Angel Impersonators

Do you know what an angel is? Are you sure?

• I watched a TV documentary (and also read further) about a certain cult group. One report said that the leader claimed to have died and come back, and so he wanted his followers to know that could be their reality. To that end, he “prophesied” the deaths of a couple of his followers, and they DID die as predicted. (Truth is, he got one person to commit suicide and he killed another—it was all a scam for him to collect their life insurance.) He also told followers that he was a centuries-old angel. And that he needed to have sex with young girls in order to stay alive and/or to “fix” what he had diagnosed as their problems.
• A new book being previewed seemed to be about angels, given the title. But in fact, it’s a mix of astrology, “energies,” secret information, invoking spirits, pentagrams, the lotus … with some supposed angel names and their supposed specialties thrown in.
• We tend to throw out the word angel rather casually and often incorrectly. Like, say, a precious little boy dies. Someone will soothe the mother with, “Well, he’s an angel in Heaven now.” They don’t necessarily mean that; it’s supposed to be comforting. But many people do believe we become angels when we die.
• Then some people take that a step further and believe that demonic manifestations are, say, their grandfather—and might refer to that entity as “Grandpa’s angel.”
• A fan of the practice of reiki said, “We are all angels in human form.”
• TV and movies portray all sorts of incorrect ideas about angels: their nature, what they can/can’t do, what they need…

I feel especially sorry for those people who were caught up in the cult group mentioned above. But I couldn’t help thinking that if they’d known the truth about angels in the first place, they’d never have fallen for that guy’s ridiculous claims.

Let’s remember these things:

• Angels are another… well, species. God created them (Psalm 148:1-5). That means people don’t become angels when they die.
• Angels don’t marry (Matthew 22:30).
• The only angels actually named in the Bible are Gabriel and Michael. And there do seem to be ranks of angels. Ex: archangel (Jude 9), cherubs (Ezekiel 10), seraphs (Isaiah 6).
• Though angels are spirit, they sometimes manifest and people sometimes see them (2 Kings 6:15-17; Luke 1:11, 12).
• Their job is to obey God’s orders (Psalm 103:20, 21). They wouldn’t violate his Word/will (compare Galatians 1:8).
•  Angels are not to be worshipped (Revelation 19:9, 10).

Let’s keep truth and fiction/deception separate.

OK, now for a bit of comic relief on the topic of angels. Click here.