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Fallen Creatures.

Apostate angels live amongst us, but who are these beings? Where did they come from? And why are they so closely associated with humans?

In order to answer these questions we must go back to the fall of the angels and then to the garden of Eden and where we find our first parents, Adam and Eve. First, the fall of the angels.

The fall of the apostate angels.

The angels, whom are ancient, witnessed the creation of the world, hence their title "the morning stars of creation." There are three things to note in particular; firstly, that the angels, as with mankind(even though man and woman suffer an earthy death)are immortal. The second is that once a role is given by God to His creatures it is not revoked. This is important to remember. The third is that the angels have a close proximity to mankind. God gave to the angels a role in relation to the mankind. Lucifer, also known as the devil, and as Satan, was/is known as "the caretaker of the earth." A most worrying situation for mankind.

In their original state, the apostate angels; the fallen angels, as with all the angels, were "magnificent beings of light and love" with "marvellous gifts of nature and grace: wisdom, power, beauty, holiness"1 What happened to them?

Tradition tells us that God showed the angels that He would create mankind in His own image and likeness, of which likeness the angels themselves are, although in a different form. And that He revealed to them that they were to have a role in helping mankind in our spiritual journey on earth. And of how the rebel angels refused to serve; there being jealousy of mankind amongst them and that, through pride, the apostates regarded the 'serving' of humans to be beneath them. Tradition also tells us that the angels were shown the eventuality of a Woman being born; the Blessed Virgin Mary, who would be the first of all creatures, and whom they were to honour as their Queen, and how God would allow Himself to be born of this Woman in order to help mankind. Lucifer (whom scripture informs us wanted to be all powerful; to rival God) and approximately one third of the angels rebelled against all of this.2

The rebellion of the angels leads to the great battle in Heaven between the good angels and the bad angels. The good angels are the true friends of mankind and are very much needed by us and very especially our guardian angels. Tradition tells us that the battle was one of psychological warfare and that before it commenced, Saint Michael the Archangel prostrated himself before God's throne and "with an act of profound adoration" he opposed the cry of the rebel angels with his own battle cry of love and loyalty: "Mi-cha-el" - "Who is like unto God?"3 Michael then roused the faithful angels who rallied behind him. The great battle is described by Saint John the Apostle/the Divine in the Apocalypse (Revelation):

And there was a battle in heaven; Michael and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. And they did not prevail, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast down, the ancient serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, who leads astray the whole world; and he was cast down to the earth and with him his angels were cast down. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, "Now has come the salvation, and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren has been cast down, he who accused them before our God day and night. And they over came him through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their witness, for they did not love their lives even in face of death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell therin. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time. "[Apoc.12:7-13]

A great expanse of time is contained in one paragraph. Notice the crucial words: "overcame him through the blood of the Lamb" The Lamb being a reference to our Saviour; Jesus Christ. And "and through the word of their witness." Our Lord God and Saviour is the Truth, and the Revealer and Teacher of Divine Truth.

When the apostate angels fell, they were transformed into hideous demons; evil beings, but they retained their vast intelligence and they retained their role in relation to mankind, but now in a very evil capacity.

The angelic intelligence is vast and is far, far, different to human intelligence, especially fallen human intelligence; there is little comparison. Not only do the angels know what every single person alive is saying and thinking, and doing, and what is taking place in Heaven and on earth and in hell, they can read hearts and minds as well; they know what a person is like, how they will behave; react and respond etc. And so immense is their intelligence that the angels are able to comprehend all of the implications of their own actions in an instant, thus 'all' is immediately apparent to them; 'all' the consequences of any action they make are known to them and understood. Most concerning for humans, especially in this era of incarnate demons, is that they know this of the actions of others as well, and the fallen angels; the incarnate demons, seek to manipulate and influence humans along the wrong, counterfeit paths, and into the ways of temptations and into the ways of sin, and distract us from our true path, accordingly.

Fr Pascal Parente points out that their level of intelligence; their knowledge and understanding, means that the angels have a profound "willfulness" when determining what they will and will not do and that this also means that once a choice is made by them it is seen as being irrevocable.4 It is for this reason that God's Mercy was not upon the apostate angels when they rebelled against Him. Their direction was their free will choice in a fullest sense. God transformed them into demons.

This understanding of the fall of the rebel angels suggests, however, that they were aware that they would be so transformed and cast into hell, their new abode. It should be understood as certain, however, that they were not aware and that the decision to set themselves against God in itself constituted the irreversible decision, and they were unaware of its full consequences.

There is an important distinction to understand here; the apostate angels; the incarnate demons, are able to comprehend all the consequences of an action in an instant but they are not fully aware of future events; although their level of intelligence means that they have a most formidable understanding of what will, especially given the circumstances that they can both anticipate and manipulate, take place.

Without their knowing prior to the event, God transformed them into hideous demons and cast them into hell. By way of revenge, the devil and his demons seek for humans to suffer from remorse of conscience and in the most intense way, in hell. The "if only" they seek for humans relates to their own hatred of themselves for what they have lost. That the rebel angels were transformed into demons without prior knowledge seems to be the way that the prophet Isaias interprets it; he say of Lucifer:

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How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? How art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations? And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit.[Is.14:12-14]
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Isaias reveals how powerful the angels are, and which is a warning for us. The name Lucifer means "carrier of light" and which is associated with "rise in the morning." Note also that Isaias refers to the world of hell; the abyss, as being beneath, that is, in the earth below us. Our Lord Himself speaks of Satan; Lucifer, in St Luke's gospel:
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Now the seventy - two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the devils are subject to us in thy name." But he said to them,"I was watching Satan fall as lightning from heaven."[Lk10:17-18]
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We can also note how Satan attempted to tempt Our Lord God and Saviour whilst Our Lord was on earth in His Sacred humanity. St Luke records the following:
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Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit about the desert for forty days, being tempted the while by the devil..[Luke:4:1- 2 ]
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Our Lord God, in His Sacred humanity, did not prevent the devil from tempting Him; though He tells him he should not do so. Our Lord responds in exactly the right way to each of the temptations.

The prophet Ezechiel is regarded as giving a description of the fall of Lucifer, and who was one of the most exalted angels, in the following way:
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Thus saith the Lord God: Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God:..Thou a cherub stretched out and protecting, and I set thee in the holy mountain of God,...Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was found in thee....thou hast sinned: and I cast thee out from the mountain of God and destroyed thee, O covering cherub, out of the midst of the stones of fire. And thy heart was lifted up with thy beauty: thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty, I have cast thee to the ground: [Ez 28:12-19]
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What, in particular, do Lucifer and his demons want to rob mankind of? Our defences against wrongdoing. They particularly want to rob us of our Faith and rob us of God's friendship, that closeness to God which is found in Eternal Wisdom. Eternal Wisdom is about knowing the ways of God. It is knowledge and understanding which is eternal; eternal values and ways; that which is of eternity. The devil and his demons seek to rob mankind of our needed understanding and defences in all places and at all times. We must look at how this relates to the fall of mankind.

The second apostasy of the world: the fall of mankind.

The Book of Genesis provides us with an understanding of the immense intelligence of the devil and his demons. The serpent (Lucifer) knew who Adam and Eve were, he knew when they were in the garden of Eden and why they were there; he knew that they were in a period of probation, he knew exactly what they were allowed and were not allowed to do, he knew where Eve was, he knew exactly what to say to her to gain his desired response, and he found her and tempted her accordingly.

A being of such immense intelligence must, at one time, have been in close proximity to God, his Creator; although there is still an immeasurable distance between the angels and God. God can do all things and only has to Will things for them to happen. For a being to become apostate, to fall away from God, infers a prior state of closeness to Him. This being must have been an angel because he is concerning himself with the spiritual direction of Adam and Eve and, through them, the whole of mankind; and whom, individually and collectively, he will now seek to implicate in his rebellion against God. The Book of Genesis tells us of the creation of man:
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Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. [Gen2:7]

"And the Lord God commanded the man thus," "From every tree of the garden you may eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you must not eat; for the day you eat of it, you must die."[Gen 2: 16-17]
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In the second chapter of Genesis, the writer also gives a detailed description of the creation of woman:
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God cast the man into a deep sleep and, while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib which the Lord God took from the man, he made into a woman..[Gen 2:21-22]
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And chapter five of Genesis goes on to say the following:
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When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and created them Man when they were created. [Gen 5:1-2]
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It should be kept in mind that before the fall, Adam and Eve were in closer proximity to God, although still in a probationary period.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil brings death, it is about the distractions, vanities and manipulations of the devil and it is the opposite of Eternal Wisdom and sees man and woman set on their own worldly ways and path, distracted away from the true path. It is the way of disorientation, the way of the counterfeit path and ways.

Eve eats the forbidden fruit at the instigation of the serpent/Satan and hands the fruit to Adam, and he ate[Gen:3:6.] Adam and Eve have partaken of that forbidden to them by God and the fall of mankind takes place. They, along with the whole of mankind, now stand condemned to death, a death that would mean, upon dying, automatically descending into hell. And that is serious!

The one great battle: the battle for souls.

Mankind is, however, given a chance to avoid this automatic fate. Adam and Eve did not have the intelligence that would have alerted them to the deceptions of the serpent, nor to the punishment that disobedience to God would bring. The human level of intelligence does not allow us to calculate all the consequences of our actions. However, both Adam and Eve knew that it was wrong to eat the forbidden fruit[Gen 3:2-3]and so God has shown tremendous Mercy to them and to mankind. How great is God's Mercy? This is revealed in the Book of Ecclesiasticus:
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Let us fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men, For equal to his majesty is the mercy that he shows.[Ecc.2: 18]
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God's great Mercy is shown in the one great Battle written of in Genesis. A great chance for mankind, as shown in His words to the serpent, Lucifer, the devil, just after Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit; the words are found in Genesis III:XV. God said:
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"I will put enmity between you and the
woman, between your seed and her
seed; He shall crush your head, and
you shall lie in wait for his heel "[Gen 3:15.]
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This is the one battle that the whole of mankind are part of, whether this is understood by individuals or not. We humans are all the offspring of the Woman and are called to unite and be part of this great battle against the devil and his demons. The battle is being fought all around us in every moment of our lives. This is the one battle, it is the great battle; it is the battle for our souls!

In the way of a good and loving Father, knowing and providing for His children's needs; and showing how much He wants for His children, God provided His children with the greatest act in this battle; that greatest part; thee greatest help for mankind, being the Christ coming amongst us, to teach us, to suffer and die for us; restoring to us the life of Grace and to rise again in His glorious resurrection from the dead and which redemption we are called to be joined with. Our Lord God, who dwells in glory, humbled Himself to partake of our human nature; making Himself "the Son of Man" the Son of "the woman" for our sakes. This is how serious it is!

The Hypostatic union and God's love for mankind.

Only God Himself could save mankind from our sins; only the perfect sacrifice; His great sacrifice, could suffice for God's Justice. The Hypostatic union is the term used to explain Our Lord God and Saviour taking on human flesh; to become man, without losing a single feature of the God Head; true God and true man.

Jesus Christ (God the Son) begotten of God the Father before all ages; God from God. He is of one substance with the Father, and one substance with the Holy Spirit; Consubstantial with God the Father and Consubstantial with God the Holy Spirit. Fully equal in all ways. It was through Him (God the Son) that all things were made. [Jn 1:1-14.] Taking on human flesh did not diminish His God Head in any way. The Hypostatic Union is described in the following way:

"A theological term used with reference to the Incarnation to express the revealed truth that in Christ one person subsists in Two natures, the Divine and the Human. Hypostatic means, literally, that which lies beneath as basis or foundation."5

By the power of God the Holy Spirit, Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ became incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary[Lk:1:26-38.] For this She had to worthy!

Now, in a real sense, the work of the very early Fathers of the Church; East and West, in recognizing the Blessed Virgin Mary as Immaculate; without sin, was made easy for them, since, in conceiving Our Lord God and Saviour, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin, from whose Immaculate Heart the Sacred Heart of the Baby Jesus grows, must be and must have always been entirely free from sin (Her Immaculate Conception) this Her great privilege. And through this, be able to reject the temptations of the devil. It would be a contradiction of Her role if She was subject to, and vulnerable to sin, as Eve was.

Whereas the fallen angel, Lucifer, had extracted the dreaded response from Eve, now we find Mary "full of grace," full of Eternal Wisdom, and when the good angel; the Archangel Gabriel, appears to Her, She responds in exactly the right way. We should always note how important this is, because in Mary's fiat; Her "Yes" to become the Mother of God, Her "Yes" is for Her to be this great part in God's great plan of salvation.

All of this is in contrast to Eve who was deceived by the serpent. And the Blessed Virgin Mary is our Mother, given by Our Lord Himself during His most painful moments on the Cross "Woman, behold, thy son....Behold, thy mother."[Jn19:26-27]The Blessed Virgin is our powerful Advocate on our behalf with Her Son. She obtains for us. She helps us to be closer to Her Son; our Saviour and to His great work of Redemption that we are called to be joined with. All this is through God's great Mercy upon mankind.

The one Battle has been given by God as a great act of Mercy for us. The great battle is for our souls. It is about where we go upon death. The battle is real and it takes place in many, many, different ways and in every moment of our lives.

On our behalf Our Lord God and Saviour took the battle to be as serious as it is! Mankind is called to take the one battle as seriously as it is too!!

Angela Anne Mary St John (Angela Margaret Mary Searles) ©

1. The Sons of God and The Sons of Perdition in: The Angels by Fr Pascal Parente, chapter 3 p1.

2. Parente ibid ch3 p10

3. St. Michael the Archangel. Tan Books 2006 p6

4.Parente ibid ch 3 pp2-3 & 9 and Ch 2 p9

5. www.newadvent.org/cathen/07610b.htm

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