Chapter 16
Are Angels Real?
Have you ever heard someone tell you a story that might have
been easily dismissed as untrue, but the person telling it could not possibly
have been untruthful?
There was an elderly lady in her eighties (or maybe
nineties) who recounted the following story when she had been asked if she had
ever encountered an angel. I will repeat
it as best I can from my fallible memory.
The details are shaky, but the gist of the story is memorable.
One Friday afternoon, her gas stove stopped working. She called an appliance repair service. The person who answered the phone informed
her that, since it was late in the day, and all the repairmen were out on
calls, no one would be available until Monday morning. The person on the phone said, don’t use the
gas stove until then.
The lady said she was upset, because she lived alone, and
would not be able to cook until Monday.
Resigning herself to her fate, and looking forward only to cold meals
for the weekend, she hung up the phone and went to her pantry.
Just then, there was a knock on the door, and when she
opened it, there stood a man with a toolbox and wearing a repairman’s garb. I’m here to fix your stove, he said.
At this point, you had to have been there to see the lady’s
demeanor as she seemed to relive her confusion.
But, she said, I was told that no one could get here until Monday.
Well, I’m here now.
Can you show me the stove?
So, she said, she took the man to the kitchen. He then pulled the stove from its position at
the wall, looked downward, and said, well, there’s the problem right
there. It’s the regulator. I’ll replace it for you.
Kneeling down, he opened his small toolbox. The only thing it contained was a new
regulator, and the two or three tools needed to disconnect it. Soon, the job was finished. He pushed the stove back into its position,
and tested it. It worked perfectly.
The lady then said, how much do I owe you?
The man said, well, wait until you get the invoice.
He then left, and the lady enjoyed the weekend.
Monday morning, there was a knock on the door. When the lady opened it, there stood a
different man than before, with a toolbox, and wearing a repairman’s garb. I’m here to fix your stove, he said.
Oh no, she replied.
It was repaired last Friday afternoon.
Again, you had to have been there. The man, the lady said, had a confused look
on his face, and said, did you call another repair service?
No, but right after I hung up the phone, someone was at the
door, and he fixed it.
As the lady told this story, I got the impression that she
did not realize that the repairman either did not believe her, or else, he
thought she was mentally confused.
So he said to her, well, would you mind if I have a look,
just to make sure that the stove is safe to use?
She then led him to the kitchen, and allowed the man to pull
the stove from its place. There, the
lady said, she noticed that the previous repairman had left the old regulator
on the floor, near the newly installed one.
The repairman then picked up the old regulator, and said in
amazement, I haven’t seen one of these in many years. I don’t think they even make them
anymore. It’s a good thing he replaced
it when he did, because a gas leak from this could be dangerous. Where did he get it?
The lady replied that the previous repairman had had it in
his toolbox, with only the necessary tools.
I got the impression (from the way the lady told it) that
the repairman either did not believe her, or thought she was confused. He remarked how unlikely it was to have this
rare item, and only those tools, in his toolbox.
He then asked her where the previous repairman had come
from, what company? The lady said she
did not know, but that he had told her to wait for a billing invoice.
When you receive the invoice, the man said, could you give
me a call? I’m really curious to talk to
this guy.
The lady promised to call, as soon as she got the bill. And I would have, she said, but no bill ever
came.
Chapter 17
Angels and Demons
Angels (and demons)
are the subject of much misunderstanding.
In order to clear up those misunderstandings, this chapter will rely on
the Bible, as taught by the Baptist Faith, and by sources attached to the Roman
Catholic Church[1] and
Jewish tradition. Any errors in this
chapter are mine, not those of the sources.
The first misunderstanding to clear up
is to understand the similarities and differences between humans and angels.
Angels are not human, and never
were. No human ever becomes an angel,
and no angel ever becomes a human.
Angels are of spirit, not of material substance, although some of them
can, at times, assume physical appearance, perhaps even to the point of eating
material food. Humans are spiritual
beings with a physical component. Upon
death we are temporarily separated from our bodies, but after a future event
called the Rapture, we will become forevermore both of spirit and of physical
substance, although that future physical substance will be incorruptible.
Like humans, angels have life, consciousness
and free will. Unlike humans, angels are
of several different kinds, and these ranks and choirs, as they are called, are
very different from each other, vastly more different than are the races of
humans.
One vital fact to recognize is that
one-third of the angels rebelled against God and are as a consequence fallen,
having transfixed themselves permanently into evil. The other two-thirds of angels remained loyal
to God, and are now permanently sanctified such that no sin can ever corrupt them. They are eternally and forevermore, sinless.
It is important to note that angels are
never to be worshipped. The fallen
angel, Satan, sought to be worshipped in place of God. Angels loyal to God refuse to be worshipped,
and instead, themselves worship God and only God.
How many angels are there? The Bible tells us that there are myriads of
them, but this does not reveal to us a precise number. It is believed by some scholars who study
“angelology” that the number is so large that it is beyond counting. The question of whether there are an infinite
number of angels is perplexing, but the reference in the Bible to one-third of
the angels makes better mathematical sense if the number of angels is finite
rather than infinite. In any case, the
number of angels is likely beyond human comprehension, possibly greater than
the number of grains of sand on the earth, and possibly orders of magnitude
greater than that.
Angels are neither male nor female. They do not reproduce, nor do they die. The
names by which they are referred to, may sometimes coincide with the names of
men, such as Michael and Raphael, but this does not mean that the angels
themselves have gender, at least nothing that resembles human genders.
The angels are classified by scholars into
three levels, called spheres, and within each of the three spheres, there are
three levels called choirs.
The three spheres are not given specific
names, except to order them by number as the first (highest) sphere, the second
sphere, and the third (lowest). Within
each sphere there are three choirs, and these are named as follows, from
highest to lowest rank:
1.
Seraphim
2.
Cherubim
3.
Thrones
4.
Dominions
5.
Virtues
6.
Powers
7.
Principalities
8.
Archangels
9.
Angels
Other names for
the ranks of angels are used by some scholars.
The ranks of angels have been diagrammed
by some as consisting of circles surrounding God, with the highest order of
angels (the Seraphs) being closest to the throne of God, and the lower ranks
farther out. While the higher ranks
might be assumed to have authority over the lesser ranks, it is probably
incorrect to equate this with earthly authority. Instead, each sphere and choir has a separate
purpose and function in the hierarchy of heaven. For example on earth, a high government
official may have authority over a low ranking technician, but the prime
minister does not tell the jet engine mechanic how to do his job, at least not
if he intends to safely fly on that aircraft.
In heaven, the angels have been
sanctified, eternally perfected by God Himself, and therefore, no jealousies or
conflicts ever arise between angels. Of
course, they never question God, and they worshipfully obey His every command,
based on the mutual love between them.
The God Paradigm diagrams reality as an
outer circle, an inner circle, and the center.
The outer band (a doughnut shape) represents the physical world, and
also represents, very loosely speaking, the realm of Jesus, who took on
physical form to save humans from self-destruction. I speculate that this outer band is also the
realm of the third sphere of angels, which are the Principalities, the
archangels and the angels. I must
emphasize that this speculation is only a very loose analogy, for of course
Jesus is not restricted, and the angels of any rank go where God directs them.
The inner disk of the diagram is then,
by very loose analogy, the realm of God the Father (who is not restricted), the
realm of natural law, and if I may speculate, the realm of the second sphere
(Dominions, Virtues and Powers).
Finally the absolute center of the
diagram, a center which itself has no center, that is, neither a beginning nor
an end, represents (very loosely, I continue to emphasize) the Holy Spirit, the
Alpha and the Omega, and the realm of the first sphere of angels, the Seraphim,
Cherubim and Thrones.
Although scholars have arranged angels
into nine categories, it should be noted that Fr. Pariente taught that each
angel is personally unique, not merely in minor detail, but in the very core of
its being. He said that one might go so
far as to say that each angel is its own kind
of angel. The spheres and ranks
merely group the angels into functions and duties. Also, there is no possibility of overlap
among the spheres— they are as widely separated from each other as is the
highest mountain top from the lowest depths of the ocean, and more so.
Now for a very unpleasant subject, that
of the fallen angels, the demons. We
shall touch only on a very few points, ones that in my personal and biased
opinion should be important to every Jew and Christian.
The obvious and painful question is, how
was it possible that angels, living in heaven, could rebel against the God who
created them? Even if they thought that
such a rebellion had a chance of success, why would they ever even consider it?
I must begin by saying that there is no
answer. Only those who do rebel against
God can give any answer, and certainly that answer must be irrational, and
worse than irrational, beyond comprehension.
The rebellion seems to have begun with
Lucifer, and Lucifer seems to have been the highest of all the angels.[2] As such, he was closest to God. Tradition holds that Lucifer was overcome by
avarice and jealousy, by a hunger for power that led him to attempt to usurp
God and seize the throne for himself.
While these motives may be common among humans who are close to the seat
of power in their nations, my suspicion is that Lucifer was not led by
temptation, but actually tempted himself.
His free will alone, his decision, his choosing, led him to do the
unthinkable, to rebel against the loving God who had given him everything he
could ever legitimately desire. Again,
there is no understanding of this, and frankly, I hope never to understand it.
Just as with Lucifer, those who joined
him in the rebellion were not the victims of Lucifer’s powers of persuasion,
nor by his powers of deception. They
victimized themselves, each seeking to aggrandize himself with whatever
perceived benefit they had deceived themselves into coveting.
Since heaven exists outside of space and
time, there is probably no human way of expressing the events of the
rebellion. We tend to think in terms of,
first this happened, and then that happened, which finally led to this result. In the spiritual realm, however, these might
not apply, at least not in any manner we can comprehend. Nor need we to comprehend any sequence of
events, but only the Biblical account.
After his defeat in heaven, Satan had
not learned anything. He had already
transfixed himself into eternal, irreversible evil, and therefore, placed
himself beyond ever accepting God’s forgiveness. He came down to earth, and continues to wage
war against God, even knowing that he can never succeed. One preacher I listened to explained this by
saying that although Satan knows that he can never undo the work of salvation
by Jesus, although he can never take away our salvation, he can deprive us in
this lifetime of the joy of that salvation.
Imagine if you had been informed that a
month from now, you will inherit a billion dollars, but imagine also that
nobody believed you when you told them.
Therefore, you could not borrow against the inheritance, nor enjoy any
monetary benefit at all from it until you actually get the money, and that
there was no possible way to get around these conditions. You had to live, financially speaking, just
as you always have.
Even though you had not yet received the
money, you would probably be overjoyed just knowing that in a short time, you
would have all the money you could ever have dreamed of having. That month might seem like a long time, but
even so, you knew that your every financial need would be taken care of.
This is by no means a perfect analogy,
but it represents what every saved Christian should experience, the joy of
eternal salvation. We have an
inheritance in heaven that is worth far more than all the money in the world.
Imagine then that some spiteful person
brings great suffering into your life, ruining the joy that you otherwise would
feel, making you even forget the promised inheritance, perhaps even causing you
to doubt that you would ever receive it.
That spiteful person is Satan.
Satan cannot cause you to lose your
salvation. Jesus already paid the
price. Salvation is yours forever.
Only the saved person himself can cause
him to lose his salvation, and that is by accepting the mark of the beast. This sin is also called, blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit. It is not a sin that is
easy to commit. It requires exact
knowledge of what one is doing, it requires persistence over a long period of
time, and it requires a strenuous act of free will. During that process, the soul will,
figuratively speaking, howl and shriek and try everything to prevent its eternal
damnation. It is easier to walk slowly
into a raging furnace than to accept the mark of the beast.
Even so, many people will accept
it. Why?
Again, no one can explain it. The
self-damning soul must reject God, must reject His love, must refuse His
forgiveness. There is no answer, except
that some people will do it.
Satan may think that it is he who is
doing this to so many humans, but he is not.
They do it to themselves.
The angels in heaven will rejoice at
each and every soul who repents of his sin and accepts Jesus as his savior. The demons will rage and weep, because they
know that they can never destroy a soul who has loved Jesus. When you willfully accept Jesus as your
savior right now, Jesus ensures that you will never accept the mark of the
beast. Please pray to Jesus now, to
forgive your sins, and to seal you forever as His own.
In heaven, as we said before, the angels
know no strife among themselves, but instead, fully cooperate in every way to
serve God, and to do His will. The
heavenly angels seek nothing for themselves.
In Hell, by contrast, the fallen angels,
and the condemned humans, have no such motives.
Not only do they hate God, they hate each other. Not only is Satan jealous of God’s throne,
but so is each and every demon and fallen human— jealous not only of God, but
of Satan as well. Each seeks only for
himself, each seeks as much as he can get, and each will be satisfied with
nothing short of everything.
They have deprived themselves of every
spiritual nourishment, and so they are in a constant state of hunger, but
hunger for that which they detest: love,
faith, and charity. Spiritual needs can
be satisfied only by God, only by joyful worship of Him, only by seeking to
please Him, even at the cost of one’s own life.
Without these, the human soul is in a state of eternal starvation. The condemned soul is in a wretched state,
and yet it forever refuses redemption.
Rejoice in your salvation, in the
salvation of your brothers and sisters, and in the love of God.
