Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8033 The abyss appears at key moments in both the Gospels and the book of Revelation, and its significance is easy to miss if the word is treated as a generic term for darkness or depth. It is not. The biblical abyss is a specific location in the spiritual realm, described consistently as a…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8035 The relationship between demonic activity and physical illness is a question the New Testament addresses with more directness than is sometimes acknowledged, while also providing important guardrails against the kind of sweeping attribution that causes serious pastoral harm. The answer is not a simple yes or no, and the difference matters enormously in…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8037 The phrase “unclean spirit” appears throughout the Synoptic Gospels and the book of Acts, and understanding it requires attention to more than just the Greek vocabulary. The designation is theologically rich, connecting to deeply embedded categories in Israel’s religious life and revealing something specific about the character of the beings it describes. The…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8036 Few questions at the intersection of theology and pastoral care carry higher stakes than this one. The way a minister or counsellor approaches the relationship between demonic activity and mental illness will shape the care they offer, and it could either help or significantly harm the people they are trying to serve. Both…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8038 Deception is not a tactic the enemy employs occasionally or in extreme situations; it is the foundation of his entire operation. Understanding the category of lying and deceiving spirits requires beginning where Jesus Himself begins, with the character of the adversary as the father of lies, and then following the thread through both…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8039 The question arises from one specific and remarkable incident in the Gospel accounts, and it is worth examining that incident carefully rather than building sweeping conclusions from it. What the Gadarene account tells us is both more and less than might be expected. The Gadarene Incident The account appears in all three Synoptic…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8020 Few questions generate more fascination and more confusion than whether angels still appear to people today. The subject sits at the intersection of genuine biblical expectation and a great deal of speculation, wish-fulfilment, and outright fabrication. That angels appeared repeatedly throughout both Testaments is beyond dispute. That the Bible nowhere says such appearances…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8021 The question of whether angels can be seen draws on a wealth of biblical material and touches on some genuinely fascinating aspects of how the spiritual and physical realms intersect. That people in Scripture saw angels is unambiguous. What needs examining is what kind of seeing was involved, and whether similar experiences remain…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8023 Prayer is one of the defining marks of the Christian life, and questions about its proper object are of the highest importance. The idea of praying to angels surfaces in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox devotional practice, in certain streams of charismatic Christianity, and in the wider spirituality market that borrows freely from…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8024 The idea that believers can command angels is found within certain charismatic and Word of Faith contexts, sometimes presented as a dimension of spiritual warfare or as a privilege that comes with the believer’s authority in Christ. Before accepting or rejecting this position, it deserves a clear biblical examination. Who Commands Angels in…