1881 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

3:2) or they can and have appeared as men. Of this power thereare numbers of instances in the Bible.Some other powers of angels can be discovered by examiningthe record, for instance, the angels who delivered Lot and hisfamily from Sodom, had power to smite the rioters of Sodomwith blindness. (Gen. 19:11.) An angel "did wondrously beforeManoah;" another performed a miracle before Gideon. (Judges6:21 and 13-19.) The Angel of the Lord delivered the Apostlesfrom prison, and yet left the prison doors unmolested; again, anangel delivered Peter from prison, the doors opening of theirown accord. Acts 5:19-23 and 12:8. On many occasions theymade known to men things which were about to come to pass,etc.Now, the evil angels, "the devil and his angels," have by naturethe very same powers, but are restrained. So much of evil as canbe overruled for good, and tend to the development ofexperience and the education and discipline of the "heirs of God,joint heirs with Jesus Christ,"--is permitted and the remainderrestrained. As God through his Spirit and influence works in andthrough men who give themselves up to His control, so doesSatan operate in and through those who "yield themselves asinstruments of unrighteousness unto sin." "His servants ye are towhom you render service." As Jesus said to some, "Ye are ofyour father the devil for his works ye do."As "God in times past spake unto the fathers through theprophets," who were His mouthpieces, so Satan spake throughhis agents and agencies. His first agent was the serpent whichbecame his agent in beguiling Eve into disobedience. Hemanifested his powers through the magicians and soothsayers ofBabylon and remarkably in those of Egypt, where God's powerswere manifested through Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh,while Satan's powers, of a similar kind, were used to oppose thetruth for a time. Here these two spiritual powers were strikinglymanifested; both did miracles --things which men alone couldnot do--but which men possessed of evil and good powers, diddo. (Exod. 7:11-22 and 8:7-18.) "There were false prophets alsoamong the people," who evidently spoke by an inspiration, orpower in them almost like the real prophets of God; these werethe counterfeits. (See 2 Pet. 2:1 Jer. 23:21.)We are aware that to the worldly mind it seems superstitious tobelieve that men and women may be so given up of themselvesto Satan, and so controlled by him as to be wizards and witches;but they are recognized as such in the Scriptures, and we believeit. Israel was commanded to put such to death. (Exod. 22:18;Lev. 20:27, etc.) Manasseh, King of Judah made Judah to err,&c.; he "used enchantments and used witchcraft and dealt with afamiliar spirit and with wizards." (2 Chron. 33:6.)