look said:
Hmm...
So, you are saying that we can't see angels either, am I right? That would be a bummer, seeing that they are sent to minister to the "heirs of salvation"...
You must be basing this observation on your "experiences", it is generally not a good idea to let a lack of actual experiences help you interpret God's Word. Also, I'm sure you will, from this point on, hear of other's experiences with their angels...
As a matter of fact, In the U.S.A., in the Far West, there are Indian tribes who make "Katchina dolls" and did you know these dolls are painted with the caricatures of the demons they see and worship in dance, at ceremonies that are presided over by their Shamans (witchdoctors)? How else can they make the Shamans appear powerful and enable the Shaman to rule with fear? Trust me, Demons can be seen and they have tangible substance. How else can they put sickness or a curse on someone? or even possess an unsaved one?
I'm really not trying to offend you or anybody else, but it seems very plain that you are still carnal (ruled by body or mind, or the state of being materialistic). If you endeavor to spend
lots of time in the Bible and God, you
will change your mind...
It's called "renewing" your mind to the word of God...
ROM 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
EPH 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
COL 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
May our God and Lord Jesus bless you and yours 'till your cup overflows...
Was this entry in response to my posting, or to the other gentleman who said that demons couldn’t be seen at all? If you read all of what I said, you saw that I said that the Spirit DOES show us spiritual things, and I gave Scriptural references, not personal experiences, which are also free to you if you should want to hear them. I merely said that the spiritual realm is not comprehended by any of our senses, and what we do detect is a parable, if given by God, for our understanding. If given by Satan, for our deception.
Do you think Satan IS an angel of light, as the Bible says he will show himself? If he could be seen as he is, do you think he would have us know the truth, whether we want to believe he is an angel of light or darkness? Is he truly like what he would have Marilyn Manson believe him to be, or is he merely putting on a mask in that case as well? A mask that makes him seem more and less powerful than he is. To those who would be won by such an image, he’ll appear as a perversion of humanity, with horns and a pitchfork. To those who will be deceived by other things, he will even appear as if he were Christ. Is Satan a goddess with many arms, or is that an image he has made for deception? Was it God who lead Stephen’s executioners to stone him, or was it Satan under a mask? Satan is a deceiver, not one who will show his face for who he is.
In addition, are the Messengers from God men, as they appear to us to be? Or is that a form that they take, for the sake of showing us the truth? (For the sake of being short, I’ll just list a few numbers: Gen 18:2; Mark 16:3-5; Luke 24:3-5) Do Seraphim have six wings, or (if there is a tendency to believe that Seraphim and the messengers we see on earth are the same, which is debatable for any side) are they men as we see them in the New Testiment and in the earlier Old Testiment? If so, does that mean that Isaiah saw Yahweh as he truly is? In Gen 18:1, for another instance, we see Yahweh appearing to Abraham. Is this Yahweh as he is? Or did John speak the truth when he said “No man has seen God at any time?” Do we see through a glass darkly, or did Moses see God face to face, in a literal sense? (Exodus 33:11) (Of course, wonderful as this scripture is in any sense, if it was literal, seeing God’s “back parts” later in the chapter wouldn’t have been as out of the ordinary as it was.) Does the Bible conflict, or is it full of truth, spoken for the sake of our understanding?
The bottom line is, the spiritual realm IS shown to us, though Paul was right when he said that we see it through a glass darkly, knowing in part. We must also understand that we people CAN give the devil immense power over themselves and not know it. Satan never appears as he is--that wouldn’t get him very far, if Isaiah was speaking of him when he said “But you are brought down to the grave, to the sides of the Pit. Those who see you stare at you, and ponder over you, saying, ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook reigns, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who would not open the house of his prisoners?’” Isaiah 14:15-17
At any rate, despite any reality of vision, here it is: if the Gospels were true, demons do exist, and possession is real. At the same time, anybody who crushes a little boy isn’t doing God’s will. The fact that demon possession exists, based on the premise of the Gospels, does not give a minister to do anything he pleases, and it doesn’t mean that every physical affliction is the result of possession.
