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[Seraph]

In the Bible they often blind or slaughter people. There is a somewhat superstitious account in a Gospel concerning an angel stirring waters for first come first serve healing.

Can angels heal people?

Do fallen angels heal people?

[jimwalton]

> In the Bible they often blind or slaughter people.

This is not accurate. Once (Gen. 19.11) they temporarily blinded the population so Lot and his family could get out in safety. That's the only time angels blind anyone.

As far as slaughter, I don't know know where you get that. Where did angels slaughter people? Rev. 9.15 mentions a slaughter, but again, that's the only place. It's not "often," but a one-time judgment.

In contrast, in the Bible angels are often messengers. They deliver "mail" for God.

> There is a somewhat superstitious account in a Gospel concerning an angel stirring waters for first come first serve healing.

You're correct in seeing it as a superstition. John 5.4 doesn't even appear in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts, and was probably added to the text later. It was a popular belief but not a biblical teaching.

> Can angels heal people?

There is no biblical record (an event) of an angel healing people, nor any teaching that they can or do heal. So I would say no, they cannot and do not heal people.

> Do fallen angels heal people?

Same. There is no biblical record (an event) of a fallen angel healing people, nor any teaching that they can or do heal. The fallen angels are malicious in character, not beneficent.

[Righteous One]

> That's the only time angels blind anyone

Wasn't there an occasion in the OT where a whole foreign army was blinded, and then Elijah or Elisha led that army back toward its homeland?

[jimwalton]

Not precisely. That's 2. Ki. 6.18, and there is no mention of an angel. God struck the men with temporary blindness. There is no angel involvement.

[Seraph]

> This is not accurate. Once (Gen. 19.11) they temporarily blinded the population so Lot and his family could get out in safety. That's the only time angels blind anyone.

Ironically this statement is false.

In Exodus during the 10th plague an angel slaughters all the firstborn of anyone in Egypt without lambs blood across their door.

In 2 Samuel an angel slaughters the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

An army of angels in 2 Kings blinds a human army who are hunting Elisha.

Later on in 2 Kings an angel slaughters 185 thousand Assyrian soliders, 185 thousand people ... Slaughtered.

In Acts, an angel touches King Herod causing him to fall over dead, eaten by worms.

This excludes the Book of Revelation.

As for messengers, this is very true... However there are seraphim who are seen as eternally praising God day and night before his throne, crying "Holy Holy Holy..." This is their purpose and they don't act as messengers. Also the cherubium of Ezekiel carry God's Throne... Again they are seen, but don't seem to deliver a message.

[jimwalton]

Glad to have the conversation.

> In Exodus during the 10th plague an angel slaughters all the firstborn of anyone in Egypt without lambs blood across their door.

> 2 Samuel 24.16-17

> 2 Kings 19.35

> Acts 12.23

You are correct; I was wrong. I stand corrected.

> An army of angels in 2 Kings blinds a human army who are hunting Elisha.

This one is not an angel. There is no mention of an angel.

> However there are seraphim who are seen as eternally praising God day and night before his throne, crying "Holy Holy Holy..." This is their purpose and they don't act as messengers.

The seraphim are not angels; they are a different sort of spiritual being. So also cherubim; these are not angels either. We shouldn't confuse the three as being of the same sort. They are not.

[Seraph]

Yeah, the reasons for the OP is to do with both common other religions healings, new age thinking, superstitious Roman Catholic angel healings and the ability for satanic beings to heal. 2 Thessalonians shows that Satan will work genuine miracles to support "The Lie" ... I wonder if these include genuine healings.

Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “This is hopeless, my master! What are we to do?” And he said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are greater than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “Lord, please, open his eyes so that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness in accordance with the word of Elisha.

2 Kings 6:15‭-‬18 NASB

I think the army of angels the servant had his eyes opened to see, were the reason Elisha asked God specifically to blind the marauders. The opening of the eyes for the servent seems needless as Elisha is going to ask God to blind the army anyway, revealing divine protection and calming the servant. They knew how angelic beings operated, probably from the account in Genesis you mentioned, so realises these angels are there to protect.

But yeah, God did it

With the OP I didn't define "angel" . The term angelic being may be more appropriate. I tend to prefer spiritual being. Seraphim, Cherubium and the Living Creatures all commonly fall under the general title of angel.

[jimwalton]

> 2 Thessalonians shows that Satan will work genuine miracles to support "The Lie" ... I wonder if these include genuine healings.

The Man of Lawlessness is not an angel, and (I would say) neither is Satan.

In 2 Thes. 2.9, the three words used (displays of power, signs, and wonders) are all used for the miracles of Jesus. I think it's safe to say it could include healing. But again, this is not the work of angels, just to make the distinction.

> 2 Kings 6.15-18

The angels in this story are warriors/defenders, not involved in blinding the enemy, as we are observing.

> With the OP I didn't define "angel" . The term angelic being may be more appropriate. I tend to prefer spiritual being. Seraphim, Cherubium and the Living Creatures all commonly fall under the general title of angel.

I don't see them as falling under a general title. An angel is a specific being, as are the seraphim and cherubim. But I accept your clarification that in the OP you intended all spiritual beings as a category. Regardless, I don't see in Scripture where ANY of them are involved in healing of any kind.

[Seraph]

To be specific about 2 Thess. I suspect these are genuine miracles along with the power, authority and the wonders laid out in Revelation 13 and elsewhere.

If you would like to outline what you think Satan, angels, fallen angels, demons etc are to provide more clarity, please do feel free to do so. I personally haven't classed them all, and am aware of Jewish and Roman Catholic angelology and also new age, or occult belief; however the Bible does seem to outline several different type of "angelic being" ... or Spiritual Being, the general term I prefer.

I would understand Satan as being the Serpent, Dragon, Evil One and god of this age, as well as the Anointed Cherub from the second portion of Ezekiel 28. I am unsure if Isaiah 14 is Satan as the passage there states it is man, while Ezekiel states it is a created being, either Adam or a Cherubium. This one would be Baal Mel qart - but again this is a mysterious god, even from what we do know. Overall it seems to me there is an attempted "cover-up" of Satan himself, carried out by himself across history. Same tactics, same personality, same temptations, same entity, different names, different titles.

On a different note, with angels; it may not be a healing but I remembered this earlier:

18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her years.” 19 The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”

Luke 1

Zechariah's encounter with Gabriel renders him a mute. For the reason given, 'because you did not believe my words' he is made mute until his son John is born, when he will recover, or be healed from muteness. It seems personal, because he did not believe Gabriel's words, yet Gabriel speaks for God and the message comes from God. Quite interesting.

[jimwalton]

Again, glad to talk.

Satan: A powerful spiritual being of unknown category. There is NO reference that he was ever an angel. We know nothing of his origin or how he got to the place of opposing God as he does (I am convinced that neither Isa. 14 nor Ezk. 28 refer to him.) His main chosen role on Earth is to deceive. He cannot possess people. He has helpers in fallen angels, but not demons (to be explained later). He is not omnipresent, omnipotent, or omniscient. He can only be one place at a time.He certainly has power in this world, as Ephesians 2.2 shows. He is called a "prince" in many texts in the Gospels, relating that he has a modicum of power. He is the Dragon (serpent) of Revelation and the source of some evil in the world. (People's own hearts are the source of most evil.) He influences life, but not like God. Satan is a deceiver, but he cannot indwell as the Holy Spirit can.

But we have to understand that Satan is not a power equal to God, like Yin and Yang. Compared to God, he is quite tiny in his power and also quite limited. Compared to humans, however, he is very powerful, mostly in his ability to deceive. That's where his true danger lies.

The fallen angels: These are angels formerly of God who abandoned their positions for nefarious purposes (Jude 1.6; 2 Peter 2.4). They now serve Satan (Mt. 25.41) as his messengers, carrying out his tasks on Earth.

Demons: Demons are amoral spirit beings who cause chaos. They're to the human world like tornadoes to the natural world: chaotic and disruptive, but not evil. Generally speaking, demon possession in the New Testament causes physical symptoms like seizures (though the NT recognizes it as different from epilepsy) and what seems like madness. It's interesting that in the NT, demon possession never motivates people to sin, is not perceived as evil, and, even more intriguing, we only ever hear demon-possessed people speaking the truth. Demons are not identified with Satan. Satan and the fallen angels are a different thing.

Angels: Angels are God's messengers. They are most often mouthpieces bringing His messages to humans, but at times are involved in doing actions of judgment as agents for God.

Archangels: Seemingly a higher power of angel, almost always involved in military (both physical and spiritual) or political matters. The Bible only ever mentions 1 archangel. Its name is Michael (I use "its" because its gender is unknown or nonexistent). It appears in the Bible only a few times: Dan. 10.13, 21; 12.1; 1 Thes. 4.16; Jude 1.9; Rev. 12.7. That's it. We are told almost nothing about archangels.

What does it do? It seems to be a guardian over Israel, battling for Israel in the spiritual realm (Dan. 10.13). In 1 Thes. it is the agent God uses to signal Christ's return and the final spiritual battle, and therefore possibly a guardian over Christians in the spiritual realm. In Jude, Michael is doing battle for the body of Moses. In Revelation, Michael is fighting against "the dragon."

So I think we can conclude an archangel is a warrior who fights on behalf of God's people in the spiritual realm. That's about all we know from the Bible. Of course there are many traditions (the book of Enoch, Jewish literature) making up stuff about archangels, even adding archangels and naming them, but that's all unauthorized speculation, as far as actual Bible study is concerned.

Seraphim: Seraphim seem to always be in the presence of God (Isa. 6, the only place they are mentioned)—we know close to nothing about them. The only descriptions we have of them make them seem to have the appearance of winged serpents who are on fire or glow as if they were. They are also described as having face, hands, feet, and wings. So they are most likely upright fiery flying serpents who surround God's throne.

Cherubim: Cherubim seem to flank the throne of God, but they did appear on Earth once to guard the way to the garden (Gn. 3). So they are guardians who mark out God's invisible presence. They are composite creatures with faces, wings, and bodies like several animals put together.