A previous article on this website, “The Narrow & Wide Gates in Matthew 7″,¹ explains how taking the path less traveled in this life will help us develop the spirit-filled existence necessary for entrance into God’s new Millennial Kingdom. That new age ruled by Jesus Christ is quickly approaching, so near in fact, that some Christians may enter the new Kingdom without first having to die.

This newer current article is somewhat of an extension of the previous one, for it will explain how to avoid evil influences from entities that desire to block our Godly walk through life. Some Christians believe they have a guardian angel that will always intervene and protect them if they stray from proper thoughts, but that is a false belief because there is no specific scripture describing the term ‘guardian angel’ anywhere in the Holy Bible.

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On the other hand, the Bible does provide substantial evidence that, in certain circumstances, God may send a heavenly guardian to assist us. For instance, when Christians need help teaching someone about Jesus Christ, an angel may step in to nudge us in the right direction. But, when only trying to decide which flashy dress or suit to buy for your next cocktail party, you probably won’t get much help on that.

Belief in angels and other spiritual beings is sometimes difficult for those who do not believe in God or in the truthfulness of scripture.² But for the Christian, spiritual beings are prominent and real characters in many biblical stories from Genesis through Revelation. Just because they can’t be seen, doesn’t mean they aren’t real. You can’t see electricity or radio waves, but they are real just the same. Even some physical objects, like glass and plastics can be invisible — you can’t see them except for their reflections of light. And what about the air we breath? Well, I think you get the idea.

The Bible indicates that angels can materialize as humans and there are plenty of examples in the scriptures.³ In the Book of Hebrews, we are told that people may not even recognize angels as they walk among us: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2, NRSV).⁴ So, invisible angels are around us occasionally, and sometimes they take human form and can physically interact with us.

While that scripture is referencing holy angels, the thought is indiscriminate and it also implies that fallen angels under the control of Satan have the same abilities. Both good and bad spirits — seen or unseen — can influence us. For a deeper study of guardian angels, read the study titled “Does Everyone Have a Guardian Angel?” It is listed in References & Notes.⁵

The Dark Side

We know from scripture there are angels at work in our world today. These invisible beings were created by God long, long ago, before he created us humans, and even before our planet was formed. At some point in universal pre-earth history, one of God’s high-ranking angels turned against the creator and enlisted many others to follow him into a war with God. Those spiritual rebels are what the Bible identifies as ‘fallen angels’.

So, just like you and me, angels are creatures who can make errors (Job 4:18), and can fall into temptation (Matthew 25:41), and they will fight to hold their own position in battle (Revelation 12:7, 9).⁶ These renegades who abandoned righteousness are the beings that also corrupted the fledgling human race soon after its creation.

Satan and his fallen angels are responsible for all the evil going on in our world today, as well as the reason humankind lost its possibility of having eternal life. And that is the reason God sent his son to earth as a man — to exchange his perfect human life for the perfect everlasting life lost by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In a resurrection at the end of this current age, our Savior will return everlasting life to all those who have proven they deserve it. And those who are undeserving, they will be brought back for judgement in a second resurrection at a later time.

Paul the Apostle warned us that there is currently a cosmic war against evil. He said, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes⁷ of the devil. 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” (Ephesians 6:10-12, ESV).⁸

When Paul was in prison, in the year 62, and wrote his letter to the Ephesians, he was specifically talking about the evil forces of our faith, the spiritual powers of darkness. This darkness emanates from not only the fallen angels, but also from different breeds of other dark beings, including demons and the humans who have been influenced, deceived, or even possessed by them. These dark influencers of evil do deeds that are opposed to God’s light of righteousness.

What makes us humans act one way or the other? Because we, ourselves, choose what we want. Let me quote from one of my favorite Christian podcasters, ‘Mike from Around the World’ at the Council of Time. He said, “To be righteous is to see the light and the darkness and to have chosen the light. To be truly evil is to see the light and the darkness and to have chosen the darkness. You, my friend, you’re determining what you truly are, because God is showing you the light and the darkness and all this time you have been choosing one of the two.”⁹

Fallen Angels and Demons

There is much debate about if the label, ‘Satan’, is the name or the title of the leading fallen angel, because it is used both ways in the Bible. But since it is used as his name in Revelation, that is the way I visualize it. In chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation it is stated: “The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9a). In this scriptural reference, ‘Devil’ (Greek: diábolos) is a title meaning ‘slanderer’, while ‘Satan’ (Hebrew: śātān) is the personal name indicating God’s ‘adversary’.¹⁰

Satan and other fallen angels invaded Earth long ago and have been responsible for introducing evil and sin to humankind ever since the time of Adam and Eve. But they are not the only forces of this spiritual darkness that we must stand against — there are also demonic entities to consider. Demons are not originally from heavenly places, but created here on Earth during the time between Adam and Eve and the great flood in Noah’s day. How?

Some fallen angels, in materialized bodies, mated with human women (see Genesis chapter 6) and produced what the Bible calls ‘nephilim’ — half-human and half-angel hybrid creatures. The religious text called the Book of Enoch dives deeper into this activity.¹¹ Some modern researchers believe those scientifically advanced fallen angels procreated using progressive genetic technologies. That shouldn’t be very hard to believe, for humans are learning how to do this physical gene manipulation into God’s creations at this very moment.¹²

It was because of this great debauchery into human affairs that God sent the flood to give his earthly creations a reboot. And as we all know, history does, indeed, repeat itself. Our society is now in a situation similar to the time of Noah. Jesus predicted this when he said, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man” (Luke 17:26).

These half-human and half-angel hybrid nephilim were mostly destroyed¹³ when God flooded the earth. Physical humans can and do die, but spiritual angels do not die. The flood killed most humans and also the human part (or physical side) of the hybrid angel-human creatures, but the angel characteristic (or spirit side) lived on as disembodied spirits.

Those disembodied spirits are the ‘demons’ — the unclean spirits — and they still exist today. Demons prefer to occupy physical bodies, rather than remain in a disembodied condition, so when given a chance, they will possess a person or animal,¹⁴ (see Matthew 8:28-34 for one example). If we are under the influence of any type of evil creature, we must repent and change our life from following that darkness to accepting and living in the light of God’s righteousness. For a deeper study concerning all evil creatures, see additional articles listed in References & Notes.¹⁵

How do we repent and change?

This past two thousand years — called the Age of Grace — is almost over and a new age is just around the corner and approaching fast. Very soon, God will give this earth another reboot to cleanse the planet again, and this cleaning process is called the ‘end times’ or ‘the end of the age’. That is why the remnant of the true Church is preaching about the end times. They wish to get as many repentant people into the coming new world as possible. Don’t be like one of those ancient people who perished when God finally closed the door on the ark in Noah’s day, so you must repent now.

How does one repent? It is easy to do, if you believe Jesus sacrificed his eternal human life as your savior. If you are truly sorry for past sins, stop doing those sinful things and confess your transgressions directly to the Lord in secret prayer, and ask for his forgiveness. It doesn’t matter if you think you aren’t worthy of forgiveness, you will be forgiven anyway — that is his free gift to you. Please do it soon — now, if possible — for as it was in Noah’s time, the door of opportunity is about to be shut. Don’t be left behind; you have nothing to lose and much to gain by repenting now.

How do we protect ourselves from future evil?

Satan doesn’t want you to make it into the New Age, so he is stepping-up his activity; he knows his time is running out. He is doing all he can to hold on to those he has captured and recapture those he has lost. The Apostle Paul knew this and preached about what we can do to resist the devil.

As one example, he recognized the devil’s influence upon the people in Ephesus¹⁶ and suggested their bondage could be broken by simple methods. First they should start by removing all occult and magic items from the home.¹⁷ And new believers were encouraged to confess and divulge their previous evil practices (Acts 19:18).

But, you don’t need to announce your confession to others, unless you specifically wish to do so; go into your secret place and pray only to the Lord, if you prefer. The Bible says, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).

God will also help you in deflecting the devil’s pressures to continue sinful acts. In adapting common images that the Ephesians would easily understand, Paul describes a Christian wearing some six items of armor similar to that of a Greek soldier, as though equipping the believer for battle. In doing so, he points out the similarity between a Roman soldier who fights physical battles with Christians who fight spiritual battles.¹⁸ The term, ‘Armor of God’, is an expression that symbolizes the combat equipment of a Christian soldier who fights against spiritual wickedness.¹⁹ (I have added bold type below to show emphasis.)

“Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:14-17).

This armor will protect all Christians, as without it we will be defeated by Satan and his army of evil spirits and demons. Just remember that our battle is defensive only, we are not instructed to go out and about searching to attack dark forces; we are just suiting-up to stand our ground against the attacks when they come upon us. This armor is to stop the power of any evil or demonic agenda over us; the Armor of God is to enable us to bolt and bar the doors of our spiritual lives.²⁰

Conclusion

Our Lord wants us to know what is happening and how important it is to not take part in Satan’s deceptive practices. He wants us to have this knowledge, but many churches refuse to preach it. I believe time is very short. Pray for discernment and have faith in God’s overall plan. Keep your attention upon world circumstances to understand the timing of biblical events.

To get the truth about what is going on, you must gather your news from various outside independent sources. Satan has embedded his evil soldiers throughout the principal media organizations, as well as global governments, and corporations, and organized churches too.

Jesus will be separating the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-33), so make sure you will be in the right group. Remember, God’s way of righteousness is always a personal choice — you can accept or reject it; always strive to follow that narrow road to life, rather than the wide road to death.

For this study, the music selection, ‘Armor of God’, is from Christian Hip-Hop podcaster Jeremy Herrell, and Country Rock artist Dave Bray; both live in the USA. In this music video Herrell plays the part of a sinner, while Bray plays the part of Jesus. Selected lyrics are below and the music video is listed in References & Notes.²¹

I wear the Armor of God now.
I got that Armor of God on, I’ll never take it off,
Ephesians 6:11 got me focused on the cross.
If it wasn’t for the sacrifice we would all be lost,
I will ride with King Jesus cause he chose to pay that cost.
I will fight, I will ride with Messiah,
I wear the Armor of God now.

** Feature photograph from The Living Message of Christ (thelivingmessage.com) through Creative Commons License.

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References & Notes

Hermann, Ray, “The Narrow & Wide Gates in Matthew 7″, (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 4 September 2024), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/the-narrow-wide-gates-in-matthew-7/
Wilder, Terry L., in Apologetics Study Bible, (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), p. 1535.
The Bible has many examples of people being visited by angels; a few are listed here: (Genesis 18:1-2; Judges 6:22; 2 Kings 1:3; 1 Chronicles 21:15-16; Zechariah 3:6, 4:4; Matthew 1:23, 2:13; Luke 1:11-13, 2:8-15; John 20:12-13; Acts 5:19–20).
Unless otherwise noted, scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989). Used with permission.
Hermann, Ray, “Does Everyone Have a Guardian Angel?” (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 22 October 2021), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/does-everyone-have-a-guardian-angel/
Easton, M. G., Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature, (New York: Thomas Nelson, 1893), p. 42.
The word translated “schemes” = lit., methodeias (“methods”), i.e., wiles, tactics, stratagems, secret agendas. The plural of this word “suggests attacks that are constantly repeated or of incalculable variety.”
Storms, Sam, Spiritual Warfare, (Oklahoma City, OK: 2006), Ephesians 6, Weapons of Warfare, Part One, Section 3, “The schemes of the devil of God”.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
‘Mike from Around the World at the Council of Time’ [Podcast], date: 09 20 2024, “The Relevancy Of Being Ready – Watch And Pray”, (Council of Time, council1arch, 20 September 2024), time point at 1 hour, 38 minutes, https://soundcloud.com/ouncil1archive
Heiser, Michael S., Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), p. 176.
Charles, R. H. and Oesterley, W. O. E., The Book of Enoch, (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1917).
Hermann, Ray, “What are the ‘Powers of Darkness’ that Paul the Apostle talked about?” (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 29 May 2023),
https://outlawbiblestudent.org/what-are-the-powers-of-darkness-that-paul-the-apostle-talked-about/
Some nephilim survived the flood, examples: Numbers 13:33; Deuteronomy 3:11; 2 Samuel 21:20. Because of their half-human nature, they are believed to have eventually died by other causes, releasing their still-living demonic spirits. Their spirits can and do now possess humans in various political, corporate, and celebrity positions of power.
Prince, Derek, They Shall Expel Demons, (Christchurch, NZ: Derek Prince Ministries, South Pacific, 1998), p. 97.
(1) Hermann, Ray, “What are the ‘Powers of Darkness’ that Paul the Apostle talked about?” (See above).
(2) Hermann, Ray, “Ephesians 6:12 – Satan, Fallen Angels, & Demons – the Real Enemies of Our Faith”, (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 22 September 2020), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/ephesians-612-satan-fallen-angels-demons-the-real-enemies-of-our-faith/
(3) Hermann, Ray, “The Book of Enoch and Its Influence on Christian Thought”, (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 4 May 2023), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/the-book-of-enoch-and-its-influence-on-christian-thought/
Ephesus: a city along the coast in Ancient Greece. Location of one of the seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation.
Knowles, Andrew, (Ed.), The Bible Guide, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2001), pp. 621–622.
“What is the Meaning of Ephesians 6.10-20″, (Bible Trove, retrieved 15 September 2024), https://bibletrove.com/what-is-the-meaning-of-ephesians-6-10-20/
Youngblood, R. F., et al., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).
Thompson, Leonard, Demons, (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company, 2005), p. 99.
“Armor of God”, Artists: Dave Bray USA and Jeremy Herrell; CD: All the Glory to God; (copyright Big Shot Music Group, 2 June 2022). Used under ‘fair use copyright’ for teaching under Section 107 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976 — MUSIC VIDEO: https://youtu.be/vknDgH6GpCg

Repent and Put on the Armor of God to Avoid Evil Influences