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Angels, Satan And Demons

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This is not a comprehensive theology on angles, but rather is a brief summary of basic biblical doctrines. Lightner strives to avoid controversial statements, so when a disputed passage arises, he essentially lays out the case for every evangelical Christian view point, rather than defending one particular view. For the most part, the book seeks to contrast what the Bible teaches about angels with what the new age culture teaches. There is a chart about how angles relate to the zodiac signs, and the book is dotted with anecdotes about angels from newspapers and TV shows. In fact, the most frustrating feature of the book is that while the author is passionate about showing how the only source of truth about angels is the Bible, this passion does not produce a depth of understanding beyond merely repeating what the Scriptures say about angels.
For example, Lightner asks if Christians have guardian angels. He then gives the different views in summary form, then repeats Matthew 18:10, and then moves on. Implications, exegesis, and a solid answer will simply not be found.
In fact, the most in depth and helpful part of the book is the excursus on Genesis 6. There Lightner explains the three major views, and helpfully gives their problems and his preferred view. Beyond this section though, that kind of deep research is lacking.
Lightner does believe that Christians cannot be possessed by demons, that angels were created by God, and that Satan is real and on the earth today. While he says the most comprehensive treatment of angels in the Bible is Hebrews 1-2, he deals with that passage in one paragraph, puts the phrase "the world to come" in the future millennium, ignores the connection to Psalm 8, and then moves on. In short, this book would be good for someone looking almost for an index about "where does the Bible teach `x' about angels," but would not be helpful for the person who wants to go deeper into angelology.

This book is pretty interesting, and I learned a lot about Satanism and all that. Check out this book if your interested in reading it. It was worth it to me.