Have you ever stopped to think about why people believe the things they do about anything, let alone angels and demons? Let’s face it; the truth is hard to come by these days especially with the proliferation of media, and the access to it. Along with that media, comes the publication of thoughts, ideas, and experiences, with no real way to fact check many of them. In my opinion, these are the source for most, if not all biblical misconceptions.
I know, you’re thinking hmmm…”aren’t I accessing that media and reading your blog, Paul?” and “how am I supposed to fact check you, to make sure you’re not full of baloney?” Those are great thoughts, I’m glad you’re thinking them. Now, as I state on the Home Page of my site, I’m comparing things I see and hear in the world, to the Bible, so I am using a standard by which you can measure my truthfulness. I’m not telling you that you have to believe the Bible, but you can check for yourself to see if what I say is true.
Table of Contents
Angels and Demons – Real . . . or Imagined?
The other day I stumbled on to an article, and subsequent YouTube video about a thrash-metal drummer named Will Carroll, who claimed that he visited hell. While in hell, Carroll says he was punished by Satan, who according to him, was a woman.
The experiences came while Carroll was in a near-death coma due to complications from Covid-19, and were pretty disturbing. The video adds details of how he rose up out of hell and witnessed angels that were scarier than the demons he saw while in hell. Apparently, Carroll witnessed these angels doing things I don’t want to talk about here; they were definitely the opposite of what you’d expect an “angel” to be doing. The article never mentioned the “rising up out of hell” depiction found in the video, so I’m not sure if it was actually part of Carroll’s original story or not.
The Source
The Bible does talk about both angels and demons separately, but they are technically the same type of being. I know, you’re scratching your head right now wondering how angels and demons could possibly have anything in common.
Let me just say this, the second part of the number 1 truth about angels and demons is that God created everything but He did not create demons. Huh? Yes, that’s right, God did not create demons, or Satan for that matter. Ok, let’s back up and look at the fist part of the number 1 truth about angels and demons. God created an angel named Lucifer, who later turned himself into Satan (Ezekiel 28:12-19; Isaiah 14:12-15) and then convinced other angels to follow him instead of God. There, does that help?
Lucifer is characterized by many names in the bible; serpent, dragon, devil, liar, thief, accuser, etc., and I will add one more; leader of the demons. A demon, in my opinion, is a former angel who now follows Satan instead of God, and those “angels” that Carroll saw, were definitely not of the “good” type. The Bible doesn’t actually come out and say that a demon is a fallen angel, but it’s implied (Revelation 12:7-9). If Lucifer, who was formerly one of the top angels (Ezekiel 28:16), can have different names like Devil, Satan, or dragon, can a demon be a lower, fallen angel? My answer is yes.
While it does help to understand where angels and demons come from, the real question we need to answer right now is, did Carroll really visit hell and see them or not?
Is Satan Really a Woman?
Let’s start with the fact that Carroll described Satan as a woman. In the Bible, Satan, or the devil, is always depicted as a man (Revelation 12:9; John 8:44), so it isn’t possible that Satan could be a woman. Sure, you can go around telling people that Satan is a woman, but there really is no basis for it. Not only that, you’d be accusing Jesus of lying, which is impossible for Him (Hebrews 6:18).
Second, let’s talk about the idea of a “place” called hell. I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover, and have yet to find where it describes one. The Bible describes what most people think of as a place, as more of an event (Revelation 20:14).
There are names found in the Bible like “Sheol” (Old Testament), or “Hades” (New Testament), that some people ascribe to a place called hell. Hades is the Greek god of the underworld and comes from Greek mythology, not the true God in heaven. The whole idea of “hell” as a place is a pagan one, not Christian, or Jewish. How can I say that? Because it can’t be found in the Bible. I don’t want to go too deep into this subject here, though you should read my book to get all the details on what happens to people when they die.
Let me just say that when the Bible talks about Sheol or Hades, it’s referring to the grave, not a place where souls of dead people are tortured by Satan for eternity. I’m going to back that statement up with a couple Bible verses, from which there are many to choose.
In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon says:
For the living know that they will die;
But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For the memory of them is forgotten.
Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6)
And then this in verse 10:
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
Most people believe that immortal souls of good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell immediately upon death. However, from these two Bible verses, you can see that Solomon was explaining that dead people are basically just dead. They don’t go anywhere but into a grave. So, if dead people don’t go anywhere, not even to heaven when they die, how is it that Will Carroll saw these angels and demons, and a female Satan, in a “place” he refers to as hell?
By the way, did I mention that the name of his thrash metal band is Death Angel? Typically, a band associated with “ thrash metal” isn’t going to be trying to evoke images of God, or Jesus, but just the opposite. Take a look at some of the song names from their latest album; Ghost of Me, Immortal Behated, Humanicide, Alive and Screaming, and Divine Defector (remind you of anyone we talked about earlier?). Is it any wonder that in Carroll’s comatose mind there would be imagery of angels and demons being played out like a scene from Dante’s Inferno?
Dreams and Visions
While I don’t believe for a second that Carroll could’ve visited hell, I do believe that God can deliver dreams and visions to people in order to show them something He wants them to see, or experience.
God given dreams and visions happen throughout the whole Bible. The most prominent in my opinion, come from the books of Daniel, and Revelation. For instance, in Daniel 2:31-45, Daniel explains and interprets a dream given by God to the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar, of Babylon. You should definitely go read that story, actually, go read the whole book of Daniel. Virtually all of the information relayed to the apostle John in the book of Revelation was given through vision. Even John himself says in Revelation 1:9-13 that he was on the island of Patmos when he “saw” everything that he was to write down.
In Carroll’s case, I think he could’ve received a dream from God. In his dream, he experienced something that obviously disturbed him. Why would these dream experiences suddenly seem disturbing to him, even though they were the types of images he fills his mind with on a daily basis? Could it be that when a person comes close to death, there’s a part of us that realizes who we’ve been following and somehow you see them for who they really are? I don’t know for sure, but it sounds plausible enough.
Second Chances
Maybe these images were shown to Carroll in a new light. He did say in the article “As far as for my personal life and my experience of what I went through, I don’t think Satan’s quite as cool as I used to.” The problem is he still thinks Satan is cool, just not as cool as before.
Carroll did preface that statement with a laundry list of things he was going to change in his life, so he at least recognized a need for change. Personally, I think he needs to take the dream a little more seriously, and make a complete change away from his current life. When you think you’re in hell and then rise up, but somehow still see only evil, you really have a serious problem.
Will, if you’re listening, please take the time to consider that you only have death waiting for you if you don’t turn from the path you’re on. Believe me; I know how hard it is to leave your old life behind. Granted, I wasn’t as far in as you are, but true freedom comes from following God, not Satan. You obviously saw a need for change, and made it as far as the fence; maybe by reducing your drug intake you even climbed up on top of the fence to get a glimpse of what’s on the other side.
So let me tell you something, Will, Satan owns the fence, and as long as you’re sitting on it he owns you too.