One of the fascinating things about studying angelology is the stories people tell about
angelic encounters. A few years ago, author John Gilhooly received
a call from a man claiming Michael the Archangel visited him at home. The man had been plagued
with demonic attacks, which subsided to some extent after his encounter with Michael. He
even claimed to have video evidence of the angel. Another woman told John that she encountered
an angel in a shop window of a downtown department store. He didn’t say anything to her, she
said, but the visit reminded her that God loved her.
The Christian shelves of major bookstores abound with similar tales—there’s even
a series of Christian-living books about angels that have appeared in the form of dogs! (Okaaaay…
I’ve heard all dogs go to heaven, but I don’t think they become angels when they
get there. I don’t think that’s how it works.) Some Christian writers attempt to
make spiritual powers and territorial spirits the major theme of the whole Bible. Somehow
it makes the whole enterprise seem more vivid, cinematic, and exciting, like reading a supernatural
novel as opposed to a love letter from God. People take deep comfort from the idea that
angels guard their steps and protect them from harm, or that their angel wards off the
advances of the Devil. But is it wise to put our hope in such protection? And does each
of us have a guardian angel? * * * * * * * * * *
Hello, Weirdos – I’m Darren Marlar from the Weird Darkness podcast; welcome to the
Church of the Undead. This podcast is for anybody like me who loves
creepy stuff – stories about ghosts, unsolved mysteries, unexplained disappearances, true
crime, aliens, cryptids, etc. At the same time, I also love God and sometimes my love
for Him and my love for the macabre interact or even collide – that’s why I created
the “Church of the Undead” podcast. This is also a place I can share episodes not related
to “Weird Darkness” which are relevant to those who suffer with depression, and/or
those who enjoy macabre subject matter and also love (or are curious about) God and want
to learn/worship with other “Weirdos in Christ”.
Full disclosure - I’m not a pastor. I’m just a guy who gave his life to Christ in
1989 and has tried to “walk the walk” every since – stumbling more often than
I’d like to admit. While you might have come here to learn, this podcast will be a
learning experience for me as well, as I study and try to find answers to share with you.
And as an imperfect being, sometimes I’m going to get it wrong. While I will do my
best to bring truth, some interpretation is going to leak in as well, it is inevitable.
So please don’t take what I say as gospel; dig into God’s word yourself for confirmation
as well as revelation. That being said, welcome to the Church of
the Undead. * * * * * * * * * *
Today’s episode of Weird Darkness, July 13th, 2020, is titled: “REAL LIFE ENCOUNTERS
WITH ANGELS”. If you’ve not yet heard it, I’ll place a link to it in the show
notes. If you have listened to it, you know it touched a lot on personal stories of those
who believed they had encounters with real angels. In fact, many of the stories used
the term “guardian angel”, or “my angel” when telling the stories. Is that the way
it works though? Is there one particular angel whose God-given assignment is serving and
protecting me—just me, alone? My own personal invisible bodyguard?
One of the most common beliefs about angels is that each of us has a guardian angel. But
the Bible does not explicitly state this. According to biblical scholar and teacher
Dr. David Jeremiah, whom I have learned a lot from over the past thirty years, there
are just two verses in the Bible that indicate there might (I repeat “might”) be guardian
angels in the world today. • The first is Matthew 18:10 = Take heed
that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their
angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
Because “little ones” refers to believers, as opposed to children, some take this verse
to indicate that each believer has an angel in heaven assigned to them. Even if that interpretation
is correct, though, the text tells us nothing about what these angels do. It certainly doesn’t
confirm the speculation that they follow us around to protect us. Besides, how can they
be by our side if they are viewing God’s face in heaven? (Martin Luther says it’s
because they have really long arms. I’m not sure if he meant that seriously or not.)
• And the second verse is Acts 12:13-15 = And as Peter knocked at the door of the
gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of
her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before
the gate. But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting
that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.”
Now, those are the only two passages that I’m aware of that allude to the idea of
actual, personal guardian angels. But we cannot be sure either way. We can, however, take
comfort in the fact that God sends HIS angels to watch over us and help us in times of need.
• Psalm 91:11-12 = For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all
your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a
stone. • Matthew 13:41 = The Son of Man (Jesus)
will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend,
and those who practice lawlessness. The book of Daniel is especially exciting,
as an angel saves Daniel while he’s in a den of hungry lions.
• Daniel 6:22 = “My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have
not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I
have done no harm.” Earlier in the book of Daniel we hear of three
men thrown into a blazing hot furnace. The heat was so intense that those working outside
of the furnace to keep it hot, fainted dead from the heat – but the three men inside
the furnace were completely unharmed – and a fourth individual was seen in the furnace
with them: • Daniel 3:28 = Nebuchadnezzar answered
and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel
and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and
yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.
And perhaps you’ve even come across an angel and didn’t even know it – during a time
you weren’t in peril, or did not know you were in need of their assistance. One of my
favorite verses about angels is: • Hebrews 13:2 = Do not forget to entertain
strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.
Some Christians have taken great comfort in the idea that an angel is close by to guide
or protect. The Bible doesn’t encourage us to look for such things though, to seek
out angels, or to attempt to commune with them. In fact, the whole idea of Hebrews 13:2,
where we could unwittingly entertain angels and be unaware of doing so, that shows the
humility of the angels themselves – they do not want to be glorified or exalted – they
are only there to do God’s will in His time. It is God alone who deserves all the glory
and praise if you feel you were somehow (excuse the phrase) “touched by an angel.” We
are never to pray to angels, but to pray to God to send them. There’s a big difference.
Praying to angels is akin to worshipping them – and worshipping anything or anyone other
than God is a big no-no. John, the author of the book of Revelation, learned that first
hand. • Revelation 22:8-9 = I, John, am the one
who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the
feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am
a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words
of this book. Worship God.” While the thought of guardian angels is fascinating
– it can also be dangerous if we’re not careful. It makes angels themselves a source
of comfort and solace in our hearts. One feels special that an angel has been assigned to
them. One feels important and significant and, what’s more, safe and protected. But
that’s putting one created being under another created being for spiritual protection. But
the created can never protect us like the Creator can. We should never look to angels
to preserve us, but to God. Anything less is superstitious at best and blasphemous at
worst. While we can’t know with absolute certainty
whether or not each believer has a special, personal guardian angel; it shouldn’t matter
– because we DO know that God’s angels care about us and that they can intervene
in our lives as they are called by God to do so —and that’s a wonderful thought!
That’s more than enough if you ask me. I don’t need a personal angel following behind
me at all times if I know the God of all creation, the One who created the heavens and the earth
– and the angels as well – has command over those angels and can tell one or many
to come to my aid or protect me against the evil one – or protect me from myself (which
is probably more likely the case). The psalmist writes that all the angels rally for the protection
of one saint. That’s not the dead religious person version of a saint that has to be voted
on by a church body – this saint protected by the angels is YOU. It’s ME. WE are the
saints if we believe and trust in Christ. • Psalm 34:4-7 = I sought the Lord, and
He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant,
and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and
saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear
Him, and delivers them. While the angels themselves are real, we shouldn’t
become too preoccupied with them – and as I said before, we should never worship them.
Only God is worthy of our worship, and only Christ saves us. Trust Jesus alone as your
Savior, for, as it says in Acts 4:12 = “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other
name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
* * * * * * * * * * If you like what you heard in this episode,
please share a link to it in your social media to help spread the word about the podcast,
and if you could, please tell your friends, family, and co-workers about the Church of
the Undead podcast! Maybe they’ll become a Weirdo in Christ too! And I’d greatly
appreciate you heading over to Apple Podcasts and leaving a review, that helps the podcast
get noticed! And thanks in advance for doing so!
I’m Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me, and until next time, Jesus loves you and so
do I.