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In the church age, following the close of Paul's ministry, angels are invisible (Acts 27:23; Col. 2:18), passive, and learning (Eph. 3:10). Devils in this age (post-Acts 19:16) are invisible, active, and teaching (1 Tim. 4:1). The more I study dispensational truth, however, the more skeptical I am of accounts of visible satanic activity in the church age. It's clear from 1 Timothy 4:1 and other passages that evil spirits are at work in this age. But I'm doubting more and more that they manifest themselves visibly in this age, as movies and even testimonies have alleged (remember 1 Thes. 5:21 and 2 Pt. 1:18-19). While there is no passage in Paul’s epistles that would rule out the possibility of diabolical manifestations, like there is angelic (Col. 2:18), I'm confident that most if not all of the accounts of such things are false. Satan’s primary weapon in this age is spiritual deception (2 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 6:11; 1 Tim. 4:1; etc.). Paul didn’t give the body of Christ any instructions on how to exorcise devils, like he did the kingdom apostles (cf. Mt. 17:18-21), but he did exhort us to "put on the whole armour of God" (Eph. 6:11, 13), which is spiritual, that we may stand against spiritual wickedness (Eph 6:12). His emphasis is on defensive warfare in this age, rather than offensive (i.e. exorcisms), which is more characteristic of the kingdom program (Mt. 4:24, 10:1-8; Luke 10:17-20; Acts 5:16, 8:7). One final thought is that occupation with alleged visible manifestations of angelic and diabolical activity can blind believers to the true activities of angels and devils in this age, as spelled out for us through Paul, and hinder our occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ and his body (Col. 2:18-19).
Special thanks to Bros. David O'Steen and Eli Caldwell for their contributions to this post.
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Again, great post!
ReplyDeleteI think it is also interesting that the NIV omits the "not" from Colossians 2:18, which completely leaves room for the possibility that angels do appear to us in this dispensation.
KJB: Colossians 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath ***not seen***, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
NIV: Colossians 2:18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they ***have seen***; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.
Though "not" is in the TR, "α μη εωρακεν". I wonder what made the NIV translators translate the verse the way they did?
In past dispensations when the word of God came by prophets, signs, etc. Satan always tried to counterfeit those. In this dispensation we have "that which is perfect" (the complete Bible) and there is no doubt in my mind that Satan tries to counterfeit the REAL word of God with phony translations and corrupt manuscripts. Satan has always had a different version of what God really said, (Gen. 3 and Matt. 4).
Keep up the great posts! (2 Tim. 3:13-17) --bro. Eli "Hoss" Caldwell
Thanks, Hoss. I appreciate the encouragement!
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