We each have a Guardian Angel. It guides us to make the choices that bring our immortal soul to eternal joy in Heaven.
Each of us also has a “destroying demon.” It strives to bring us to everlasting agony.
Christians have long wondered: “How do I tell my Guardian Angel from its hate-filled counterpart?” The question has been important as far back as 150 AD by The Catholic Church, in The Shepherd of Hermas.
“Every man has close by him two angels, the one an angel of holiness, the other an angel of perversion. . . . . the guardian angel is loving and respectful, gentle and calm.. .speaking to you of holines, of chastity, of zeal and moderation, and of every righteous work and honest virtue. Those come from your Angel of Sanctity. . .”
To tell the two angels apart, so that we may be not led into eternal pain, Hermas tells us the difference:
“. . . consider the angel of perversion. He is, above all, wrathful and bitter and wild . . . every time he shall rise up within your heart you shall recognize him by his words. . . when a surge of anger assails you, or a feeling of bitterness, you shall know that he is in you: and when also you have a desire to do many and great acts or incur needless expenditure on food and drink, and drunkenness and diverse pleasures, and the desire for women and for greed and great pride and a need to glorify yourself and everything of that sort: when you feel something of all that, you may be sure that the angel of perversion is in you. . . run from him and believe nothing he may say for his words are evil . . .”
The differences are clear. When we are thinking about a project or course of action, we learn that evil leads us with wrath, bitterness, grandeur, showing off, lust, self-glorification, or some similar motivation
If we find that in us, we should compare and see if we are being loving, respectful, gentle, calm, holy, chaste, moderate, righteous, and honest.
Our immortal soul’s eternal joy depends on one thing: following our Guardian Angel instead of our angel of perversion.
