By Marsha West
Angels fascinate people. For years we’ve been inundated with books, calendars, stationery, folklore, jewelry, knickknacks, lunch boxes, tattoos, even cherubic trash containers. People can’t get enough of angels! Stories of angelic encounters abound on the Internet. You ask, “Do you have a problem with angels?” Well, yes. And herein lies the problem. The messengers are not necessarily “angels of light” as people have been led to believe. Many angel enthusiasts have actually met heavenly visitors from the dark side. Even self-professed Christians are deceived. How can this be? Shouldn’t Christians be able to discern what’s real and what’s counterfeit? Not necessarily. Biblically illiterate Christians are easily fooled.
ANGELS OF LIGHT, ANGELS OF DARKNESS
Two elect holy angels are mentioned by name in the Bible: Michael and Gabriel. Also mentioned are the Angel of the Lord, the archangel (Michael), the Captain of the Host, messengers (Gabriel appeared to Mary), and guardians. The fallen angels mentioned are the angel of the Abyss (Destroyer), and of course the most notorious angel of all: Lucifer. Scripture tells us very little about angels, except that they are sent to do God’s bidding. Most people know the story of the angel of the Lord who appeared to Mary and announced that she would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Savior. “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” — which means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23).
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT ANGELS?
Angels are personal spiritual beings, having aspects of intelligence, emotions, and will. This is true of both the good and evil angels. Angels possess intelligence (Matthew 8:29; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Peter 1:12), show emotions (Luke 2:13; James 2:19; Revelation 12:17), and demonstrate that they have wills (Luke 8:28-31: 2 Timothy 2:26; Jude 6). Angels are spirit beings (Hebrews 1:14), with no true physical body. The fact that they do not have bodies does not affect their being personalities (any more than it does with God). [1]
Because angels are personal spiritual beings they cannot be in two places at once. That includes Satan. He’s powerful, but his powers are limited. It’s impossible for him to be in Washington D.C. and Iran at the same moment in time. Give this some serious thought the next time you take it upon yourself to command “Satan” to leave.
Scripture tells us that angels are created beings, thus they have not existed for all eternity. “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:16-17).
According to Hebrews 13:2 angels can take on the appearance of humans. “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” They always appear as men. Daniel sees an angel with very strange features. “I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude” (Dan. 10:5-6). It’s surprising that Daniel didn’t keel over from heart failure.
God sends His angels to care for believers upon death. “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side” (Luke 16:22).
Does God need angels? In his best-selling book, Angels Among Us, Ron Rhodes gives this response, “God does not need angels! In saying this, my intention is not to minimize the importance of what the Bible teaches about angels. I, personally, am very thankful that God created angels. My point is simply that God is fully capable of accomplishing His ends without their assistance.”
This will not go over well with radical feminists, however angels are always of the male gender.
And, yes, angels have wings. The order of angel called Seraphs has as many as 6 wings. “Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:1). However, most angels are not described with wings on their backs. Would angels really need wings to move through the cosmos? I mean, c’mon!
There is nothing in Scripture that tells us to pray to angels. Just the opposite is true. In Luke 11:1 Jesus tells us to pray directly to the Father. In Matthew 6:6 He said, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Jesus Christ bridged the gap between God and humans. Hence there’s no need to approach God through angels or through any other means. We can come to God directly because of Christ.
Are there angels among us today? You bet there are!
It’s very cool that God sends His angels to minister to our every need, right? Wrong! Most of today’s angels are not from God. The way to determine whether an angel is holy (from God) or unholy (demonic) is to look at what they support. First of all you must ask yourself this: does my angel point me to Jesus Christ, or away from Him?
Secondly, does your angel support in any way the world of the occult? If the answer is yes, it’s an “angel” from the dark side.
Well-known New Age angel guru Terry Lynn Taylor encourages the use of occult tools such as Angelic Messenger Cards that are said to guide people to accept contacting the dead (necromancy). In her book, “Creating With the Angels: An Angel-Guided Journey into Creativity,” we’re told about “dream work.” Taylor invites readers to play with the angels. “Dream time is spirit time and offers a great opportunity to play with the angels. . . .Allow the angels to help you interpret your dreams.” Now then, because necromancy falls into the category of sorcery, she’s promoting angels from the dark side.
Today’s angels also push other occult practices on naive individuals. (See below.) God’s holy angels would not, could not, promote something that He expressly forbids! Holy angels are incapable of going against God. Fallen angels continually go against God.
How do you contact an angel? John Randolph Price’s book “The Angels Within Us” takes readers into altered states of consciousness to establish contact with them. In the Bible there’s a name for an angel that possesses the unbeliever: demon. Angels, either holy or unholy, do not indwell believers. The Holy Spirit resides in Christians from the moment they give their lives to Christ and be assured that the Spirit will never leave. In John 14:16-17, Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you…” Those are powerful words.
TOOLS OF THE OCCULT ON EBAY
Search eBay and you’ll find Angel Oracle Cards that “provide messages and reminders of your ‘Guardian Angels’ steady and loving presence. Each day your Angels will give you the answers to your questions, set positive intentions, help you heal, and manifest what you desire.”
eBay also offers Earth Stones. “Have the names of the ARCH ANGELS on each one, in gold. There is much to learn about our Watchers of the Heavens & Earth. … Place the ARCH ANGEL stones on your Altar, Meditation area or bedside.”
Gullible people actually do this sort of thing.
Purchase “The Little Book of Angel Wisdom” and you will be “filled with wonderful verse and insiteful (sic) messages from our Angels.”
BOOKS ON ANGELS
The books of spiritist Geoffrey Hodson are popular with the angel set. Hodson claims an angel calling itself Bethelda gave him material for several books, including the popular “The Brotherhood of Angels and Men and The Kingdom of the Gods.” In his book “Clairvoyant Investigations” Hodson writes, “I have myself confirmed that these super-physical domains contain innumerable nonphysical beings, such as angels and nature spirits. . .” What kind of angels are they? Examine what they teach and you’ll discover that they encourage occult practices such as automatic writing, dictation, or speaking, in order to get their messages published and in the hands of the public.
Meredith L. Young-Sowers admits, “For well over a decade, I’ve been taught by an angelic presence that describes himself/herself simply as Mentor, meaning ‘teacher.’” According to Sowers, Mentor’s verbatim teachings are given in her books.
Rosemary Ellen Guiley, “has written more than 20 books on spirituality, visionary experience, personal growth and also the paranormal, including Dreamwork for the Soul, The Encyclopedia of Dreams and Breakthrough Intuition.” Here’s how Guiley describes encounter dreams with spirit beings:
- “For many years, I have felt the presence of guiding beings in my life. . . .My initial intuitive sense was that these helping beings were ‘angels,’ and that is what I have always called them.”
Guiley believes that angels facilitate her work in numerous ways:
- “I am assisted and influenced by angels. I am grateful for their help, and I acknowledge them daily in my meditation. I sense a small group of angels who are around me all the time, connected to my personal and professional lives. They are joined by other angels who come and go depending on circumstances. . . .When I began work on Angels of Mercy the angels came out in force. It seemed I had a small army looking over my shoulder to weigh in with their various influences. . . .In addition to my writing, I lecture a great deal, and I feel the guiding presence of a ‘speaking angel’. . . .I sense his presence. He is a facilitator who helps me organize and deliver talks.”
The name of Guiley’s speaking angel is Plato. By her own admission the spirit being uses her voice to give his message while she’s in a semi-conscious state.
- “As I began my talk, I felt a distinct shift in my consciousness, as though part of me were displaced to one side. In addition, I could feel the weight of an invisible presence on my shoulders, as though a being was perched there. . . .I talked for two hours without looking at a single note, and got rave comments from the audience. As time has gone on, I have been increasingly aware of this shift in consciousness when I deliver a talk. Occasionally, someone who is clairvoyant will come up to me afterward and ask me if I know I have an angel or a being standing off to one side of me. ‘Yes,’ I say, ‘that’s my speaking angel!’”
Most of the popular angel literature is from the angels themselves. Fallen angels literally overrun every occult practice known to man. Angelic forces are invoked in magic rituals and various magical systems and witchcraft. Those involved in angelology hold that angels are benevolent beings and are different from demons.
Benevolent angels do not entice people into sorcery.
Speaking of demons. Read the Bible and you’ll discover the principle goal of demonic spirits that imitate angels is to confuse people as to their modus operandi. If people can be convinced that the realm of the occult is “safe” they’ll be much more willing to experiment. But they’re not safe! A person who channels an angel (or a spirit guide) is possessed by a control spirit every bit as much as if they were a medium or a trans-channeler. The messages and phenomena found in angel channeling and in mediumism are essentially the same.
The Bible speaks very clearly of this deception in Second Thessalonians 2:9-12: “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”
Satan’s a fighter. His goal is to take you down with him. There’s still time to abandon ship! The price you’ll pay for trusting an angel is your very soul.
AVENGING ANGELS
Judgment Day’s approaching my brethren. God’s angels will announce His impending judgments as well as execute them. “New Age angel enthusiasts who say that the typical message from an angels is, ‘Don’t be afraid, everything is fine. There is nothing but love’ are in gross error. Though angels are loving and do bring comfort to the people of God, they also bring messages of death, destruction, and judgment to those who reject Christ.” [2] Satan will go down in flames.
A final word of warning: Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
NOTES:
[1] What Does the Bible Say About Angels?
[2] Angels Among Us, page 181, by Ron Rhodes
RESEARCH
© Marsha West 2007