Actually, the word isn’t “angel,” but “gods.” Man made man a little lower than the gods, or “holy ones.” Satan rebelled as an angel and took a third of the angels with him. The remaining angels, I think, were those of us who were born into mortality. Witness John, who spoke about falling down before one of the angels showing him his vision. The angel replied, “See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.” (Rev. 22:9) In other words, the angel once lived on Earth as a prophet.
That’s why I’m convinced that God doesn’t create evil beings. People become evil, and, I think, some are born evil. Even though two thirds of us kept our first estate, I believe some were more developed than others. Some of the more wicked spirits may not have rebelled because they knew Lucifer could not possibly win, or they may have had other selfish motives. Certainly, premortality was a popular doctrine in first century Christianity. The apostles asked Jesus, “Lord, who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” (See John 9) And Jeremiah wrote, “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ‘Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.’” (Jeremiah 1:4-5)
I just watched the entire series of interviews with Richard Kuklinski, the “Iceman,” who committed over 200 (by his count) murders, many of them for hire. Then I read Ezekiel 38-39, where the Lord speaks to a man not even born. As I get older, I believe that some people (perhaps all of us) bring a certain amount of baggage into this world. Why do some kids seem to be kind, generous and caring, while others are torturing animals by the time they’re ten years old? Kuklinski said he was beaten up as a kid. Well, so was my dad, but he didn’t turn into a psychopathic killer (that I know of). He was a Type A aviator, whose father was a mean drunk. He definitely carried baggage, but it showed itself in other ways. Still, he was a good, decent, honest man who knew how to make friends and keep them for a lifetime. Kuklinski? Well, he killed all his friends, and anyone who “made me mad.”
Just my view. Having known many kids, and having been one, I know that all men are only equal in the eyes of the law. So where does the evil come from? This isn’t to say that some children are not born innocent. They all are until they reach an age of reason. But as they reach that age, they are capable of great goodness or evil. I can’t believe they just appeared that way.
The apostle Peter, according to the Clementine Homilies, argued:
Learn this also: The bodies of men have immortal souls, which have been clothed with the breath of God; and having come forth from God, they are of the same substance, but they are not gods. But if they are gods, then in this way the souls of all men, both those who have died, and those who are alive, and those who shall come into being, are gods. But if in a spirit of controversy you maintain that these also are gods, what great matter is it, then, for Christ to be called God? for He has only what all have. (Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 3.1, in ANF, 2:271)
This is significantly different than the soul-sleeping beliefs of the Adventists (including JWs), but despite their holding on to that doctrine, it just isn't long-lived. According to very old non-canonical Christian literature, it's quite clear that the ancient Christians absolutely and without question belived that men had eternal spirits. It was not a Greek intervention.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXgi72W2H7U
