Wed night 5.23.12
jmicha...@juno.com
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT ANGELS
Psalm 34:1-8
Message #1
Introduction: There is a lot being said about angels these days. We are seeing more and more books on the subject. Recently I was in a parking lot and saw a window hanging in a car which said “I believe in angels”. What I find sad is all the publicity about angels and very little is said about our wonderful Lord. People seem to be making angels as a god and trying to dethroning the Lord Jesus. In doing research for this series, I went to four bookstores, three of them secular and one is a Bible book store. I found several books on the subject. There was one book for children called “The Littlest Angel”. One was “Songs that Angels Sing” which was a book of songs and poems which earthly men had written. One book was “Angels Don’t Die” which was the story of Ronald Reagan. In the Christian bookstore, there was the classic book by Billy Graham called “Angels”. Others were “Glorious Angels”, “Brush of An Angel’s Wing”, “Angels Dark and Light”, “These Angels” and “Angel In My Pocket”. But the one that took the cake was “Talk to Your Angel”. This book was about talking to your angel. I will discuss this further with in accordance with some other information on “Angel on my Shoulder”.
I am not downplaying angels for I know they are in the Word of God. In fact the word angel and angels are mentioned in the Bible two hundred and eighty eight times. But with all the false teaching and “sightings”, I felt that we needed to see what the Bible plainly says on the subject. After all, it is the final authority on all subjects in our lives. Romans 3:4 says “Let God be true and every man a liar”.
I am not going to try to discount angels in our lives. I recall an incident in our own lives that I believe the Lord sent angels to protect one of our children. When Seth was a toddler, he was a true escape artist. He would not stay in his crib. One afternoon, we all had laid down for a nap and were resting quietly when we had a knock on the front door. When Wanda opened the door, there was a painter from next door with Seth in his arms. He said Seth had fallen out of the second story window. Seth was not hurt. There is no explanation why he was not hurt except what is written in Psalm 34:7. “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”
Before I go further into this subject, I want to address an issue with the belief about angels that I know that some people will not like. I would not be true to the teaching of the Word of God without covering this issue also. The subject of Angels seems in every novelty catalog, most “Christian” bookstores, bookstores in general and places that sell jewelry I find them selling “An angel on my shoulder” pin. I used to see scores of people lost and saved wearing them. I see many people giving them as presents to people. In fact, I have been given at least one. I will not wear them. I do not for the following reason. Before wearing “an angel on my shoulder” was popular, I was given a catalog of other religions and occult products. At that time I was flipping through it to see what was being promoted. I ran across a pin, which is identical to “an angel on my shoulder”. I read the description of the same out of curiosity. Even though I can not quote the description verbatim, I want to give you basically of what it said: “Here is your spirit guide to wear on your shoulder. When you have problems and no one to guide you, talk to him and he will give you answers.” I also found the same description of the book that I found in Wal-Mart “Talk to Your Angel”. In this description of the product and the book lays the problems I have with “an angel on my shoulder”.
1. I don’t need a guide to wear on my shoulder since I have the Holy Ghost living within.
John 14:17
“Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
John 16:13
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
2. People have put more trust in “an angel on my shoulder” than the One who created them. Romans 1:20-25
“(20) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (21) Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (22) Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, (23) And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. (24) Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: (25) Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”
3. No where in the Word of God which is the final authority am I told to call upon “an angel on my shoulder”. Jeremiah 33:3
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
4. The way that many people approach this subject borders upon nothing less than idolatry.
1st John 5:21
“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
Exodus 20:1-6
“(1) And God spake all these words, saying, (2) I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: (5) Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; (6) And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.)
Now some people have been upset with me that I seem to have a narrow minded view of “an angel on my shoulder”. I am just as narrow minded as the Bible is on the subject. In fact, I have based my arguments against this with several verses of scriptures. No one has yet to show any passages of scriptures to the contrary.
Before I finish today, the second summer that we were at this church my family and I went to Virginia Beach for vacation. One of the places that we visited was the 700 Club Headquarters. One of the places that we were shown on the tour was a small chapel. On the four outside walls was four statues made of brass or silver of “angels”. I asked about these statues. The woman who was the tour guide said they were named after four angels mentioned in the Bible. In my study of the Bible, I have only ran across three names of angels mentioned. I mentioned this to the lady. She told me that those were not the only names of these statues but some of the names were found in the Apocrypha or the center section of the Catholic Bible. The Angels names were Gabriel, Michael, Raphanel and Uriel. According to Josephus the Jewish Historian, that section was a brief history of the Jews from the closing of Malachi unto the opening of the New Testament. It is also full of Jewish myths. Why would a “Christian” organization waste money and precious time of fairy tales? She told us that they cost approximately three to five thousand dollars apiece.
I want to cover the following eight areas in regards to angels: The Creation of angels; career of angels, Countenances of angels; Commune of angels; Characteristics of angels; Comparison of angels and man; Counting of angels; and Casting down of some angels.
Pastor Mike Walls
Freedom Baptist Church Smithfield, NC
jmicha...@juno.com
Isaiah 41:10
http://freedombaptistchurchnc.wordpress.com
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