About Angels
Illustration
Stories
Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere, ‘What are humans that you are mindful of them or mortals that you care for them? You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor’ (vv. 5-7)
Angels are popular in American culture.
To say that there is much interest in the subject of angels would be an understatement. Angel mania might be more accurate. Bookstores have whole sections dedicated to angel publications. “Touched by an Angel” used to garner 27 million viewers a week when it was on CBS.
Tom Hank’s film, Angels & Demons, earned $485 million. Polls show that 60% of Americans believe in angels.
Are there really such beings as angels in the world today? What do they look like? Can we see them? What did Jesus say about angels? Is this a topic that faithful Christians who are concerned about evangelism and caring for the poor should take seriously? How much of what we read about angels in a multitude of best-selling books resonates with the over 300 references to angels in the scriptures?
When I started collecting mystical experiences for the series of three books I did for CSS about visions beginning in 2000, I was amazed at how many people told me about an angel experience.
But you say, “John, is there any proof that angels actually exist? How can we be certain that all of these stories, including the hundreds of references to angels in scripture, are not just wishful thinking or the delusions of people whose brains aren't functioning in a normal way?”
Joan Wester Anderson was telling her hairdresser about the research on angels she was doing for her book, Where Angels Walk which was to be a compilation of personal accounts of angel experiences from ordinary people.
Her hairdresser asked, “How can you be sure... they aren't... you know... kooks?”
Joan's response was that “...people who have had experiences with angels didn't care if anyone believed them. Their conviction was powerful in its simplicity. “I know what I saw---and it changed my life,” one woman said quietly. That seemed to be enough. One woman said, “It’s been 45 years, but I can still feel the hand and hear that wonderful voice. Others choked up on the telephone when attempting to describe what they had seen or heard. They all seemed transformed... you are always a little different after seeing an angel. You cannot forget.”
Anderson added, “For those of us who have heard the testimony of others but have not yet experienced the presence of an angel, it is a matter of faith to trust the witness of scripture and the firsthand accounts of people we know. As the saying goes, “To those who are willing to believe, no explanation is necessary. To those who are not willing to believe, no explanation is possible.”
One of the most remarkable angel stories I have ever heard came during a pastoral visit.
I went to see John McLaughlin of suburban Milwaukee in the spring of 2005, a few weeks after his wife Mary's death. John told me he was sitting beside her bed at St. Joseph's Hospital, half sleeping, half awake, when he saw three angels come through the window on a beam of light. One stood at the foot of the bed and one on each side. The one at the foot seemed to be saying prayers and then made an upward sign with his hand. John watched as Mary's spirit came out of her body and ascended up through the window with the three angels. When he approached the bed, Mary was not breathing and there was no pulse. He pushed the buzzer for the nurse who came immediately and confirmed that she had passed. John said to me, “It was so vivid. I want you to tell people about what I saw.”
Angels are messengers of God. They bring words of assurance and encouragement:
In her wonderful book, Ecstatic Journey, Sophy Burnham tells of her experiences with these messengers of God: “They come as voices, dreams, visions, nudgings, or as intuitions---that touch on the shoulder that says, Go here not there. Sometimes angels come as human beings, sometimes in their own radiant form, rippling with colors or gleaming with the whitest of light. They may be balls of energy.”
Martin Luther wrote, “An angel is a spiritual being, created by God without a body, for the service of christendom and the church.”
Caroline Myss, medical intuitive and Roman Catholic Christian, spoke about the essence of angels in one of her workshops:
”Angels are taskmasters, they are not therapists. They are here to manage our potential; to maximize the growth of our spirits. They intervene at crossroads in our lives.”
Angels are popular in American culture.
To say that there is much interest in the subject of angels would be an understatement. Angel mania might be more accurate. Bookstores have whole sections dedicated to angel publications. “Touched by an Angel” used to garner 27 million viewers a week when it was on CBS.
Tom Hank’s film, Angels & Demons, earned $485 million. Polls show that 60% of Americans believe in angels.
Are there really such beings as angels in the world today? What do they look like? Can we see them? What did Jesus say about angels? Is this a topic that faithful Christians who are concerned about evangelism and caring for the poor should take seriously? How much of what we read about angels in a multitude of best-selling books resonates with the over 300 references to angels in the scriptures?
When I started collecting mystical experiences for the series of three books I did for CSS about visions beginning in 2000, I was amazed at how many people told me about an angel experience.
But you say, “John, is there any proof that angels actually exist? How can we be certain that all of these stories, including the hundreds of references to angels in scripture, are not just wishful thinking or the delusions of people whose brains aren't functioning in a normal way?”
Joan Wester Anderson was telling her hairdresser about the research on angels she was doing for her book, Where Angels Walk which was to be a compilation of personal accounts of angel experiences from ordinary people.
Her hairdresser asked, “How can you be sure... they aren't... you know... kooks?”
Joan's response was that “...people who have had experiences with angels didn't care if anyone believed them. Their conviction was powerful in its simplicity. “I know what I saw---and it changed my life,” one woman said quietly. That seemed to be enough. One woman said, “It’s been 45 years, but I can still feel the hand and hear that wonderful voice. Others choked up on the telephone when attempting to describe what they had seen or heard. They all seemed transformed... you are always a little different after seeing an angel. You cannot forget.”
Anderson added, “For those of us who have heard the testimony of others but have not yet experienced the presence of an angel, it is a matter of faith to trust the witness of scripture and the firsthand accounts of people we know. As the saying goes, “To those who are willing to believe, no explanation is necessary. To those who are not willing to believe, no explanation is possible.”
One of the most remarkable angel stories I have ever heard came during a pastoral visit.
I went to see John McLaughlin of suburban Milwaukee in the spring of 2005, a few weeks after his wife Mary's death. John told me he was sitting beside her bed at St. Joseph's Hospital, half sleeping, half awake, when he saw three angels come through the window on a beam of light. One stood at the foot of the bed and one on each side. The one at the foot seemed to be saying prayers and then made an upward sign with his hand. John watched as Mary's spirit came out of her body and ascended up through the window with the three angels. When he approached the bed, Mary was not breathing and there was no pulse. He pushed the buzzer for the nurse who came immediately and confirmed that she had passed. John said to me, “It was so vivid. I want you to tell people about what I saw.”
Angels are messengers of God. They bring words of assurance and encouragement:
In her wonderful book, Ecstatic Journey, Sophy Burnham tells of her experiences with these messengers of God: “They come as voices, dreams, visions, nudgings, or as intuitions---that touch on the shoulder that says, Go here not there. Sometimes angels come as human beings, sometimes in their own radiant form, rippling with colors or gleaming with the whitest of light. They may be balls of energy.”
Martin Luther wrote, “An angel is a spiritual being, created by God without a body, for the service of christendom and the church.”
Caroline Myss, medical intuitive and Roman Catholic Christian, spoke about the essence of angels in one of her workshops:
”Angels are taskmasters, they are not therapists. They are here to manage our potential; to maximize the growth of our spirits. They intervene at crossroads in our lives.”
