The study of angels is a legitimate are of theological study. At the same time, it can easily slide over into a cult religion or even idolatry, when we seek to please angels in order to gain access to their power. Mankind has always sought to know and receive benefit from those who are more powerful than we are, which has led to many forms of idolatry throughout the centuries.
When we look at pagan religion in general, we find that what made anything seem to be a “god” in the eyes of those who worshiped it, was the simple fact that it was more powerful than those who worshiped it. This could be something as simple as a powerful animal, such as an eagle or jaguar, both of which were worshiped by the Aztec people of Mexico. Forces of nature were often personified, giving them human-like bodies and personalities, sometimes crossed with animals or given other attributes not found in humans. By humanizing these forces of nature, it became easier for those primitive peoples to identify with and relate to them.
God Himself made it very clear that any form of idolatry was unacceptable, including it in the Ten Commandments. In addition, there are many references to idolatry, either symbolically or directly, throughout the boss of the prophets.
You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me. 6 But showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. – Exodus 20:3-6 (the First and Second commandments)
It might be easy to think that idolatry no longer exists in the Earth today, as we don’t carve those graven images. Yet at the same time, we idolize celebrities, money, and our personal possessions, allowing them to be more important in our lives, than God Himself is. That, by definition, is idolatry.
I have known many people who have angel figurines in their homes; not because they particularly love angels or just find the figurines beautiful, but because they are seeking the protection of those angels. Yet, while there may be instances where God has commanded His angels to protect a person, army or nation, there is nothing in scripture to back up the idea of us asking angels for that protection. We are only to pray to God, in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, no other.
We’ve Got to Understand Our Source
Before talking about Amenadiel, we need to talk about scripture and where our information comes from. The Bible, as it is known to the church today, consists of 66 books; 39 of which are in the Old Testament and 27 of which are in the New Testament, as the canon of the scripture currently exists.
This term “canonized” or “canon” refers to those books which are accepted as the official content of the Bible. The canon of scripture as we know it today, has existed since about 170 AD, but was formally accepted by the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, in 325 AD. Even so, there is a difference between what the Catholic and Orthodox churches consider to be canon and what they call the protestant churches. The 14 books of the Apocrypha are not considered to be canon by the protestant church, because they were not included within the Jewish canon of the Old Testament.
There’s a reason for that. The Jewish canon of the Old Testament was determined by a group of scribes, who were the greatest Biblical scholars of the Old Testament period. Copying scripture all day long makes them experts on its content. Ezra, the same one who wrote the book of Ezra, was the leader of this group who determined the canon of the Old Testament. This happened sometime before 440 BC.
So, why would that be necessary? Simply because there have always been many more writings than those we see in our Bibles today, both in Old Testament and New Testament times. Not all were considered to be of the same value, the same authority, the same accuracy, or the same validity. Ezra’s group of scholars faced the challenging task of determining which of those books would be considered part of the Tanakh.
The books which are part of the apocrypha were all supposedly written after that time, during what are known as the “silent years,” the 400+ years between the time of the prophet Malachi and the beginning of the New Testament. Because they were written during that time, there has never been agreement on whether or not they should be canonized. Some scholars accept them, while others don’t.
In the case of the New Testament, you can find a lot talking about how the First Ecumenical Council decided what should be included in the canon of scripture; but as I already said, that was mostly decided by about 170 AD. Considering that the early church was under a lot of persecution from Rome, having a copy of even a part of any writing about Christ and His teaching was a death sentence. The only works which were kept by people were those they deemed to be important enough to die for.
Even so, these extra-biblical writings, especially those from the apocrypha, are significant, because much of what we know about angels comes from them. One such book is the book of Enoch.
What is the Book of Enoch?
There are two men named Enoch mentioned in the Bible. The first is a son of Cain, mentioned in Genesis 4:17. We know very little about this man, primarily his parentage and the name of his son. Cain built a city and named it after this son, a common practice in ancient times.
The second Enoch is mentioned in Genesis 5:18, as the son of Jared and the father of Methuselah, the man credited with living the longest life, at 969 years. Yet, even though Methuselah lived the longest here on the Earth, his father Enoch outlived him, as he never died. God chose to remove him from this life, without passing through death.
Enoch lived sixty-five hears, and begot Methusaleh. 22 After he begot Methusaleh, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:21-24
The Bible gives us no further explanation about what happened to Enoch, other than that which is written in those verses. From them, it appears that Enoch had a close enough relationship with God, that God saw fit to take him bodily to heaven. This is a very rare occurrence in the Bible, which was only shared by the prophet Elijah and Jesus Christ Himself. But if He was close enough to God, that God saw fit to take him bodily into heaven, it would certainly be interesting to hear what he would have to say.
There is a book that is attributed to Enoch, although it is not included in the Bible or even the apocrypha. The Book of Enoch was thought by many to have been written during the same silent years that the books of the apocrypha were written in, until the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Ten separate fragments of the book have been identified amongst those scrolls, both validating the text and pushing its date back much further. Although they are likely copies of the original, the existence of so many of them lends credence to the idea that they have been around for much longer than originally thought, possibly even to the time of Enoch, which would have put them before the Great Flood of Noah’s time.
Apparently, the Book of Enoch was around in the times of Jesus, as Jude, one of His disciples makes mention of it in his epistle. This too gives credence not only to the existence of the Book of Enoch as an actual text, but also as something that the early church leaders took seriously.
Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” – Jude 1:14-15
So, why isn’t this book of Enoch part of our Bible? You can find various different explanations, most of which are probably conjectures. One common argument was that it was excluded from the canon of the Old Testament because it contained prophecies about Christ. If that were truly the case however, how did the book of Isaiah survive, considering that it has more verses about the coming Messiah or Christ than any other book in the Old Testament?
It should be noted that there are a number of books referenced in the Bible, which either no longer exist or are not considered to be part of scripture today, both in the Old Testament and the New. Why they don’t exist is anyone’s guess at this point, but it is clear that there were texts written by godly people, which did not make it into either the canon of the Old Testament or the canon of the New Testament. There are over 100 extra-biblical texts written in the first century AD, including such titles as the Gospel of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas 1 & 2 Clement and the writings of Flavius Josephus.
So Who is or was Amenadiel?
There are very few angels mentioned by name in the pages of scripture; but most that are, are mentioned in the books of the apocrypha, as well as in the book of Enoch. The only two archangels mentioned in the canon of the Bible by name are Gabriel and Michael. Lucifer, who fell and became Satan, is also mentioned by name. It is believed that he was an archangel before his fall.
There are two places we find Amenadiel mentioned. One is in the aforementioned Book of Enoch and the other is the Theurgia–Goetia, an anonymous ancient book about magic. In this second book, Amenadiel is known as the “Esat King. In this regard, he is commander of more than 1000 “dukes.” These can be seen as other important spirits, which have other lower-ranking spirits under them, along the lines of the principalities mentioned in Ephesians:
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12
This leaves us with the question of whether Amenadiel is a good spirit or a bad one? Did he serve Jehovah God or did he go his own way, rebelling against God as Lucifer did?
According to widely accepted theology, all demons and evil spirits started out as angels, created by God. At some point in ancient history, Lucifer rose up in rebellion against God:
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. – Isaiah 14:12-15
Jesus made a very brief reference to this rebellion, the subsequent defeat of Satan and his being cast down from heaven. It is commonly believed that when he fell, he took one-third of the angels of heaven with him, in his rebellion.
And He (Jesus)2 said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” – Luke 10:18
Going back to the book of Enoch, we find reference to at least three angels falling. Whether they fell as part of Lucifer’s rebellion or a rebellion of their unknown is something that we just don’t know. But it raises the question of whether Amenadiel fell in Lucifer’s rebellion or not.
Once again, we don’t have a clear answer to this question. According to the book of Enoch, Amenadiel was defeated by the archangel Michael after rebelling. As a result of that, he was sent to hell, along with the other angels who joined in his rebellion.
Amenadiel in the Lucifer Television Series
We must always be careful about how Hollywood shapes our thinking. They do not exist to preach the gospel message or to further understand the Word of God. Their main purpose is to entertain and to make money by doing so. As a secondary purpose, it is clear that many in Hollywood see their role as one of shaping society, with that shaping being ever more towards the radical left.
But even without Hollywood’s political leanings, they are in the business of making stories that people will watch. In this effort, they have no compulsion against changing facts or history to match the narrative they are trying to bring. If it is necessary to turn a good person evil, in order to sell a story, they will do so. Likely, they can and will take an evil character and make them look good, if it works for their story.
We should always be careful about where we receive any spiritual or biblical teaching from. As we’ve discussed, Amenadiel doesn’t exist in the pages of the Bible, only in books which were not included in the Bible. That brings any teaching in regards to this entity under question. While myth and fantasy may make for a good story, it shouldn’t shape our lives.