HOW MUCH FAITH DOES A DEMON HAVE?

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!  (James 1: 19)

I have three questions for you.

Question #1:  How much faith does an angel have?

The correct answer is NONE.

You see, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  (Hebrew 11: 1)

Angels live every moment in the direct experience of God’s presence.  They don’t hope to enter Heaven.  They live there.  They don’t BELIEVE that the unseen God is real; they SEE Him every day.  Therefore, angels don’t have faith.  They don’t need faith. They KNOW.  And because they KNOW, angels OBEY.

Question #2:  How much faith does a demon have?

That’s a little more complicated.  Demons are, after all, former angels.  They have seen God directly.  They’ve spent time in Heaven.  And, according to Job chapter 1, demons (or at least the head demon) have been called before God on multiple occasions since their fall from Heaven.  

But according to James 1: 20, demons BELIEVE in God.  So maybe,  for the angels who’ve fallen, Heaven is something they can’t see anymore.  God’s direct presence is lost to them, and all they have to convince them that what they once knew was really real is ------ faith.

So the answer to question #2 is:  Demons have as much faith as you and I do.

Which brings us to -----

Question #3:  What makes us humans better than angels or demons?

Demons believe in God,  but they disobey Him.   They have faith but not good works.   Angels obey God, but they don’t  have faith. (Faith isn’t necessary when there’s certainty.)  They have works but no faith.

Human beings, among all known sentient life forms, are capable of both faith AND works.

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?   (James 1: 18-20)

In the resurrection we will, as Jesus said in Matthew 22: 30, be like angels of God in heaven.   We will KNOW God, and faith will be fulfilled and finished.

But in this life, we get to be more than angels---- the fallen ones and the glorified ones.  In this life we get to trust God even when we can’t see Him.  We get to listen hard and hear God’s voice through all the static of earthly life.  We get to obey God’s Word in an environment that has evolved to get us to do anything except obey God’s Word.  We get to show the angels and the demons how it’s done.

When you look at it like that, we’ve got a pretty cool opportunity here.

Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6: 3)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

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Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116