Posted on 12/28/2010 9:35:02 AM PST by wmfights
Heaven helped them!
“After experiencing dramatic rescues, medical miracles and other life-changing events, these ordinary people have no doubt that we share our world with heavenly spirits,” reports People magazine. Note 1
There was a time when those who believed in angels were thought of as misguided souls who existed on the fringe of society. Not any more. In just a few years a fad has become what is now called a cultural phenomenon. According to some surveys, nearly 75% of Americans believe in angels. And a good percentage believe that they have had an encounter with one.
Angelic appearances are diverse. One woman says that her celestial visitor came in the form of a “huge golden being” others tell of spirits that come in light, bestowing inner peace or keeping them from harm. Others take on the form of a man to do their good deed and then apparently disappear.
Here are three typical stories.
When Hilary Russel, then age 6, ran into the rolling surf in a deserted area in Miami Beach, the frantic parents thought she would drown. But a dark-haired man of about 30 years of age appeared a few feet beyond her. He just “picked her out of the water and held her in his arms.” He strode through the waves effortlessly. He put the child in her parents arms and he was smiling. When the Russels embraced each other for joy, they looked back and the man was gone. Today they are convinced that their welcome visitor was “Hilary’s angel.”
Gary Forner had set out with three volunteers to save a stranded 15 year old climber. While he was looking for a place to tie the straps for the rescue lines, the cliff edge crumbled beneath him. “There was nothing there to stop me from falling” he says. Then suddenly as he was falling 30 or 40 feet down the 90 foot drop, he felt this tremendous force, pushing him back. He even felt warmth in his heart, “Like when you’re a kid, and you get hurt and your mom or dad pick you up and cuddle you. All I could think was, ‘sweet Jesus, thank you.’” Thankfully, he was able get to a network of tree roots to climb back up. “It was either God or an angel” he says. His partners who saw the cliff the next morning agreed that “divine intervention is really the only explanation.”
Kahn-Langer was healed while having exploratory surgery for a brain tumor. When she was wheeled into the operating room, she remembered that a golden being had come to her, and to the doctor’s surprise, on the day she was scheduled for surgery, the tumor was gone. Not only was she healed, but she now has the ability to see angels. She has even seen winged spirits, one massive angel over her partner, a clinical psychologist. He in turn believes that this angel is the being who healed him many years earlier. This being had come into his hospital room and sang the Hebrew, “Hear O Israel, the Lord my God, the Lord is One.” An out of body experience convinced him that he had been touched by an angel. Note 2
What do we make of all of this? Why do angels appear to some and not to others? Why is Hollywood fascinated with angel accessories, angel ornaments and angel books? Indeed, stores dedicated to angels are springing up all over the country and the profits are, well, “heavenly.” What is going on?
We will examine this phenomenon and answer questions such as:
What does this interest in angels say about our society’s understanding of God? Has such a phenomenon ever happened before? What do we know about angels that will help us interpret these interesting accounts? What are the implications of the Biblical teaching that there are two kinds of angels, and how shall we distinguish between them? Before we discuss angels, we must first discuss God. The reason is quite simple: our view of God will determine our view of angels. Every “angel story” carries with it a “God story;” tell me what you believe about angels and I will tell you what you believe about God.
Approaching God
Humanism simply does not satisfy the human heart. The Bible makes it clear that when people stop worshipping the true God they do not stop worshipping; they just change the object of their worship. Thus, as God has been eclipsed in our society, it is not surprising that people are turning toward spirituality of one kind or another. The desire is to make contact with some “higher power” or a very friendly god who can be accessed by anyone.
This new obsession with spirituality is now combined with the individualism of the West and the result is smorgasbord religion. Little wonder “Everyone believes that his own personal feelings are more important than the collective wisdom of the ages.” Note 3
If it is true, as Tozer has said, that what a man believes about God is the most important thing about him, it follows that the way we approach God reveals the kind of God we worship. In other words, if you tell me how you think God should be approached, I will tell you whether you believe in the Biblical deity or some figment of the human imagination. There are several stories in the Bible that illustrate this principle.
Cain brought an offering to the Lord that was “the fruit of the ground.” He thought that God should be satisfied with something creative, something fashioned from his own experience. Since he was a “tiller of the ground” he came to God in a way that reflected his own private interests.
Cain’s God was “seeker friendly” and just so long as one approached Him with sincerity and a loving disposition, He would be available for fellowship. This God was not narrow minded, but broad enough for people of all kinds, people with different creative ideas interests.
Cain was wrong, of course.
Abel brought “the firstlings of his flock” and he was accepted by God. Interestingly, it was not that Abel was better than Cain that he was accepted, rather it is because “the Lord had regard for his offering.” The question was not whether one man had sinned more greatly than the other (though that question is important for other reasons), but it was the quality of the offering that determined who was accepted or rejected.
In the New Testament, Jude warns against those who “go the way of Cain” that is, those who fashion their own way to approach God. He describes them as people who do not fear God, but are “caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever” (Jude 12,13).
Cain was rejected by God for the simple reason that the holiness of God makes it impossible for us to come to God on our own creative terms. Abel was accepted because he offered the bloody sacrifice that God commanded. “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain” (Hebrews 11:4).
The question people should ask today is: Do I approach God with a sacrifice that He will accept? Am I coming to Him in the right way? A God who accepts any sincere person, regardless of what he believes, is not the God Cain and Abel had come to know.
A similar story comes to us from the Tower of Babel. “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4).
If Cain represents a customized, individualized approach, Babel represents a societal approach, a belief that if we unite, we can get to God by climbing a ladder of our own making. They thought that if they built a tower, they would be spared from another flood. And, they could get to the heavens, if only their tower was high enough.
Instead of repenting of their sin and turning to God for mercy, they thought that they could overcome the consequences of their own rebellion by technological advancement. With meticulous plans and hard work, they could reach the heavens.
Associated with this project was astrology, an attempt to control one’s own destiny without turning to God. The religion of Babylon represents an alternative religion; it seeks to connect man to God on man’s terms.
God responded by coming down to them in judgment, scattering the people by confusing their language. God did not doubt their sincerity; He did not doubt their ability to build a tower. If they had known the Almighty better they would have understood a basic principle: every tower man builds to God comes infinitely short. Every success man has in building his pathway to God only gives him the false confidence that the goal is attainable.
God’s judgment was also an act of mercy; it forced mankind to realize that God cannot be approached according to man’s liking or design. If man is to be rescued, God must build a “tower” to earth; man cannot build one to God.
The third story takes place at Mount Sinai. God instructed the people that a mediator was needed. In fact, God told the people that they had better stay away from the mountain. The mountain was the scene of fire, thunder and a violent earthquake.
The people were warned to stay away. “Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish” (Exodus 20:19:21). Then a boundary was set up around the mountain to make sure that the people would not come near and be struck dead. If an animal strayed past the boundary, it was to be put to death by an arrow or stoned to death without human hands touching it.
Modern man has no place for fear in approaching God. This is why so many reject the Old Testament; it presents a God who is woefully out of step with these enlightened times. People today want a direct encounter; they have the audacity to approach the mountain directly, just on the strength of their good intentions and personal merit.
The people of Israel were wise enough to say to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Michael Horton asks, “Can we, in our day, even conceive of a God whose presence so frightens worshippers that they beg for a mediator, knowing that if they go to God directly, they will perish?” Note 4
The Ten Commandments had just been given to Moses and Israel was dancing around a golden calf, choosing to fashion Jehovah after the gods that they had come to know in Egypt. They wanted a God with a face; they wanted to approach God in a more relevant way.
Keep in mind that the people were not worshipping a false God, but rather they were worshipping Jehovah in a false way. “We are worshipping Jehovah,” Aaron explained to Moses.
God judged the people severely for one good reason: He wanted them to know that it is not only necessary to worship the right God, but also to worship Him in the right way.
This is the great sin of our time: that anyone can approach God directly in his/her own way, without a mediator, without an acceptable sacrifice and without blood.
What does all this have to do with angels? Much, as we shall see in a moment.
Enter The Angels
In the early centuries there was a movement known as Gnosticism, (from the Greek word gnosis meaning knowledge). This school of thought believed that one could have a direct experience of God and achieve secret knowledge. It was also a movement that believed that one should incorporate angels in worship.
One could indeed be touched by an angel and make contact with beings who were on standby to help mortals. In fact, angels were more accessible than God. This heresy threatened the very existence of the Christian church.
Paul the apostle sometimes referred to these people as “super apostles,” not because they were unspiritual, but because they were too spiritual, too tuned into the spirit world, and too brazen in their assertion that they had experienced God. These were the teachers with the “higher knowledge,” the ones who talked convincingly of spiritual realities. These were the people who claimed to know God and angels better than Paul did!
Many writers believe that American religion has revived this old ancient heresy called Gnosticism. If this is the case, we had better know what the Gnostics believed. Here are a few details of their ever-changing creed.
1. Religious beliefs must be brought together, with no one belief dominating over the rest. Gnosticism was a big house, with room for many different religious viewpoints. They willingly incorporated bits and pieces of Christianity with popular culture and mystical theories. Could you find a better description of where we are today?
2. Personal experience was always superior to a doctrinal creed or objective belief. “Gnostic syncretism” says Philip Lee, “believes everything in general for the purpose of avoiding a belief in something particular. In the case of Christian Gnosticism, what is being avoided is the particularity of the Gospel, that which is a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to Gentiles.” Note 5
Spirituality, yes, specific beliefs, no. Religion should be all encompassing, all embracing. Christ is popular as a way to God, but not as the only way.
3. God is near and can be directly assessed. God could be found in the “inner man” available to all who would take the time to look deeply within their own selves.
4. Matter was evil and spirit was good. The self is imprisoned in the body and longs for freedom from it. Thus, Gnostics believed in “mind over matter.” Armed with the notion that matter was evil, Gnosticism attacked Christianity at its central point: The Word (Christ) could not have “become flesh.” If so, Gnostics argued, God would have become evil. Thus, the belief arose that Jesus only appeared to have a physical body.
And now for the angels!
5. This dualism, between matter and spirit led some Gnostics to the idea that strictly speaking, God could not have any contact with matter at all.
This notion that the incarnation could not have happened because God could not even have contact with matter, was combatted by John the Apostle when he wrote, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (1 John 4:2,3).
Gnostics were faced with the question: how did God create the world, and how can we have contact with Him? Thus one school of thought said this: God is accessible but He can best be contacted by association with angels.
The Veneration of Angels
A movie which I did not see, but read about titled: Angels In The Outfield, tells the story of an eleven year old boy Roger, whose mother has just died and whose father has now rejected him. Longing for the family he once had, he seizes on his father’s cynical remark that they will all be together again when the L.A. Angel baseball team (hopelessly inept) wins the World Series.
So Roger prays to a god he does not know, and a god of whose existence he is unconvinced, and asks him/her for help to aid the L.A Angels so that his wish becomes true. It happens, of course, and God is to be thanked for sending “heavenly angels” to help the baseball team.
Welcome to the first century!
Paul had a word for people who called on angels to help them! “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind” (Colossians 2:18).
What was the great danger of the church in the city of Colossae? There were those who invoked angels for protection, help and assistance. The phrase “worship of angels” could be translated, “veneration of angels” that is, calling on angels in magical invocations.
People called on angels as intermediaries of God to protect them from evil, to give them “inner light” and help them with daily affairs of daily life. Angels were called to help heal diseases and enlisted for success in business affairs.
These people did not speak ill of Christ. They just did not consider Him as the only mediator between God and man.
Devotees preferred angels to Christ because they could be more easily manipulated. Guardian angels were thought of as “good luck charms” for protection and getting things done. They were perceived to be more accessible than Christ and even more friendly.
Yes, history does repeat itself! If Gnosticism is the religion of America today, we should not be surprised that angels have made a remarkable comeback.
Anyone can be touched by an angel. Anyone can benefit from trying to make contact with heavenly beings. All this rests on a basic premise: God can be contacted without a mediator, without a sacrifice and without blood.
What are the dangers of this philosophy? What do angels know and do? What do angels think of the attention they are receiving? How do we interpret the miracle stories associated with them? To these matters we now turn.
Notes 1. People magazine, Dec. 22, 1997. 2. Ibid. 3. Michael Horton, In The Face of God (Dallas: Word, Pub. 1996), p.26. 4. Ibid., p.12. 5. Ibid., p.52.
I guess that rules out prayers like this one....
Prayer to Saint Michael
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_to_Saint_Michael
It's quite amazing how often Jesus repeated and re-framed his approcah to prepare the deciples for His death...they just didn't get it for quite some time. Enough can't be said about the resurrection...for it was after this many of the truths became clear to them. I think the same is for us...without the ressurection there is no Christianity. When we really grasp 'HE IS ALIVE'...it changes everything in how we see life and death...and pretty much everything else.
Also** he that does the will of my father,** it seems we can and should approach The Father as we would our own father who loves us Unconditionally. Jesus turned all to His Father, so that we can pray to him without fear. I don't think Jesus ever said, you must come to me first than to the Father...He broke the wall that kept us from His Heavely Father so we could approach with love and humility, not demanding but assured that Our Heavenly father hears our prayers...and answers them in the way best for us...
I may be misunderstanding some, but it is as if we approach Jesus to ask our Father. He taught us to pray the Our Father and to approach father as we would our own good father on earth...love, respect, humility, not as a bragging child that expects to get everything he wants just because he wants it.....But we are to ask in Jesus name, that puts the period to the fact that we approach via Jesus.
Plese point out my error, I would be interested to knowing it...
Perhaps those that were told by Jesus I knew you not, were not doing the will of the father, but what they felt would be get them a free ticket into heaven....
I alway remember its the Father that makes out the invitations, not even Jesus as its His Wedding..And the bride has been given to him by his Father...
Doesn't Jesus say no one comes to him unless the Father draws them to him and they then belong to Jesus...
I read some of these threads and they just confuse as each see's things differently..
Don't confuse what I am writting as putting Jesus our of the loop, but it seems some are putting the Father out of the loop. And Jesus didn't do that...
Just as some of the threads I find confusing, some will probably find my confusing. sorry about that, its the best I can do....
The confusion should not be for those who know that Jesus IS God.
If on earth Jesus even prayed to the father, he and the father are different or we have a man praying to himself in the garden.
I stated that reading some of the threads are what causes confusion.
Well now that would depend on which version of how that prayer came about, catholic writiers storys vary as with many cases of reported incidents....then someone decides which one looks the best and it’s a go....which for that alone says it’s bogus.
So yes indeed...it rules out any prayer to an angel...which if people do they have de-throned Christ..yet again.
As I said, they may be the same but are different or else Jesus would not have prayed in the garden...to say they are one as we think of one, than Jesus would have to have been praying to himself and thats not what I believe happened in the garden. I do not believe he prayed to himself. therefore He and the father are One in a way we don't understand..
It is fruitless to try and seperate the two. That's like asking a father ,and a husband who is also a brother, in a family... to be someone other than He is... he is all three yet one but each operates differently among the family
“Angels never appear as a mediator between man and God. We are never to pray to an angel, or say, “take this request back to God.” Christ alone is the bridge between God and man.
An angel, will never draw attention to himself, but will always direct people to give the glory to God. Angels are not independent messengers who seek to run errands for us. They come only when sent and give the message they have been given. If they do help us, it is their intention to remain unseen so that God might be glorified.
The sender is always more important than the messenger. Angels, like pastors of churches, are of secondary importance. Angels are never, in the Scriptures, to detract from the glory of God; they are to enhance His glory and make people wonder at it.”
The above is also from the article and worth reading further. I agree with this completely.
Thank you, that makes sense to me....
What an interesting thread this is!
This is an interesting read...more from Wmfights article not posted.
The Similarity Between Good and Bad Angels
It is not always possible for us to tell the difference between good and bad angels. The evil angels are willing to make as many concessions as possible to deceive the unwary. The angels of darkness turn themselves into angels of light so that people will be confused about their real identity.
1. Evil angels are willing to mouth solid, evangelical doctrine. When Christ was in the synagogue in Capernaum He met a man with an unclean spirit, who, when confronted by Christ cried out, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24). This demon, in effect, could sign an evangelical statement of faith that affirmed that Christ was Jesus of Nazareth, “the Holy One of God.”
What is more, demons confessed that Christ was the Son of God. “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” (Mark 5:7). These are the words of a demon responding to Christ’s command to leave the demented man. These demons, could, in effect, sign an evangelical statement of faith that affirmed that Christ was “The Holy One Of God,” or “The Son of the Most High God.”
Of course demons do not make such admissions willingly, or gladly. But when in the presence of Christ, or when attempting to deceive others they will confess to the truths of sound doctrine. Yes, they are capable of appearing and quoting “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord” if the words will deceive one of their victims.
2. Evil angels will duplicate the miracles of Christ. Paul warned that Satan would come with “all power and signs and false wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). Not every miracle is from God; not every beneficial intervention comes from the good angels. Evil angels will do all the helpful miracles they can if it serves their long-term goals, namely diverting people from the purity of the Gospel of Christ.
A man who was healed from a serious disease in a so-called healing meeting, discovered that he inherited “demonic darkness”, that is, a persistent sense that he now had an evil presence near him. When he rebuked Satan, the emotional and spiritual cloud left him, but his disease returned. We should not be surprised that healings occur in all the religions of the world. Satan is willing to give something that appears good in exchange for blind allegiance.
3. Evil angels use “super apostles” who present themselves as experts in spirituality. They convincingly lead people to believe that all people have, within themselves, the power to find God; they can have direct contact with God by following the right techniques.
These apostles invite people to come to God “just as they are” not to be cleansed and forgiven, but to be accepted on the basis of their own merit as humans. They are to come to receive the help they deserve. God delights to make contact with His creatures, if only they will desire it. “Come one and all” and “come in your own way.” And so we come once again to the grand lie: anyone can make contact with God without a mediator, without a God-appointed sacrifice and without blood.
....Continued....as this is really a good read....Metmom note #3....
Telling The Difference
So the question is: how do we interpret the dramatic rescues, the healings and the help given to people who are in desperate straits?
What do we say about the accounts of ‘divine interventions’ of heavenly beings that make everything turn out just right, regardless of what people believe about Christ?
Think through the following:
1. God’s good angels are given assignments limited to the people of God. They are not sent indiscriminately to all men and women. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). Thus, we have the function of angels defined for us in Scripture. If angels are ever sent to those who refuse to accept Christ and therefore “will not inherit salvation,” we have no account of it in Scripture.
2. God’s good angels participate in acts of judgment for the unconverted.
Yes, angels are sometimes sent to the unconverted, but only to judge them. We think immediately of the angels that visited with Abraham had the responsibility of executing judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. Angels did help Lot escape the city, but only because he was a believer in Jehovah and therefore a “righteous man” (2 Peter 2:7).
Repeatedly, in the book of Revelation, angels are directly involved in executing the judgment of those who have not come under the protection of Christ’s sacrifice. For example, in chapter 14 a succession of angels comes announcing judgment. One warns that if anyone worships the beast “he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:10). The angel that followed announced the impending judgment and the next angel executed it.
Read carefully,...... “Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying ‘Put in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe’” (v.18)
Then notice what this angel does........“So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God” (v.19). Later in the book, an angel invites the birds in midheaven to eat the flesh of kings, commanders, and mighty men (19:17,18) now that God has destroyed them in judgment.
3. Evil angels have all of the essential powers of good angels. Therefore evil angels perform many similar assignments as those of good angels for their evil master, Satan. Think of the awesome “victory” (albeit temporary) Satan wins when millions of people mistake his intervention into human lives as the intervention of God and His angels!
Remember, Satan’s goal is not to create as much misery as he can on planet earth; he is willing to do some good things while keeping his eventual goals in sight. His primary objective is to spread false doctrine, to reinforce the idea that God can be approached directly without a mediator, an acceptable sacrifice and blood. He does not mind if people believe in God, in supernatural occurrences and miracles. Indeed, these serve his purpose very well.
If you are a Catholic, Satan will appear as Mary; if you are a Protestant, he will appear as Christ and if you are a Hindu, he will appear as Krishna. Now that Princess Diana has become a international icon and a religious symbol, reportedly there are sightings of her, too. Satan will take whatever form expected to keep people shielded from the Gospel of Christ. It is naive to say, as some do, that these stories must be the work of good angels because the miracles are good and beneficial. We must boldly say that “good” miracles can be done by “bad” angels.
The famous spiritist, Emanuel Swedenborg recognized the difficulty of distinguishing good angels and bad. After years of spiritism, he wrote, “When spirits begin to speak with a man, he ought to beware that he believes nothing whatever from them; for they say almost anything...they would tell so many lies, and indeed with solemn affirmation, that a man would be astonished...if a man listens and believes, they press on and deceive, and seduce in [many] ways.” Note 2
Please do not forget the great sin of our time: the belief that God can be approached without a mediator, without an acceptable sacrifice and without blood.
Only the full biblical message can combat the rampant spirituality of our times; a spirituality that is a substitute for the Gospel of Christ. The fear that Paul had for the saints in Corinth should be ours today, “But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
Millions are deceived by angels whose presence preaches “another gospel.” As Paul warns, “But even though we, or an angel in heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8).
Let us remember that angels do not always get their theology straight!
C. S. Lewis says much the same in The Screwtape Letters.
C. S. Lewis says much the same in The Screwtape Letters.
Basically, Satan does not care if we die happy and comfortable, as long as we die lost.
He’d much rather inflict misery and suffering and pain, but if avoiding those can lull someone into complacency so that they don’t see the need for Christ, he’ll use happiness and comfort to do it.
Prayer to Saint Michael
What a great illustration. The prayer by itself seems pretty harmless and in some ways reverent. However, why pray to the Angel when you should go straight to the Father through the Son.
Notice how the church that promotes this type of thing also bows down to statues and prays to them? The point being when something like praying to Angels starts it doesn't stop there.
I love reading Pastor Lutzer as well. I believe that's in the 2nd Chapter. I'm going to print all 10-12 (?) Chapters individually because they are long and most people don't have the time to read more than one Chapter at a time.
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