battle to slay those who would defile’.”^[17] Yet in the same book, the student is encouraged to be possessed by the angel of death and rebirth: “This angel represents the force of metamorphosis, and its function is to… condition our consciousness for the final infusion of the God-self energy…. This divine agent [is] … the Master of Death.”^[18]

In most occult traditions the theme of death is synonymous with possession because the old person “dies” in the process of transformation to possession. They become a “new” entity in which their old consciousness is now “enlightened.” The possessing spirit has complete control—sometimes permanent, lifelong control—of the person’s consciousness. This theme is touched on briefly in the section on Eastern Gurus and in more depth in Tal Brooke’s Riders of the Cosmic Circuit.^[19]

Biblical, or godly, angels possess no one. There is no biblical record or historical account of a good angel possessing any person anywhere. Demons, of course, have a long history of possessing people.

In conclusion, we live in an age when people need a more critical attitude toward spiritual phenomena than they usually possess, and this includes having greater discernment toward many practices and beliefs that claim to be Christian. While no one denies the vital and godly ministry of the good angels, the one who ignores the multifaceted activities of the evil angels is the person whose soul may be at risk.

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NOTES

1. ↑ Sophy Burnham, A Book of Angels: Reflections on Angels Past and Present and True Stories of How They Touch Our Lives, (NY: Valentine, 1990), pp. 17-18.
2. ↑ Ibid., p. 110.
3. ↑ Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Angels of Mercy (NY: Pocket Books, 1994), p. 217.
4. ↑ Respectively, see Terry Lynn Taylor and Mary Beth Crain, Angel Wisdom: 365 Meditations and Insights from the Heavens, (NY: HarperCollins, 1994), November 6; October 24; November 16; Karen Goldman, The Angel Book (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1992), p. 50; See Meredith L. Young-Sowers, Angelic Messenger Cards: A Divination System for Spiritual Discovery (Walpole, NH: Stillpoint, 1993), pp. 146, 218.
5. ↑ Young-Sowers, Angelic Messenger Cards, pp. 93, 105, 114, 121, 125, 146.
6. ↑ Peter L. Wilson, The Little Book of Angels (Rockport, MA: Element, 1993), p. 50.
7. ↑ John Randolph Price, The Angels Within Us: A Spiritual Guide to the Twenty-two Angels that Govern Our Lives (NY: Fawcett, 1993), p. 9.
8. ↑ Taylor and Crain, Angel Wisdom, Jan. 23; Feb. 19.
9. ↑ Young-Sowers, Angelic Messenger Cards, p. 178, emphasis added.
10. ↑ See Terry Lynn Taylor, Messengers of Light: The Angel’s Guide to Spiritual Growth (Tiburon, CA: H. J. Kramer, 1990), p. 213.
11. ↑ Young-Sowers, Angelic Messenger Cards, p. 142.
12. ↑ Ibid., p. 97.
13. ↑ Ibid., p. 110.
14. ↑ Terry Lynn Taylor, Creating With the Angels: An Angel-Guided Journey into Creativity (Tiburon, CA: H. J. Kramer, 1993), p. xv.
15. ↑ Price, The Angels Within Us, p. 50.
16. ↑ Ibid., p. 187.
17. ↑ Ibid., p. 163.
18. ↑ Ibid., p. 183.
19. ↑ Tal Brooke, Riders of the Cosmic Circuit: Rajneesh, Sai Baba, Muktananda…Gods of the New Age (Batavia, IL: Lion, 1986).